Page 28 of The Lunatics

“You want to come in and tell me about it?”

He was standing on the threshold like he didn’t want to intrude. After another long moment, he stepped inside but didn’t get far, pausing to lean a hip against a large dresser and cross his arms over his chest. I looked away from the sight of his shoulders straining against the fabric of his shirt.

“How many bonding ceremonies have you attended?” he asked.

“Just one other.”

“And was it anything like last night’s?”

“Nope. It was about three times longer and didn’t end with the apocalypse.”

Another hint of amusement, larger this time, flared from him. I looked up to see the corner of his lips twitch, so subtle I almost missed it.

SMILE, DAMN IT!I wanted to scream.

He didn’t. “The acquaintance I called was unable to uncover any record of a ceremony becoming similarly corrupted.”

“That sucks.” It would have been nice to talk to someone else who’d been through this.

“He was inclined to blame the priestess conducting it.”

“Mystic,” I corrected. “And I don’t think it was her fault.”

“Why not? The woman must have been in her eighties. Perhaps she didn’t have the stamina, and the spell collapsed in on itself.”

“Look, I don’t know Antoinette. Before last night, I’d never even seen her. But one of my mom’s closest friends is a mystic, and she was in the crowd near me. She said something else interfered with it, and I trust her. Especially since Antoinette is supposed to be one of the strongest mystics alive.”

“Your Goddess interfered?” he said.

“That was what Antoinette seemed to imply, wasn’t it?”

He remained quiet.

“What’s your theory?” I asked.

“Witches.”

I shook my head. “I would have smelled a witch there.”

“Not if they cast a spell to mask their presence.”

I didn’t know they could do that.

“No,” I said, still adamant. “Their magic is different from ours. Our mystics would have sensed it.”

He cocked his head sideways, reminding me a little of his mother. “Is it different?”

“From everything I’ve been told, yeah.”

“Hmm.”

I watched him for a full minute before my impatience got the better of me. “Out with it.”

“Our creation story comes to mind.”

“Which one? I’m chasing the werewolf myth, remember? I could give you a couple dozen options from around the world.”

“The one that most of us here in the States believe.”