Page 77 of A Shade Too Far
“Yup.” I shook off my morbidity. “Welcome to the new world order.”
She retrieved a bag of chips from the cupboard and tore them open. “Why don’t I have magic?”
“Blame your dad. His Sapien genes were too strong.” I snatched the bag away, grateful she hadn’t found my hidden PMS emergency stash. “That’s not dinner.”
“It could totally be a side dish with hot dogs. There’s stuff in the freezer.”
I debated making something healthier—for about thirty seconds—but dealing with Zev and Eli in the same place would require all my energy. Plus, even though my period had slowed down considerably, I was majorly craving salt. “Fine.”
“Whoo-hoo!” Sadie crammed a handful of ripple chips in her mouth.
“Put them in a bowl and let me have some.”
Once I’d helped myself, my child leaned over the counter making puppy dog eyes. “Can I have a weapon tonight?”
Had she only been trying to be cute, I would have turned her down, but there was a note of anxiety in her voice and she gnawed on her bottom lip.
What happened to the good old days and worrying about sex, drugs, and the evils of rock and roll with kids? Was I honestly debating whether my daughter was old enough to arm herself? It would have been so much easier if she had been born with magic. “I may have a mini flamethrower that—”
“No way!”
“That you can hold on to.” I gave her my sternest warning look. “No actual usage. And if I say it goes away, then you obey immediately, got it?” Could I spin it to Zev as a security blanket kind of thing?
She bounced up and down on her toes. “Let me see it.”
I sighed. If the vamp didn’t kill me, her dad would.
Eli and I met on the porch after dark. I’d gotten a text from Zev, or someone on his behalf, because as always with his messages, it came from a blocked number, saying he was on his way, so we sat down on the stairs to wait for the vampire while our child finished dressing in the perfect outfit.
I decided to wait until she arrived to explain about the flamethrower, though I did check for Eli’s religious artifacts necklace. Happily, he’d removed it.
My ex wore a thoughtful look on his face.
Oh dear. Was he getting lost in a spiral of paranoia? I nudged him. “Care to share?”
He pointed at the spindly trees lining the sidewalk on our block. “Ever get the feeling that we got the reject trees from the rich side of town?”
“Right? Who do you have to bribe at City Planning to get the ones they have over on sixth?” Those old growth elms provided a majestic canopy spanning blocks and blocks. “Ours are ugly and they blow sticky sap all over any cars parked out front.”
“The Ron Jeremy of trees,” he said.
A snort-laugh burst out of me, and he winked.
“We’ve got this,” he said.
Sadie stepped outside, throwing a slash of light onto us from my foyer. “I’m ready.” She’d opted to go full Victorian steampunk with a lace-up corset, a ruffled skirt, and a pair of thick steampunk goggles shoved in her hair.
Eli squinted at the flamethrower. “I don’t get the wand.”
“It’s a mini flamethrower.” She merrily waved the weapon. “Her name is Phoebe.”
To Eli’s credit, I only got a single pained stare. “Of course it is,” he said.
I patted his shoulder. “She’s not allowed to actually use it. Prop purposes only. Now, flamethrower aside, we need to keep our guards up. BatKian is incredibly dangerous. Do not cross him.”
“We won’t.” Eli held out his fists and we all bumped. “We’re in this together.”
It was such a relief to have these two firmly on my side and know that my family was no longer divided.
