Katherine opened her passenger-side door, undoing the seat belt spell and pulling the rag out of Joe’s mouth before putting her arms under her captive’s and trying to heave him out of the seat. She winced as her arms buckled under his weight, his body thumping back against the leather.
Katherine reached into the car to try again, but she was interruptedby the sound of Sunspot’s door clanging shut. She turned around to see Fiona, hands on her hips as she chuckled.
“Please stop laughing and help me with this,” Katherine begged.
“But it’s so much fun watching you struggle.”
“Fiona.”
“Fine, fine. Only ’cause you’re so cute.”
Katherine’s best friend waltzed over, seemingly unaffected by the heat or the glaring sun. She took a hair tie off her wrist and put her head of pink, purple, and blue braids into a high bun. “This is the part where you say I’m cute too.”
“You’re more than cute, Fi. You are a princess. A queen. The owner of my heart and soul.”
They reached into the car, pulling Joe out together, his body balancing between them as they started a slow, sweaty march to the door.
“Why do you only flatter me when I’m helping you carry a six-foot-two pillar of deadweight?”
“I will make a note to compliment you more when we’re not suffocating in BO.”
“You can keep complimenting me while we suffocate too, if you’d really like to.”
“Last week when you texted asking if I wanted to get frozen yogurt, I quite literally teared up because I don’t think I’ve ever known someone so attuned to my every thought and desire.”
“Aw, babe.” Fiona looked around Joe’s slumped body to smile at Katherine. “Froyo later?”
“God, yes.”
Katherine felt Joe start to fall between them, but Fiona picked up the slack, shifting more weight onto herself. Katherine shot her a grateful look.
“He go down easy?” Fiona asked.
“Easy enough.”
Fiona’s gaze went to the cuts on Katherine’s hands, her eyebrows raised in question.
“There were a few complications,” Katherine said. “But I handled it.”
“You always do.” Fiona’s face split into a smile, her brown skincrinkling around her eyes. Katherine hated that look—love. Support. Pride. No matter how many criminals she apprehended, how many people she helped, her slate would never be clean enough to deserve that.
They reached the door, and Katherine shifted to get a hand on the doorknob. Her palm was slippery with sweat and blood, and she huffed as the metal slipped under her grip. Luckily, the door swung in on its own, revealing a tall Black woman with a shaved head and a truly flawless graphic eyeliner look that Katherine made a mental note to try (and fail) to recreate at some point. Tess, Sunspot’s new chef.
“Bring the trash in,” Tess said.
Katherine chuckled as Tess joined her and Fiona in hauling Joe over the small step of the threshold. Sunspot didn’t open for an hour, so they were spared the watchful eyes of gossipy witches.
Tess stepped aside as Katherine and Fiona dragged Joe past the bespoke bar area, which was decorated with glittering lights delicately threaded through bottles of upscale liquor. They were emptier than they should’ve been, thanks to many nights of Katherine and Fiona sitting on the roof, passing a bottle between them as they tried to determine what was an airplane and what was a star. (They were all airplanes.)
They reached the swinging door to the kitchen and waited as the wards hummed, recognizing Katherine’s presence. A few seconds later, another door winked into view, small and flat against the wall, with no handle.
Katherine pressed her palm to the rough wood, praying that she wouldn’t end up with a splinter in her fresh cut. The golden light of the wards flickered across the door as it recognized her touch, then swung open, revealing the darkened stairwell beyond.
Katherine angled her body to slide through, Joe’s weight shifting heavily onto her for a moment as Fiona squeezed in as well. The door clanged shut behind them as she and Fiona rearranged themselves, squishing together so Joe could be between them again.
“Have I ever mentioned how much I despise whoever decided to make these stairs this narrow?” Katherine grunted, shouldering Joe’s body back up before she accidentally sent him tumbling down the steps.
“More than once,” Fiona huffed. “HaveIever mentioned how muchI despise whoever decided to put your Creepy Magic Dungeon all the way at the end of the hall?”
