Page 73 of Summer L.A.W.

Wally blinked at her with the innocent look of someone who had absolutely not been innocent a day in his life.

Magda sighed. “Great. That makes two of us avoiding responsibility.”

Footsteps crunched outside. A moment later, the greenhouse door creaked open, and Chad stepped in, looking far too chipper for someone who’d been appointed Magical Liaison to the Outside World and therefore official Chaos Coordinator.

“Morning, ladies,” he said with a nod to Magda, then another to Wally. “Well, lady and wallaby.”

Magda tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “If you’re here to supervise another decontamination protocol, I already bleached everything that wasn’t actively photosynthesizing.”

“Nah,” Chad said. “I’m here on official business. Sahara and Joell have an assignment. It’s a small one and just needs two witches. Thought I’d bring it to them personally since Sahara’s still giving me the ‘I will throw a haboob at you’ face.”

“That’s her resting face,” Magda said. “Or maybe she was hoping you wouldn’t interrupt her writing time. You know how we romance writers get when we have to leave a couple mid-love-scene.”

“I’m aware,” he replied dryly.

He shifted the folder he carried, then softened a little when he took in her expression. “You okay? You look like someone told you the coffee machine refused to work for free.”

Her voice came out smaller than she intended. “I think I scared off Sebastian.”

Chad blinked. “How? By being yourself? Or did we have another incident?”

“Neither! Probably. Maybe. Wally went mad yesterday. He hopped and dragged us off our feet and onto the floor. He completely disobeyed me when I told him to stop. And then Sebastian left looking… thoughtful. But not in a good way. More like ‘I need several hours of silent screaming’ way.”

Chad laughed under his breath. “Magda, trust me. That man is not scared off. If anything, he’s hooked. You should hear him talk to Joell. Dr. Voss has questions about magic now. Actual questions. He nearly asked for a textbook.”

She blinked. “Really?”

“Really. Curiosity is basically his native language. He’s not abandoning his research now.”

While Magda tried to breathe around the strange, warm rush in her chest, Chad crouched to eye-level with Wally.

“And you,” he said to the wallaby, “have been naughty.”

Wally thumped his tail, smug as sin.

Magda raised a brow. “If he were a teenager, I’d blame it on hormones.”

Chad straightened, rubbing the back of his neck like he wasn’t sure if he should bring this up. “So, you know how Lioness has this thing where she can communicate with animals?”

“Yeah. It’s not a full conversation, but she can remote-view what they’re feeling. Sometimes she channels their emotions into drawings.”

“That sounds terrifying,” he said. “Anyway, brace yourself, because she tried it with Wally.”

Wally froze like a toddler caught writing on walls.

Magda narrowed her eyes. “What did he tell her?”

Chad hesitated, then pulled a folded sheet from the folder and passed it to her. “This.”

Magda unfolded it.

The drawing was simple, almost cartoonish, as if Lioness had sketched it without looking. But the content hit Magda like an herb pot thrown at her head.

Two figures hugging. Her. Sebastian. Surrounded by little floating hearts.

She stared. “Wally…”

Wally puffed out his chest in proud, pint-sized matchmaking triumph.