Page 114 of The Spellreader and the Phoenix

Max made a face. “Ugh, the asshole brother must have realized Dad won but couldn’t find the ticket.”

“It’s not signed,” Tom practically whispered. “He could have just taken it, and no one would ever have known.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Good to know my life was worth a lottery ticket.”

Tom cleared his throat. “Well, obviously, your life is precious, but, uh, the ticket is worth ten million dollars.”

Max choked, and the rest of them gaped at one another.

Rory had never played the lottery. He’d never understood the impulse to spend money for the tiny chance that you would get lots of money in return. On the other hand, up until Rory had met Max, he hadn’t had any ties to anywhere, and he always had the option of turning into a bird and surviving that way. Maybe it was different if the ticket felt like your one chance to change your life.

Tom was still holding the ticket like it was a ticking time bomb.

Max started grinning. “I think Bridget is going to be able to move out of the two-bedroom apartment.”

Rory added, “And set up a good education fund for the kids.”

“And get excellent health care,” Alex suggested.

“And probably go on a really good vacation this year.” This from Sam.

“And buy more bookshelves!” Stella said triumphantly.

“And lots of books to fill them,” Edward agreed with a grin.

“Maybe fulfill a few dreams,” David said wistfully.

A small smile had broken out on Tom’s face, too. “And be able to support herself and her kids and hopefully be happy.”

Rory clapped his hands together excitedly. “It’s like finding real-life treasure!”

They all laughed, grinning at one another and feeling more in sync than they had since the whole awkward series of revelations.

Tom gave the ticket to Max, who grimaced at it and said, “Okay, I’ll give Bridget a call to come in, and I’m just going to run this up to the safe upstairs. I know it’s probably fine, but just… no.”

They all nodded their agreement.

As he headed for the stairs, Max asked, “Is that all the books? While we can likely safely assume that’s what the asshole was looking for, I don’t like to leave things up to chance.”

They weren’t quite done with the books, so while Max hid the lottery ticket, they quickly finished up.

As Max returned, Rory said, “I know we could sort these for sale now, but since it’s possible Bridget will have more space soon, what do you say we box them up again just in case she wants them back?”

Max smiled at him. “Yes, that’s an excellent idea.”

So they repacked the books in their boxes and then set them aside in their own little section.

Then Stella said, “Alright, folks. Time to get this show on the road.”

They all got out their books, dice, minis, and snacks. Tom, in a departure from the usual, had set out his things at the foot of the table, opposite Stella, where Max normally sat. One look at his face said it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring this up, so Max took Tom’s normal seat, and David visibly wilted next to him.

Stella cleared her throat. “Okay, so we’d actually just rolled initiative last time, before real life somehow got more exciting and dangerous than D&D.”

Max snickered, which helped lighten the mood considerably.

“We’re just going to go ahead and do that again since Max is back with us this time,” Stella told them.

They rolled while Stella pointed at Tom and David. “You two are still standing outside of the castle. The guards have just run off to see what these fools are up to. What are you doing?”