Page 24 of No Rest for the Wicked

“Yeah.”

Victor’s lips twitched in soft amusement. He gazed at Zee, while Zee fussed with the gremlin cage and huffed about freeing gremlins and how he definitely had not entered a dangerous portal.

Victor’s single look said more than words could. It said we were all going to be okay.

CHAPTER 6

“What’s this?” Victor asked, entering the bar later that afternoon, after we’d packed the gremlin-hunting equipment away.

As Operation Gremlins Gone had technically failed, Zee and I had come up with a new plan. Operation Pixie Persuasion. But as we couldn’t call Little Jimmy and have him appear—we didn’t even know his real name—we had to think of a creative way of getting the pixie to come to us.

“This, Your Lordship, is a fairy ring.” Zee swept a hand toward the circle of brightly colored cupcakes on the floor.

Tom eyed us from behind his bar, unimpressed we’d had to temporarily close the bar to summon a pixie. He aggressively dried a glass, occasionally shaking his head and muttering about poor business acumen.

“It says here . . .” Zee read from the Wilson’s Guide spread open in his left hand. “Sweet treats placed in a perfect circle will prove irresistible to pixies.”

Victor stopped outside the cupcake circle, folded his arms, and peered down at the display. “This is not a perfect circle.”

“Oh, for fucking fucks. If you whip out a fucking set square that’s clearly a fucking triangle to measure a fucking circle, imma lose the remaining fucks I have.” That was a lot of F’s . . . even for Zee. His wings ticked, and his tail lashed his frustration.

Victor studied the cupcakes—frowning, tilting his head back and forth, foot tapping. “It’s lacking something.”

I approached the ring. “The guide does say we should use a perfect circle.” The cupcakes were all similar sizes, but not perfect, which made making a circle out of them tricky. Although they did smell and look delicious.

“I have a solution. Wait here.” Victor strode out of the bar, shoes clipping.

Zee frowned after him. The moment the bar door swung shut, his brilliant purple eyes flicked to me. “We don’t need Fancy Fangs. Let’s get on with this before he comes back with a ruler.” Zee cleared his throat and read the guide again. “Mr. Wilson says, Adam, you should get inside the circle, close your eyes, turn around three times and say⁠—”

The bar door swung open, and Victor returned holding a chocolate cake. It shone with lit party candles. It wasn’t huge, but it was a perfect circle, and as Victor came closer, the sweeping, iced lettering came into view: Happy Birthday, Zodiac.

Oh my stars, had Victor made Zee a cake?

Zee’s wings clamped closed and he froze in place. Even his tail lay still. His eyes widened with Victor’s every step, then his gaze dropped to the swirling writing.

His lips parted in a silent, “Oh.”

Victor stopped in front of Zee and presented the cake. “May you experience a satisfactory birthday, Zodiac.”