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The air shimmered, and a portal opened up on the other side of my coffee table, and Tansy stepped through, looking very proud of herself. Then her eyes landed on me and her face fell.
“Oh, Sybil. What happened?”
I must have looked as miserable as I felt. And I didn’t have the energy to fix the way I looked with a spell.
She zeroed in on the almost empty bottle of wine, and the numerous chocolate bar wrappers on my coffee table, then narrowed her eyes at me. “It’s man trouble. I can feel it.” She didn’t know I’d been hooking up with Zayn. To her, he was still just the annoying neighbor next door.
Then she noticed Farah hiding behind me. I blew out a breath, introduced the two women, and told Tansy the short version of the story.
“I had no idea,” Tansy said, hugging me. “You should’ve called me. I called you when Eamon was being dumb.” She had, and I’d put her in touch with Seth, the wizard who had been instrumental in helping destroy the evil spirit determined to steal her body.
Eamon and Tansy had ended up working out their differences, and this was all before I even invited Zayn over to my country home. How I wished things could work out that well for me. But no. I wasn’t that lucky.
“Come on. I’ll get Eamon to pick us up some more drinks.” She gestured to the portal. “You can tell me the rest at my place. You too, Farah. We’ve got a spare room you can stay in.”
I picked up Salt and Pepper, put them in their carrier, and grabbed my bag. Farah contemplated the portal nervously. I guess she’d never stepped through one before.
“It might make you a bit dizzy the first time, but it’s totally safe,” I assured her.
She took a big breath and stepped through the shimmering gap in my living room. I went in behind her and stepped out into a brightly-lit penthouse with giant, floor-to-ceiling arched windows. Two mature bird of paradise plants framed the French doors leading out to the rooftop patio.
A yellow, orange, and green bird sat on one of the branches, preening. It eyed us and bobbed its head up and down before flying over to say hi.
“Hello, Nugget,” I said.
Nugget was Tansy’s sun conure. She’d met Salt and Pepper the last time I was here, and while the three weren’t exactly friends, they tolerated each other well enough. At first, Salt and Pepper had been hesitant because, to them, birds meant scary predators. But they outweighed the small parrot by quite a bit, and they eventually realized she was harmless.
I put their carrier down on one of the numerous couches in the living room. Eamon lived here with three of the four Redrock brothers, gargoyles who co-owned Redrock Protective Services, and none of them liked to share, so there was a full-sized reclining couch for each of them.
Nugget flew over to check out Salt and Pepper, and Tansy headed over to the door leading to their private apartment. The Redrock penthouse was huge, comprising the entire top floor of the building. Each brother, and Eamon, had their own section, each one an impressive home complete with state-of-the-art kitchens, luxury baths, lofted bedrooms, and gorgeous views of the city.
Tansy waved Eamon out. “Can you go pick up a few things for us?” she asked as they made their way to us.
“Of course. Anything for my little witch.”
I stamped down the envy I felt hearing his words. If only Zayn thought the same way, he’d be here trying his best to make things work between us.
He turned to Farah. “Who’s this?”
Tansy did the explaining this time and once she was done went off to show Farah the guest bedroom.
Eamon approached the carrier and peeked inside. “Hey, Salt. Hey, Pepper. You guys look great. Did mommy Sybil refresh your life again? Yes, she did, didn’t she?”
I froze as Eamon turned to me.
“What’s on my shopping list?” he asked, as if he hadn’t just spilled my secret.
“How did you know?”
Eamon looked back at me, confused.
“You mean the refreshing life thing?” He made a dismissive motion with his hands. “I’ve known for a while. I visited Sylvana at her place a few times when you were much younger. When I met Salt and Pepper again, it was clear they were the same rats. No big deal. A lot of witches do that with their familiars.”
I gawked at him. Privately I’d suspected as much, but I didn’t expect Eamon to be so blasé and candid about it.
“It’s true,” he insisted. “But everyone keeps it hush-hush. Don’t worry, I know to keep my mouth shut. I value my life. Angry witches are no bueno.” He grinned.
Well, he should know; he’d mated with a powerful one.
