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“Then we’ll bring them in through the back doors.”
“Angels fly. They’ll fly right over that fountain full of sea monsters and slimy, green crud.”
“We still need to figure out what to do about it. Maybe I’ll shift to my dragon and order the serpents to keep their ugly heads underwater.”
“Yeah,” Bethany said, cringing again.
He was right, though.
But they didn’t have to go yet.
The neon-glowing apes sprinted around the ballroom, carrying chairs over their heads or tables slung between them while Bethany conducted the operation, her arms flailing.
In an hour, the ballroom was staged, and the gorillas leaped into the air and dissipated into smoke.
Bethany performed another summoning, steeling herself for statistically what was likely to be a catastrophic failure. She hadn’t had a glitterbomb in weeks. Her spellwork that morning had been outperforming her work on every previous occasion.
She braced herself, eyes slitted, for glitter grenades or a slimy green waterfall full of slithering sea serpents to manifest.
Math asked, “Bethany? You okay?”
She waved him off and focused her energy on punching the portal and summoning the spirits.
Crayon-colored storks and flying foxes soared through her hole in the veils of reality, carrying tablecloths and chair-covers draped between them.
Red pandas, looking like crosses between bears and foxes, trundled in, running upright and holding pink and green floral centerpieces in their front paws.
Good Lords of Magic, she hadn’t screwed up.
Oh, it was going to be so much worse when she finally did.
But she got to directing these apparitions at dressing the ballroom.
In twenty minutes, the cavernous space looked like it was ready for a fancy wedding reception.
With the last of the tables ready, Bethany clapped her hands, and the red-panda and stork apparitions spun in the air and vanished.
With the ballroom staged, she couldn’t procrastinate any longer.
She turned to Math. “Okay, fine. Let’s go.”
Math slapped his laptop closed. “Things are going on back at New Wales, too. We’ll need to go there after the angel investors leave.”
“We?”Bethany squeaked.
“Yeah,” Math sighed, looking downcast. Bethany felt waves of reticence roll off of him through their mating bond. Wow, there was something hereallydidn’t want to tell her. “We need to talk about New Wales and dragon society. There’s some stuff happening you need to be briefed on. But first, we need to see about those dang sea monsters in the fountain out front.”
“We could totally talk about New Wales. Let’s talk about New Wales.”
“Nope,” he said. “I’m still the CFO of this casino, for the time being, at least, and I say let’s deal with those serpents.”
Well, Math was still her boss, even if she was sleeping with the boss.
“Okay,” Bethany sighed.
They walked through the lobby of the casino, where glistening rows of card tables lined up into the gloomy distance. The chairs, serving stations, and dark slot machines were in good shape, but Bethany would task her minions with one last polish tomorrow morning before the angel investors arrived.
The sliding doors opened, and they strolled out into the harsh desert sunlight.
