She scowled. “We talked about this. You’re going to sell my house and my car for me because I can’t do it myself, and I can’t use them anymore.” She made her eyes big and pointed at her twisted, metallic horns. “Yeah?”
Toby, his mouth ringed in chocolate, laughed. “I think you’re pretty, Sara. I wish I had horns.”
“Hell, I don’t even have cool horns like hers, buddy,” Maurice said, refilling the kid’s milk glass. “And I’m a monster.”
Janey giggled, and Aaron—sitting with his family at a smaller table on top of the bigger table—snorted milk out his nose, which caused his brother, Fred, to laugh so hard he fell out of his chair.
The room erupted in laughter, the cleansing kind that eases grief and washes away the stink of fear and sorrow. I smiled, but couldn’t quite join in on the laughter. It was too soon yet. I’d get there.
The late sun coming in through the screen of the back door darkened as Darius climbed the steps.
He hesitated, then opened the door, fixing me with a sad gaze. “May I speak with you, Aegis?”
I followed him to a small campsite not far from the house. He settled his bulk on a bench, while I sat in a folding chair.
“Are you okay?” I asked, peering at his dark face, so filled with sorrow.
He shook his head. “Not really.” He stared back, scrutinizing my face as much as I had done with his. “Are you?”
I sighed. “The day has certainly been a mixed bag.”
He dropped his gaze to his hands. “It’s not every day you lose the person you love most and save the world at the same time.”
“No, I guess it’s not.” We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the sun move toward the bay.
“I have a favor to ask.” He hesitated. “As the Aegis. As...as my good friend.”
I knew what he wanted, and it made my heart hurt. “Can you wait for a few days?” I asked. “I know it’s hard. But I need you to be sure first. Try. Also, I have news to share with everyone, and I kind of want you to experience the repercussions with them.”
He flipped a rock over with the toe of his boot. “Very well. It can wait.”
I went to his side and put my arms around him—as much of him as I could, anyway. He lowered his face and rested his cheek on the top of my head, and we sat that way for some time, each taking strength from the other, sharing our terrible loss.
When the sun dipped below the horizon, I felt Darius make the change from man to mothman. He tried to pull away, but I held tight until it was over. I wanted him to know he wasn’t alone and that I didn’t find him repugnant.
We parted and returned to the house to find our friends had moved into the living room.
“I saved you some cookies,” Maurice said. He sat cross-legged on the floor playing Candy Land with the kids.
“Thanks. Hang on a sec.” I slipped down the hall to my bedroom and grabbed the book that had caused me so much trouble. Flipping through the pages, I checked to verify what was inside. Sure enough, the new Covenant had replaced the old one. I pressed the book against my chest and returned to the living room. “I have something to share.”
I gazed around the room, and everyone stopped what they were doing to listen, even the little ones.
“Riley may have told you that I spent considerable time out there talking with the Simurgh.”
Kam made a pouty face. “You would have looked amazing with a little goatee. Sharpies come in red, too. I could have made it match your hair.”
I paused to give her a half-hearted stink-eye, then continued. “The Covenant, it turns out, really was broken today.”
Rene gasped. “We have to go? After all that, we still have to go?”
I patted the book, my voice sounding far away, as if I were dreaming. “From the ashes of the old Covenant, a new Covenant was born. And things are going to be different.”
Abby’s eyes grew wide and she leaned closer to Molly, speaking in a stage whisper. “Is she going to read that whole thing to us, Momma?”
I chuckled. “No, honey. I’m just going to tell you guys the important parts.”
Abby blushed. “Then can we play? I was winning.”
“Shh. Just listen.” Fred pulled his sister into his lap.
I took a deep breath, then let it out. “First of all, we’ve fixed the loophole, so what happened with Shadow Man can’t happen again.”
Everyone looked relieved, and I realized their joviality hadn’t been as lighthearted as I’d thought.
“Second, we have to rebuild the government from scratch. Turns out, I was right not to let them boss me around. Aegises are supposed to be in charge, and we’re going to put things back together, better than before. The government is supposed to help the Hidden. And it will do so again.”
Maurice frowned. “Zoey, there’s only one Aegis. How are you going to do all that, especially all over the world?”
“That’s the third thing. Aegises will start to show up again, gradually at first, but in a few months, we should have the population back to what it should be. And no Aegis will be forced to take the job—though I have a feeling anybody who’s an Aegis by nature won’t want to turn it down. But no more assigning locations and ripping families apart. Aegises go where they want to go because, left to their own devices, Aegises go where they’re needed.”
“Does that mean we’ll finally get a vacation?” Riley’s face was filled with hope, practically begging me to say yes.
I gave him what he wanted. “Yes. Just hang in there a few more months while we get things set up. Also, as First Aegis—”
“Last Aegis,” Sara said, correcting me.
“Nope. Now I’m the First Aegis. And as First Aegis, I have the power to choose new Aegises if they meet the criteria. Once I’ve chosen, the natural order will kick in to choose the rest naturally.”
“That’s a lot of new stuff,” Maurice said. “We’re going to be busy.”
Excitement bubbled inside me, and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from yelling the best part. “One more important thing.” I grinned. “The best part.”
Sara wrinkled her golden brow. “You saved the world, guaranteed its continued safety and figured out how to rebuild the infrastructure. What’s left?”
“You get to keep your house and your car.” I felt like I was going to burst.
She shook her head. “They’re useless to me now. I told you that.”
Still beaming, I shifted my attention to the closet monster on the floor next to her. “Maurice, where do you want to go? What do you want to see next?”
He spoke slowly, his gaze flickering from me to Sara, as if checking with her that I was sane. “We were thinking about seeing the Great Pyramids at night. Why?”
“No.” I was going to combust in a grand explosion of excitement, and the pile of slimy body parts would continue to giggle to themselves for decades. Scientists would be baffled. “Where do you want to go? What do you want to see above all other things?”
He froze, and the single word came out whispered. “Vegas.”
I couldn’t contain it anymore. “You can go to Vegas!” I ran around the room, flailing my arms like a deranged Oprah Winfrey. “You can go to Vegas! Everybody can go to Vegas!”
I’d dropped the book on the sofa in my manic cavorting. Truthfully, the overwhelming emotions of the day had probably made me loopy. There was only so much a person could take before she kind of snapped.
Sara picked up the book and thumbed through it. I stopped and watched her read. She found the correct heading and read it out loud. “Hidden in Plain Sight. Normal humans shall no longer have the ability to identify the Hidden, instead seeing the illusion of another human in the Hidden’s place.” She put her hand to her mouth, eyes widening. “Oh, my God, Zoey.”
“Let me see.” Maurice pulled the book from Sara’s slack hand and continued. “Hidden will only be identified in their true form by other Hidden or by those humans who are part of the Hidden world, including but not limited to Aegises, officials of the Hidden government and various human sensitives.”
I could have dropped a hellhound whisker in that room and it would have been louder than a trumpet. I wasn’t sure anyone was breathing.
“Guys?” I waited. “Anybody?”
Sara, her strange golden eyes shimmering with tears, rose from the sofa and came to hug me. “This means I can have my life back, right?” She pulled back far enough to look at my face.
“You can go home, yeah. You can even drive yourself there. Regular people will see the old Sara, not the new one.”
She hugged me so hard I thought my bones would bend. “Oh, Zoey, thank you doesn’t say enough.”
The silence broke, and the room filled with chatter. I couldn’t hear any one person or follow the conversation. I heard pieces.
“—at the zoo?”
“—might take some sewing classes.”
“—Disneyland!”
I looked over Sara’s shoulder and saw Darius leaning against the wall, his featureless face impossible to read. He tipped his head toward me and raised his thumb to let me know he approved.
Sara stepped away, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her sweater. “You know what this means, right?”
I sighed. I did know what it meant. Maurice stood nearby, watching us both with a wary look on his face. I knew him so well. I could tell he was worried. Now that Sara could take back her old life, would there be room in it for him? I waved him over.
“I know what it means.” I tried not to be sad. I’d had enough of sadness today. I placed her hand in his. “It means you’re stealing my closet monster for good this time.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next few weeks were filled with crazy. Art wasn’t thrilled that I was now his boss, but I put him in charge of drawing up new organizational charts to revamp who did what and how. I had no intention of running the world, but this time we were going to have a unified world government with the same rules for everyone.
There would be no territorial grabbiness. Distrust among the regions had cost hundreds of lives. If I had to fly around the world and flog every obnoxious politician who thought he should run things his way, I would do it. We appointed Gris as the World Hidden Ambassador to set things up with each region and maintain communication.
Bernice refused any position in the new government. She agreed to provide golems to keep things running smoothly until the new staff was set up, but then she would take her golems and retire.
“Someplace warm and quiet,” she said. “I’ve had enough excitement to last the rest of my days.”
Despite Sara’s ability to go back to her old life, we agreed that Happily Ever After Weddings and Events was done. Sara wanted to move on to something else, and I had a world to rebuild.
But we still had one last client.
After a long morning of planning a government job fair with Art over the phone, I hung up and went to find Sara. “Hey,” I said, stretching my arms to ease a cramp. “Did Fiona ever get back to you with how many rooms she needs us to book? The wedding is next month. The hotel is holding a block for us, but I really need to call them back with the exact number, or she’ll end up eating the cost of the whole floor.”
Sara sat on the edge of the couch, grinning at me. “I cancelled the reservations. The wedding’s been moved up.”
I frowned. “You can’t cancel this late. And we can’t get the cake any earlier at this point. As it is, Moira’s rushing to get last-minute orders filled before she leaves for Florida to go house hunting. The flowers won’t be delivered in time. The venue can’t be rescheduled. How soon are we talking?” At that moment, I realized how much being a wedding planner was like being an Aegis. Everything was always a crisis. And nothing ever went as planned. I took a deep breath to calm myself. Sara wasn’t freaking out, so I needed to get a grip. We’d handled worse wedding emergencies.
Sara moved to the door of the guestroom and waved her hand at me to follow. She had a weird grin on her face, as if she were holding back a burst of excitement. “Come with me.”
I rolled my eyes and dragged my feet like a petulant child. “I can’t travel through closets like you can, you know.” Well, I could. But it hurt like hell.
She took my hand once I stepped into the room. “Remember how your mom’s letter said she left you a gift in her closet?”
I felt a twinge of guilt for not having found the guts yet to go see what it was. “Yeah.”
“Well, I already knew what it was, because she and I had talked about it. I went and got it. It’s in there.” She pointed at the closet.
A distant part of me wondered what my mother’s gift had to do with Fiona’s wedding emergency, but the fear and anticipation of what Mom had left me drowned it out.
I touched the closet door, then pulled my hand away, as if the wood were hot. Lifting my chin as a show of bravery, I nudged the door open to see what was inside.
My breath caught in my throat. Yards and yards of pale cream satin and tulle filled the small space. Delicate lace trickled down the bodice and around the hem. I knew from my parents’ wedding pictures that the tulle around the top would rest just off the shoulders, and the train would be chapel-length. A tiny hat with a long, trailing veil sat on the shelf, and the addition of green and purple ribbons curling down the back let me know it was new. And made for me. One lime green stocking and one purple were folded next to the hat, and on the floor were shoes that matched the same light cream of the dress, but with green and purple polka dots added.
I smiled, my eyes prickling. “She left me her dress.”
“Let’s get you into it,” Sara said. “Come on. Chop, chop.”
I touched the smooth fabric. “No, not right now. I’ll try it on later.” I gave my head a slow shake. “We really need to deal with Fiona’s wedding. Mine’s a long way off still. But thanks for bringing this over.” My throat tightened, imagining my mother sneaking around to have the shoes and hat made for me. “I can’t believe she did all this for me.”
Sara flung open the bedroom door. “She’s resisting!”
I was swarmed. I had no idea what the hell was going on. Kam swooped in and started pulling off my T-shirt and sweats. She scowled at me, then stole my underwear and bra, leaving me completely starkers. “What are you doing? Stop it!”
I tried to fight them off, but there were too many. Sara was a demon, and Kam was a djinn. In addition, I had Rene shoving at me to sit down, once I was properly attired in Kam-approved lacy underwear and corset.
Rene slapped my hand when I objected to the stockings she slid up first one leg, then the other. “Hold still, or you’re going to be late.” She fastened the garters on the purple stocking, then moved to the green.
The purple and green color scheme wasn’t lost on me. Fiona had obviously been in on all this, though I didn’t understand why. I gave in and let them dress me, though I wondered where they’d found a seamstress who did dress-fitting house calls and why the appointment had to be right this second. “You know, we haven’t even set a date yet. I appreciate all the trouble you guys are going to, but there’s plenty of time for this once we have a date.”
Molly galloped in on Simone’s back. A box was strapped behind her. “You have not told her yet?”
“She’s going to be late.” Simone snorted, and sparks blew out her nostrils.
Sara smiled. “Put this on.” She slipped a bathrobe over my shoulders. “Fiona’s wedding got moved to today.” She led me to the kitchen and gestured out the window. “See?”
My mouth fell open. Gone were the tents and campfires. Gone were the cheap foldin
g chairs and picnic tables. My backyard was festooned with purple and yellow flowers that I’d picked out myself. Chairs—nice ones—were draped in the purple ribbons and swaths of green fabric I’d chosen. A runner of white fabric led down the middle toward the apple tree at the far end, where a gazebo had been placed beneath it, overlooking the bay.
I blinked. “How did you get this done so fast? Where’s Fiona? And why am I the one wearing the wedding dress?” The clues were all there. On some level, I understood what was going on, but on another, I couldn’t let go of the idea that I had a client waiting somewhere.
Kam groaned. “She didn’t used to be this slow.” She leaned her head close to my ear and spoke in a breathy voice. “I can’t wait to see all the plans you’ve made.”
“Give her a second,” Sara said.
I widened my eyes in surprise. Kam sounded like she was doing a Marilyn Monroe impression. Or an impression of Fiona.
Off to the side, toward the woods, they’d put up a tent—a much bigger, much nicer tent. The sides were open, and I could see the cake inside. The cake I’d chosen for Fiona in the flavors and shapes I liked best. Sometimes, I really was that slow.
“Kam was Fiona. There is no Fiona,” I breathed. “I’m Fiona.”
“There it is.” Sara grabbed my elbow. “Let’s get you ready, princess. There’s a terrified groom over at the cottage who also got waylaid. And the guests will start showing up in an hour.”
Kam threw her arms in the air and gave a little hop. “Surprise!”
* * *
My friends were incredible. Their level of preparedness was astounding. The box Molly and Simone brought was filled with exquisite jade, emerald and amethyst jewelry on loan from Bruce’s hoard. Kam did my hair and makeup. Rene did my nails, and Sara barked orders and kept everyone on time.
She was, after all a professional wedding planner.
One at a time, they disappeared and reappeared in their own finery. Sara and Kam wore matching slinky dresses, Sara in a green that was lovely with her gold skin and silver hair, and Kam in a deep purple that made her look exotic, even for a djinn.
Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) Page 21