The Shatterproof Magician (The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont Book 4)

by Sarah Noffke

  “Not that we’re surprised that you were able to,” Stefan added. “It’s that it was a force that eluded us for so long and defeated a lot of powerful people. You were very brave to face that monster.”

  “Well, I didn’t have a choice once I learned the truth,” Paris remarked, suddenly feeling nervous. “But that’s what I wanted to tell you. I was only successful because I had help.”

  Liv glanced at Plato who was casually licking his paw. He glanced up at her. “I didn’t help, although I was there—in the distance.”

  Paris shook her head. “I didn’t see you.”

  “That’s how he does things,” Liv offered. “You don’t know he’s there until later he points out that you were picking your nose. Go ahead and assume that the great lynx is always watching.”

  “Unless the finals of Eurovision is on. Then I’m watching that,” Plato teased.

  “Note to self, not to get myself in trouble during that broadcast and need your help,” Liv retorted.

  The lynx ran his paw over the side of his face, continuing to bathe himself casually. “You have hardly ever needed my help.”

  “Except that one time,” Liv replied playfully.

  Plato shook his head at her. “I told you that hot air balloons were unpredictable modes of travel.”

  Paris giggled, suddenly feeling giddy, being around her parents and the ancient and mysterious lynx.

  Stefan glanced at his daughter. “They’re like this nonstop. It’s cute.”

  “We’re adorable,” Liv said dryly. “Like a newborn kitten.”

  Plato shivered with disgust. “Why did you have to pick the least adorable creature in the world?”

  Liv laughed. “Because I know how much you detest the little animals, like you once weren’t one.”

  “I wasn’t,” Plato said plainly.

  Stefan smiled thoughtfully at Paris. “So you had help defeating the Deathly Shadow. I’m glad for that, but I’m sure that your success was because of your strength and courage.”

  “I did have help,” Paris admitted. “Faraday—”

  “The talking squirrel,” Liv interrupted.

  Paris nodded. “Yes, who Plato is helping me to turn back into whatever he was and put him back on his timeline.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Plato,” Liv joked, glancing at the lynx. “Maybe you have changed in the last fifteen years. Have you softened up?”

  He shook his head, eyeing his paw. “Not in the least. By ‘help,’ your daughter means that I put two puzzle pieces in a haunted woods and told her to find them.”

  “Let me guess,” Liv said dryly. “You didn’t tell her what the pieces were, did you?”

  Plato looked up, a sneaky grin in his eyes. “What do you think?”

  Liv nodded. “There’s the Plato I know and love.”

  “They’re two talking animals,” Paris explained.

  “See, I knew you’d figure it out,” Plato admitted. “Why spoil the surprise?”

  Paris couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, because then I wouldn’t have run from a confused stag thinking he was trying to stampede me, thereby getting lost in that haunted forest in the middle of the night.”

  “Well, where would the fun in avoiding that be?” Plato retorted. “I’ve simply given you the opportunity for an experience. Think about what a great story that makes to tell at dinner parties.”

  “Strangely enough, I don’t get a lot of invites to dinner parties,” Paris remarked.

  Plato lowered his chin, giving her a pointed expression. “Maybe that’s because you don’t have any good stories to share.”

  Liv shook her head. “Do you see what I mean? Being helpful is what he tries to be, but it always turns into something less so.”

  “I’m glad you survived the stag and all,” Stefan offered.

  Paris nodded. “Yes, and despite his mysterious efforts, I was able to find the clues that Plato left for me. Well, I found one of them. I still have another animal to locate.”

  “Look in the trees,” Plato said discreetly.

  “Because it’s a bird?”

  “Because I lost a pocket watch there and thought you could locate it while you’re hunting around.”

  She nodded, already at home with this banter, and returned her gaze to her parents. “As I was saying, Faraday helped, fixing the magitech that I used to open the vortex that brought you back.”

  “Sounds like a smart squirrel,” Stefan offered.

  “Probably not a squirrel,” Paris retorted, looking at Plato, but he offered up no extra information.

  Liv waved at the lynx. “He won’t tell you something extra unless you’re nearly dead and bleeding, and even then, you have to be on his good side.”

  “Most no one ever is,” the lynx stated dryly.

  Paris nodded. “Anyway, then Uncle John’s locket, well, I think it originally belonged to Aunt Sophia.”

  “The one with the Rumi quote that said, ‘You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens?’” Liv asked.

  “That’s the one,” Paris affirmed.

  “That belonged to my mother,” she stated.

  “Yeah, that one.” Paris had a moment of remorse. “Sorry, it’s broken now. Anyway, Uncle John’s chimera was locked inside that.”

  “What?” Liv asked. “Pickles was in the locket?”

  Paris nodded. “He burst out in chimera form and helped me to gather up the bits of the Deathly Shadow that had splintered or something. I’m not sure. I didn’t know how I’d collect him, then all of a sudden, the chimera took over and helped. It was amazing, although I’m not sure where Pickles is now. He quickly disappeared.”

  Stefan smiled. “It sounds like it. What a wonderful set of tools and friends that came to the rescue to ensure you were successful.”

  Paris smiled at her father. “The most unexpected came from you.”

  He tilted his head, obvious confusion in his eyes. “It did? What was it?”

  “Your demon blood,” she answered. “It was what overpowered the Deathly Shadow and also nearly killed me.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  This news visibly shook Liv. “You still have demon blood? But the genie…”

  “The genie made her half-fairy to combat the demon blood,” Plato explained.

  “My wish was that my daughter wasn’t a demon,” Liv argued, shaking her head.

  The lynx’s white-tipped tail flickered as he stretched to a standing position. “She’s not thanks to the fairy part of her, which counteracts the demon part that she inherited from Stefan.”

  “She still has the blood of a demon.” Her father looked down at the floor with shock written on his face.

  “Naturally,” Plato answered. “You still have demon blood. It’s that you also had the antidote so it didn’t change you.”

  “Well, technically it did change me,” Stefan admitted.

  Liv balled up her fist and held it in the air, shaking it slightly. “That damn genie. They can’t fulfill a simple wish, can they? He was supposed to make it so Paris wasn’t a demon.”

  “She’s not,” Plato repeated, the voice of reason in the room. “It’s that she has an aspect of the demon still. You can have something without being it.”

  Liv shook her head. “Can we stop splicing semantics?”

  “Again, where would the fun be in that?” Plato asked playfully.

  Liv leveled her gaze at the lynx. “Tell me what you know on this subject and don’t hold back, or I’m opening up that vortex we came through and tossing you into another dimension.”

  “Meow.” Plato drew out the word and swiped his paw through the air, his claws retracting.

  Liv glanced at her daughter. “Can you get that device to open the vortex again?”

  Paris laughed, enjoying the repartee between the two.

  “Technically,” Plato began, “Paris is half-fairy and let’s say about forty-nine percent magician.”

  “With one percentage of her being d
emon,” Stefan guessed, worry in his eyes.

  “Yeah, but if I had one percent cheetah in me, you wouldn’t find me identifying as that,” Plato explained. He shivered with disgust. “I mean, even if I were fifty percent, you wouldn’t find me saying I’m a cheetah.”

  “Can we not make this about your prejudices?” Liv questioned.

  Stefan focused on Paris. “So you said that the demon part of you helped you in the fight but also nearly killed you. What happened?”

  “Well, I didn’t know how I’d overpower the Deathly Shadow,” Paris answered. “Papa Creola wouldn’t tell me. He kept saying I had to do it to contain him.”

  Liv nodded. “That’s his way. His favorite thing to do is to send me on missions with zero instructions. I think he needs a hobby since that’s how he derives entertainment.”

  Paris laughed. “Yeah, he told me that if he explains how to do something, I’ll overthink it and screw it up.”

  Liv pointed at the cat. “Yeah, that’s probably why this one doesn’t provide much information.”

  “No, it’s because I derive entertainment from watching your confusion,” Plato retorted.

  “Seems about right,” Liv muttered.

  Stefan sighed, staring at Paris. “You see how it’s tough to stay on a subject with these two around?” He indicated his wife and Plato. “Anyway, the demon part of you helped you overpower the Deathly Shadow? I can see that happening. It makes the most sense because a demon’s worst enemy is another demon.”

  “That’s what makes your father such a successful demon hunter,” Liv explained.

  “Well, and my nunchuck skills.” Stefan winked.

  Paris chuckled. “So your demon blood, what does it do to you?”

  “The antidote made it so that I didn’t turn into a red-faced gross demon,” Stefan explained. “Thankfully, I got many of the best aspects of the demon without being a stinky soul-sucking beast.”

  “He has their strength, agility, speed, and longevity,” Liv cut in.

  “Plus I’m able to sense them, which makes it easy to track them down,” Stefan stated.

  “There’s a drawback, isn’t there?” Paris sensed a caveat coming.

  Her father nodded. “As with all things, there are tradeoffs. My demon blood compels me to stamp out evil.”

  Paris blinked in surprise. “That doesn’t sound like a bad thing.”

  “It is if he will kill himself to accomplish that goal,” Plato imparted.

  Stefan nodded. “I’m addicted to ridding the world of evil. If I’m not careful, it will exhaust me. Own me. Push me to my very limits.”

  Paris’ mouth popped open. “Wow. I guess anything taken to an extreme is dangerous.”

  “We’ve figured out how to manage it over the years,” Liv explained. “Stefan is the best demon hunter, and that’s the perfect job for him as a Warrior for the House of Fourteen. However, he’s not so good at other cases because he loses his objectivity when evil is part of the equation.”

  Stefan nodded. “Demons are easy because regardless, we have to rid this world of them. However, I’m not the right warrior to deal with werewolves, vampires, or certain monsters.”

  “Because they need to be dealt with rather than killed?” Paris guessed.

  “That’s right.” Stefan looked fondly at Liv. “Your mother is the perfect Warrior for that because she’s excellent at finding strategic solutions to dealing with villains, which isn’t always to kill them.”

  Liv smiled at her husband before returning her attention to Paris. “You said that the demon part of you almost killed you. How?”

  “When I tapped into it, well, it became overwhelming,” Paris sheepishly explained, feeling shameful at the confession. “I felt this intoxicating power, and like a drug, it took over my objectivity. I wanted to cause pain to the Deathly Shadow.”

  “That’s when he was able to take advantage because you slipped up, having gotten distracted by the rush,” Stefan guessed.

  Paris nodded. “It all happened so fast.”

  “That’s exactly what happens to me when I’m around strong sources of evil,” he admitted, a heavy expression on his face. “No one has ever understood that feeling the way that I think you probably can. The rush takes over, and it’s impossible to think, and it feels like you’re losing your mind to the hunt to root out evil.”

  Liv pressed her hand into Stefan’s shoulder consolingly before looking at her daughter. “You didn’t let the demon aspect of you take over completely?”

  “Well, I almost did,” Paris admitted. “I worry that it will happen again. I mean, even if I’m only one percent, that’s enough that it angers horses when I’m around them.”

  Stefan laughed abruptly. “Yeah, horses hate me. Take me to a rodeo, and it quickly turns to chaos. I also don’t do well in churches. My skin starts to crawl.”

  “It’s weird that you got all the best aspects of the demon and hunt evil but have an aversion to churches,” Paris remarked.

  “He is technically a demon who was cured,” Plato imparted. “That’s why sources sensitive to demonism will either cause him problems or be repelled. Stefan registers as a demon, as you will too. The differences are that he had the antidote and you have your fairy blood that combats it.”

  Stefan nodded and gave Paris a caring look. “I can help you learn how to control this part of you. I’m guessing that it will push you to want to fight evil, much like me.”

  “Oh, it does,” Plato said. “That’s why she’s been taking the law into her hands for the last ten years, putting bullies in their place.”

  Liv threw her hands into the air victoriously. “That’s my girl.”

  Paris lowered her chin, blushing. “Yeah, but I’ve also given Uncle John quite a few headaches. Poor guy has had to bail me out of trouble too many times.”

  “He has?” Stefan didn’t appear put off by this news.

  “She has a rap sheet to rival both of yours,” Plato supplied.

  To Paris’ relief, both of her parents grinned.

  “Yeah, that rap sheet is why I’m at Happily Ever After College,” Paris admitted. “It was our agreement to keep me out of jail after the last incident.”

  “Well, and also, I’d made arrangements.” Plato glanced to the side with a mischievous expression in his green eyes.

  Liv nodded appreciatively at the cat. “I couldn’t have thought of a safer place for Paris to protect her from the Deathly Shadow.”

  “And a half-fairy, half-magician is probably going to make the best fairy godmother in history,” Stefan stated.

  “No probably about it,” Liv said proudly.

  Stefan smiled at Paris. “You’ll have objectivity when it comes to love while also seeing things the way a fairy does with rose-colored glasses.”

  “I want to hope so,” Paris said, chewing on her lip nervously. “However, I worry about this demon part of me. What if I can’t control it when in high-octane situations? What if it overwhelms me and takes over?”

  “That’s not going to happen because your father will teach you how to control it,” Liv stated. “Like him, you’ll leverage all the advantages of your demon blood while not suffering the consequences of the disadvantages.”

  “I bet you’re fast,” Stefan said proudly.

  Paris shrugged. “I haven’t had a chance to test it or know how to compare myself to others.”

  Plato chuckled at this, gaining everyone’s attention. “Yeah, because a tiny little fairy should be able to best a giant in a fight. You thought that was normal?”

  Liv’s mouth fell open, her eyes wide. “You beat up a giant? Nice!”

  Heat rushed to Paris’ face, making her face feel on fire. “I always thought my advantage was being smaller and having the clearance to move faster.”

  “Oh, it definitely is,” Stefan stated. “Like your mother and Sophia. It sounds like you’re also faster and stronger because of the demon blood.”

  “I guess so.” Paris conti
nued to chew on her lip, the nervousness not having faded away.

  “Don’t worry about the negative aspects of being a demon,” Stefan continued. “I sense evil acutely, and I don’t sense anything evil about you. You’re all the best parts of a magician, fairy, and demon with none of the shortcomings.”

  Finally feeling more relaxed from those words, Paris let out a weighty breath, hoping that her father was right.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Relief flooded Paris’ chest when she entered her room that night to find Faraday sitting in her sock drawer. His head popped up, and he seemed to share the feeling.

  “What happened to you last night?” Paris looked the squirrel over.

  “I got lost in the Bewilder Forest,” he answered, also searching her. “What about you?”

  “I met a talking stag,” she answered.

  His large eyes widened. “Edison. So Plato did find him…”

  Paris nodded, explaining what the stag had told her.

  “It sounds like you’ve put together a lot of it,” Faraday said when she concluded, jumping over to the bed.

  “Well, there’s the whole how you all got turned into talking animals that I need to have filled in. Still, it sounds like what’s preventing you from telling me everything is wearing off. We need to find Curie. By chance, can you tell me what animal she is?”

  Faraday opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. After a moment, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I would if I could.”

  Paris slumped on the bed beside him. “That’s fine. I think it’s part of the unraveling that gets me to the solution.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it’s like a complex equation. It’s not enough to know the answer. You have to work out how to get it. Otherwise, reversing the operations to check your work never works.”

  Paris laughed. “I’m going to miss your strange examples that are totally un-squirrel-like.”

  Faraday slid his gaze to the side, hiding the expression in his eyes. “Yeah, really? I didn’t think you’d care when I left. I’ve mostly gotten you in trouble although my job was to watch out for you.”

  “I think you did watch out for me,” Paris argued. “You always seemed to know what was happening to me before I faced the Deathly Shadow.”