by Angel Leya
Kenzie shook her head. “I’m sorry the imp did all that to you.”
“Eh, he’s gotten us both pretty good on more than one occasion.”
“Yeah, I guess he has.”
Trevor chuckled. “Like attacking us with gingerbread men.”
“Or coloring our faces.”
“Or covering you in glitter.”
Kenzie chuckled. “I wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t gotten me—and the rest of the school—soaked as well.”
“Well, most of the rest of the school.”
“That’s right. You mer just had to flick a finger to avoid the downpour.” Kenzie turned another page. “Oooh! I think I found it!”
Trevor scooched across the bed so they were shoulder to shoulder. It was strange, Trevor being so large. If Kenzie didn’t look at him, she could envision he was his old self. It was enough to get the butterflies started, if she wanted. But those would have to wait.
The door banged open, and Kenzie nearly fell off the bed. Helena stood in the door frame, her glare and finger fixed on Kenzie. “Here she is. This is all her fault.” Her eyes flicked to Trevor and narrowed, then focused back on Kenzie.
Oberon came in a moment later. “Helena, I told you that wasn’t necessary.”
Kenzie’s eyes widened, and she tried to quietly close and conceal the grimoire.
Oberon’s eyes locked onto her movement. “Is that your spell book?”
Kenzie bit her lower lip. “Umm, well, you see—”
Oberon’s gaze flicked to Trevor. “Sir, I’m not sure what you’re doing here, but I’d like to ask you to leave.”
Trevor stood and took off his hat, his cheeks turning rosy. “Actually, it’s me, Trevor.”
Kenzie grimaced, but pointed a finger at Trevor. “Aghídha’glahn.”
Oberon and Helena’s eyes widened as the beard retracted into Trevor’s face. Which was still abnormally large.
“Have you been practicing your magic outside of mastery class? On the other students?” How Oberon managed to keep his voice even, Kenzie had no idea, but he definitely had the look of restrained rage in his reddening face.
“It’s not quite like that . . .” Kenzie said, and Trevor’s hand was on hers.
“What have you done to Trevor?” Helena screeched. She turned to Oberon. “She should be expelled!”
Trevor sighed.
Kenzie knew she couldn’t hide the truth any longer. “Look, it’s all a big misunderstanding. It started with one spell—which, I’d like to point out, I did during Mastery Class—and it kind of got out of hand. Trevor’s been helping me to undo it, but the helper I created is using my magic for his tricks now.”
“You heard her. She did this. That freak doesn’t belong in this school. She never has!” Helena folded her arms, giving Trevor the stink eye.
“Lay off, Helena,” Trevor retorted, fixing her with a glare.
“A helper?” Oberon asked Kenzie, his brows raised.
Kenzie reddened. “I thought a little magical help with the Christmas decorations was in order, but something—or things—went wrong, and it’s kind of an anti-helper now. I’ve been calling him an imp.”
“And this imp is behind the vandalisms? He’s why the cameras keep knocking out?”
Kenzie nodded, her eyes on her grimoire.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
“I—”
“Because she’s a selkie,” Helena hissed. “You can’t trust a selkie.”
“Helena!” Trevor barked, and she straightened, looking as if she’d been stung.
Kenzie’s shoulders dropped. “I was afraid you’d expel me,” she told Oberon, her voice barely above a whisper.
“It seems to me a selkie can’t really be ex-spelled,” Ren said as he popped into the room, a quilt draped over his arm. “What’s going on?”
“Kenzie just confessed to using magic and causing the recent mayhem at school,” Oberon said.
Helena firmed up her crossed arms and angry glare. Trevor squeezed Kenzie’s hand.
Ren looked from one person to another. “Remember that one time a kitsune walked into a room with an angry gryphon, an upset selkie, and two ticked off mer, then made them all laugh with his incredible humor?” He looked at Oberon.
“No,” Oberon replied, his face implying that no more be said.
“Aw, you know I’m good at lightning the mood.” Ren winked.
Oberon shook his head. “Ren, please go.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll make like that vampire friend of yours and Leif, but go easy on the kid, will you? It’s not like we haven’t broken a few rules when we were younger.” He dropped the quilt on Kenzie’s bed. “Marjorie sent this for you.”
Kenzie nodded and gave Ren a sad attempt at a smile. It was the selkie quilt, the one with little bits of blanket from those in their ancestry. Kenzie ran a hand over it, wishing she had the wisdom and power of the ages on her side. Despite Ren’s words, she had a feeling Oberon wasn’t going to let her off that easy.
Oberon sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “I’m going to need time to figure out how to deal with you. Hand over the grimoire, and no more magic. Understand?”
Kenzie nodded.
Trevor cleared his throat.
“Oh! Do you mind if I fix Trevor first?” Kenzie asked, baring her teeth in a pleading and probably catastrophic smile.
Oberon dropped his hand and nodded.
Helena stomped her foot. “What? You’re just going to let her use magic on him? Again?”
Oberon frowned. “Helena, I’m going to need you to leave.”
“No way!” Helena replied, but seemed to regain her composure as the force of Oberon’s stare—somehow both reprimanding and fatherly—bore down on her. She hung her head and left, and Oberon closed the door behind her.
“Go ahead,” Oberon said, fixing his gaze on Kenzie again and folding his arms.
Kenzie nodded, turning toward Trevor. She scanned over the words of the spell a few times, then held her hands out in front of the mer. Or Santa. “Solan fhorimaris.” The magic flowed through her, and even though she had her eyes closed, she could almost feel the fat melting off him. She let out a long breath and opened her eyes, grateful to find Trevor’s handsome face once more looking like Trevor. He smiled, and it was brilliant. Too bad the moment was so somber.
Oberon held out his hand again, and Kenzie softly closed the book and handed it to the director. It felt awful, and wrong. And . . . “What about the imp?”
“How did you intend to go about fixing it?”
Kenzie reddened. “Well, we need to find out who he turns into when he changes back. You see, he’s kind of hybrid shifter, and he’s immune to my magic when in helper form, so—”
“Got it. We’ll catch the creature and keep him until he turns back. Anything else?”
“He’s got a pretty wicked sense of humor.”
Oberon’s eyes darted to the door. “Don’t worry. I have experience with that.”
Kenzie didn’t feel it was on the same level, and based on the look Trevor was giving her, he felt the same. But she didn’t bother to correct the director. He’d find out soon enough.
“And what should I do, in the meantime?” Kenzie asked him.
“Lay low. Stay out of things. We’ll let you know when we need you.”
Kenzie nodded.
“But Oberon—” Trevor started.
Oberon held up a hand. “Maybe you should lay low, too. After all, it seems you’re quite embroiled in this . . . problem.”
Trevor closed his mouth and gave a curt nod.
“Good.” With that, Oberon turned on his heel and left.
Kenzie put her head in her hands. “Ugh. Could that have gone any worse?”
“Well, he hasn’t kicked either one of us out yet, so I’d say that’s a win.”
“Yet.” Kenzie groaned. “I’m so screwed.”
Trevor wrapped a warm arm around her shoulders. “You k
now what? Let’s go out. Grab some hot cocoa, finish up Christmas shopping, maybe see some lights.”
Kenzie shook her head. “No. I don’t deserve to have fun.”
“You’ve done nothing but beat yourself up since this whole thing started. Besides, Oberon said they’d take care of it. They don’t need you here.”
“Not yet.”
“And probably not for a while, either. Come on.”
It was true. They’d just see the imp, and based on past experience, it would be a while before anyone could find him. Then they’d have to capture him and wait for him to change back.
Kenzie looked at her closet. “There’s one place I want to go first.”
“Name it.”
“Did I ever tell you I’m friends with a vampire?” If she was going to get kicked out, she’d better start delivering some of those Christmas gifts. And Leif’s gift was the most important.
Trevor raised his brows, and Kenzie felt the first hope of a smile spreading like frost across her face. At least this part was going to be fun.
Chapter 22
Kenzie and Trevor walked through the hall toward Leif’s apartment, his key jangling in one hand while a paper bag rustled in the other. She’d never gotten around to wrapping the journal—she didn’t want the imp messing it up—so they’d gotten one of those cheap gift bags, a brilliant, gaudy gold color she was sure Leif wouldn’t miss. And with the Christmas cat head floating in said sea of gold, he was sure to know it was from her.
When she arrived at his apartment, she knocked first, hoping he’d answer. But when the moments stretched out, she put her key in the door and made her way in, Trevor hot on her heels. He looked a little uncomfortable. She hadn’t told him much about Leif, and he’d been rather quiet on the ride over. That was cool, though. She was more than happy to let him sweat it out. It made for a nice distraction from the drama that was certainly brewing back at the Dome.
“Leif?” Kenzie called out. She checked the rooms just in case, but didn’t see him there. Her heart skipped a beat. Was Leif okay? She was finding it hard to believe that he would be incapacitated and away from home. Unless something had happened to him. Had he been captured in his pursuit of the kraken? Maybe she should give him a magical ring—
Movement in the window caught Kenzie’s attention, and she smiled as a familiar purr filled the air. Leif swore up and down it was a perfect C or something. Kenzie was just glad to know Rainbow was around. “Where’s the big guy?” Kenzie asked, bending over to scratch the cat behind his ears. He’d warmed up to her since that initial creation. Maybe he’d even come to be grateful for being turned into a vampire cat.
“What’s wrong with that cat’s eyes?” Trevor asked, and Rainbow fixed him with a blood-red glare.
Kenzie chuckled. “What vampire is complete without a vampire cat?”
“A what?”
“Yeah, so I kind of raised this cat from the dead. Using vampire power to do so. And, well . . .” She held out a hand toward the creature. “Rainbow happened.”
“Rainbow?”
“Yeah. You know, rainbow and sunshine and kittens.”
Trevor’s brows raised and he took a step back.
“Relax. He’s too smart to be feral.”
Trevor’s gaze shot to hers. “Feral?”
“I said not feral, goof. Besides, he can smell fear.”
“What?” Trevor was backing toward the door, Rainbow tracking his progress with those intelligent eyes.
Kenzie chuckled, kneeling beside the cat as she ran a hand down his soft, gray fur. “Hey Rainbow. Any chance you could tell me where Leif got off to?” Rainbow looked at her, but of course, he didn’t respond. Typical. “Fine. But he’s okay, right? Ah, what am I saying? You wouldn’t still be here if he wasn’t okay. You tracked him across an entire country and broke through a metal window to get to him.”
“Maybe we should get going,” Trevor said, his voice far enough away that Kenzie imagined he must be by the door.
“Just a minute,” she called back. “Hey, Rainbow. Do you see this package?” She held up the bag, and Rainbow gave it a few sniffs, then sneezed. Kenzie chuckled. “I’m going to leave it on the counter. Let Leif know it’s for him, will you?”
Rainbow let out a meow, and Kenzie gave the cat a nod and another friendly pet. “Thanks, big guy.”
Kenzie put the bag on the counter, while Rainbow wove around her legs. Darn cat was going to trip her up if she wasn’t careful. But she made it to the door and hooked her arm in Trevor’s. He was standing behind the door, as if it could shield him from the maniacal outburst Rainbow was bound to have.
Kenzie tapped him on the arm. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Rainbow let out a low growl as she closed and locked the door. Kenzie looked at Trevor. “Man, he didn’t seem to like you.”
“Well, I am part fish.” Trevor smirked, but it didn’t hold his usual level of self-confidence.
Kenzie chuckled. “Yeah, well he’s not much for fish these days.”
“And what exactly does a vampire cat eat? Wait. Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“Ha. You and me, both.”
They walked back out of the building and into the cold Chicago winter air. Kenzie hugged Trevor’s arm a little tighter. It helped, but not nearly as much as when she hugged Wes. And just like that, she was stuck in her head, wondering how things got the way they were. Wes wasn’t talking to her, he could barely even look at her. She missed their connection, his granola ways, the way her hand curved into his. Even now, with Trevor slipping his fingers between hers, she couldn’t get Wes out of her mind. What was wrong with her? Wes had rejected her. It wasn’t like she’d done anything wrong, either. One video—and a rather old video, at that—one that shouldn’t have come as a shock, or even exited, had sent him so far over the edge as to break their connection. And like it or not, that was on him.
Kenzie looked up into Trevor’s face and smiled.
“Hey. What’s got you so distracted?” Trevor asked.
“Ah, I just wasn’t expecting the apartment to be empty,” Kenzie said. It wasn’t a lie, really. She missed Leif, and she had a nagging suspicion that something wasn’t quite right. But Rainbow was still there. That gave her at least some comfort. Leif wasn’t dead—or more dead than being a vampire made him—and he wasn’t trapped somewhere, at the mercy of some villain.
A villain like Adam. Kenzie wondered when that loose end would come back to bite her. She had a feeling that video could’ve only come from one place, which meant the vampire—no, he was an ursa-vampire hybrid now—was still alive. And apparently looking for revenge. Why else would he send that video to the mer?
“Maybe it was for the best that only the cat was there.” Trevor said, squeezing her hand.
“Maybe. I think you’d like Leif, if you got to know him. He helped save the Shifter school. On more than one occasion. He’s currently out looking for his long-lost love.”
Trevor let out an amused huff. “Typical.”
“He’s going to bring her back from the dead,” Kenzie added, wearing a knowing half-smile.
“Okay. Not so typical. How does he plan to do that?”
“With a little magic.” She wiggled the fingers of her free hand, but felt obliged not to use a spell to prove her point. Oberon’s words seemed to weigh heavily around her neck. She didn’t want to let the director down again.
“Sounds perfect.” He tugged on her arm, steering her down a different street. “Let’s go this way. I know a place that has excellent hot cocoa. And pie.”
“Mmmm. Now you’re speaking my language.”
They came to a small diner, and Trevor steered them inside. The smell of fresh coffee and warm apple pie were enough to win Kenzie over. It probably wasn’t like Mack’s, but she wasn’t with Wes, either. She wondered if she’d ever dare to get their chili cheese fries again. Hopefully this place carried the equivalent. Although, she might be able to trade out her fries for the
pie. It smelled divine.
“Just find a seat wherever,” a waitress called to them. Her auburn hair sparkled beneath a bright Santa hat, and she flashed a dazzling smile.
“Here. This corner seat’s nice.” Trevor led them to a table, and Kenzie sat across from him.
“You come here often?”
Trevor shrugged. “I’ve been a few times. They have a fish po’ boy that keeps luring me in.”
Kenzie nodded. Seafood wasn’t really her thing. It was okay, but unless it was slathered in cheese or tartar sauce, she’d rather have French fries and a burger.
“Hey, guys. What can I get you?” the same waitress asked, sounding just a little breathless. The diner wasn’t packed, but it wasn’t empty, either. Vicky—if the name tag was telling the truth—probably had her hands full.
“Two hot cocoas and a couple slices of that apple pie,” Trevor said.
“Whipped cream, or without?” Vicky asked.
“Whipped cream. On everything.” He looked at Kenzie and grinned.
The waitress nodded and went on her way.
It was weird, having Trevor order for her. He was right, of course. They’d already discussed what they wanted—mostly—but even after a year of dating Wes, he always gave her room to order for herself, despite her having a “usual.” Whatever. She was getting what she wanted. That’s all that really mattered. Right?
“So, what should we do next?” Trevor asked, leaning back in his seat.
Kenzie shrugged. “It’s not dark enough for lights yet.”
“Don’t worry. That’ll come sooner than you think. How about shopping? Are you ready for Christmas?”
Kenzie looked at the table. “No, not really.” Christmas was ruined. All her plans and hopes had died when she confessed to Oberon what she’d done. At least the imp problem would soon be taken care of. Maybe if she’d confessed as soon as she knew what had happened, things would’ve turned out different.
“Then we’ll fix it,” Trevor said, and Kenzie called up her best smile. He was so sweet, always trying to fix things for her. So why the sudden urge to smack him?
Vicky came back, carrying two piping hot mugs and two large slices of pie, all topped with whipped cream.