Zed found that he didn’t want to agree. He wanted to follow them through the strange fairy tale house and see Dani’s face as she saw all of the charming little quirks, the trees lit by spirit bottles, the haint-blue porch crowded with hanging baskets of geraniums, the odd little tower where Miss Lottie had held her rituals. And the bed that swung from the ceiling on ropes made from spider-shifter silk, that was always a point of interest.

But instead, he chose not to behave like a lovesick preteen girl, looked at the mess he’d made of the shower and realized he was going to have to visit the hardware store. In his effort to try to catch the tub, he’d stepped on several of his pipes and bent them beyond repair. Sure, he had the strength to force them back into shape, but they’d never thread together properly and run water without serious leaks.

“Hey, bebelle! I’m gonna have to run into town!” he yelled through the kitchen door, into the house.

“Put on a shirt!” Jillian shouted back from upstairs. “Otherwise, Bael will arrest you for public indecency!”

Zed called back. “Not likely! He’s been in a much better mood since you moved in! He’s only a grumpy bastard every other day!”

Zed pulled his wet shirt over his head, Jillian’s bell-like giggle ringing through the open door. The shirt clung to him like an overprotective mother, but thanks to the summer heat and the breeze from riding his motorcycle, the material had almost dried by the time he reached the town square. His bike rolled smoothly down Main Street and its collection of shops. The town square centered on a wooden gazebo and a large fountain, carved by dwarvish craftsmen, featuring nearly every creature included in the town’s population, all sheltered by a dragon’s unfurled wings. The Boones weren’t exactly subtle about their “patronage” of the town.

The Boones owned almost everything: the bank, the boat dealership, the grocery, the apothecary shop, the beauty salon, the hardware store, the book shop and, of course, the pie shop marked with “Bathtilda’s Pie Shop, Home of the World’s Best Chocolate Rhubarb Pie.” Each building was freshly painted and decorated with baskets overflowing with bright red geraniums. It was practically the town’s official flower, what with its mosquito repellent scent.