“Still afloat,” he said, eyebrows rising as he took in David’s expensive suit. He was working, and he looked the part despite the heavy stubble the full moon made worse.

“It won’t take long,” I said, slicing the last mushroom. “I’ve got something I want you to take a look at. Picked it up on vacation, and I want your opinion.”

His eyes went wondering, but he unbuttoned his long leather duster. “Now?”

“Full moon,” I said cryptically, sliding the sliced mushrooms into my smallest spell pot and quashing the faint worry that I was breaking rule number two by mixing food prep and spell prep, but they were just the right size to hold toppings. Ivy quietly went to the fridge, getting out the cheese, cooked hamburger, and the bacon left over from breakfast. I tried to meet her eyes to tell her we were okay, but she wouldn’t look at me.

Angry, I slammed the knife down, careful to keep my fingers out of the way. Silly little vamp, afraid of her feelings.

Kisten sighed, his eyes on the disk of dough he had tossed professionally into the air, “Someday, I’m going to get you two ladies together.”

“I don’t do threesomes,” I said snidely.

David jerked, but Kisten’s eyes went sultry and pensive, even as he caught the dough. “That’s not what I was talking about, but okay.”

Ivy’s cheeks were red, and David froze as he took in the sudden tension. “Uh,” the Were said, half out of his coat. “Maybe this isn’t a good time.”

I dredged up a smile. “No,” I said. “It’s just everyday normal crap. We’re used to it.”

David finished taking off his coat, frowning. “I’m not,” he muttered.

I went to the sink and leaned toward the window, thinking David was a bit of a prude. “Jenks!” I shouted into the dusky garden, alight with pixy children tormenting moths. It was beautiful, and I almost lost myself in the sifting bands of falling color.

A clatter of wings was my only warning, and I jerked away when Jenks vaulted through the pixy hole in the screen. “David!” he called out, looking great in his casual gardening clothes of green and black. Hovering at eye level, he brought the scent of damp earth into the kitchen. “Thank Tink’s little red shoes you’re here,” he said, pulling up two feet when Rex appeared in the doorway, her eyes big and her ears pricked. “Matalina is about ready to dewing me. You gotta get this thing out of my living room. My kids keep touching it. Making it move.”

I felt myself blanch. “It’s moving now?”

Ivy and Kisten exchanged worried looks, and David sighed, putting his hands into his pockets as if trying to divorce himself from what was coming. He wasn’t that much older than me, but at that moment he looked like the only adult in a room full of adolescents. “What is it, Rachel?” he said, sounding tired.

Suddenly nervous, I took a breath to tell him, then changed my mind. “Could you … could you just take a look at it?” I said, wincing.