Maria made a scoffing sound. “Maybe a lot. Anyway, let’s stop talking about him. You’ll tell me what happened when you’re ready, though, won’t you?”

Sarafina nodded. A highly edited version, anyway.

“ ’Cause that was not like you at all,” Maria continued. “You can be impulsive sometimes, but . . .” She whistled. “I want to know the scoop on this guy for sure.”

“He’s something else, all right.” Sarafina pursed her lips and swallowed hard. She just wasn’t ready to talk about him yet.

After a moment, Maria said, “So are you going to take your full leave of absence, or are you coming back to the office soon?”

Sarafina chewed the edge of her thumb, trying to figure out how to best answer that. Thomas had offered her a job at the Coven and she wanted to take it, but the thought of having to see Theo so often was making her consider it at length.

The thought of going back to her cubicle now, though, after all that had happened, made her flat-out cringe. Back to all the non-magickals. Back to everyone who had no idea of the secret side of reality. Sarafina wasn’t sure she could do it. Yet Maria worked there and Sarafina would miss seeing her every day.

Of course, so did Alex and she wouldn’t miss seeing him.

“I don’t know yet, Maria. I’m thinking of a career change, actually. I might take the rest of my leave to look around a little and do some thinking.”

“I thought you were tight for money.”

Thomas had given her some money, saying it was for her help in vanquishing Stefan and the Atrika. At first she’d turned it down, but he’d been aggressive about it. Sarafina had enough to float for a while as a result. “Uh, I came into some unexpected cash.”

“Did Rosemary leave you some?”

Sarafina didn’t answer. She didn’t want to lie to her friend. That’s what made keeping the Coven’s secrets so hard. Sarafina valued Maria’s friendship very much and she hated having to hide this part of her life from her.

Just then the doorbell rang, saving her from having to explain.

“I’ll get it,” said Maria, rising and going to the door.

Theo was on the other side. He looked over Maria’s head at Sarafina, and she touched her hair self-consciously, kicking herself for even caring that she hadn’t done anything to it today besides wash it. She was wearing her old, washed-many-times jersey pajama pants, a soft sweatshirt, and the barest minimum of makeup. At least she’d taken a shower that morning.

Maria cocked a hip and pointed a finger at Theo. “Listen, Mr. Muscle, if you think you can—”

“Maria, it’s okay,” Sarafina interrupted.

She turned. “Should I let him in?”

Sarafina smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”