Firebird of Glass by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Kevin was looking at him suspiciously when Ansel came down the stairs in his new shirt.

Ansel kept his face as neutral as possible, trying to funnel his memories of stoners in his college classes. He was suggestible, he had no suspicions, he was completely normal and not-at-all paranoid. As far as he knew, everything was going exactly as it should, he had no doubts or reservations or independent thoughts.

The others made it easy, talking about a whole lot of nothing that he could join in on easily. He caught them up on the dogs, who were blissfully absorbing all the attention. He detailed the many things that Vesta had destroyed and everyone laughed at his comic descriptions of Fabio’s heartbreak.

“I’ll pay for the damages,” Heather assured him, cuddling Vesta in her arms like a baby. “She was just missing her mama, weren’t you! I was gone for so long!”

“She does that when you’re in the bathroom,” Rez pointed out wryly.

“Socks is...somewhere,” Ansel told Gwen when she came down, freshly-showered.

“She’ll come out in her own good time,” Gwen said without worry. Socks was pretty independent, but Gwen’s nonchalance still seemed a little over the top.

They all admired the trimmed Christmas tree and exclaimed with guilt over the presents that he and Tadra had wrapped and placed under it.

“You should go shopping tomorrow!” Ansel suggested as casually as he could manage. “Take Tadra to the mall and show her Santa Claus.” Robin wouldn’t be able to go somewhere as public as the mall, which would leave them home, alone, with Ansel.

“We can get photos in Santa’s lap!” Daniella joked.

“I am not sure if I like the idea of you in this Santa’s lap,” Trey protested with mock jealousy.

Then the delivery driver arrived, and the dogs exploded into a frenzy of greeting and guarding.

Once the driver had been tipped and sent on his way, Ansel went to the kitchen while the others unpacked it in the dining room. “Who wants drinks? Kevin, what’ll it be? We’ve got sodas, some beer, water…?”

“Don’t drink Ansel’s almond milk!” Heather and Daniella chorused.

Kevin chuckled and Ansel had to grit his teeth and hope that it looked like he was smiling.

Kevin had been at the last battle for the faery world, he said, which meant that he, too, was from that place. He didn’t appear to be a bleak and he didn’t have the same awkward puppet-blankness that a human who was ridden seemed to have. He clearly didn’t think he was being controlled. So what was he? A human? A human witch who had fought at the side of Cerad? Ansel had been under the impression that Cerad’s army had been one of darkness and dours, and Kevin seemed too big and blond and tanned to be a faery.

Gwen came into the kitchen to help him bring out drinks, and Ansel tested her cautiously. “So, you guys had a bit of an adventure, I guess. How did you get hurt?”

There was a purplish bruise at her temple, and Gwen’s face crumpled in concentration as she touched it.

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