“So… beautiful,” I managed as I gazed at her.

  “Oh, my,” Poppy said as she walked back over to me and leaned down on her knees.

  “The fae are so pretty,” I continued as the image of Taliyah bending over me started to wobble and grow blurry.

  Taliyah waved her hands in front of my face. “Depraysie, snap out of it. You’re making all of us uncomfortable.”

  I managed to croak out something, foreign even to my own ears.

  Taliyah frowned. “I need you to tell me where you’re hurt. Can you move? Do you think anything is broken?”

  “Bruised yes, broken no,” I managed, finally finding my voice as I struggled to sit up. Taliyah put a gentle hand on my back, supporting me as I did so.

  “You knocked your head into the floor pretty hard. You might have a concussion, but I doubt it’s anything more serious than that.”

  “Maybe,” Poppy said, lips tugging down into a frown.

  Taliyah nodded. “I’ll want to get you, Maverick and your customer to the hospital. Let the mundanes have a look at you.”

  “Is that a good idea?” Poppy continued, nervously chewing her lower lip.

  Taliyah frowned at her. “They’re not drilling holes in skulls to let the demons out nowadays, Poppy. I think we stopped doing that sometime in the 1950s and switched to Valium.”

  I didn’t point out that she’d lumped herself in with the mundanes, though she was clearly anything but. But if Taliyah wanted to consider herself human, that was her business.

  “How do you feel?” Poppy asked as she glanced down at me with that doting, Mama-Bear expression of hers.

  “Sore,” I admitted. “Scared. Maybe a little embarrassed.” I rubbed the ache in the back of my head as I figured I should probably explain what in spell had happened. “It was my potion that caused all the trouble.”

  “Wanda, you know better than to try your hand at potions,” Poppy reprimanded me.

  “I was trying to improve,” I managed. “But I’ll leave the potion-making to you and Astrid from now on.”

  “You’d better,” Maverick muttered as he crawled over into my line of sight. “Another mishap like that and you’ll kill someone. You’re lucky it was just the mannequin this time.”

  My eyes wheeled as I turned to face him and found him near the door, back braced against the wall. The front window and the mannequins were coated in a thick layer of white dust. White plastic had shed onto the ground like snakeskin, gathering where Sybil Weeks should have stood. A scorch mark on the ground was the only symbol of her demise. I couldn’t help a pang of loss, as strange as it might sound. Sybil had been my only presentable mannequin when I’d first arrived in the Hollow. The rest had been half-priced knockoffs from the thrift store, as the good ones I’d stored in the moving van had been destroyed when it crashed.

  I was sad to see her go.

  Taliyah helped me to my feet, which hurt. But, once realizing I could move and the pain was only minimal, I strode over to where Maverick was crouched. There was pain in my legs and my lower back but I tried to ignore it. I had to. This was my fault, my mess, and I had to be the one to clean it up. Maverick had been minding his own warlock-y business, and I’d nearly gotten us both killed. And for what? Something had hit the window, spooking us both. It was probably some enterprising brat on a bike throwing newspapers.

  Maverick glowered at me when I knelt by his side. He was covered in still more of the mannequin dust. It had settled on his suit, in his hair, and even on his lashes. His shoulder-length black hair was a steely gray to match his eyes. Aside from a bump on his forehead, he looked outwardly fine, just angry. Which was par for the course, I figured. If he was saccharine, we’d know he was suffering a brain bleed.

  “Sorry,” I said quietly.

  “Sorry?” he repeated incredulously. “‘Sorry’ is what you say when you drop a mug on the floor and spill coffee everywhere. This mishap could have killed us both, Wanda! It probably did kill your familiar.”

  At the mention of Hellcat, I scanned the room, my anxiety ratcheting higher when I didn’t find my irritating familiar in residence. Had the explosion actually managed to vaporize him? Even if Death had taken one of his lives temporarily (and it had in the past—I believed he was down to seven lives now, potentially six), there should still have been a body lying around, right? But Hellcat wasn’t here. If he had been, he would have been yowling about my incompetence right about now.

  My wandering eyes did land on a woman who was huddled in the corner of the store, appearing shell-shocked. She looked a little older than Astrid, which put her somewhere in her early twenties. If I had to guess, she was a college sophomore here to peruse the racks for sexy lingerie. I got a few every week, and most turned into repeat customers. Not that young men really needed help in the lust department. Simple availability was a turn-on for most college-aged boys.

  This girl was pretty enough. Pale, with an inky bob cut and storm-cloud gray eyes. Her nose was small, her lips thin, but there was a certain... quality to her that drew the eye. It wasn’t charisma. Hard to exude charm when you’re terrified, and she most certainly was.

  “Be nice,” Taliyah said from just behind me. I jumped. I hadn’t heard her approach.

  Maverick shifted his glower from me to the faerie princess, though his expression softened somewhat when it landed on her. And then his gaze just remained on Taliyah, his eyes widening slightly until he looked as shell-shocked as I felt.

  Surprise flickered through me as I realized what his gaze meant. My ever-vexing cousin didn’t soften toward anyone but his sister as a general rule, and even that was a grudging softness. He’d claimed to have a crush on me for years, but he’d never reacted to me like that.

  Maverick must have had a crush on Taliyah. Faerie Princess Taliyah. Goddess. And I thought he’d been a glutton for punishment when he’d been pursuing me. Clearly, he had a type—unavailable or difficult to woo women.

  “Are you okay?” Taliyah asked him.

  He held her gaze. “I’m fine.”

  Hmm, so he was downplaying the truth, playing the part of tough guy. Interesting and something I noted for later so I could hold it over his head when I needed some ammunition.

  “She could have gotten us killed,” Maverick muttered when he finally remembered himself and in doing so, pulled his gaze from Taliyah, who was busily studying him and there was something there in her eyes as well.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d hit my head too hard or what, but if I didn’t know better, I would have said something was brewing between my obnoxious cousin and the Chief of Police.

  “But she didn’t get you killed,” Taliyah pointed out as she pulled her attention away from Maverick and leveled it on me. “And that has to count for something.”

  “You aren’t going to arrest her?” Maverick managed as he speared me with a lopsided smile.

  “Don’t make me hex you, Maverick.”

  “Will the two of you stop your grumbling?” Taliyah said as she turned to face Maverick and approaching him, reached down to loop his arm over her shoulders. “Let’s see if we can get you up on your feet. Do you think you can stand?”

  “Yes,” Maverick hissed, pulling away from her like a child having a temper tantrum. “I can do it myself.”

  Taliyah turned back to face me. “The damage to the store is minimal and the fallout can be contained. All in all, it could have been worse.”

  “Good to know,” I answered, even though I was still worried about Hellcat, as crazy as that sounded.

  As if on cue, Poppy bustled in, clutching a patchy quilt in one hand and a handful of vials in the other. Her long, golden hair was mussed, her eyes wide with anxiety. Anxiety which barely dimmed when she took me in. I must have looked worse than I felt.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” she whispered as she approached me, her blue eyes wide with obvious concern.

  I shrugged. “Most likely, but Taliyah wants to take me to the hospital to check me out. I think she’ll shove us into the back of a police car if I refuse.”

  “Don’t think I won’t,” Taliyah said warningly. “I’ll break out the cuffs too… if I need to.”

  “Is that a promise?” Maverick asked, something a little mischievous shining in the dark gray of his eyes.

  “Oh, gross, Maverick,” I managed as Poppy rolled her eyes and Taliyah just shook her head.

  “Is he always like this?” she asked me.

  “Pretty much,” I answered.

  “What about you?” Poppy said as she faced the girl who was still sulking in the corner of the shop, looking shellshocked. Taking the quilt over to the girl, Poppy draped it over her shoulders and I noticed how the girl couldn’t stop shaking. I couldn’t spy any injuries on her from my vantage point, but that didn’t mean anything. Magic, and blood magic in particular, could have unforeseen side effects on anyone, especially mortals. And if by some miracle this girl had come away unscathed, she’d still witnessed an explosion. That was terrifying enough on its own.

  “Hey,” Poppy said gently, folding the blanket over her like a cloak. “We’re going to get you to a doctor. Is there anyone I can call to pick you up? Your parents? A friend maybe? Do you live in Haven Hollow?”

  “I want my mother,” she whispered.

  The girl was well and truly shaking now. Her voice was small and childlike. Certainly not the voice of a college woman. She sounded more like a kid.

  “Okay,” Poppy said slowly as she turned to face me with a quizzical expression. Apparently, she’d noticed the little girl like quality of the woman’s voice too. Had the exploded spell somehow had an infantilizing effect on the girl?

  “Can you give me your mother’s name? Or yours?” Poppy asked her.

  “Sybil,” she whispered. “I’m Sybil Weeks.”

  I froze to the spot, hoping I’d heard her wrong.

  “What—what did you just say your name was?” I asked, even as I could hear Maverick snickering in the background.

  “Sybil Weeks,” the girl, who had formerly been my mannequin, declared.

  It had to be a coincidence. There was no way that I... that we’d... But when our eyes met over Poppy’s shoulder I knew. Those gray eyes were distinctive. They were Depraysie eyes. The smile that blossomed when Sybil saw and recognized me was a Depraysie smile, almost identical to Astrid’s.

  Sybil threw off the blanket with a cry, flinging herself across the room and into my arms. She managed to bowl me over as she landed on top of me, arms winding around my neck with enough strength to cut off my air.

  Taliyah had to pry the girl off me so I could suck in a breath.

  “What’s going on?” Taliyah demanded, spearing me, then Poppy, then me again with her gaze. “Do you know her?”

  “Sort of,” I said as the realization of what had just happened started to hit me.

  Son of a...

  “Does someone want to explain this to me?” Taliyah demanded.

  “I can’t because I have no idea what’s going on,” Poppy admitted on a shrug.

  Everyone’s eyes settled on me. “Right… Sybil’s been… living in my shop but she wasn’t... this.” I pointed at her. “I mean… she wasn’t real. Sybil Weeks was—”

  “The name of Wanda’s mannequin,” Maverick finished for me, while still wearing that amused grin, damn him.

  Taliyah moved her head slowly as she turned to face Sybil, who just stared at all of us blankly. Then Taliyah moved her attention back to me. “Are you saying...?”

  I nodded. “We have a Pygmalion situation unfolding right before our eyes.”

  “A what?” Taliyah repeated.

  Poppy cleared her throat. “I think we just witnessed Wanda creating a life.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Pygmalion?” Taliyah echoed. “What are you talking about?”

  I craned my neck so I could see her. Did she seriously not understand what had just happened? What Maverick and I had just… spawned?

  “Is someone going to explain to me what the hell is going on?” she continued, her silver brows knit tight over her eyes, her expression both troubled and bemused. She was serious. She had no idea what we’d just done.

  Taliyah must have read the expression on my face because she raised her hands defensively. “Don’t look at me like that, Depraysie. I was raised human, which means I went to public school with the rest of the plebeian masses. And I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the American public school system is a mess… so forgive me for not getting the gist about what in shit just happened.”

  Fair point. Astrid had been saying as much for a while. It was one of the many reasons why she wanted to attend Blood Rose Academy. Yes, she’d be mingling with vampires, but she’d at least be among students who understood the shared history of our people. Maybe we ought to send Taliyah (soon to be Queen Olwen) to Blood Rose for a semester so she could cover her bases.

  I took a deep breath and said, “Pygmalion was the legendary King of Cyprus in Ancient Greece. He was a raging misogynist who decided there were no good women in the world and decided to remain celibate and he committed his life to sculpting. But one day he created a female sculpture so beautiful, he fell in love with it.”

  “He fell in love with a statue?” Taliyah continued.

  I nodded.

  “Weird,” Maverick piped up.

  I looked at him. “Yep. Pygmalion kissed and fondled the statue, which makes him infinitely more depraved than the women he claimed to hate.”

  Taliyah pulled a face. “That’s... disturbing, but I still don’t understand what it has to do with you, Maverick, Poppy, me, this room or...” She looked over at Sybil. “Her.”

  “I’m getting to that part,” I insisted, then took another big breath so I could get on with the getting on. “Pygmalion prayed to Aphrodite to bring him a woman just like his sculpture so he could marry her,” I continued as I glanced over at Maverick and noticed he couldn’t take his eyes off Sybil and there was a dawning realization taking place in his gaze.

  “Then what happened?” Poppy asked.

  “When Pygmalion returned home, he kissed the sculpture, and she came to life. Accounts vary about who the myth was based on and how the statue actually came to life. Some say it was Aphrodite, but that’s only one theory. It could also have been a faerie or a witch who was responsible. People think it had to be a god or goddess of some kind, though. No one can create a soul from nothing.”

  But apparently, we had.

  One only had to look at Sybil to see that this wasn’t a simple animating spark that had taken her from inanimate mannequin to very animate human. At least, I thought she was human, but on that subject I still wasn’t sure.

  As to the giving life to her bit, well, I’d given life to my little abomination, Acmonides, so the creature could spy on Lorcan in the early days of my relocating to the Hollow. Giving a wisp of life to a doll was one of the first things a witch learned, but there was a reason those lessons didn’t extend to larger things—larger things as in… human things.

  The larger the being was, the more complex its thinking needed to be, due to the danger it could present were it to lose control and go apeshit (think Frankenstein’s monster). The creation of large things, like golems, was strictly regulated across the board, just for safety’s sake. And even then, most creatures had to be animated from something in the natural world in order for witch magic to even work. Plant fibers, stone, animal bones, and so on and so forth. I’d never heard of anyone creating an artificial being from plastic. Sure, the origins of the stuff came from nature, but plastic was so far removed from its natural roots that it should have been unusable in this context.

  Which could mean only one thing. This wasn’t natural magic. Maverick’s Blood Warlock powers were evolving. And who the hell knew what I was. A bad mix, to be certain.

  Maverick seemed to be thinking along the same lines because, when I glanced his way, I saw barely restrained panic flashing through his eyes. He was devolving even more rapidly than I had.

  Hecuba, this was bad...

  Poppy ran the grainy white dust on the ground through her fingers thoughtfully. “It’s what’s left of the plastic,” she explained as she looked from it to Sybil to me. “It’s like she burst out of a shell, fully formed.”

  “So, she’s a baby,” Taliyah concluded but then frowned as she looked over at Sybil. “Though that doesn’t explain why she’s able to talk and she sounds fairly… with it. I mean, like sentient, cogent. Even human kids aren’t able to talk right away. It takes years.” She looked at me then. “Does animating magic come with higher brain function? Going by Earth logic, Sybil should just be a wailing baby looking for a bottle.”

  I ran a hand through my hair, looking anywhere but at my new, bigger abomination. Taliyah’s questions were logical and pertinent, but I didn’t have any answers. Goddess, I wasn’t sure how what Maverick and I had done was even possible, although everything I’d done was within the bounds of normal Blood Witch behavior, if there even was such a thing. Maverick was something new though. Something potentially more dangerous than I’d ever been, and I’d caused my own fair share of trouble.

  “If I had to guess?” I began, clearing my throat. “Sybil’s consciousness will go back to the time she first received a name.”

  “A name?” Poppy repeated.

  I looked at her and nodded. “Names are powerful things in magical circles. The faeries have a habit of collecting them, just in case they need to play tricks on someone or control them in some way. I named Sybil not long after I set up shop, which means she might have memories and impressions from that time. Between that and the magic, she probably has a set of... starter memories, I suppose. Now that she’s real, those starter memories will help her exist without simply being a ‘wailing baby wanting a bottle’ as Taliyah put it.”