“I’m open to ideas.”

  “Levitate out the battery.”

  It wasn’t the worst idea. “Fine.” I got to my knees and gave the box a good look.

  He’d been right when he said the wires were everywhere. It was hard to tell if it was a single wire that wound through the box or if there were several that crossed and connected. The various spells all touched the wires. Some spells were hard to identify, but the small gold coffin and attached projection spells stood out.

  Mirrors were wedged in every spare space between spells and wires. A few of them had wires running around the edge and had been original. The rest had been scavenged from household items. Along with the added mirrors sat a plastic bat. It could’ve been original or added.

  I probed the different spell. Physically, the closest one to the battery was the light spell. If they were directly connected, I couldn’t find the link. “Get ready.”

  “Should I hide on the porch?”

  “Wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

  Rodriguez chuckled but didn’t move.

  As delicately as I could, I threaded a strand of my power between all the spells and attached it to the battery. Then I strengthened it and gave it purpose. “Nazid.”

  The battery lifted up.

  I directed it away from the metal plate and up higher. As soon as it lost contact with the plate, my vision went orange.

  Someone screamed.

  “This is fun,” Rodriguez commented.

  “I can fix this.”

  The levitation spell broke, but the battery didn’t fall into the box.

  “I have the battery,” Rodriguez said.

  Reaching through the various spells, I wrapped my power around the light spell. First, I severed its connection to the network. Then, I shredded it.

  The world turned black for a fraction of a second, and then the color faded. The houses, blue sky, and absolute mess around us reappeared.

  “Do you even know what you’re doing?” Gus yelled.

  I ignored him. The orange and black blobs were gone, as were all the skeletons, both soaring and shuffling varieties. Not perfect, but it was progress.

  The orange kudzu had grown. I’d be more concerned, but webs still covered most of the street, and despite kudzu’s frightening growth rate, the webs were a larger problem.

  Literally. One house was nothing but a chimney poking out of a white cocoon.

  Hoping I wasn’t making a mistake, I levitated the liquorice and kudzu out of the box. To my surprise, it went without a hitch. Rodriguez pocketed them as evidence.

  I unmade the web spell, and they faded from sight. Cars, houses, sheds, and one truly ugly playhouse reappeared.

  Without the herbs powering the spells, the network faltered. Bats exploded out of nowhere as the spells failed. They hung in the air for a moment before fading away.

  Even the orange kudzu vanished.

  A dog trotted down the sidewalk. The rose bush lunged for it, missing by a whisker’s length.

  So, the plants were still a problem. I knew an elf who could help with that.

  “We did it,” Rodriguez said. “Everything is soggy, but it’s a sunny day.”

  “You’re insane!” Gus yelled.

  I glanced back, surprised he was still here. One wrist was handcuffed to the railing. I raised a brow at Rodriguez. “Really?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t trust him to stay.”

  Stay. I’d told Tricks to stay. “Oh, no.”

  “What?”

  “Tricks! I left her in the car. I’ll be right back to help you deal with this mess.” I got to my feet and tried to sprint. All I had in me was a slow jog, which wasn’t doing my head any favors.

  “Oh, s—” Rodriguez’s radio chirped, cutting him off.

  In a small blessing, I didn’t see Tricks on the street. Maybe the earth had shown me some favor, and she’d stayed in the car.

  I turned the corner. Nope. I wasn’t that lucky.

  Tricks was exactly one house out of the way of the spell, with every cat and dog in the neighborhood lying across her legs or snuggled up beside her, and one tiny pewter kitten in her arms. She touched her nose to the kitten’s. “Aren’t you the cutest? I wish I could keep you, but your mom says you have a good home.”

  A matching pewter cat sprawled on the grass a few feet away meowed.

  Tricks jerked her head up and then sighed. “I tried, but I promise I didn’t go on the street. Just next to it. I couldn’t let these poor things be so scared. A few came over from the rest of the neighborhood. They were all so frightened.” She spoke so quickly the words blended together.

  I held up a hand. “Next time, move over a house. That’s all I ask.”

  She nodded. “Oh, Mom called. She wanted to know why I wasn’t back yet. You said not to lie, so I told her I was waiting with the car while you took care of some work.”

  A bit of a stretch since the car was three houses farther down the street. As long as they didn’t see her here, it should be fine. “The truth is good.”

  The kitten crawled onto her shoulder. Tricks looked at me with big eyes. “What will happen to them?”

  I fished my phone out of my pocket. Thanks to an insistent salesperson, it was waterproof and had survived the flood just fine. “I’ll call animal control, and they’ll do their best to get every single cat and dog—” A snort had me adding to my list. “And pig back to their homes.”

  “Some of them know where they live. I could send them back.” She reached for a golden retriever.

  “Let’s just let animal control take care of it. I’ve met several of them. They’ll do their best, and we can get you home.” Before her parents realized exactly what she’d been doing out here.

  She nodded.

  I called animal control and explained the situation. They said an officer would be by shortly.

  I told Tricks who would come by and to let them deal with the animals. “Will you be okay for a few more minutes if I check in with Rodriguez?”

  Tricks paled, her eyes locked on something behind me.

  With a twist of my wrist, my wand settled into my hand. I turned and felt the blood drain out of my face. That was Elron’s car, with Enor and Erwin.

  Narzel hated me.

  Chapter Twelve

  Elron rolled past us and parked next to my car.

  Tricks gave me a look. “I should’ve lied.”

  Not much I could say since I agreed.

  Erwin and Enor rushed over. Had humans done the same thing, the animals would’ve scattered, but even these two had elven abilities with fauna.

  Enor knelt beside Tricks.

  Erwin stomped over to me. “How dare you bring our daughter into a dangerous situation!”

  “I wasn’t in any danger.” Tricks set the kitten down. “Look at me. Does this look dangerous?”

  Elron came over, ignored my dripping clothes, and gave me a hug. “How are you?”

  “Wet. Tired.” Annoyed. I didn’t say that last one. It would only make things worse. Mouthing off at home was one thing. At work was an entirely different matter. “Could you check in with Rodriguez and deal with the plants? Both a sunflower and rose tried to eat animals.”

  His eyes slid over to the pile of cats and dogs.

  “Yup,” I said.

  He quickly tied back his silver hair. “If I cannot return them to their previous state, I will relocate them to the university.”

  “Thanks.” While Elron dealt with the plant problems, I turned back to his parents. Magic could fix this problem. Illegal magic. Immoral magic. I’d never been so tempted to break the law. “I’m sorry. I have to do my job. She was never in any danger.”

  “How would you know? Were you with her the entire time?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “No. That would’ve meant she was in danger.” I tried to be nice.

  It didn’t work. Erwin launched into a monologue about all the things I’d done wrong. Three of the hundred wrongs were accurate. He kept going until the animal control truck pulled up.

  Reyleigh, a fey I’d worked with before, hopped out of the truck. Her sage green hair was in a ponytail. The sand-colored uniform shirt brought out the ash tones in her green skin. “Hey, Michelle. What’s the problem this time?” She took in the elves and all the animals, which now included seven squirrels, two chipmunks, and a dozen wild birds.

  “The domestic ones need to go back to their homes. Including the pig.”

  Reyleigh smiled. “That’s a relief. I was afraid it was more invisible flying cats.”

  “Not this time, thank the earth.”

  Erwin shut up, likely because of the audience.

  Which was the perfect time for Elron to walk by with the sunflower. The blossom lunged for Erwin. He flinched away.

  Elron chuckled and scolded the plant.

  I didn’t know why Elron bothered. Nothing would want a bite of Erwin once they tasted him. Too bitter.

  “Michelle! I need you,” Rodriguez called from Paradise Lane.

  “Forgive me, I will be back shortly.” I didn’t say it to anyone in particular, and I escaped before Erwin could start up again.

  It would’ve been nice if they’d showed up after the wedding. They could hate me all they wanted, but at least 80% of the arguments would go away.

  While I’d been busy, reinforcements had arrived. Fire trucks, several police cars, and an ambulance lined the road. Three cops escorted Gus and two other boys to a car. Firefighters headed down Paradise Lane, making sure I hadn’t set anything on fire with my poorly thought-out kudzu burning. Officers were going door to door to check on any residents and get statements. A few crime scene techs were busy documenting evidence, including Rodriguez’s car. A tow-truck waited to haul it away.

  Rodriguez stood in the intersection, holding out a phone. “The representative of the Bakke wants to talk to you. According to her, we shouldn’t have touched the box.”

  “I’ll take care of it.” I took the phone from him. “This is Michelle.”

  A woman huffed. “It took that human long enough. Why did you interfere with the box? It is clearly labeled. We have always been more than happy to pick up lost merchandise.”

  “I didn’t catch your name.” There weren’t many perks to my newly complicated life, but getting respect from witches like her was one of them.

  “Luna.” She snapped. “That didn’t answer my question.”

  This was going to be fun. “Hi, Luna. We weren’t properly introduced. I’m Michelle Oaks.”

  Absolute silence.

  “Now that we’re acquainted, it would be lovely to have a representative of your clan, perhaps one less dismissive of humans, liaise with the police. Your box was involved in a crime and is now in their possession. It was tampered with before I arrived on scene and could have killed people. I had to destroy all the spells to disable it.”

  “I see,” A much-subdued Luna replied. “I will inform the minister. She will be there to aid the officers in any capacity, and we will investigate how this box was misplaced.”

  I smiled wickedly. “Perfect.”

  “If you send us the box number, we can provide more information. I suspect it is an older model. The newer ones come with dwarf-crafted location beacons.”

  “I’ll have Officer Rodriguez send the information.” I hesitated. “Unless there’s a reason you can’t work with him?”

  “No, no. I will be happy to help him get to the bottom of this incident.” After three more apologies, Luna made her escape.

  I walked the phone back to Rodriguez. Maybe I’d been mean, but she’d deserved it. And really, all she’d ever had to do was talk to Rodriguez with the same respect she’d shown me.

  “How’d it go?”

  I handed him the phone. “She’ll behave now. And the minister will come down to work with you. I scared them into behaving.”

  He raised a brow. “That’s not like you.”

  “What can I say? Something has gotten into me lately.”

  “Uh huh. I bet I know what that is.” The teasing smile faded. “The three boys responsible for this mess are headed to the department for official questioning. Their parents, none of whom are home, are being contacted. Elron said he would remove the most dangerous plants and the two of you could work out a plan for the rest. You’ll have to get the details from him.”

  Speak of the elf, Elron was carrying the rose bush to my car, warning everyone to stay well away. He had better be planning on driving back with me. The plants listened to him.

  “Got it. What else do you need?”

  Rodriguez shrugged. “I did a sweep. Other than a few dancing pansy plants, he got the dangerous things. Go home, write up the report, maybe torment the Bakke again. You’re done here.”

  “You’ll have the report tomorrow.” It would keep me away from Erwin and Enor.

  I headed back to the car, not sure how to fix things with the soon to be in-laws. It wasn’t like I blamed them for waiting to keep Tricks away from crime and magical calamities. I’d been called to cases that were no place for a bystander, especially a young one.

  The way my job worked, I was on call unless I was sick. If they didn’t want to risk her sitting near a scene, someone else would have to drive a separate car and come with us wherever we went. Not the most practical solution, but we could make it work.

  I got back to my car to find Elron leaning against the passenger door, my back seat stuffed with rose, sunflower, and iris plants. Tricks, Erwin, and Enor were nowhere to be seen. Neither was Elron’s car.

  “They took her home.” Elron opened the driver’s door for me. “She would not stop talking about scared animals. In the midst of her never-ending story, my parents lost most of their anger.”

  “Let me guess, she can’t go anywhere alone with me if I might get called out on a case.” I eyed the plants in the back seat. “Are they going to eat me?”

  “Of course not.” Elron sounded offended.

  “You get in first.”

  Elron grumbled as he crossed to his side of the car. “After all we have been through, you still do not trust me.”

  “It’s not you I don’t trust. It’s them.”

  As if to prove my point, the rose leaned a bloom over my headrest.

  He settled into the car, and the rose retreated.

  I slowly got in, ready to lunge for the door if needed.

  The plants didn’t move.

  “See?” Elron said.

  “I wish I could.” I tugged the door shut and cranked the car. The sooner we got home, the better.

  Elron said quiet words to the plants as we wound our way through the neighborhood.

  I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road. In the rear-view mirror, I could see them sway with the motion of the car. I had to ignore them when I pulled onto the street.

  “My parents and Tricks will be eating dinner with Landa,” Elron said. “Would you care to eat out?”

  “Anywhere you want.” Anywhere without Enor and Erwin was perfect. I didn’t even care that much about the food.

  After a short debate, we settled on pizza. Elron assured me the plants would behave, and the weather was cool enough that they wouldn’t wilt in the car.

  I couldn’t bring myself to be too concerned about flowers that had tried to take a chunk out of me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Forty minutes later and happily sated, I leaned back and sighed. “I’ve missed this.”

  He raised a brow.

  “You and me. Quiet evenings. The simplicity of it.”

  Elron reached across the table and locked his fingers with mine. “We will get through it.”

  “I know we will.” That wasn’t what worried me. “It’s not about us anymore. It’s about the events, symbolism, everything but two people who love one another.”

  He squeezed my hand. “We cannot change who we are. You will be the premier. With that comes a life that is not entirely your own. I am an elf, and to others that fact complicates our union. It will not be like this forever.”

  “I’m tired.” That was the truth I’d been avoiding. It wasn’t just the wedding. Or his family. It was everything.

  “Tonight, I will deal with the plants. You can write up the report, and I’ll talk to Landa. With a little urging, the Lodge won’t let anyone near your apartment.”

  “Not to sound ungrateful, but you know that’s not what I mean.” I tugged my hand away and toyed with a leftover crust.

  Elron studied me. “It will help.”

  I shrugged. “The wedding has lost its soul. I don’t want to marry you for show. I want to marry you because I love you.”

  “Is it so difficult to marry for love in front of a camera?” Elron asked. “I have been to the elven weddings, ones that used every tradition my parents desire. The customs, the extravagance, they were for the guests. They did not change the feelings between the couple.”

  I dropped the crust on the plate. “My love for you is private. It doesn’t exist for their pleasure.”

  There was more to it than that. A tangle of emotions I didn’t know how to separate. So many people weren’t happy about our union, but so many people were. It felt like our marriage was symbolic, holding meaning to everyone. Only they didn’t have the one meaning that really mattered. Love.

  Love strengthened by loyalty, devotion, caring, and shared experiences. As a child, I couldn’t have imagined a love like this. And all of what made us a unit, that was private. The world knew we killed the demons. They didn’t know the cost both of us had paid. They didn’t know how those events had shaped us, brought us together, nearly broken us.

  “We can add elements, little traditions specific to us,” Elron said.

  “Where?” I asked. “What’s left after Dorthea and your parents get their share?”

  He leaned forward and locked his eyes with mine. “There’s always room for us. For a venue we like, for flowers we chose, for whatever little tradition we want. There is always room.”