“Of course you did.” Resignation—and a bit of pride—shone in her eyes. “You always were a rebel. Maybe I should have made you do some pushups while I sat on you.”
Tessa smirked at me. “Since you’re not a hot angel, Calli, I don’t think she would have enjoyed that very much.”
“Undoubtably.”
“We have to move to New York. It’s apparently full of hot single angels,” Tessa said to Gin.
I hated to burst her bubble, but… “There are only two angels who currently live in New York, and right now they’re both sitting at this table.”
“And neither of them are single,” Tessa lamented.
“That’s not exactly true,” I told her.
She blinked.
“I asked out your sister Bella, and she turned me down,” Harker said. He didn’t sound the least bit embarrassed.
Tessa looked at Bella like she’d lost her mind. “Why would you do an idiotic thing like that? Why?” Her voice shook with emotion. “You’re supposed to be the smart one in the family.”
“I’m not giving up.” Harker looked at us. “What sort of gestures of affection would Bella appreciate?”
“Fairy’s Breath,” Tessa said immediately.
Fairy’s Breath was a fragrant, lacy flower that came in all kinds of colors.
“Also, hard-to-get potion supplies like liquid silver and crushed diamonds,” Gin added. “Horned Ravager hooves. And other beastie parts.”
“She apparently likes angels too,” I commented.
Harker chuckled. “It runs in the family.”
“It’s hard to say no to all those muscles and magic.” I even managed to say it with a straight face.
Gin was laughing her head off, but Bella looked positively mortified. It was only fair, especially after how Bella had teased me earlier. And, besides, this was just how our family rolled, passing the hot potato of mortification.
Harker finished his last bite of steak, drank a sip of wine, then he set his napkin on the table. “Unfortunately, this is not a social call, ladies. I came here to get Nero. We have a mission from the First Angel.”
“What kind of mission?” I asked.
“The secret kind.” Harker looked at Nero and added, “And the urgent kind. We have to go now.”
Nero gave me a quick kiss. “Try to stay out of trouble, Pandora,” he whispered against my mouth.
I could feel the warmth of his kiss lingering on my lips like magic, even as he rose and left the restaurant with Harker.
“That sure was one powerful kiss.” Tessa shivered. “It’s giving me goosebumps, and they’re not even my lips he kissed. Angels don’t really do anything halfway, do they?”
I was still touching my lips, feeling the mark he’d left. It was a small one, but it was an angel’s mark nonetheless. He’d left a part of him behind with me.
“No, they really don’t,” I agreed.
Gin and Tessa sighed in unison. Bella was quiet, probably still fighting with herself over whether she should go out with Harker. Angels were intense in everything they did. And, as Tessa had figured out, they did everything at a minimum of two hundred percent. Anything worth doing must be done perfectly. That was their motto. Bella looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to jump into that world.
I paid the bill, then my family and I went back to the festival. It was so different out here, so bright. The scene was not magically darkened to create an atmosphere, then spot-lit with magic lanterns and magic fire. No, out here on the streets, it was noisy, alive. Vibrant. Corny carnival tunes repeated again and again as brightly-colored flags and banners rustled in the wind.
As we made our way through the festival, we picked up packages of cookies, apple treats, onion rings, and all sorts of unhealthy things for dessert. The food was the exact opposite of the upscale meal we’d just had at the Silver Platter.
Tessa’s gaze flickered around rapidly, scanning the crowd.
“Do you want me to check for monsters hiding behind the buildings?” I asked her.
Tessa’s face lit up, and she grabbed Gin’s hand. “We’re meeting some friends. See you later.”
Then they ran off without waiting for a response. I watched them join the growing crowd that had surrounded Brokers and a few other paranormal soldiers. They sure had a lot of fans from Purgatory’s young lady population. Tessa had managed to squeeze through the wall of bodies to the front of the line. She was already talking to the soldiers.
“I guess we don’t rank as high as the latest batch of paranormal soldiers to arrive in Purgatory,” I said to Bella.
Calli wrapped an arm around each of us. “Let them have their fun. They’re young and foolish. Sooner or later, they’ll learn to stop chasing after boys and let the boys chase after them.”
I watched Tessa flirt with three soldiers at once. “Unlikely.”
“It’s just the three of us for a bit,” said Calli. “I’ve missed you both.”
“And we’ve missed you,” Bella told her. “Terribly.”
Uncertainty trembled in her eyes, the lingering shock of discovering the truth of her origin. She must have felt really alone right now.
Calli saw it too because she squeezed us closer. “I know that must have been really tough for you, Bella, but I want you to forget all about it and just have fun with your family.”
“Your real family,” I added.
“I will.” Bella looked fortified by our words.
“Don’t you worry about anything,” Calli said as we passed blinking game stalls. “I’m going to win you an egregiously large stuffed animal.”
She stopped in front of a game that involved shooting a tin can. She slapped her one dollar bill down on the counter.
The gamekeeper, a teenage boy who looked like he’d been hit with the pimple curse I’d threatened Tessa with earlier, glanced from the money to Calli. He shook his head. “You can’t play.”
“Why not?” Calli demanded.
“The game’s out of order.”
“Don’t bullshit me, kid. Two minutes ago, you were happy to take that boy’s money for twenty rounds of the game as he tried in vain to win his girlfriend a unicorn. Yep, you took his money, even though he never had a chance because you’ve rigged the game.”
Looking indignant, he huffed. “I can assure you that Shoot ’em Down is perfectly fair and—”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Calli slid her dollar toward him.
He slid it back. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t want to let Calli play. She was an excellent shot. She didn’t miss, and the whole town knew it.
“Look,” Calli said, her tone softening. “I promised my Bella a gigantic fluffy cat. If it will make you feel better, I’ll play the game blindfolded.”
He waved over his colleague. The two of them turned their backs to us and whispered for a while.
Finally, Pimples said, “All right, but I am tying the blindfold.”
“I can’t believe she convinced him to let her play,” I commented as Bella and I watched him tie the blindfold securely over Calli’s eyes.
Bella ate a piece of popcorn. “This will be good.”
Calli shot and missed the target.
“I wonder how long she’ll pretend to fool around,” Bella said.
Calli could shoot blindfolded or not. It didn’t matter.
“She’s of course waiting until she has only one shot left before she aims at the target. To create drama,” I said as Calli missed again.
Pimples was smiling in triumph. The fool was celebrating his victory too early.
“How many shots does she have left now?” Bella asked me.
“Three.”
Calli was taking her time, pretending to be disoriented. She aimed far off the target. Pimples and his colleague ducked, afraid she was going to shoot them by mistake.
“So, now that we’re alone, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” I asked Bella.
She blinked. “What elephant?”
“Don’t be coy, Bella,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. “You know I’m referring to you and Harker.”
“Honestly, there is no Harker and I. It’s a very bad idea.”
“You know, that’s what I told myself about Nero. I had myself perfectly convinced that it was a bad idea to get involved with an angel.”
“And I see logic won out as usual.”
“Love isn’t logical. And throwing caution to the wind didn’t turn out so badly for me.”
“I’m not you, Leda. I’m not brave enough.”