28
Spare Parts’ Dealer, Make Me a Match
I rushed over to Kato. “Help him, please,” I pleaded. Hydra and Rexi spurred to action. I snatched Rexi’s ankle, allowing my palms to keep just a flicker along the skin. “You’ve done enough. If you move, I will end you.”
She started shaking. “I couldn’t help it. She wouldn’t let me go back.”
Rexi seemed like a completely different person from the one who had conspired with the wizard at the tower. All the bravado, not to mention the tacky dress and ugly fire opal necklace, was gone. Right now, Rexi was either scared hexless of me or up for the best actress award at the Grimmy’s. Something wasn’t right, but my brain was still too muddled to sort through it. I released her leg and let her cower under the window.
Hydra emerged from her shack carrying a head by its red hair. She yanked off her own and tossed it. Rexi caught it and turned a distinct shade of “I’m going to throw up” green.
There was that squishy plop sound and bippity bob’s your uncle, Hydra was a redhead with a white streak down the side—like a skunk. She blinked her green eyes a few times. “Ahh, that’s better.” Now she spoke with a bit of a twang while smiling a crooked and yellowed smile. The shack behind her shuddered and folded in on itself—all the way down to a square the size of a tinderbox.
What in story was going on, and how was packing all her junk up going to help Kato? Now was not the time for redecorating.
Hydra sensed my impatience and held up a hand. “Wait fer it.”
The box wiggled and jumped, then opened back up and expanded until it was a light blue stucco building with a blinking neon sign out front that said “Spare Parts.”
By far the coolest thing I had ever seen. If I ever got home or had a chance at a normal life again, I was so ordering one of those from the Castle Shopping Network.
Hydra grabbed Kato’s back legs. “Don’t just stand there. Help me git him inside.”
I grabbed his front paws, and we heaved, moving about a dwarf’s length before we had to set him back down. I grunted and tugged while Kato groaned, not entirely conscious. “If you can hear me, you are officially on a diet.” While I was in the Ivory Tower, he had doubled in size again. And weight.
Hydra snapped at Rexi. “Git over here.”
Rexi shook her head emphatically. “Nuh-uh, she’ll—”
“She’ll behave on accountin’ her friend is gonna be just fine. Provided we git him inside…” Hydra finished.
I didn’t look at Rexi, so the lack of evil glare must have been her signal to go ahead. She lifted under Kato’s middle. Together we hefted, but there was no way the three of us would be able to move him through the door. Cursing, Hydra let go, and Kato fell down again, trapping my legs.
Please, I prayed, no longer sure if anyone was listening. There has to be a way to get him inside. I struggled to get free and felt my heels click against his claws. Within the space of a blink, Kato was gone. Before I could wail and rev up my flames, he reappeared inside on the stainless steel table. The two other conscious people present looked at me, one with trepidation, the other with thoughtful consideration. If Hydra knew something, she wasn’t sharing. Quietly, she went into the back room to search for something.
I didn’t really care how Kato got inside; I was just glad he did. It was probably something with this magic house. I mean, it obviously had power since the inside of the building had changed just as dramatically as the outside. It was an odd combination of doctor’s office and carriage body shop. There were grease spots—at least I hoped they were grease spots—on the floor, but nearly everything else was clean. The wall of shelves containing all of Hydra’s other heads was the only thing the interior had in common with the last time I’d stepped inside.
Amid the clanging and banging from the back, I held on to Kato’s paw. He was going to be all right. His breathing had leveled out, so it would be okay. The more I kept telling myself that, the more I hoped I would believe it.
Rexi stood nearby with a conflicted look on her face. Her head was down, but I could see her reflection in the stainless steel table. Her normal reflection. Everything between the Ivory Tower study and the wedding march was pretty much a drugged, blurry mess. But unless it was a dream, I recalled her having a silver-haired reflection.
I sighed wearily, tired of nothing being what it seemed. “It wasn’t you at my wedding, was it?”
Rexi’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “Holy toad. You and Kato got married?”
“Not Kato, the wizard.”
“You married the wizard?” Her mouth popped open wide to match her eyes.