Merlin.
I dropped my head to my chest, all hope fleeing in a matter of seconds.
Roger walked away, and I listened to his heartbeat flutter and slow the farther away he got.
“You held it together, Alena. That was good.” Ernie flew in front of me at eye level. “You kept your snake under control.”
I bent and scooped up Merlin’s card. “He hired a warlock to defend him in a human court. How would he even know who Merlin is?”
Ernie shook his head. “He wouldn’t. Unless he was approached. Which would only happen if he had the Aegrus virus.”
I groaned. “I made him think I was sick yesterday. I coughed all over him. They would have stuck him in quarantine . . . What do you want to bet Merlin paid him a visit?”
“Well, that seriously stinks like nymph shit.”
I grunted and pushed off the door, turning only to lock it behind me. In case Roger came back. “Ernie, he’s right. I’m going to get nothing tomorrow. Especially if Merlin is helping him. Even Yaya wanted me to hire him. I mean, think about it. If he can convince me, a Firstamentalist born and raised, that being turned into a Super Duper is okay, what judge stands a chance with his slick words? For all I know, he really is a lawyer.” I bent the card in half.
Ernie’s wings drooped. “He is a lawyer, but I don’t think he’s practiced in a long time.”
“Roger outed me. Maybe I could do the same to Merlin?” I unbent the card and stared at it. “Then he couldn’t represent Roger.”
“The humans won’t even realize he’s a supernatural,” Ernie said. “Even if they gave him a blood test, warlocks are the one brand of Supe that don’t show up. They’re just magical humans. They can slide through without being noticed.”
Well, that explained things, but it didn’t help me.
I stood there, despair flowing through me. “I don’t have a shot then, Ernie. Between the judge and Merlin, Roger has won. I might as well not even show up.”
“Don’t give up. Please,” he said.
“Why does it matter to you? Nothing changes in your world if I win or lose.”
I walked through the front of the store, around the counter, and into the kitchen. I flicked on the lights and grabbed a few bowls before he answered.
“You’re fighting not just for yourself but for all of us. This could change the way Super Dupers, as you say, are seen. We could all have rights if you can get them to really acknowledge you.”
I glanced at him as I grabbed a bag of flour. “But, Ernie, you’re not really a Super Duper like me. You’re a part of the Greek pantheon. Isn’t that different?”
“Maybe at one point, but not anymore. We’ve all been lumped into the same category.”
I started mixing the cupcakes I’d planned on for desert. Butter pecan with candied pecans and cream cheese icing to top them off.
Ingredients went into the mixer, and I made myself think about the hearing the next day and what my yaya had said. “Maybe Merlin isn’t really going to help Roger. Maybe he’s going to help me by sinking Roger’s case?”
Ernie’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Would you even want that kind of help from him? You’d end up owing Merlin something.”
“Owing him something is better than giving Roger anything. What I really need is someone who’s familiar with the law, who can help me through the loopholes.” I cracked three eggs and dumped them into the batter.
Ernie was quiet long enough that I looked up. He had a strange look on his face as his cheeks flushed red and the lines between his brow furrowed.
“Are you constipated?”
He spluttered, “I am not. I’m thinking.”
I smiled. “Not what it looks like from here, like you’re all backed up.”
“Potty humor, really?”
I shrugged, still fighting a grin. “I have a brother and a father. I know what constipation on a man looks like.”
“Look, are you going to be serious here? I have an idea,” he said.
I stared at the cupcakes as I ran my tongue over the roof of my mouth. “I think I have one too. You first.”
Ernie sat on the counter. “You have someone who knows the law inside and out, and he likes you.”
I shook my head. “Remo? The session is in the afternoon. Not as late as my first one. He won’t be awake yet.” I spooned the batter into cupcake molds, making sure to get the perfect amount.
“I mean Hephaestus. You said he is Smithy, right? So he knows the law, and he’s smart. And mean when he wants to be. You need someone downright mean on your side, someone who can stand up to Merlin.”
I slid the pan of cupcakes into the oven and started on the next one. “But I wouldn’t need him if Merlin didn’t show up, right?”
Ernie flew around so we were eye to eye. “What are you thinking?”
I batted my eyelashes at him. “What if I took Merlin a peace offering that happened to have a little venom in it? Just enough to make him sick? Too sick for court. I mean, it could be an accident, right? Will my venom work that way?”
Ernie’s jaw opened and closed several times. “Damn, that is . . .”
“Brilliant?” I offered.
“I was going to say wicked badass, but brilliant will do. And yes, we can make your venom work that way.” He chuckled. “You won’t need much at all. Put a drop into a cup, and then we can dilute it down with some kind of liquor.”
My theory was good, but making it happen was a little more difficult. I tried to pry one of my overlong fangs forward, but it stayed clamped to the roof of my mouth. I blew out a raspberry of frustration.
“Sure, they drop when I don’t want them to, but when I do want them around, they’re cemented to me,” I grumbled.
Ernie pursed his lips a moment before speaking. “What makes them drop?”
“Anger. Frustration.” Remo, something about Remo softened them up. Just his name floating through my mind loosened the hold my fangs seemed to have. I reached up and pulled one forward. A single drop of venom plopped into the glass cup I had under my mouth.
I let my fang go, and it snapped back into place.
“What did you think of? You weren’t angry.” Ernie had a smirk on his face. Like he already knew the answer. Maybe he did; he was the Greek version of Cupid.
“None of your beeswax.”
“Remo, huh? Or maybe Smithy now too?”
I whipped around, a wooden spoon in my hand. “Neither. I’m a married woman. I don’t think about things like that about other men, like that, you know that.”
The jumble of words was a mess of a defense.
“Hey, don’t be pointing weapons at me!” Ernie lifted both hands high above his head while he laughed.
“Stop it.”
“You’re deadly no matter what you’ve got in your hands.” He smiled. “I wonder how you’d do with an actual weapon instead of kitchen utensils if you got in a fight.”
I stared down at the drop of venom in the bottom of the glass. “If I dilute this with ouzo, you think that would work?” I reached above the sink and flipped the cupboard open. A variety of liqueurs and alcohol stared back at me. Ernie fluttered close.
“I thought you didn’t drink.”
“I don’t drink. They’re used in baking.”