Calamity hopped up on a nearby garbage can, her sleek body glistening under the star-studded night. “You have the chance to have purpose here, Poppy. A reason to get up in the morning—to make a difference. A community who’ll welcome you with open arms and make you one of them.”
Still, she resisted. “But I have a community now. They live in my apartment building as we speak.” She loved the blend of seniors and empty-nesters in her building.
“But you can’t afford to live there anymore, Poppy,” Calamity reminded her.
She couldn’t afford to live under a bridge, and she’d only be taking advantage of her landlord’s kind nature if she tried talking him into letting her stay.
Calamity was right.
“How can helping a millionaire, who doesn’t want to be helped, make a difference?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised. Mo’ money, mo’ problems and all.”
That made the hair on her arms rise and internal alarm bells ring. A brief flash of suspicion made her ask, “Do you know something I don’t know?”
But Calamity clucked her tongue. “I know nothing, Jon Snow. I only know you’ve wandered aimlessly through your twenties and thirties long enough. It’s time to get you some roots.”
“And what happens if I go back to Familiar Central and tell them you did this to me and I want out. Do you get in trouble?”
“Yep. But I’m not talking you out of that because I’m worried about punishment. Just ask me about the year 2006 after I crashed Tom and Katie’s wedding. I can take a hit. I’m talking you out of this because I think you’re in for something great if you’ll just give it a chance, Poppy McGuillicuddy.”
Her gut instincts had discovered a lot of things tonight, and one of them was that Calamity had no ill intentions, not a malicious bone in her tiny body. She was inherently a good soul at her core, if not mouthy just like her vampire-witch Nina.
“How do you know?”
“Call it instinct.”
“You just want the frequent flyer miles so you can go to Baja and scoop Cecily,” Poppy teased, her shoulders relaxing a little.
“There’s that, too. Also, something of note. I can’t turn you back into a human, Poppy. I made a mistake. I’ll own the shit out of that if you want to go back and speak to the powers that be, but it won’t change the fact that you now have magical properties. They won’t let you loose with them in your possession, which is why I told you they’d send you to the Bad Place. Because anyone with magic not employed and not being used toward the greater good has to be harnessed. There are plenty of jobs available that don’t entail saddling your ass to someone, too. The problem is, you’re not qualified for any of them.”
Somehow, that made total sense, rather like keeping a pin in a grenade. And she said as much. “That makes sense, I guess,” she murmured.
“So, are we a go?” Calamity asked, her wide eyes scanning Poppy. “Because if not, I have a butt I need to warm up for the reaming I’m gonna take straight up my backend. No pressure, though.”
Poppy sighed and looked to Wanda and Marty for advice, but Marty shook her head. “This is your choice to make, Poppy. If you decide to go back to Familiar Central, we’ll support that decision one hundred. No one’s going to make you do something you don’t want to do.”
Wanda nodded her head, making a basket of her hands in front of her, her sympathetic eyes capturing Poppy’s. “What Marty said. No one wants you to do anything you don’t want to do, Poppy. And we’re definitely here for you either way.”
There was that damn gut feeling again, pushing its way past her fears and insecurities. It said do this.
Roomandboardroomandboard.
Soothing herself with the notion she could always go visit her old neighbors, Poppy let her head fall back on her shoulders, following with a raspy sigh before nodding. “Okay, fine. Let’s go get a warlock. But I’m warning you, if he’s an asshole, I can be an asshole right back. Like a big asshole. Wait…” She paused and bit her lip. “That sounded wrong.”
Marty and Wanda chuckled as they gathered ’round her and gave her a quick hug. “Calamity—undo this whatever so we can get our girl to her man and she can begin this new journey.”
Calamity circled Marty’s feet with a sigh, hitching her jaw at Frozen Nina. “Do I have to undo Nina, too? Look at all the peace and frickin’ quiet since Mr. Hot Pants walloped her with his mojo. You gotta admit, it’s kinda nice…”
“Do I have to make you my lunch?” Marty attempted a stern gaze, but it was clear she was fighting a smile.
“Fine, but you know I’m right,” Calamity chirped, dancing around Nina and swishing her tail. A burst of color shot forth from the slender length, whooshing around Nina, making a cloud of purple dust.
Seconds later, Nina was back, stronger than ever. Instantly, she was in action, moving forward, her head swiveling from side to side. “Where the fuck did the bastard go?”
Calamity sighed in irritation before skipping toward the alleyway next to Ricardo Delassantos’s house. “Never you mind, Half-Breed. Forget that and come with me. We have shit to do!”