Page 112 of Magic and Muffins

I drew the pick back and slammed it down onto the relic. It deflected with a magic burst, knocking my pick away and nearly stabbing a lost human, the first I’d seen, who was muttering something about missing shoes. Where the pick had struck, the relic remained completely unblemished.

“See?” Grandpa said. “It’s impossible.”

“So is the chance of me giving up,” I said.

I grabbed the shovel and tried that, regretting my two-handed grip when the deflection knocked me to my butt with it.

Wincing, I tossed the shovel aside and accepted Grandpa Hunter’s hand up to stand. Neither tried stopping me from picking up the pot then the pan. The relic had the same reaction to both items as the previous ones. And slamming the relic to the ground and stomping out my frustrations did nothing but send me flying back and skidding on my ass.

“Sweetie, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Grandma Hunter said, helping me to stand. “Believe me, we’ve tried everything. We haven’t been twiddling our thumbs in here for the last ten years.”

“Everly?”

The sound of Cross’ voice had me hurrying to the portal.

Cross’ dark gaze swept over me. “Where were you? What happened?”

“I’m trying to destroy the relic. It’s protected by magic and keeps knocking me backward.”

He lifted his hand like he wanted to touch my hair but dropped it to his side again.

“When you see the portal opening, call my name. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

“You know how many vampires she’s going to bring,” I said.

He flashed his sexy smile that made my pulse race. “All fledglings. I’ll knock them down like bowling pins.”

“Orphia’s not a fledgling. Neither is Vivian. And we both know those aren’t the only two older ones that escaped the nest cleaning. Please just keep yourself safe. And if they win and get the relic, you have to promise to take care of my parents and Vena.”

“I will take care of them with you.”

“You know if the vampires storm in here to get the relic, I’ll fight until the end.” It might only be seconds, but I wasn’t going to sit idly by and let them take it.

A black web of veins erupted around his eyes.

“When you leave this world, so do I, Everly.”

“Stubborn vampire,” I said, frustrated.

All the darkness bled out of his expression as the smile returned.

“Don’t forget to call my name,” he said.

“Cross,” Shepard called. “I hear them.”

“Go,” Cross said. “Keep trying.”

I nodded and hurried back to Grandma and Grandpa Hunter.

“Can we try one more thing?” I asked.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Let’s all hit it at once. Maybe with three people hitting it, it will be enough.”

“We can. We just have to be careful if the pick goes flying again.”

We each took a ‘weapon’ and circled around the relic. I drew back the shovel, which Grandpa did the same with the pick and Grandma with the pan.

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