Page 17 of The Party

Some smoke got in her nose. She wrinkled it.

Mae’s stomach dropped when she sensed the little girl’s prodigious powers surge. Oh?—

“—shit,” Astarte mumbled.

Chazaquiel furrowed his brow at the Goddess. “What?”

Brimstone stiffened by Mae’s leg.

Nikolai paled when he detected what Mae and the Goddess had just felt.

The divine beasts were similarly stirring around the table, expressions growing wary. Smokey jumped off the table and ran under Callie’s chair.

“What’s the matter with everyone?” Artemus frowned and got a handkerchief out distractedly as Alice crunched up her face. “It’s okay, baby. Here, blow your?—”

“Er, Artemus,” Lily started hoarsely.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were—!” Mae warned.

Alice sneezed.

The explosion evaporated half the handkerchief, blew the cake apart, blasted a twenty-foot wide hole in the south-facing wall of the mansion, and set a bush on fire.

Stone glowed and metal tinkled in the deafening aftermath.

“Bah,” Alice said with a sheepish sniff.

“The cake,” Alexa said forlornly at the sight of the cream frosting plastered across the ceiling and walls.

“My kitchen,” Nate practically wailed.

Lucas and Anna looked at Lily.

“Honey?” Anna said glassily.

“I did not see that coming,” Lily stated leadenly.

Tomas shook his head, equally wide-eyed.

Artemus stared at his daughter with a mix of awe and alarm. He startled when the kids recovered from their shock and began whooping in excitement.

Movement outside captured Mae’s gaze.

A man with dark hair, blue eyes, and dazzling white wings poked his head around the corner of the gaping opening in the side of the mansion. His expression grew misty as he beheld Alice.

“Hello, my sweet angel,” he gushed sappily.

Alice brightened. “Gada!”

Artemus recovered his composure.

“Oh, great,” he told the newcomer nastily. “You’re here.”

The man’s face crumpled a little. He wiped an eye. “You’re hurting my feelings, son.”

Nikolai leaned sideways. “Is that who I think it is?!” he hissed at Mae.

Mae swallowed and nodded wordlessly.

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