Page 7 of The Party

Another one bounced off Nikolai’s crotch.

“Incoming!” the boy who’d fired the projectiles shouted enthusiastically from the top of the staircase.

The man with the kid attached to his leg looked around sharply.

“Hey, Artemus said no firing weapons inside the house!”

Hellreaver vibrated uneasily on Mae’s chest.

There is a divine dragon inside that man, my witch.

Mae’s pulse quickened as she observed the fiery beast inside Haruki Kuroda.

The guy reaching for the little girl on the banister turned and scowled at the boy with the bow.

“You’re several seconds too late, you little shit!”

He walked up the stairs, snatched up Bow Boy, and proceeded to give him a noogie.

“You shouldn’t swear in front of the children, William,” Pink Haired teenager admonished without looking up from her phone.

William’s eyes shrank to slits. “That’s gold coming from the chick who’s standing there doing nothing. How about you help us out?”

“I’m already helping.” She pointed at Braiding Girl and Book Boy. “I said I’d look after them.”

“Oh, come on, Lucy!” William protested. “Lola and Oliver are the most docile kids in this entire madhouse. You could practically leave them on their own for the day and they’d be fine!”

“Don’t make me call Social Services on you, Uncle William,” Oliver said coolly. He licked his finger and turned a page.

William’s expression grew pinched. “I keep forgetting that kid has a smart mouth on him.”

Lucy smirked.

Caspian stepped over the boys rolling on the floor and maneuvered his way expertly around the sword-fighting girls, several grocery bags in his arms. He disappeared down a passage to the right.

“Shouldn’t someone try and stop her?” Nikolai asked uneasily as Mila hefted the load in her arms and prepared to follow her brother. He indicated the little girl on the banister.

The kid was climbing it with steadfast determination.

“She’s fine,” Mila said breezily. “Besides, she bounces well.”

Mae and Nikolai gave her a horrified look.

Mila grimaced. “I’m kidding. Leah’s got her back.”

A young woman with fiery red hair was coming down the stairs. She walked past William and Bow Boy and lifted the girl off the banister.

“Sienna, your mother’s gonna have words with you if she sees you do that. And they won’t be pretty ones.”

Mae stared. She could see the soul of the divine beast who inhabited the redhead.

She must be Leah Chase, the host of the Nemean Lion. And that little girl is Serena’s daughter.

Sienna struggled in Leah’s arms.

“Noooo! Let go, Aunt Leah! I’m climbing a mountain!”

“You’re climbing the steps to an uncertain death is what you’re climbing, kid.” Leah winced when Sienna grabbed a fistful of her hair and tugged hard. “Haruki, I think we should revisit our plans to have five kids.”

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