Page 10 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

“Indeed,” I said.

“There’s quite a bit of it, so you might as well make yourself comfortable. Come and sit down. I think I’m going to need Chloe to come over too so we can take a statement.” Bianca waved a manicured hand towards her colleague.

Chloe walked up to me. Her shoulder length brown hair was pulled back into a functional ponytail. “How are you holding up?”

“It’s been kind of a mess,” I said, “but you know if we can get the insurance done and get the place rebuilt, maybe we can pretend like this never happened.”

Chloe looked at me thoughtfully. She definitely wasn’t buying it. “It’s hard when you lose everything like so suddenly. I know you lived above the pub. It can’t be easy to have lost everything. If you need clothes or anything, just let me know. I mean, you’re a bit taller than me, but some of my shirts might fit you.”

I looked at her with surprise and couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “That’s really sweet of you,” I said. “You never know, I might have to take you up on it. My only other option right now is my mother’s wardrobe.”

“You know, I never realized Hilda had a daughter,” Chloe said thoughtfully. “It was a complete surprise when you started staying at her place after the pub burnt down.

“Yeah, that’s my relationship with my mother all right,” I said. “It’s like we don’t even exist to each other.”

“Not quite,” Bianca said. “She’s mentioned family before. I just assumed you’d moved away.”

“Well, you’ve been here what, three weeks now?” I asked Chloe.” So, I guess her time for not talking about me hasn’t run out yet, because Chloe’s never heard of me.”

Bianca’s phone buzzed with a text. She glanced over at it, then picked it up and read it closely. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. “You’re the sixth,” she said.

“The sixth what?” Jag asked.

“She’s the sixth? “Chloe asked her face breaking out into a big grin. “That’s wonderful news. We found the sixth.”

“I didn’t necessarily agree to be the sixth,” I said. “You have to realize I don’t have any magic.”

Bianca’s phone buzzed again, and she glanced down before stepping up and saying, “They told us to not pay attention to you when you say you don’t have any magic. It will come. It came for all of us.”

“Did you know you were magic?” I asked.

“No, it was completely unexpected for all of us. Somehow, it’s almost like we’ve been in hiding as a group, but like, separately.”

“My guess is we were separate so it would be hard to put us back together,” Chloe said. “I don’t understand why. Now we’re together, we should be able to defend the cemetery better. You would think the people who put the Pentacle of Time in place would’ve made sure our families would’ve stayed close. What’s been puzzling me is why they didn’t. Why were we blown to all corners, and some never told we were supernatural?”

“The jury still out on me,” I said. “On whether I’m magic or not. I know I had a golden glow around my hands earlier, but I don’t know what that means.”

“Are you a witch like your mom?” Chloe asked.

“I’ve never shown any talent for witchery,” I said. "In fact, it’s like the exact opposite. I suck at magic. Like I can’t even do it, That’s how bad I suck.”

“We can all help each other. I know your mom and Trina helped me,” Chloe said. “We all had to come to terms with the changes in our life and how they’ve come about. None of us expected to be werewolves or vampires or witches, so whatever you are, even if you’re not a witch, you know we are here to help you come to terms with it. We’re all going through a change in our lives now and we’ve come together for a reason. I think it’s more than simply protecting the cemetery. I think it’s because we all sort of needed each other.”

I blinked rapidly at her words, not wanting to show her exactly how much they touched me. I turned to Bianca instead, her red hair bobbing in agreement with Chloe. “Where are these papers I’m filling out?” I said gruffly.

Chapter 8

The sun was heading slowly over the horizon as Jag, and I walked back toward the ruins of the pub. He’d stayed with me at the police station as I made the entire report and filled out all the forms. It had been kind of a pain in the butt and by the time we were done, I was exhausted, too tired to argue with him about where he should be or what he should be doing. If he suddenly wanted to tag along with me, fine.

We went back and looked for remnants from the fire.

“What are you going to do with the sword?” he asked.

I raised my eyebrows. I’d never paid much attention to the sword before, it had always just been a fixture of the pub. “I don’t know who it belongs to.”

“It was in your pub. It belongs to you,” he said.

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