Page 87 of Aleko
“I’m giving it some time, but I think I can control it. It’s usually when things are a surprise that they don’t go well. I might try practicing on some of Yazmin and Hudson’s artifacts first though.”
“Might be a good idea,” he said, then glanced at the plates onthe table. “Need help with anything?”
“The Greens are cooking, so I was just getting out of the kitchen,” said Lia. “You could find wine?”
“On it,” he replied with a grin, getting up and heading for the wine cellar.
“Lia!”
Lia looked around in confusion and then up to where Yazmin was dangling over the edge of one of the balconies above her.
“Guess what?” demanded Yazmin.
“No clue,” said Lia, feeling that it could be anything. She hadn’t had a best friend since third grade, so it felt odd to find one in Yazmin, but Yazmin said it was a done deal. Anyone who screamedYazmin gets to say whatever she wantsat nearly immortal beings, was apparently moved directly to the front of the line. Lia felt that Yazmin would probably discover she wasn’t that cool at some point. But she found that she loved having a girlfriend who wanted to talk Latin and Egyptian all the time, so Lia planned on letting Yazmin be delusional as long as possible.
“My parents have agreed to fly out and meet Hudson.”
Yazmin had spent the past month putting the finishing touches on her dissertation and also trying to put together a Supernatural mailing list. Yazmin had turned in her paper, but hadn’t seemed very confident about it. Having to leave out all the Supernatural bits had apparently made it bland. She’d also spent the intervening month fielding phone calls and trying to explain why she had suddenly taken up with a YouTuber and moved to Greece. The situation made Lia glad she wasn’t on speaking terms with her father.
“Well, that’s great!” said Lia, knowing that Yazmin had wanted her parents’ support.
Yazmin grimaced. “Is it? I feel like they’re going to disapprove of everything.”
“Probably,” said Lia with a shrug. “Does that changeanything?”
“No. Good point. OK, but you’ll help me figure out where to take them?”
“I can try, but we should probably call Killian. He’s the one who knows all the places.”
“Good idea.”
Killian’s move to Oregon seemed to be going well. He did keep texting all of them with hilarious photos of all the weird American things he was finding. Well, that and adorable kissy face selfies with Moira.
Hudson called from inside the house and Yazmin turned back and then looked at Lia again. “We can talk more at dinner.”
Yazmin disappeared inside just as Pellos stomped up the stairs from the basement level.
“Ugh,” exclaimed Pellos, throwing himself into the seat that Sebastian had recently vacated. “Tell me dinner is soon.”
“Dinnershouldbe soon,” said Lia. “But it’s the Greens night to cook.”
“So we may be having sushi?”
“I think wearehaving sushi, but whether or not it comes in traditional sushi format is still in question.”
Pellos chuckled.
“Bad day at work?”
“All of Sergio’s black-market clientele keep popping up like bad fucking drachma.”
Lia grimaced. “Sorry. Just avoid Othon and Georgios. They’re the worst.”
“No shit.”
Sebastian came back out of the house carrying wine and glasses and Pellos looked cheered at the sight.
“Hey,” said Sebastian, pouring out the wine. “I’ve been meaning to ask—how did it go with your friends? I, uh, noticed you took your wand with you the other day. Did you do a littlefairy godmothering?”
