“You, my dear sister, need to do less looking and more leaping.”

“You’re not helping.”

“You love him?” Alex asked.

“Yes.”

“Good for you.” Alex shot her a grin. “Ok, let’s start small, Miss Panicky Pants.”

“I prefer the Mistress of Mayhem.”

Alex snorted. “I’m sure you do.”

“I’m not panicking.”

“Sure you’re not,” said Alex. “So how do you show him you aren’t freaking out about your relationship?”

“He’s been trying to ask me to move in with him.”

“You should totally do that. Especially with Riley moving out.”

“He told you?” Sera asked. Did everyone in the whole world know except for her?

“No, but I figured he would. He’s going to be working for Kai soon. He’ll want to be closer to the office.”

“Kai is trying to convince me to work for him.”

“You should totally do that too,” Alex told her. “The pay’s got to be better than the peanuts that penny-pincher Simmons throws our way. And besides, just think about all the nookie with the boss.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Sera chuckled. “That’s totally inappropriate.”

“Of course I’m inappropriate. If you wanted a stick-up-the-ass, always-appropriate sister, you should have been born into a prim and perfect magic dynasty.”

“Speaking of sisters,” Sera said. “Kai’s dead sister just popped up out of nowhere.”

“Zombies?” Alex asked. She looked grim.

“No, she was never dead, it turns out.”

“Oh, good. I hate zombies.” Alex shivered. “Kai must be happy about the family reunion.”

“We’re still trying to figure out if she’s good, or if she’s one of the Grim Reaper’s evil minions.”

Alex sighed. “Our life is so messed up.”

“You said it, sister.”

* * *

Sera’s house looked like a spread out of Party Time Magazine, courtesy of Naomi’s second special magical gift. That girl knew how to organize a party.

The dining room table was stuffed to the breaking point with party food, including a few fairy treats with a not-so-modest helping of happy fairy drugs. There were fairy brownies, nectar, and fruit salads. Sprinkled in between those snacks were also normal party foods like chips and pretzels, crackers and cheese. And wine. Crates of wine. That was Kai’s contribution.

There were more people in the house than ever before, a combination of Riley’s university friends and his buddies from the running club he and Kai were in.

Sera stood with Alex, but her sister’s mind was elsewhere at the moment. A smile curled her lips as her eyes met Logan’s. She grabbed his hand, pulling him over to meet Riley.

“Riley,” Alex said as Sera wandered over to the snack table. “This is Logan. Logan, this is my little brother.” She ruffled up his dark hair.

“Not so little,” Riley said, pushing her hand away with a grin. “Nice to meet you, Logan.” He held out his hand.

Logan glanced at his extended hand. “So you’re the one responsible for Alex dragging me on a tour of Madam Meringue’s House of Chocolate.”

Riley laughed.

“But you looked so cute standing next to all those shiny chocolate ball balloons, honey,” Alex said to Logan as he shook Riley’s hand.

Chuckling, Sera turned to greet the table of snacks. So many choices.

“Try the brownies,” Naomi suggested, stopping beside her.

Sera grabbed a brownie and took a bite. The moment it touched her tongue, chocolate and magic exploded inside her mouth, going straight to her head.

“Holy shit, Naomi. I’m practically bouncing off the ceiling.” She finished the brownie anyway. It was just that delicious.

Naomi chuckled. “Those brownies are made with frosted poppy seeds. Highly magical stuff. It doesn’t spike your magic, but it does make it really, really happy. It won’t make you crazy, though. Well, not any more than usual,” she added with a smirk. “It will just let you have a little fun. Loosen you up. Give you some courage to listen to your heart.”

Sera followed Naomi’s gaze to Kai, who was talking to the commandos. “You know.”

“Know what?”

“You always know,” Sera said.

“I know that you’ve been staring at Kai for at least the past hour, but you still haven’t gone over to him. You’re clearly psyching yourself up for something.” She held up the plate of brownies. “Another?”

Sera took two. As she ate them, Naomi chuckled, the song of her laughter like little silver bells ringing in the wind.

“Ok, I’m ready,” Sera said, buzzing from the three brownies she’d eaten.

“Go get him, tiger.”

“Dragon,” Sera muttered.

Naomi winked at her, then she walked off to chat with Riley. His friend Chakra from Cloud Nine was here, hanging on his arm—and on his every word. As far as Sera knew, they weren’t dating yet. They were just friends so far. From the way Chakra was looking at Riley, she wanted that to change.

Sera took a deep breath, then set off toward Kai, strutting across the room as confidently as she could. Her shoes might have been comfortable and easy to walk in compared to other heels, but they were still heels, and those brownies had thrown her brain for a wild loop. She felt so drunk and relaxed, like she could do anything. Except walk straight, apparently. She stumbled and arms caught her. She looked up to see those arms belonged to Alex.