headed down the hall, speaking quietly with the dangerous-looking woman at her side.
The twins pushed past me, Ryanne, Jael, Michelle, and Paige all following. “Thanks for sharing your double D’s, Declan,” Erika called to me with her eyes on Caeco.
Eyebrows arched, Caeco just looked at me.
“Let’s get a snack and I’ll explain,” I said, leading her into the dining room.
Chapter 10
A single buffet table was set up with cheese, fruit, crackers, and bowls of different chips. We filled paper plates and chose a table. The werewolf boys were at another table, powering through plateloads of snacks. Delwood glanced our way, nodded a sharpish nod at Caeco, and went back to his food.
“What’s up with that?” I asked.
“We have an understanding. Now, don’t stall. Tell me what the witch bitches meant and why they’re so suddenly friendly to you,” she said.
I explained the last hour and a half to her.
“Dirt dudes? Double D’s? Seriously, Declan?” she asked.
“I was eight flipping years old. I had no idea why my aunt snickered when I said it,” I said.
“Show me,” she commanded, a funny look in her eyes.
There wasn’t any dirt nearby, but she had a whole pile of orange fish-shaped crackers on her plate so I assembled them into a two-legged figure and walked it around the table.
“Cracker people?” Ariel asked as she pulled up a chair, T.J. coming along behind her with an entire bowl of potato chips.
“Cool, we could eat the losers,” he said as he took a seat.
“I was explaining class,” I said.
“It’s going to be amazing,” T.J. said.
“Plus you pulled Miss Berg’s ass out of the fire,” Ariel said.
“What do you mean?” Caeco asked. I was pretty interested in her answer too.
“Well I don’t know if you realized this, but she didn’t seem to have much of an idea of how to teach class. She just sorta had us teach each other, then when your idea caught the entire class’s attention, she glommed onto it for a major part of the curriculum. She has no idea what she’s doing,” Ariel said.
“Other than insulting me at every turn,” I said.
“Well, from what I’ve overheard the witch pack saying, apparently just about every known warlock is a male slut. Comes from all the witches throwing themselves at them for… well… having witch babies, I guess,” Ariel said with a grimace.
“Dude, look what you have to look forward to,” T.J. said. Caeco’s gaze settled on him and he put both hands up. “Whoa, just joking,” he said, but when she looked away, he shook his head at me, grinning and silently mouthing, “No I’m not.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that,” I said to Ariel, ignoring T.J. and wondering how it was possible that I knew so little about my own people. “But then, I’ve never met another warlock before.”
Ariel looked shocked. “Why not?”
“Well until a few months ago, I’d never met another witch, either. Aunt Ash kept me pretty isolated. Talked to a few on the phone and by email when they ordered supplies from our website, but never met one face-to-face until that night here with my friends,” I said. Both T.J. and Ariel shot me curious looks so I continued. “We won a free dinner and band night at the local Irish restaurant. Ryanne and her sisters were playing. Afterward, I found out they were witches.”
“Oh, that explains why she’s so friendly with you,” T.J. said, blithely stuffing his face with chips and completely missing how Caeco’s deadly gaze was now centered on me.
“We’re acquaintances. That’s all,” I said as nonchalantly as possible.
“I’d love to be acquaintances with a hot rock star witch with a cool Irish accent,” T.J. said. Ariel smacked him and I gave her a nod of thanks.
“Anyway, I don’t have any experience with other witches,” I said.
“But you have mad skills with witchcraft,” Ariel stated firmly.
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“Oh come on. I’m not stupid, ya know… I saw Miss Berg’s face when you made the first dirt person and later when you ran both a mini-fire bird and the dirt guy at the same time. She was bugging, and so were the weeotches,” she said.
“Showing off, were we?” Caeco asked.
“No,” I replied firmly. “The teacher as much as called me a liar for claiming dual affinities, so I chose a very minor form of magic to prove myself. Hardly anything at all. She still insulted me after everything, so she can’t be too impressed.”
“So if that was nothing, you must really be something, huh?” Ariel