take a piss.”
“More information then I needed, dude,” I said.
“Speaking of information, was that the Irish hottie I saw you come in with?”
“Ryanne? Yeah. She’s in my English class and I gave her a ride back is all,” I said, maybe slightly defensive. “Didn’t want her to freeze her ass off.”
“No, ‘cause that would be a crying shame. Must be an Irish national treasure,” he said with a grin, continuing past me toward the bathroom.
I headed into the dining room, dragging my bookbag and jacket with me.
Caeco, Jetta, Ariel, Justin, and T.J. were sitting at one of the round tables, Mack’s spot obvious from the rumpled cloth napkin. There was only one buffet table tonight, and it was covered in desserts.
“Hey D, grab a seat. We get to order off a menu tonight,” T.J. said, obviously excited by the prospect.
“Yeah, I just saw Mack. Where’s Ashley?” I asked Ariel as I sat down next to Caeco.
“Having dinner with her dad and Neeve,” she said.
“Oh, I met her dad today. Tough-looking dude, but what would you expect from a bladesmith?” I said as nonchalantly as possible. Both Caeco and Jetta fastened their gazes on me like lasers.
“Did you ask him about making new knives?” Caeco asked.
“Why would I do that?” I said, making a production of looking at my menu. It had four entrée choices, two soups, and a couple of appetizer selections.
Steel-strong fingers gripped my thigh under the table, getting my immediate attention.
“Because you have a deep and abiding interest in the happiness of your girlfriend,” Caeco said.
“Oh, well, then yes, I asked him. He’s going to look into pricing them. Silver’s gone through the roof since they all came out,” I said, pointing to the table of weres across the room.
Delwood chose that moment to look our way and when he saw us looking, he raised his glass and gave a nod, but I’m pretty sure he was only looking at Caeco when he did it.
“Is he looking for another ass kicking?” T.J. wondered.
“No. He is offering his admiration,” Justin suddenly said, surprising us in what he said and that he even spoke at all.
Unsettled, the whole group shifted to the menu, discussing the choices. I chose the chicken cordon bleu while Caeco picked the grilled mahi mahi.
By the time dinner was done, we still had an hour before the TAP seminar with Gina Velasquez, so we headed to our own rooms.
I dumped my book bag and hung up my jacket as Mack took a running dive onto his bed.
“So you gonna whammy that Deldouche or what?” he asked.
“What?” I asked.
“Well he’s got his eye on your girl. You should give him fleas or mange or something,” he said, holding both hands out and twitching his fingers, spell-like.
“You think it’s that bad? Shouldn’t I let sleeping dogs lie?”
“He’s not sleeping, and I think Justin’s right. I think he’s become fixated on the only person to give him a proper butt whipping. I doubt he thinks you’re a threat, what with the rep you dude witches have,” he said.
“Hmm, “ I said, studying the suddenly unsettled feeling I had in my stomach. Probably not a premonition, ‘cause I kinda suck at those. Maybe gas?
“You do have enough juice to do something, right?” he asked.
“Yeah, but wait, you don’t think Caeco would even go for a meathead like that, do you?”
“Listen, I absolutely don’t understand how chicks think, but I never discount anything. I mean the dude’s a giant, he’s ripped, and he’s a born killing machine. A girl like Caeco, raised for combat, wouldn’t she maybe find that kinda hot?”
The feeling in the pit of my stomach had just gone from mildly upset to hold the bucket, she’s a-coming up.
“But just so I’m clear. If you did want to put the pox on him, you could do it, right? I mean, I know some of the kids seem impressed with your Wytchwar game, but do you even have enough juice to bother a beast like Delwood?”
I looked at him, considering all he’d said and what he was implying, and my temper rose like a live thing. Pointing my left hand at the nearest outlet, I pulled an arc of electricity from the wall. My hair started to stand as the juice built up inside me and the lights dimmed and flickered. After a couple of seconds of draw, I released the arc and put both hands together about eight inches apart. Blue twisted bolts of electricity passed between them, snapping