Spells Trouble (Sisters of Salem #1) - P. C. Cast Page 0,86

modern public education system has become. The Cyclopes were a race of barbaric giants who terrorized ancient Greece. Polyphemus was the most human of them. I do not recall exactly how his heart was broken, but it had something to do with a nymph.” Xena smoothed back her hair. “Such flighty little things. Anyway, his heart was broken and I believe he did something stupid—he was, after all, a male.”

The girls nodded in mutual female understanding.

Xena finished, “And he was cursed to seek that which he was lacking until he found that which could not be discovered—meaning the second eye he was born without.” She shrugged. “Or something like that. But you need not pity him. Even though he was the most human of the Cyclopes he was still a hideous, barbaric beast, and I do believe Polyphemus eats the eyeballs after he, well, harvests them.”

“Huh. That’s interesting,” said Hunter.

“Interesting? It’s disgusting and creepy, but less creepy than what happened out there by that tree today. Xena, you should’ve been there.” Mercy offered the mugs of steaming cocoa to Hunter and Xena, who took them gratefully. “It made my skin crawl when the cards revealed the footprints of the killer.” She shivered. “They appeared exactly where I was standing!”

“Thank you, kitten.” Xena blew quickly across the steaming top of the cocoa. “Being able to eat, or drink, chocolate is one of my favorite things about being a person,” she said.

In spite of the seriousness of everything they’d discovered that evening, Mercy couldn’t help asking, “What else do you like about being a person?”

The tip of Xena’s pink tongue touched the creamy cocoa. She frowned at it and blew a few breaths across it again before answering. “Well, I like my hair. It is spectacular, though that is no surprise. I have always had a lush, magnificent coat. I also do enjoy a little cannabis, especially at bedtime.”

“Isn’t your bedtime anytime you want to nap?” Hunter asked as she peeked up at Xena over the top of her mug of liquid chocolate and coconut cream.

“Well, yes, of course, kitten. I also am surprised by how very much I like to take a lovely bath. It almost makes up for how very much I dislike clothes. They are so restrictive, so binding, so not like fur. Well, except for my Abigail’s bathrobe.” Xena lifted her arm and sniffed at the fluffy, well-worn robe. “It makes me feel as if my dear girl is hugging me.”

“That’s really nice, Xena.” Mercy curled her feet up under her and made herself comfortable in the space between her sister and Xena before she carefully blew on her own steaming chocolate.

The three of them sipped their drinks silently for a few minutes, each lost in her own thoughts, until Hunter spoke up.

“So, how do we kill the Cyclops?”

Xena tossed back her magnificent hair and said, “Killing the body it is inhabiting will be easy.”

Mercy’s throat closed and she put her half-empty mug down on the grimoire-laden coffee table. “I don’t think killing anyone will be easy—not even someone possessed by an eyeball-eating monster.”

“Kitten, as the guardian of the Egyptian gate told you, the human is already dead. What you will be killing is a reanimated body a Cyclops is using as a disguise. You must get over this foolish human squeamishness if you are to have a chance at vanquishing it.”

“I agree with you, Xena,” said Hunter. “But you have to understand that Mercy and I will see a human—and maybe even a friend or at least an acquaintance—when we track him down.”

“Him?” Mercy asked.

Hunter nodded. “You were too freaked to notice, but those were really big boot prints—like someone who worked outside a lot would wear. It’s probably a large man.”

“Great…” Mercy muttered.

“It is great, kittens! You already know three things about the Cyclops’s skin suit.” She lifted her long, slender fingers that were tipped by sharp, perfectly kept nails, and ticked off, “First, the person will be a star—symbolically not literally. Second, the person is a male. And third, he probably works, or spends a lot of time, out of doors.”

“That is a lot more than we knew this morning.” Hunter spoke firmly, confidently.

Mercy nodded and tried to sound more positive. “Yeah, that’s true. I’ll quit being such a downer about it. It’s just really intimidating to think about needing to kill a person and a monster. Together.”

Xena shook a finger in front of Mercy’s face. “No, no, no. You probably will not kill them