senses drew in the change by degrees, almost as though my pinky was inside the liquid, testing the temperature. I paid attention to the light tingling on my tongue, telling me when the beverage was just right.
Smiling, I took a step back. “Should be fine now,” I announced.
Mom lifted the mug, took a big sip, smacked her lips, and set it down. “Perfect. Wonderful control, Reed.” Before I could crow, she added, “Now, about last night, you’re supposed to look out for your little sister, not torment her.”
My shoulders slumped. “I was teasing, not tormenting.”
“Same thing,” Mom countered.
I winced. “Fine. I promise to be nicer to Melody.” Mom pursed her lips and regarded me skeptically. “I mean it,” I said.
“Too bad you all have the ability to lie,” she said.
“We know which side of the family that comes from.” Lyklor glanced up from his paper and smirked.
“You’re one to talk,” Mom said to Lyklor, whose pierced tongue allowed him to lie as easily as any of us.
“Lying and magical mayhem,” Ryo said, entering the kitchen with a smile. “Anyone who thinks Fae are troublesome never met an elf with elemental powers.”
Mom huffed and proceeded to add cream, sugar, and several pumps of flavored syrup she liked importing from Earth to her mug.
Ryo pressed against Mom’s back and wrapped his arms around her middle. “Want some coffee with all that sugar, Mel?” he asked with a deep chuckle. After Mom was finished sweetening her coffee, he poured himself a mug and put toast onto a plate.
Ronin traipsed in dressed in blue jeans and a hoodie.
Mom looked him over as she sat down at the table with our fathers. “And where were you last night, mister? You weren’t around when we went to bed. Your brother kept shrugging whenever I tried to get a location out of him, so I’m guessing he was trying to cover for something.”
I left Ronin to answer to Mom while I returned to our room to retrieve the large shiny pink gift bag filled with goodies Ronin and I had picked out at the mall.
I lightly tapped on Melody’s door.
“Mom?”
“It’s Reed.”
“Go away!”
“I’ve come to apologize for being a pit head last night.”
“You’ve apologized. Now leave me alone,” she said from the other side of the door.
“I have gifts.”
Five seconds of silence passed before Melody opened her door. As soon as I stepped through the frame, she shut us in together. My sister’s bed was already made and her room tidied. I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from teasing her about being a neat freak and suggesting she pop over to my room next to make my bed and Ronin’s.
The white sleigh bed had a rose-colored blanket with ruffles and like eight pillows. The walls were painted in alternating strips of pink, gray, and white, with a crystal chandelier overhead and glittery silver crown wall art above the bed. She had long silver sequined curtains that matched one of the square pillows on her bed. The pillow propped beside the shimmery square read: Nice Girls Sparkle.
Mom had no problem barging into my room, but she treated Melody’s domain as though it was the entrance to the tar pits of Swampia. Maybe Melody was on to something with her sparkly pink Mom repellent. It was amusing to see Mom struggle with it. She’d wanted a girl, and she’d gotten one—pink frills and all.
Melody stood in a pair of light pink sweatpants with a gray cotton tee with the words GIRL POWER printed three times down the front, watching me expectantly.
When I held out the gift bag, her eyes lit up. She snatched it and took it over to her bed. “What’s in here?”
“Why don’t you find out?” I smiled as I neared her bed and watched her pull out a faded pink denim jacket from bebe. The logo appeared in rhinestones on the back of the jacket.
Melody shrieked. “Oh my God! I love this so hard!”
That was the other thing about Melody—she was always using human lingo.
“What’s going on in there?” Mom called from the other side of the door.
Melody looked from the jacket to the door. “Nothing. Go away.”
“Melody,” Mom spoke in a warning tone.
“Go away, please.”
An audible huff blew over the other side of the door.
Melody held up the jacket, staring at the front, then the back.
“This is so cute!” She folded it carefully and set it on her covers. “What else is in here?”
I could feel a grin eating up my face as