“When you’re watching her, we’re out saving the world,” Wesley snapped. “Not having a good time.”
“Wesley!” Lainey interjected. “Let Emily go out with Fantazia.”
Wesley turned, astonished. “But . . .”
“I know reclusiveness is a family trait,” she said, motioning between me and my reincarnated father, “but I will not have my daughter end up that way. Let her go.”
“B-but it could be dangerous!” Wesley sputtered. “The Dragon—”
“Is in the DarkLands. We haven’t had any trouble with his cronies since we threw that last batch in the DarkLands with him, and Fantazia is probably the safest person your daughter could be with. Emily has to have as normal a life as we can give her, and going out for ice cream and visiting the toy store is what every two-year-old does with her relatives.” She eyed me again, taking in my outfit. “Well, maybe not relatives dressed like they came off the set of Male Fantasy Monthly.”
I sighed and magically changed my outfit to a pleated skirt and a long-sleeved shirt, a bit like a Catholic schoolgirl outfit that would definitely be in the magazine Lainey just described. Like all of my clothes, the skirt was just a little too short and was paired with killer boots, and the V-neck was just this side of being too low, but I just scooched in on the correct side of good taste and the change seemed to satisfy Lainey. She picked up Emily and handed her to me. “Go. Have fun. Wesley’s taking me out to lunch. We’ll see you later this afternoon.”
Emily threw her arms around my neck and squeezed. “Yay! I go with Fay.”
“Yes, you do.” Lainey kissed the top of her head. “Tell Mommy and Daddy bye-bye.”
“Bye!” She blew them both kisses and grinned.
Wesley came over to drop a kiss on her head. “Love you, Emmy-cake. Be good for Fantazia.” His dark blue eyes bored holes into me. “Take good care of her.”
“Yes, Dad,” I said. “I won’t let her run into traffic or take over the world. Not today, at any rate.” I turned and walked out of the room before he could say anything else.
“So what kind of ice cream you want, Em?” I asked as we headed for the main doors of the EHJ headquarters. I’d decided to take the civilian exit, as who knew what kind of trouble I’d get into with Wesley for teleporting from one place to another with Emily.
“Vanilla.”
We stepped into the elevator. “Vanilla? That’s boring! We’ve got to live it up today, be crazy!” I hugged her closer and whispered in her ear, “Today’s Fay’s birthday.”
We got triple chocolate fudge with strawberries, and I returned hours later with a sugared-up Emily in tow, laden down with bags. I know that on your birthday people are supposed to give you gifts, not vice versa, but for me, returning a kid on a sugar high with all kinds of obnoxious new toys to her unsuspecting parents is present enough.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” a male voice asked as I maneuvered Emily and her various packages into the elevator. “It looks like you have your hands full.”
I looked up with a grateful smile, but it died on my lips. “What are you doing here, Cyrus?”
The stocky bald man was at least a head taller than I, and he took a few of my bags and ushered me and Emily inside the elevator. “I work here.”
His sharp blue eyes caught mine, arrested me. It wasn’t as if he was good-looking. Well, not in the conventional sense. The shaved head, the piercing blue eyes, the tattoos, the stocky physique. His presence was . . . scary. Most women would walk across the street if they saw him approaching.
“Please. You’re a lurker not a worker.”
Cyrus Ramsey, or the Virus, as he’s known among the magic-user set, had once been a regular visitor to my pocket universe. He’s something of a rarity, being what we magic-users call a techno mage: someone whose precise control is over magic as it relates to technology. While I can use my magic like a hammer to smash a computer—the only good solution to one, really—Cyrus can use his to go in and completely change the workings. It requires a good bit of scientific knowledge about the technology, something completely foreign to me.
Back then he’d been a petty villain making ends meet by hacking into bank accounts. He’d been just another face in the crowd until coming to me for a