Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

FRANKIE

"It's talisman night, Pink. You ready?"

I glanced over my shoulder and found Esther walking out the back door. Her black curly hair was pinned up by her wand and it looked super adorable. "That sounds more like a threat than anything else."

She chuckled as she sat down on the top step with me. "What are you doing out here? Freaking out?"

I frowned and gestured to my new backyard to where my three beagles were hunting something in the bushes but could only be seen by the white tips of their tails. "No, I'm supervising the hounds. Letting them play. Wait, should I be freaking out?"

"Oh, I didn't even see them in there." She giggled. "And not at all. It's gonna be fun, you'll see."

The gang were sticking to their plan to have me try out all of their talismans and try to guess which Suit I was. They said I could make a trip up to Edenburg whenever I wanted and they'd let me touch the crystal ball, but that seemed like a lot of work. So I was secretly thrilled they wanted to have me test it out, even if I was pretending to be shy.

I had no idea what to expect at lunch when they all insisted on this. I texted my aunt and uncle. They needed to know about this plan, mostly because I wanted them there in case I blew something up. I'd already seen the destruction Archie made by using a talisman that wasn't his Suit. My friends were more than happy to come over for a dinner playdate.

" Rootbeer, wait! "

We both turned around just as Seamus unhooked Rootbeer's leash, but she was half-dragging him across my patio. He grunted and grumbled, then she was free. The golden retriever barked once, and it was like a scene from Jurassic Park with my little raptors moving within the bushes with only their curved tails visible. My dogs loved other dogs, so I wasn't normally worried about new dogs coming up to them, but Rootbeer was charging like Usain Bolt for an Olympic medal. She barked over and over. My boys emerged from the bushes with their ears perked up, tails curled at the ready, and one paw lifted off the ground. It was moments like this when them being siblings really showed. Houdini was the first to move. He lunged forward with his rapid tongue-licking of the air and his tail wagging. Bo needed to howl in a high-pitched note so the whole neighborhood knew he was about to make a new friend. Bubba was basically bouncing in place he was so excited.

Rootbeer swerved around Houdini and ran around Bo and Bubba. She just literally ran circles around them until they realized they could join her. Then the game was afoot. The four of them chased each other and played. It was actually adorable. I wasn't sure who was more excited about this impromptu playdate.

"SEAMUS!" Ava yelled from somewhere behind us. "Did you ask first!?"

Seamus just strolled over and sat down next to Esther without reacting to Ava at all. Esther tapped his left softly. When his big blue eyes looked up, I signed, " Ava is talking to you." I pointed. He spun around and smiled.

The frustration on Ava's face instantly faded. She cringed and then signed, " Sorry, " to me. She turned to Seamus. "Did you ask Frankie first before you released her?"

Seamus frowned. "Yes?"

"He texted me like half an hour ago asking if Rootbeer could come." I smiled and gave him a wink. "I said of course. But she's your service dog, you don't have to ask."

His face fell and he shrugged.

Ava looked angry again with the way her brow scrunched together. "A lot of people don't think that way."

"Where's Float?"

She leaned against the door frame. "I left her at home with my parents. You have hunting dogs and she's a rabbit. I figured this wasn't the right time to introduce them, with all the people here. Plus, Rootbeer doesn't get to just be a dog with other dogs. I wanted her to have a night to just play."

Seamus's smile widened and his cheeks flushed pink. "I know everyone here tonight will have my back, so I can let her have fun. Not many other dogs in the neighborhood."

Esther chuckled. "I wanna be offended that pop culture associates witches with cats but . . . dammit, it's just so accurate."

"I want a dog."

Ava screeched and jumped three feet over. She pressed her hand to her chest. "Archie! Dammit, don't sneak up on people like that."

"You do move surprisingly quietly."

"Esther, I'm little. That's not hard to do." He winked and walked toward us, but when he got to the step, his foot slid off and he landed in Seamus's lap. "And then there's that."

We all laughed. Seamus helped him up.

"I'm thinking of lining my jeans with Bubble Wrap."

"But then once they pop, they won't protect you." I frowned. "Maybe you should just wear knee pads?"

"Or line your clothes with padding." Seamus cocked his head to the side. "You are very durable though."

Tomás skipped out the back door with his arms spread wide and a huge smile on his face. " ?Hola, amigos míos! ?Ya estoy aquí y estoy lista para la fiesta! "

Ava rolled her yellow eyes. "This is not a party, Tomás."

"I don't know." I pursed my lips. "There's a bunch of us and my uncle is cooking. This might be my ideal form of a party."

"See! She gets it." Tomás skipped over and sat right next to me, like his thigh was touching mine. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, then wagged his eyebrows. " Es guapa e inteligente. "

" Bonsoir—oh, la, la. " Jo cringed and waved her hands without stepping foot out the back door. " Non, non, il y a des bugs . Moustiques. Non ."

Madge sighed from right behind her. "She's right. It's mosquito hour. Get your asses inside, heathens."

Then they were gone, closing the back door with them. We all stared at the door for a moment before we got up and headed inside. I whistled for the boys. They came running with Rootbeer hot on their heels and Seamus skipping behind them.

Birdie was walking in the front door with her little sister Lesleigh as we walked in. The two were just bigger and smaller versions of each other in their matching olive-green T-shirts and jean shorts with frayed hems. Their brown hair and brown eyes were identical. Even their mannerisms were the same, and it made me smile. I didn't have siblings. I'd always wondered what that would've been like.

"Aspen!" Lesleigh cheered and sprinted across my living room.

That was when I realized we did have quite the little party happening in my house. Tomás was on to something. Luckily, Esther had given me the run-down of the witches in town, complete with pictures in her phone so that I could recognize people when I saw them. It was a lot like that scene in Devil Wears Prada when Anne Hathaway's character had to study the pictures of people going to that event. Most of the people were a blur, but a few I'd made sure to remember.

Of those few, Monica and Edward Tarbell were included. Their daughter, Libby, was a Coven member until she died in the fall. Monica was a super gifted Wand that was well respected and renowned in the community. Edward was a super loving, fun dad—so I'd been told. And seeing as he was currently wearing an oversized chef's hat and an apron over his button-down floral shirt, I had to say the reputation fit. He and Esther's dad, Elijah, were helping Uncle Kyle cook, though I wasn't sure why it took three of them, but they were having fun. Elijah kept having to take his glasses off because the steam from the pot kept fogging them over. He thought it was hilarious.

Monica was leaning against the island next to Aunt Kimmy and Archie's mom, Agnes, who I hadn't actually met until tonight. She was even smaller than Archie. I wasn't sure if she was over five feet tall. She did have the same dark-red hair and hazel eyes like her son.

Leah emerged from the hall where the guest bathroom was and stopped beside us. "I beg you all, don't ask him to do any magic tricks tonight?"

My eyes widened. "Say what now?"

My friends laughed.

Esther groaned but she smiled. "Dad used to work as a clown and a magician. He's really good at magic tricks and card tricks, but like, once he starts, he will not stop, and next thing you know you're three hours into a routine. And while you'll enjoy it, you will realize you had other plans for your evening."

"Don't threaten me with a good time. Why is this bad?"

Leah snorted. "Because he wants to be besties with Edward—like for years now—but he's awkward and shy without his costumes on, and so this is a really good step for him. Look at him telling normal jokes and not punchlines."

"There's a bromance there. Edward just hasn't realized it yet."

"I am so here for this support." I looked to the others. "No one interrupts. But Leah, you better warn my uncle. He's . . . he's . . ."

"I know. Your aunt told me." She laughed and walked toward the kitchen.

Monica's silver eyes that matched her daughters lit up when Lesleigh hugged Aspen. "Hi, Buckley girls."

The doorbell rang, and Aunt Kimmy just flicked her wand. "Come in!"

Atley and Peabo walked in like they were on a mission.

I waved. "Hi, you joining us?"

Atley frowned. "Oh, um . . . no, sorry, I didn't know there was a party happening?"

"See! ?Es una fiesta! "

"It's not a party. At least not intentionally. The others are insisting I try all the Suits' talismans, so they brought theirs over—everyone else is here for damage control and to watch."

Atley nodded, his sharp gaze sweeping across the living room. "We can join you . . . but we were gonna go to Hidden Kingdom with some of our human friends. Ricky's older sister is coming here to pick us up."

"Yeah, go have fun." I waved my hands. "No need to sit here and watch me fumble."

Peabo chuckled. "We also came here to see if Lesleigh wanted to come with us."

Lesleigh's eyes widened. She turned to her sister with a fully mastered beg. "Birdie, can I?"

Birdie narrowed her eyes on Peabo. "Yes. Turn on your locations so I can track you, and no fucking around with anything non-human. Got it?"

Peabo gave her thumbs-up. "Our locations are always on."

"Aspen, you're here." Atley smiled. "You wanna come too?"

She gasped and sat up a little straighter on her barstool. "Mom?"

Monica's silver eyes glistened like she wanted to cry. She tucked her blonde hair behind her ears to act casual. "Of course. Go have fun. Stay with Atley."

"Even in the bathroom?" Aspen arched one eyebrow at her mother.

Monica rolled her eyes. "Smart ass. Stay together, all four of you. No one goes anywhere alone or I'll send Birdie after you."

Birdie made a show of cracking her knuckles.

The boys gave them a salute, then laughed and waved for the girls to follow them.

Monica sighed. "I'm gonna owe that boy a nice birthday present. He's been so good to her . . . after . . . everything . . ."

Leah wrapped her arm around Monica's shoulders and squeezed. "His aura is pure. I think he's a good apple."

"Esther?" A girl walked in with a wand in her hand. "Am I in the wrong house?"

"In here, Whitney!"

Whitney stopped short when she saw Esther's parents. "Oh, I mean, unless now's a bad time?"

Esther looked to her parents. "Mom, Dad, do you care if Whitney gives me a temporary tattoo?"

Elijah looked to his wife. "I mean, it's like a henna, right? That's no big deal."

"I wouldn't care if she got a real one." Leah winked to Esther. "But, Whitney, I wanna see how you do it so I can do Esther's from now on."

Elijah wiped the fog from his glassed again. "Yeah, my parents will be much more understanding if Leah does it."

I looked back and forth between them. "What's this about magic tattoos?"

"Whitney is giving me a temp tattoo for anxiety." Esther held her arm out and pointed to her wrist. "I'm not allowed to have real tattoos because I'm Jewish . . . and this is one of those things my dad's very human parents are strict on. So, we respect their wishes, especially since Whitney is gifted."

My eyes widened. "Can I have one too?"

Archie snort-laughed. "A little bomb prevention?"

I smacked his arm playfully. "But yes."

Whitney nodded and tied her black hair behind her head. "Wicked. Yeah. I'll do yours after hers. Esther, have a sit?"

Esther sat on the couch and held her arm on the armchair while Whitney pulled a chair over to sit across from her. As Whitney pulled a fancy black wand out of her combat boot, I hurried over and sat next to Esther to watch. Leah leaned over the couch to watch from the other side.

I meant to watch the tattoo magic, but Aunt Kimmy, Agnes, and Monica dropped four leather-bound notebooks on the coffee table, then they opened them up and started flipping pages. My friends instantly moved to take seats around us. I must've made a face because Esther giggled.

"These are our grimoires. Our own books of shadows, so to speak." Esther pointed to them while Whitney drew with sparkly light coming off her wand and onto Esther's skin. "Since we can't have access to The Coven's, for obvious reasons, we have come together to make our own for us all to refer to."

"Like your own little coven." Archie smiled. "That's cool."

I cocked my head to the side. "Does The Coven know?"

Monica looked up from the pages. "Kessler knew. He checked it constantly to make sure nothing dangerous was in there. But he thought it was important for us to have guidance on things so we wouldn't hurt ourselves trying it on our own. Ya know?"

"The Coven should make a library for everyone."

"There is one in Eden. It's massive." Archie frowned, then pursed his lips. "But maybe that's not sufficient?"

"Humans have free public libraries online. They're huge."

Monica's eyes widened. "Imagine if every witch in the world had access to spell books and stuff online like that?"

Agnes blinked then shook herself. "That would be . . . That would've been life-changing for me as a kid."

Leah walked over and eyed the books in front of her. "The Coven could oversee it to ensure everything is safe. There's so much that could make life easier for us."

"Someone who knows The Coven should tell them." Archie smiled and looked to Monica.

"I will. I definitely will." She lifted a book. "I want to . . . have an example to give him when I present the idea. Kessler . . . he likes people to come with full plans."

"Atley called Tennessee on the phone at the beach. He could just call him?—"

"No." Monica shook her head. "No. Tennessee is . . . How do I say this?"

"Am I about to hear the first bad thing about this guy?"

Everyone chuckled but nervously. It was crazy to see the effect this one guy had on everyone even when he was a thousand miles away.

"No, I have nothing bad to say about Tennessee Wildes. He's done incredible things as Coven Leader in such a brief amount of time. He's going to revolutionize our society. And with Tegan Bishop as his soulmate and co-Leader? Our world won't look the same when they're done with it."

"But?"

"But they're teenagers." Monica sighed. "Tenn is eighteen. There's still so much of the world an eighteen-year-old cannot know, especially about the day-to-day lives of adult civilian witches. I can't imagine the amount of pressure he's under with this war against Lilith . . . and for that reason, I don't want to burden him with something like this. I will present an idea to Kessler, a longtime friend of mine, and then let him present the idea to his son."

"I think that's a wonderful way to look at it." Agnes smiled down at the pages while she read.

Uncle Kyle cleared his throat. "Right, so Frankie excels in stalling. She knows dinner is almost ready and she's just going to sit here and get y'all to keep talking until it's time to eat. Then she'll be too tired to play with your toys."

I gasped dramatically for show. "I am appalled."

"Go ahead then . . . Try a wand." He wagged his eyebrows. "I triple dog dare you."

"Fine." I reached over and plucked the wand in Esther's hair out, causing her black curls to bounce around her shoulders. "See, I'm not scared. I've got a wand. No big de?—"

Gold and navy-blue glitter exploded from the wand, like it was seeping from the pores of the wood and spilling onto my hands. I cursed and tossed the wand back to Esther, but my hands were splattered with glitter.

"Uhh . . . oops?"

She laughed and caught her wand. But I didn't want to let that slow me down or intimidate me, so I leaned to my left and plucked Ava's wand from her lap. Except when I touched it, every light in the house exploded and we were drenched in darkness.

Everyone cursed.

"Sorry, sorry!" I yelled.

Lights came back on, and Aunt Kimmy stood with her wand up in the air. "Well, that was fun."

"All right, let's try an actual spell." Monica moved an unlit candle in front of me. "We're gonna make this candle bigger?—"

"Here, Franks. Catch."

I looked up as Uncle Kyle's wand flew through the air toward me.

"Third time's a charm," I said as I caught it easily, but the second my hand touched it, little blue flames shot out of the tip.

That candle exploded into small pieces.

Everyone stared at me.

Monica scowled and snatched the wand from my hand. "How about we move away from wands?"

I grimaced. "So does this mean I'm not a Wand?"

"Yes," everyone said in perfect unison.

Aunt Kimmy sighed and held her wand out. "Let's clean this up?—"

" Non! Attends! " Jo held her hand up. " Laisse-la nettoyer. Voici ce que nous faisons. "

Madge's eyes widened with excitement. "She is right. This is what Pentacles do. We're the clean-up team. We go in and fix magic gone wrong."

"Here. Use mine." Tomás held a shiny gold object out to me. "Go ahead. Our talismans are controlled by us. "

Ava rolled her eyes. "And the wand controls us?"

"No, but they're different. Wands have a magical essence within them, especially your talisman wand. So, you and the wand work together," Tomás held his talisman up, "while Pentacles are the only magical essence in this combo. Our talismans are trained and treated to react to us. We're bonded in a different way. The magic only comes from us. "

"Not that you think that makes you superior or anything."

His dark eyes shot to me and widened. His face fell. "No. No, I don't."

"I'm just kidding." I held my palm out. "I'd love to try yours."

His talisman looked basically like an old school corkscrew with the solid gold bar with a swirly sticky thing sticking out the bottom about three inches. "Is this a corkscrew? You're messing with me, right?"

"I would never mislead you, mi amor. "

I took his talisman, wrapping my fingers around the gold bar, then I pointed it at the pile of candle rubble. Light flashed, something crackled, and the wax rubble exploded into white dust.

Aunt Kimmy coughed and waved her hand in the air. "Nope. Not it."

"Try mine. " Birdie walked over and held her arm out. The gold pentacle charm dangled from a gold chain. "Tomás chose his because it's also a corkscrew. Do not let him fool you."

He threw his arms out wide and grinned. "Magical wine night?"

Birdie rolled her eyes. "It also takes training to do clean-up as Jo suggested. Let's try something smaller, easier. You saw me use a form of hypnosis to get the Dean to change his mind, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I did. So you want me to try and make you do something?"

"Not me. It's my talisman so it won't work." She pursed her lips. "Who wants to volunteer?"

"I'll do it." Tomás jumped up and then sat on the coffee table in front of me so we were face to face. "Make me do anything you want."

"Gross," Uncle Kyle grumbled.

"Okay, so you're gonna hold this like you would a pendulum." Birdie held her talisman out to me. "When you touch it, it's going to seek out your magic. It'll connect with you, imagine it like plugging in your phone to your car to play your music through the stereo."

"Think about what you'd like him to do or say." I must've made a face because Madge slid to stand behind him and then flapped her arms like a chicken. Then she winked. "Imagine it in your mind, then push with your magic."

" Sens-le dans tes doigts. " Jo tapped her temple, then wiggled her fingers. "In your fingers."

I took Birdie's talisman between my thumb and middle finger like would a pendulum. Hot, sharp energy shot through my fingers and up my arm. I hissed. It hurt a little bit, but I didn't want to look weak or scared, so I held on to it. The muscles in my arm ached and burned. Something definitely wasn't right. But then Madge started the chicken dance again, so I had to try. I looked into Tomás's eyes and held the talisman up. Dance like a chicken.

His eyes lit up for a split second, but then there was a pop and smoke exploded between us. I dropped the talisman on the ground and reached out, but there was so much smoke I couldn't see him. My heart caught in my throat. Everyone else dove forward, but it was Aunt Kimmy's wand that swept the smoke away.

Tomás's eyes were wide. His skin was covered in black dust and his hair was sticking out in every direction. "I'm okay. Right? Right? I'm good?"

The adults swarmed him, but after a second, they stepped away and nodded.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I snatched Birdie's talisman off the ground and hissed as it burned again. "Here."

"I think we can rule out Pentacles as well." Birdie chuckled and wrapped her gold chain around her wrist.

Esther and Archie were watching me with curious expressions. I felt like they were making mental notes of things to look into and discuss later when the whole group wasn't around. It made me a little bit nervous. While Archie struggled with wands, and with simply just walking without tripping, he did know a lot about magic and the way it worked. And Esther definitely knew magic, even if her own was a little weakened on the outside. They definitely had thoughts on what all just went down.

"Okay, Cups time!" Seamus announced as he bounced over to where I sat. "Cups are much safer. The talisman itself cannot harm anyone—unless you throw it hard enough."

I snort-laughed. "This is why we're friends, Seamus."

He grinned and his eyes sparkled. "You can use my chalice."

He sat a silver chalice on the coffee table. It was far more intricate than I expected it to be. And surprisingly pretty. It was entirely silver with olive branches engraved in the stem and up around the glass.

Aunt Kimmy cleared her throat pointedly. "Agnes, I believe you're up to bat here."

Archie's mom, Agnes, used to be a potions instructor at Edenburg, so I wasn't surprised my aunt was asking for her to help me out. I'd made quite the mess of the wands and amulets. I didn't know who Archie's dad was, but I was wondering if he was as uncoordinated as Archie, because Agnes was sure on her feet. She picked up a long tray full of supplies off the kitchen counter and carried it over to the coffee table without tripping or spilling anything.

Seamus dropped to his knees beside the tray with an excited smile on his face. "Which potion do you want her to try first?"

"I think we'll go with something easy." Agnes began arranging objects on the tray.

"What did you say?" Seamus ducked his head down.

Agnes glanced at him, then did a double take. She blushed and looked him straight in the eye. "Sorry, Seamus. I said, I think we'll go with something easy."

I frowned and then realized she'd been looking away from him so he couldn't read her lips, and the sound of her voice must have traveled in the wrong direction. Seamus did so well that it was easy to forget he was hard of hearing.

"I was thinking of a tea. Nice and simple but effective." She made sure she was talking straight to him. "But something we'll know if it works."

Seamus nodded, then snapped his fingers. "Headache tea."

Agnes smiled. "Good idea. We'll do that."

"We'll do what? Headache tea?" I leaned forward and tapped on Seamus's shoulder to get his attention. Once he looked at me, I said, "What is headache tea?"

"It's a potion to heal a headache." He licked his lips and pointed to the tray. "What you do is?—"

"No, don't tell her." Agnes held her hand out. She smirked. "I want to see how she does without instruction."

"Throwing me into the deep end, eh?"

"Call it a gut feeling." She grinned and crouched down on her knees across from me. "What I want you to do is just look at all the ingredients on the tray. Forget what they're called or their intended purpose. Just see what happens."

"That is frustratingly vague." I bit my lip. "How do I start?"

"Take the chalice into your hands. See if your magic steps up to the plate and shows you the way." She waved her hands over the tray. "Just focus on your intention of healing my headache."

"Agnes, your style of teaching is interesting. But okay, let's give it a go." I wrapped my fingers around the stem of Seamus's chalice and lifted it into my hand. The silver was cold to the touch but didn't tingle or hurt. Nothing outright happened just from holding it, so that was a good sign. "All right. I am going to heal Agnes' headache."

At first nothing happened. I was just staring at this tray full of random objects. I saw rose petals and what looked like thorns from a rose stem. There were far too many little jars of herbs that looked the same while looking slightly different at the same time. If I stared at those too long, I was going to go crazy. There were cloves and garlic, and a stack of cinnamon sticks. I saw mint leaves, chives, rosemary, thyme, arugula, and like two dozen other things, including some small vials of different color liquids. It was a lot. Too much, in fact. I didn't know where to start.

"Just give it a try. No pressure." Seamus smiled and gave me two thumbs-up.

I took a deep breath, then sat the chalice on the coffee table next to the tray, practically under Seamus's nose. Then I rested my fingertips on the edge of the chalice with my left hand and on the edge of the tray with my right. Okay, magic, show me what to use to make this potion. Please. And then I exhaled and tried to push with my mind. I had no idea if I was doing this right or not. This was one hell of a crash course into witchcraft. I was about to give up when neon-blue flames billowed from beneath a little potion bottle in the center of the tray.

My eyes widened. I sat up straight. Those blue flames . . . I knew those. That was my magic. I stared at them for a moment, then picked up the bottle, removed the lid, and poured the contents into the chalice. Those blue flames vanished as if they'd never been there. With a frown, I sat the potion bottle down—and the flames reappeared. I gasped as excitement rushed through me like adrenaline. This time the flames were dancing along the edge of a little white bowl filled with bluish-purple flower petals. I picked up the bowl and the word lavender bounced around my head. I definitely hadn't known this was lavender. With my left hand, I pinched some of the petals from the bowl into the chalice now filled with the clear liquid.

The blue flames jumped from the bowl to a leafy green branch, then onto a stack of tiny dried-out yellow flowers, and then onto the little brown balls. Rosemary, chamomile, nutmeg. My magic filled in the name of the ingredients as I touched them. Forget following the yellow brick road, I was following the blue flames. The last two ingredients I knew before I touched them. Mint and cinnamon. Once I put all of those into the chalice, the blue flames covered my hand and the top edge of the chalice. I frowned and covered the chalice with my hand, and instantly those blue flames swirled within the cup. Blue smoke of the same color billowed from between my fingers.

Once the flames and smoke vanished, I pulled my hand back and just stared at it. "Did y'all see that?"

"The smoke is normal," Seamus said with a nod.

"Good to know." I glanced around the room to the whole group, but no one seemed alarmed or confused. Something in my gut told me I was the only one who'd just seen the blue flames. And then I looked to Esther who had a little smirk but wouldn't meet my eyes. Archie just nodded.

"All right. Let's see if you're about to heal my headache." Agnes lifted the chalice to her lips and drank a big sip. She licked her lips and set the chalice back down. "Tastes delicious— oooh ."

I reached for her like I could fix whatever happened that made her close her eyes mid-sentence like that. "What? What happened? Does it hurt?"

She exhaled, slow and steady, then opened her eyes. "That is the gentlest headache healing I've ever felt. Impressive, Frankie."

Seamus grabbed his chalice and drank from it. He licked his lips as if he were taste testing wine at some winery. Then he blinked and nodded his head. "The nutmeg and cinnamon were a surprise choice for me but . . ."

"I think we have to add them to the potion's ingredients from now on." Agnes chuckled.

"What does that mean?"

Agnes grinned. "Congratulations, Frankie, it's a Cup!"

Ava sighed loudly. She leaned against the kitchen counter, running her fingers through Float's white fur. "Thank the Goddess. I was not looking forward to seeing her test out Swords."

Everyone laughed, including me.

"And perfect timing." Uncle Kyle clapped his hands. "Dinner is ready."