CHAPTER 54

"You help plenty. It can be weird sometimes, but I know your heart's in the right place. As for me and Quetzalli, that's just for fun. Lily helped me fill that void for a while, but Quetzalli likes to cuddle after." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "This will sound silly, but when I'm holding her after sex, I like to pretend that I'm feeling the same things she does. Practicing for when I have those feelings again."

"I don't think that sounds odd at all. You're doing the best that you can in a shit situation, it's all you can hope for."

"I guess." She looked over at Bigfoot. "I'm guessing a couple more days will see him on his feet. Then we can figure out who is going and who is staying. As far as the Nirumbi are concerned, they seem like a done deal."

"Maybe." Mike thought back to that intense feeling he had experienced outside. He had his doubts, but had no evidence.

"If you rub her back, it will help her relax," Dana offered. "She's really into getting rubbed, in case you were wondering."

He laughed. "I feel like you're trying to sell me on having sex with her."

"Have you ever seen those movies where a teen girl talks about her crush all the time and it's super annoying? I've been living in that movie, but all the talk is about sex with you. I could use some peace and quiet."

"And you'd be fine with that?"

"Would I have brought this up if I wasn't? Seriously, Mike. Please fuck her. I'm tired of answering questions about heterosexual sex. Oh, but a warning. She gets extra zappy when she comes."

So do I, he thought.

"So other than a dragon-sized bed hog, what's the real reason you're still awake?"

"I don't know what you mean," he replied.

"I know your scent. You've smelled differently all day, and I'm getting a whiff of something else right now. It smells a lot like pepperoni burps, but I think it's anxiety."

"Oh," he replied. Dana was right, there was something else keeping him up. Ever since that moment in the barn with Velvet, he had been unable to get her out of his mind. In fact, he had walked away from their conversation about goblins only to get some distance. He hardly knew her, and the intense attraction was a little frightening.

"Oof, there it is. Whatever the problem is, you're thinking about it right now." Dana waved a hand in front of her nose and scrunched up her face. "Is it something I can help with?"

"I'm not sure." He pictured the way that Velvet looked when she had been standing next to him outside. She had absent-mindedly twirled her hair in one finger while they talked. When she looked at him, he felt like he was getting lost in her eyes. She was his perfect tomboy fantasy. A woman who had lived her life in the forest, with beautiful auburn hair and a sweet smile that made his knees feel weak.

From the waist down...he didn't even mind so much. He supposed part of that was due to the fact that she was covered in soft hair. Her sister's sleek, shiny body was far more intimidating to him.

And what about when he had touched her and his entire body had become ultra-sensitive? His magic had never done that before. In the last few months, he had experimented with his own abilities, but it was definitely limited.

He called the abilities and traits he had gained from the others his extra-human abilities. The banshee scream was the most obvious, and the endurance he had received from Zel had been a godsend on their hike. He attributed his strength in the Dreamscape to Lily, and the fact that his cum practically sparkled now was definitely the fairies.

But there had to be other traits hidden away, ones he hadn't discovered yet. Having no fear of heights was something he had received from Abella, but he would never have known about it if he hadn't taken a ride on the Jabberwock. Was this weird sensitivity related to one of those? Perhaps one of his gifts was reacting to Velvet's presence? It was impossible to know.

"Where does Velvet sleep?" he asked. They had been given a tour of the downstairs, but he hadn't bothered going upstairs yet.

"That's...not the question I expected. The Arachne sleep upstairs." Dana pointed at the loft. "It's weird up there, kind of like the house. That whole bigger on the inside thing. When you go up there, stay out of Eulalie's room. She'll get pissed if she finds out you messed with her computers."

"Is she some kind of—"

Dana practically leapt across the table to push her finger against his lips, preventing him from saying webmaster.

"Just don't. It's too obvious," she warned.

He snorted and stood. Dana watched him ascend the spiral staircase to the loft. Somehow, despite climbing the stairs, the ceiling didn't seem any closer. In fact, the space in the rafters looked large enough for several Arachne to move about. He wondered if Eulalie and Velvet had used the area as a playroom, able to move about without disturbing the earthbound residents below.

From where he stood, he could see into the first floor. Bigfoot was snoring now, and Dana had put on headphones. He walked along the railing, trying to picture what it was like to grow up in such a place. In a dark nook along the far wall, he saw Emery tucked away in something that looked like a nest. The little imp was asleep, the silver dollar Mike had given him clutched in his tiny claws.

An entire life had been lived here by the Arachne family, and he wondered what the next step for the daughters would be. If the Nirumbi had been dealt with, they could return to their normal lives. He suspected that Eulalie was interested in the house, but Velvet had too many emotional ties to this place. It wouldn't be hard to connect the two by portal, but that was a discussion for another time.

The rooms were at the end of the hall, laid out side-by-side. As he approached, he realized that he didn't know what he was going to do or say. Waking Velvet up to tell her that he couldn't stop thinking about her was not the most tactful way to approach the situation. Confessing that it was somehow magic related was also a terrible idea.