He lowered her to her feet and tried to steady her, but I threw my arms around her shoulders before he could accomplish his goal.
“Gigi!” I said, holding her tight.
Her face and blonde hair had a light dusting of soot, making her bright eyes look even bigger as she glanced around in wonder. She coughed softly and huffed out a puff of smoke.
“Are you okay? Oh my God, what happened?”
“I… I don’t know.”
I hugged her tighter. “You could’ve been killed.”
She patted my shoulder reassuringly, then coughed again as I led her and Annette farther out. Then another thought hit me. I’d brought home a stray. Minerva, a skittish twenty-something member of Gigi’s coven whose uncle almost killed us both that very day. And I’d left her to burn alive.
I sprinted toward the front door again only to be tackled once again. Roane carried me out of the house in one arm and Minerva in the other. He deposited us both on the lawn, gave me a warning growl, then went back in.
Minerva hadn’t quite gained her balance. I steadied her, then gave her a thorough once-over.
“What… what happened?” She looked back at the house. She’d been in one of the upstairs rooms, and she’d been sound asleep when the explosion went off by the looks of her. The poor girl had been through so much in the last few days, and now this.
“I know it was loud,” I told her, worried about PTSD, “but we’re all okay.” I leaned closer. “You’re okay.”
Her lashes fluttered as she tried to gain her bearings. “What was loud?”
“The explosion.”
Her lashes formed a circle around her pretty brown eyes. “There was an explosion?”
I almost laughed and pulled her into my arms. “One that you slept through, apparently.” And I thought I was a deep sleeper.
She hugged me back, suddenly on high alert.
I glanced around at everyone. “Is everyone breathing okay? Gigi?” The smoke had seared my already raw throat as well, and I’d barely gotten a couple of lungfuls.
Gigi nodded but kept a hand at her throat as she watched smoke billow out of Percy’s front door.
I looked over at Annette. Her ash-covered face was now streaked with tears, her eyes swollen and red-rimmed. She’d clearly been the closest to the explosion. “Annette, what happened?”
She coughed. There was a lot of that going around. “I don’t know. The oven exploded.”
“The oven?” The graveness of the situation began to sink in. “Do you mean the Wolf double convection oven with gourmet mode, dual fuel range, six burners, signature red handles, and a French top that costs more than my car?” Admittedly, that wasn’t saying much.
“Yes. I was making a cake.”
“You were making a cake in the middle of the night?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She blinked up at me and tried to focus through the soot on her lenses. “What?”
Keeping a hand on Ruthie’s shoulder, I stepped closer to Annette. “Why were you making a cake in the middle of the night?”
She shook her head and looked back at Percy. “It doesn’t matter. I just… How did this happen?”
Realization dawned like a sledgehammer to my chest. “Oh my God, Annette. Today’s Austin’s birthday.”
She lifted a noncommittal shoulder. Her brother had disappeared when they were kids, never to be seen again. She always celebrated his birthday, wishing on his candles that he would find his way home. “I can’t believe I forgot.”
“I’m so sorry, hon.” I wrapped my arms around her again. I truly was the worst friend ever. The day had been filled with one horrifying event after another, but to completely forget her brother Austin’s birthday…
She patted my arm. “Still not a hugger.”
I hugged anyway.
When she could take no more of the torture I was subjecting her to, she squeaked a protest and wiggled out of my embrace.
I finally gave up and stepped back, but she kept her hand locked in mine. I’d take it. “We’ve had a lot going on,” I said.
“I know, but I didn’t call my mom. You know how she gets.” Her smudged glasses sat lopsided on her nose. She pushed them up, then said, “She texted me. That’s how I remembered.”
“Did you tell her why you forgot?”
“Kidnapped,” she said, pointing to herself. “Turned into a bird. How am I supposed to explain that to her? She’ll never forgive me.”
That was true. She’d been kidnapped by Minerva’s uncle, who’d been trying to force me to bring his dead wife back to life so he could get her inheritance. As leverage, he’d placed my bestie in a building about to be demolished, and the charges went off before anyone could get to her, so I had to turn her into a bird so she could escape.
It really had been a busy day.
Despite my best efforts, I hugged her again. The thought of her being crushed by a building, buried under its debris, almost ended me.
She didn’t fight as hard this time.
When I finished, Gigi hugged her, too. “I’m sorry about your brother.”
“Thank you,” Annette said, hugging her back.
Hugging. Her. Back.
What in the sphincter hell? She’d only hugged me back, like, twice our whole lives. She was probably still upset that I’d turned her into a bird, but she’d bounced back. She’s all womanly again, girly bits and all. Though I was dying to ask her more, I figured now was not the time. Especially since we were about to lose our home.
Speaking of my grandfather… I turned toward the vines that covered the house and held out my hand. A vine curled around my wrist and laced into my fingers. “Are you okay, Percy?”
A black rose, almost impossible to see in the starless night, blossomed, its crimson underbelly barely visible.
“I’m glad,” I whispered to him.
He squeezed my wrist then unlaced himself as a dark figure walked out of the house toward us, his gait like a predator, quiet and smooth. The last remnants of smoke billowed around him, curled, then sank back toward him as though reluctant to leave his side. I knew the feeling.
“Should I call the firefighters?” I asked.
“No,” Roane said. He stepped out onto the porch. The smoke that wafted around his shoulders gave him an even more surreal quality. A supernatural mystique. He gave me a quick inspection from over a bandana he’d wrapped around his nose and mouth before tugging it down and turning to check on Gigi. “The fire is out.” He stepped closer to her. “Are you okay, love?”
She nodded and put a hand on his forearm for support. “Yes. Thank you, sweetheart. Was it a gas leak?”
He covered her hand with his, and my heart melted. “No, but I turned it off just in case. I’ll have to disconnect the stove before I can turn the gas back on. I’ll do that tonight, but first we need to let Percy air out for a bit.”
“What happened?” she asked, clearly shaken.
We turned in unison to Annette.
She stepped back, her face still a picture of shock. “I was just baking a cake.”
“With nitroglycerin?” Roane asked, eyeing her suspiciously, though I doubted the suspicion was aimed directly at her. It was more of a general suspicion. A wariness.