August 16 | Day

The right hook came out of nowhere and plowed into my torso. The pain went sharp and deep, knocking me into my chair. I couldn't believe the son of a bitch had hit me! Springing to my feet, I squared off. The people under the portico scattered like ants. From the corner of my eye, I saw the store attendant grab her phone and lock the doors. Not another run-in with the cops. I groaned.

"What did you do to her?" Nixie's friend swung again.

"Whoa! I didn't do anything to her," I said as I dodged him.

"Fitz, stop!" Nixie screamed when he came at me with another reckless punch. My inner dragon exploded free in a shower of sparks. Red scales traced from my cheeks to my jugular as she tried to hold me back. "No! Legend, don't hurt him!"

"Who the fuck are you? Are you a trafficker?" Fitz shouted.

"Dude, of course not!"

"Then why wouldn't you let Nixie go?"

I grabbed Fitz by the collar of his shirt and drove him into the next table with a snarl. "I'm not a sex trafficker, and Nixie hasn't been harmed. Calm down so we can talk!" My dragon hovered over him menacingly, although the human couldn't see him.

Dex went to the convenience store doors and flashed a badge at the attendant. With wide eyes, the woman nodded and ended her call. At the sight of her badge, Fitz stopped struggling, as well, as I pressed his temple to the granite table.

Dex grabbed my shirt and yanked me away. She spun around and grabbed Fitz's arm and slung him into the nearest chair. "Básta! Both of you! Enough!" She blew out a breath.

I threw my hands up and walked away, fuming at being attacked. My heart thundered, and I huffed from exertion. Nixie collapsed into the other chair with a chagrined frown. Dex looked like she wanted to drag us both by our ears. She paced under the awning, talking to herself in rapid-fire Spanish in an attempt to cool down before dealing with us.

Meanwhile, I tried to figure out how the hell she managed to make a pair of flannel pajamas and a housecoat look so sexy, especially in a rage.

Propped against the store's side wall, I studied the interloper that Nixie had lured to Baton Rouge. My opponent sat, nursing a bruised chin. Served him right. He was about my age and about my height, but he was brawnier. An asymmetric haircut flopped dark hair across his forehead over ice blue eyes. He was handsome in a West Coast way, with his skater shorts and Chuck Taylor's. I wondered if he was the princess's boyfriend. That would explain his attitude. Fitz sized me up, and I stared right back, the dragon in me itching for another clash.

Nixie interrupted Dex's diatribe, "Listen, I called Fitz here. I'm sorry, but you can't send him away. I'll go on a hunger strike if you do."

The agent halted and gaped at her."Oh, for God's sake! How did I end up with such a goddamn bunch of drama queens? You will do no such thing, Nixie Fontenot. You'll thank me for saving this man's life when it's all said and done."

"I think he should stay," I said quietly, pulling Dex aside. I couldn't believe I was suggesting it, but we wouldn't get any cooperation out of Nixie without him.

Fitz eyed me warily. "Who are you people? Someone better tell me what's going on and why I couldn't reach Nixie all day."

"I'm already defending you," I said, holding up my hand to silence him. "Don't make me change my mind." I turned to Dex. "They're not from here, okay? This kid has nothing better to do in Louisiana than cause trouble. He'll keep looking for Nixie, and she'll keep leaving him breadcrumbs. Let's just bring him on board in a limited capacity."

"He even has a skillset that we can use," Nixie interjected. "He's a sharpshooter."

"Why would you need a sharpshooter?" Fitz appeared taken aback.

Dex clutched her temples. "We don't need a sharpshooter, Mr...?"

"Palantro. Fitz Palantro," he supplied.

"Mr. Palantro, I'm FBI Agent Dex Rodriguez, and this is my partner, Agent Liang." She held up a convincing FBI badge, which I realized she had shown the store attendant to prevent her from calling the police. I hid my admiration and wondered if she could get me one, too. Nixie stared at her, transfixed, equally impressed. Was a girl-crush in the makings? I quirked an eyebrow with interest.

To Fitz, Dex lied, saying, "Your friend Nixie is under our protection because her birth family is dead, and a violent killer may be after her now. We're keeping her until she can safely hand over evidence that she inherited. There is no threat from us, but there is a serious risk if this information falls into the wrong hands, which is why she shouldn't have contacted you." She gave Nixie a look of censure.

By the look on his face, I could tell Fitz believed Dex's story hook, line, and sinker. It was the right thing to do to tell him a version of what was going on. I didn't know much about being a secret agent, but I knew that an operation of the scope Dex intended required eliminating the wild cards, and Fitz was definitely one of them.

Dex snapped her fingers and pointed us toward her sedan. "It's late," she said. "Since you're here, Fitz, I have to take you to the safehouse. Nixie, you and your friend can share one of the guest rooms. My grandmother has arrived to help us with our cover. Legend, the couch is a fold-out. We'll discuss this further in the morning. Nixie, not a word about anything else until we meet again, or he's gone. Understood?"

I got into the driver's seat of her car, with Fitz and Nixie in the back. We were driving to Dex's place when the storm that had been threatening half the night finally broke. Suddenly, a huge lightning bolt struck a tree right in front of us. I slammed on the brakes, and a massive branch crashed down inches from the car. I looked at Dex, shaking somewhat. She seemed unfazed by the near-death experience.

"Did you see how close that was?" I asked.

"Mm-hm. There are some things I need to tell you about the book," she mumured. I hurried past the tree branch and sped home, pondering what the book had to do with it. Did I even want to know?

***

From the sofa bed, I was the first to smell the delicious breakfast that Dex's grandmother was preparing the next morning. I could hear the clatter of pots and pans, and the elderly woman singing joyfully in Spanish as she cooked. A while later, I heard Fitz and Nixie talking quietly in the back guest room. The soft laughter that punctuated every other line of speech told me that the tension from the previous night had been resolved.

Dex slipped downstairs from her attic bedroom, and she paused on the landing, peering into the bright, sunny living room at me.

I pretended I was asleep, not ready to move. But after she went into the kitchen, I lay awake, staring at the cypress rafters and trying not to feel sorry for myself. I had lost my family. Years of lies that I had planted had grown a field of distrust, and I had reaped. Overnight, David had assured me by text that he would move the drugs, but he wanted to give the package back to Brody Hartfeld. The problem was that I had no other way of taking care of myself, as my parents had cut off my financial support.

Disowned on my own birthday. It could have been worse. I put myself in Nixie's shoes. Not only had she lost the mother she had always known. She also had to accept that her birth family was gone. I had developed an instant dislike of her friend, but I didn't begrudge her having him along to make the journey easier.

I swung my feet over the edge of the sofa and got up. I couldn't change how my family saw me, but I had a second chance to make a good first impression on Dex and Nixie. And if Fitz wanted to make himself competition, I didn't mind turning up the dragon charisma. I wanted to feel like I belonged. It was all I had ever wanted.

I collected the outfit Dex had folded and placed on the coffee table, and I showered and got dressed. I made a mental note to find out if I was truly only getting paid in days out of prison. I was running out of cash, and I needed things—clothes that fit, for one.

Dressed in someone else's jeans and t-shirt, I headed from the bathroom to ask Dex about what she had hinted at concerning the book last night. Birds chirped outside the yellow-curtained kitchen window, and the room was filled with sunlight and the aroma of strong coffee and sweet corn cakes.

"So, about The Book of Tides," I said from the archway. Nixie slipped past me. I glanced over my shoulder at her friend stepping into the bathroom with his bags. The princess flashed a shy smile at me as she settled on a barstool.

Dex sat at the table, sipping from a steaming mug. "Buenos dias. I was just talking about the book with my grandmother. Legend, Nixie, this is Abuela Maya. Director Van der Woodsen sent her to lend her expertise as una curandera, a healer. Abuelita, this is Legend Liang and Nixie Fontenot. Folks, last night, I found out that the book is cursed. If it remains in our possession much longer, we'll continue encountering harrowing experiences like the tree branch falling."

"Oh, great. It's the gift that keeps on giving," sighed Nixie.

"My granddaughter tells me," Abuela Maya patted the princess's shoulder and set a plate before her, "that the book is likely the reason your people went extinct. Now the bad juju is targeting the three of you."

Nixie's facial expression sobered. She looked the same way I felt. Curses? Bad juju? I moved to the table with a frown. When I signed up for this job, I had been under the impression it was a simple matter of driving. Dex had mentioned danger, but this was turning into a life or death matter. I already had enough life or death angst on my hands with Hartfeld's package.

"This is treacherous, even for Supernaturals," I muttered.

Dex cut her eyes at me. "That's why I didn't want the human on board. And if the curse doesn't get us first, someone else is after us—the billionaire vampire, Darcy Cyprian."

"Of course, a literal vampire," Nixie groaned.

"Cyprian is a Supernatural antique collector who will stop at nothing to acquire the artifacts on his wish-list," Dex explained. "He's also a member of our governing body, the Council of Overlay Affairs, so he gets away with a lot of his misdeeds. Those are the odds we're up against when you two buck my command."

"In a place like Overlay City, there has to be something we can do to protect ourselves." Nixie studied us.

Dex grabbed a plate from the cabinet and started fixing something to eat. I leaned back in my chair to watch her. Sleep had softened her features, leaving her hair a cute, tangled mess. "We complete the rest of this mission and get that book to the City of Immortals. That's how we protect ourselves," she said in a no-nonsense voice.

"Actually, there is another way," Abuela Maya negated her. Dex scoffed, but Nixie and I peered at the older woman in askance. "We find a protective talisman. If Nixie wears it, it'll dampen the effects of the book against all of you. Had I the materials, I would make one myself, but there is a store in Overlay City..."

"Abuela, we're not going there. We have a human with us, thanks to Legend's brilliant idea to let Nixie sneak off last night." Dex thumped the plate in front of me. I jumped a little from the force and from the surprise of her having made it for me.

I collected her hand and said teasingly, "But he's a sharpshooter. We could use him." Smirking, she snatched her hand away. It made her smile, though.

"Let the human stay in the car," Abuela Maya suggested.

"If we go to your metaphysical shop, we'll have to make it quick. I have a side mission for Legend near the city today," said Dex.

"What kind of a side mission?" I raised an eyebrow.

Without answering me, she called for a rental vehicle that could accommodate the five of us. After breakfast, we piled into the SUV and headed to New Orleans. Fitz and Nixie giggled and laughed like teenagers on a field trip in the backseat. It irritated me, and I checked if I was a smidge envious. Dex sat in the passenger seat next to me.

"It happens, you know." She seemed to read my mind.

I glanced away from the road at her. "What are you talking about?"

"You find yourself infatuated with someone you're on a mission with. Don't take it too seriously. It's the proximity and danger. When this operation is over, you'll realize that the two of you have nothing in common."

I went silent for a while, disagreeing. None of us had anything in common, but there was something innocent, yet eager about Nixie that ignited my interest. "And what about me and you?" I asked with a grin.

"Excuse me?" She tossed her head with a laugh.

"What about me and you?" I repeated, smiling. Unable to take me seriously, Dex faced forward as I kept looking at her.

However, her expression suddenly changed to one of dismay. "Hey, pay attention to the road!" She grabbed my arm as the SUV swerved into the oncoming lane of traffic.