“Trust me, that’s a different bad list. Dizzy usually yells back at her when she’s being a bully, but not this time. He went and hid in his shed.”

Yikes. That was bad.

“Ah. There you are.” Callie stood at the bottom of the stairs with her hand on the banister. Her long black dress had a frilly neckline that plunged down her chest. A sparkly red something or other under it kept the situation from being a peep show. “The guests are anxious to meet you.”

Butterflies swarmed my belly. If I’d learned anything during this short trip into the magical world, it was that I was the least mage-like person possible.

“What do you have on…” Callie’s voice trailed away as she dropped her hand. She sighed and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You’re pretty despite that dress. Next time, though, pick something a little less…”

“Dreadful,” Veronica said. Callie nodded.

“It wasn’t as awful as the one on the rack next to it,” I muttered, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

Veronica slapped my hand away. “Don’t ruin your hair.”

“Then next time, pick a better store.” Callie motioned me down. “Hurry up. John is here. I’m going to parade you around to everyone else before introducing you to him. I want to see if he cuts the line.” A wry grin twisted her lips.

“John is…?” I asked, climbing down the stairs reluctantly, hearing the murmuring from the next room. Veronica trailed after me.

“A high-powered mage,” she said. “He may be more powerful than I was before I formed a dual-mage partnership with Dizzy. He’d be a good match for you, Penny. He’d complement you nicely.” When I got on her level, she shrugged. “Worst case, he’d be a good rebound. Maybe you’d stop sulking about that Rogue Natural leaving. His loss. You need to move on.”

I blew out a breath to calm the sudden churning of my stomach. I did need to move on, but…

“Oh, there you are.” Dizzy hurried toward us as I reached the landing. My mouth dropped open in shock at the sight of a crisp suit without one stain or burn mark on it. “The guests are wondering where the star of the show is.” His kind smile loosened my shoulders a little, but didn’t do a thing to calm down the butterflies. “You look beautiful. The belle of the ball. Just don’t let on that you’re hiding tiger claws behind your pretty face.”

“Because I’ll seem less ladylike?” I asked in confusion.

“Goodness, no.” Dizzy laughed and squeezed between Callie and me before bending an arm around my back and leading me forward. “What an absurd thought. No, you shouldn’t show that side of yourself because right now you’re giving an illusion of daintiness. Many will take that for weakness. You look soft and willowy and in need of guidance. Let them think that’s your sum total. They’ll let down their guard and reveal their secrets. We don’t fear people we perceive to be weaker than ourselves, so we aren’t as worried about our vulnerabilities in their presence. See what I’m saying?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a good girl.” He patted my shoulder jovially.

“I was just telling her about John,” Callie said from behind us in a low murmur.

“Oh yes. He has a lot of power and the ladies seem to like him. He’d be one to chat with, for sure. That would be a good match.”

“He’s a little shy on power for her, but she can’t expect to find another natural,” Callie said.

“Yes, that’s true,” Dizzy said. “Here we are.”

A crowd of people stood within the large living room. Off to the side, a bartender in a black uniform mixed a drink at the mobile bar for one of the women waiting at the counter. Most of the furniture had been removed and little tables dotted the ample space. Larger tables topped with food, plates, and utensils lined the back wall.

A few people carrying crystal goblets sauntered in from the formal dining room around the back corner. If Callie had pulled out all the stops, which she surely had, her china would be out and crystal glittering. She wasn’t usually a show-off, but clearly these events warranted a reminder to the community of all that she and Dizzy had accomplished.

“Penny, let me introduce you to Mary Bell.” Dizzy stopped us in front of a petite woman losing the fight to gravity. Her skin hung from her hunched frame and her braless lovelies dangled just above her waistline within her loose shirt.

With a smile, she reached forward a hand. “Pleased to meet you, Penny. Welcome.”

Her grip nearly crunched my bones. “Charmed,” I wheezed out.

“Yes.” She braced her hands on the ball of her cane, her serene smile belied by the fierce glint in her eyes. “You are a lovely little creature. So late to the magical life. How will you adjust?”

“Badly, probably,” I said honestly.

Her smile grew. “Yes. Probably. But it is not what happens to us that matters the most—it is how we respond to it. Don’t let anyone put you in a place you don’t wish to be.”

“Mary Bell is a powerful mage,” Dizzy said as Callie strutted toward the food table, where an older woman hovered indecisively over a plate of shrimp. “She has done some truly great spell work in the years we’ve known her.”

Mary Bell’s eyes sparkled as she surveyed me. “You don’t care for any of that, do you, child?”

I jerked straighter, wondering what my face was showing. “I do, of course! I really do!” I needed to tone down my forced enthusiasm.

The older woman chuckled softly. “I have never met a powerful mage that wasn’t also ambitious. They always want to know how they can better their position. The amount of knowledge I can offer you has exponentially increased.”

Dizzy and I both shifted, in opposite directions, and I could tell we were equally confused.

Mary Bell picked up on it. “You see, I thought you’d want to talk about unique spells, ancient relics, and whatever else you might pry out of my dementia-ridden grasp.”

“Good grief,” I whispered, fidgeting with the neck of my dress.

“I didn’t realize you had dementia,” Dizzy said conversationally, and somehow, when he said it, it didn’t sound quite so socially awkward. I needed to learn that trick.

“I don’t have dementia,” Mary Bell said brusquely, and an edge crept into her voice that had my small hairs rising. “But most younger people like Penny don’t realize that. They see an old woman with a stoop and a smile and assume she is two seagulls shy of a flock.”

“Seagulls…right…” Dizzy drew out the words.

“But were they to stop talking and listen, they would learn that I possess a wealth of knowledge from being a dual-mage near the top of my discipline, from traveling the world and battling the wicked. They might stop their reductive thinking that magic itself is good or evil.” She raised a gnarled finger. “When it comes to magic, the perceived nature of the spell itself is not what matters—it is the intent with which the mage uses the spell. There is no inherent right and wrong. No light and dark. There is just magic, and how we manipulate it to serve our own ends. After all, sometimes one must commit darker deeds to ensure the greater good.”

“The view on magic is true enough, but the darker deeds issue…” Dizzy waggled his hand and moved his head from side to side, as though debating the legitimacy of her statement.

I, however, was in rapture. It sounded exactly like something Emery would say. I liked the image of a fat, gray, fuzzy line cutting through the light and dark of magic. Nature would exist there in the middle, harsh and brutal, serene and bountiful. Life ending in death. Death creating life.

“Yes.” Mary Bell’s stare held mine. “Penny is not the mage I expected to meet tonight. How refreshing. I myself was a headstrong, entitled youth…I only wish I had started the journey as unburdened by hubris as she is. It wasn’t until everything was stripped from me—my love, my youth, my strength—that I learned what was truly important.”

“Hm.” Dizzy nodded, but I could see he was probably back to thinking of dementia. He smiled and stepped away, holding out his arm so that I might join him. “Thank you, Mary Bell, for coming.”