Page 61 of Magic Cursed

I shake my head and smile. “Is there anything you two won’t bet on?”

They both look at each other and shrug.

Elsie turns to me with a smile and lifts a slender shoulder. “I accept your apology, but you pull that shit again, and we’re going to have a serious problem.”

“Understood,” I say. “But why are you guys here? I doubt you came all this way, like that,” I say gesturing to them both. “Just to hear me say sorry.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Tuuk asks. He leans over to Elsie and whispers. “I think the humans have made her stupider."

“I can hear you.” I think to mention that he should have said ‘more stupid’, but what’s the point. “Tuuk, why are you here,exactly?”

“We came to rescue you,” Elsie says and examines her nails, which look deceptively normal, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they still held paralyzing venom in them. “You’re welcome,” she adds.

I cross my arms. “I don’t need rescuing.”

“I told you so,” Tuuk says to Elsie.

Elsie shrugs. “Okay. Then we’re here to order you to come home.”

“I can’t,” I say stating the obvious. They know just as well as I do that I can never go back to Hydenglen after what I did. “I stole from Des.”

Elsie waves a hand in the air dismissively. “That doesn’t matter. Desmira sent us to tell you she forgives you and to come home.”

I’m taken aback. I never expected Des would go through all the trouble of sending someone after me to tell me to come home. And that she forgives me? I broke the only rule we have in Hydenglen. Then I think about how the two of them are here.

“Did she spell you?” I motion to their bodies again. “To look human?”

Elsie tilts her head. “Maybe she has gotten more stupid since she’s been away.” She slows her words down. “Yes, Sahra, we were spelled to look human so we could walk among these vile creatures and tell you to come home. Now let’s go home so I can get back to my fabulous self.”

I sigh in irritation. “Yeah, I get why you’re here, I just don’t understand why I’ve been risking my life all these years if Des could just spell one of you to look human.”

“But,” Elsie holds up a finger and smiles. “Think of how much you learned on those quests, from sneaking around in plain sight. You’d never be as skilled as you are without those life lessons. It was as much a part of your training as your lessons with all of us were.”

“And,” Tuuk adds. “Do you really think you’d have lasted a week in Hydenglen without somethin’ to offer the community?”

Elsie nods her head. “Oh, yes. Desmira knew that for everyone to accept you, you had to become invaluable.”

“And there’s the business of the spell puttin’ Desmira in bed for weeks,” Tuuk says. “It took a lot out of her, ya know.”

I consider their words. It’s true that I wasn’t easily accepted at Hydenglen when I first arrived. Did Des really know that was the only way the others would let me stay? And if it really does put her down for weeks, then it would have been impossible for her to spell someone every week to go to the black markets. The thought of Des, bedridden to get a message to me softens my heart.

I sit on the edge of the cot. “She went through all that trouble to send you two here?”

“Her? What about all the trials we’ve had to endure?” Elsie says with a sneer. “Do you have any idea how miserable it is to walk everywhere?” She elegantly sinks to the ground, folding her legs gently. “It’s utterly disgusting, and exhausting, andhuman.” She says the last word like a curse. “And to have to serve these imbeciles? I wish I could just scratch and drain them all. My mother always said, the only good human is a drained one.”

I cringe. “Can you even do that in your current state?”

She looks down at herself and pouts. “No! See, it’s atrocious.”

I try to hide my smile.

“At least you don’t have to be the Regent’s slave boy,” Tuuk says scowling. “He has me fetch everything for him, like he doesn’t have two good legs and arms to get it his damn self. I thought I was supposed to take care of the horses, not theass.”

A burst of laughter escapes me. It’s a little bit of hysteria and a bit of realizing just how much I missed them and their wonderfully annoying banter. That was as much a part of my growing up as training and spellcasting.

Both Tuuk and Elsie stop their complaining and look at me with wide eyes.

“Oh great, she’s stupider and crazier,” Tuuk says.