“It’s ten in the morning,” he said.
“Motherfucker,” I sighed.
I turned back.
They all stared at me.
I waited.
Then:
“You gave him an accidental hand job?” Gary shrieked at me. “How did you do it accidentally?”
“That was long story,” Tiggy said. “I don’t know what happened.”
“I swear to the gods that only you find yourself in these situations,” Mom said, shaking her head. “Maybe I should have eaten more meat during the pregnancy. Did I fail you? Should I have eaten more yak?”
“Why would they have theme duck and blueberry nights?” my father asked. “That just sounds ridiculous.”
“It was,” I said. “Even the wine was blueberry.”
We both made faces because he was allergic too.
Morgan said nothing. Didn’t even have his judgmental face on.
I looked at the others. “Can you guys give us a bit? There are things Morgan and I have to discuss.”
They looked between the two of us, but eventually Mom herded them toward the door. The door opened and then shut behind them as soon as they’d gone through.
It locked again.
I gulped. “So, were you amused? You don’t look amused. You look—”
“Sam.”
I stopped talking.
We were quiet, for a time.
Then, “How long?”
“What?”
“How long did the spell take?”
“From inception to completion?”
He nodded once.
I frowned. “Five seconds. Maybe as much as ten, though not more.”
“And the words spoken?”
I winced. “Ah, see. Um. I didn’t actually say the words. I might have just… thought them?”
He went very still. “What words did you think?”
“Um. Tae. Dao. And there was some fie. Yeah. Definitely some fie.”