Page 110 of My Pleasure

Kendrick whirled on Meryn, who looked up at him smugly. “It’s not my fault, I can’t get up remember?”

He began to sputter.

Meryn ignored him. “Do you think you could mix earth and water for like a mud golem?”

Now that the fear had passed, excitement took over. “I can try!”

“No, you can’t!” Kendrick exclaimed.

The twins went to step forward, and Kendrick pointed at them. “No.”

Kendrick looked at Kiera. “I thought you were a null.”

“What’s that?” Meryn asked.

“A null can negate any magic,” Caiden explained. “That’s what I thought she was too. I thought she’d take the magic and extinguish it. If nulls are strong enough, they can even prevent spells from being cast in a radius around them.”

Meryn looked at Kiera. “Let’s call Zoe. We can see if you can suppress her Inferno!”

“No!” both Kendrick and Caiden said at once.

She crossed her arms, looking up at Kendrick. “You’re boring.”

Kendrick gasped.

Anne laughed at his expression.

Ryuu replaced Meryn’s juice glass with a full one. “Ahh, I remember the days when you were this reckless,” he reminisced. “I distinctly remember you saying, ‘Who needs cannonballs if you have magic?’ That was your pirate era, I believe.”

Kendrick looked at Meryn with a hurt expression. “Boring?”

“Yeah, boring. Look at you, freaking out over a li’l baby firenado. Let’s blow stuff up.”

Kendrick kept eye contact and brought both arms up to point at the house behind them.

Meryn chewed on her lower lip. “Good point.” She looked to Nigel. “Can you guys cause an earthquake for her to stop?”

“That would still destroy the house!” Kendrick exploded.

“Ryuu, maybe we should get some tea for Kendrick, he looks like he’s about to stroke out,” Meryn said, looking worried.

“Yes, denka,” Ryuu said, then went inside.

Kendrick rubbed his temples. “My father is laughing at me. I know it.”

Caiden clapped him on the shoulder. “New magic is exciting.”

Hunter walked past Kendrick to pull Kiera in his arms. “You, okay?”

“Yeah. I’m surprised you didn’t try to shoot the fire though,” she said, smiling up at him.

Hunter pointed to Aiden, then to the house. “Aiden reacts when Ryuu does. Ryuu was calm, so we didn’t think there was any danger.”

Kendrick’s head swiveled to Aiden, then Hunter. “No danger?” he asked, in a low voice.

Caiden chuckled, then cleared his throat. “You said it yourself, you, me, and even Ryuu had this under control,” he reassured Kendrick.

Kiera stepped back to look at Meryn, who was grinning from ear to ear while pushing her hands together. “Boom”, she whispered.