Page 52 of Outlawed

“God, that sounds like heaven.”

“Here, let me throw in a bottle of this.” I show her a fancy purple bottle before slipping it into her bag of goodies.

“What is it?”

“Let’s just say it will make me jump to the top of Henry’s Christmas card list.”

Sarah’s face flushes, but her eyes sparkle with amusement as she bends down and kisses my cheek. “You’re the best, Calliope.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Now scoot. I have potions to sell.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She salutes me before walking to the next stall to make sure everyone is okay. How she kept us all on track is beyond me, because organizing a bunch of loud and opinionated people takes a particular kind of diplomacy I don’t have. It’s another reason I threw her name in the nominations for the upcoming mayoral election, even though she’d kill me if she knew. This place needs someone like Sarah at the helm.

I smile when Hannah skips my way, with Jessica and Jemma on either side of her. Bringing up the rear is David, his arms laden with teddies, flowers, beads, and cotton candy.

“Hey, Calliope. We’re going to get some pink lemonade. You want some?” Hannah asks.

“I’m good, thank you.” I nod to the mostly full glass that Mary brought over for me earlier. “I think David might need one, though.”

All three of them turn to look at him, as if they had forgotten he was there.

“I’ll get him one.”

“No, I will. He’s my brother,” Jessica complains.”

“No, I will. I’m the oldest,” Jemma points out before David steps in.

“How about Hannah gets me a lemonade, Jessica gets me a hotdog, and Jemma grabs me some funnel cake.”

“Yay!” they all yell in unison.

“Stay where we can see you!” I call out as they dash off, kicking out a chair for David to collapse into.

He drops everything he was holding into an empty plastic box I used to carry things over here. “You’d think having kids around would make you feel young, but I call bullshit. I’m in bed by nine pm most nights and wake up feeling like I slept on the ceiling.”

I grin at his theatrics before handing him a small red bottle.

“What is this?”

“Sniff it.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “You’re not trying to lure me into your harem, are you? Because I’ll be honest, I don’t think you could handle all this.” He waves to his skinny frame.

“Don’t worry, David, your virtues are safe from me and my witchy ways.”

“It’s not the witch part that scares me. It’s the woman part.”

I throw my head back and laugh.

He huffs and pulls the stopper from the bottle and takes a deep breath before downing the contents in one. His eyes slip closed as he breathes in before they fly open. “Whoa. What is this stuff?”

“I like to call it Wham.”

“Why? Because it hits you like a slap in the face?”

I frown. “No, because it wakes you up before you go.” He looks adorably confused, and I feel depressingly old. “Let’s just go with your reasoning.”

He shrugs and jumps up. “I’m gonna find the girls and see if there are any stalls they want to visit.”