"Grant, Lovecraft may be a bit beyond them at their age," Ellie suggested.
"Oh yeah." Grant handed her the small animal. "Here is your octopus."
She squealed then clutched it to her chest. "He smells good. He smells like you. Safe."
Grant blushed. "Well, good. I'm glad," he said gruffly.
Rheia turned to her. "Did he buy those?"
Ellie shook her head. "No, he made them."
"Sexy, sweet, and in touch with his feminine side, you're a very lucky woman," Rheia said, sighing.
"Don't I know it?" Ellie's eyes never left her mate.
When he was done, they walked outside to stand in front of the hospital, where Adora met them to take Benji for the day.
"Marjoram is resting up this morning but will be back later this afternoon. When you get to be our age, you don't need much sleep. Since everything here is quiet, why don't you all take advantage of the lull to get to the lab?" she suggested. "Demetrio, Stefan, and I can manage."
Ellie looked through the hospital doorway. Sure enough, the children were resting quietly because of the stronger medicine Rheia had brought with her.
"Thank you, that would be wonderful." Ellie was turning to Rheia when she heard her mate curse under his breath.
"Shit," Grant hissed.
Ellie followed his line of sight to see Aiden rushing toward them. "Is she sick?" he demanded. In his arms, Meryn was bouncing up and down as he ran.
"Oh no!" Rheia exclaimed. "Meryn, how do you feel?" She was already holding Meryn's wrist and checking her pulse.
Ryuu on the other hand was walking up behind Aiden and Meryn calmly, an amused expression on his face. Why was Aiden upset, but the squire wasn't?
"Put me down, you barbarian!" Meryn wiggled.
"Her tongue and mouth are black!" Aiden yelled.
Meryn stopped wiggling. "Seriously? That's why you freaked out?"
Rheia stepped back. "Meryn, what's going on? Let me see your mouth."
Meryn dutifully opened her mouth, and sure enough, her entire tongue and gums were black. Ellie caught a whiff of licorice and smiled. Ryuu winked at her.
"I was eating some black jellybeans when Drama Bear here flipped his shit." Meryn pointed to her mate. Aiden set her down and eyed her suspiciously.
"I thought you were dying. Why didn't you say something!" he roared.
"When exactly? One second I was minding my own business watching Supernatural then bam! You scoop me up like a sack of potatoes and book it to the tunnel, and then we were here."
Ryuu stepped forward. "Denka, your coffee and breakfast are ready downstairs."
Aiden glared at the squire. "You knew."
Ryuu raised an eyebrow. "Of course I knew."
Aiden was about to answer when they heard laughter in the distance. The group turned to see a man kneeling in front of Kendrick, the twins Nigel and Neil behind the older witch.
"What now?" Aiden muttered.
They reached Kendrick as the crowd closed in around them. One of the nobles saw Aiden and strode over. He poked Aiden in the chest. "Tell that no-name upstart to remove the spell from my brother."