I came barreling in the front doors of the Noctis mansion after throwing both of them wide. There was no way I could fit all my excitement through a mere three-foot gap.

  “We’re home!” I yelled.

  The door to Jacky’s study opened, and Noctis came out.

  “Welcome home, Emerra,” he said.

  Darius came in behind me. “Yes, welcome home, but you don’t have to shout.”

  “Oh, yes, I do! Where’s Igor?”

  “The kitchen, I would assume,” Noctis said. “Why?”

  “Because I need to tell him, right now, how much he means to me.”

  Olivia and Iset came out of the library.

  The witch put a hand to her chest. “Thank god you’re back.”

  “Did you miss us?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You have no idea. Kappa? Kappa!”

  She ran down the hall, toward the kitchen.

  Iset came over and stood next to Darius. “How was the flight?”

  “About what you’d expect,” he said.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “I’m glad you’re home safe.”

  “Me too.”

  I stepped closer to the mummy. “Did Olivia really miss me?”

  Iset hummed for a moment. “I think it’s more about how much Kappa missed you. He always wanted to know when you were coming back, but his concept of time isn’t the most reliable, so we had to tell him several times a day.”

  “Several times?” Darius said, smiling.

  “Not more than a dozen.”

  “Ohhh, poor guy,” I said. “I should have called.”

  “Mera!”

  Kappa’s joyful cry made my heart thrill. Nothing in the world beats coming home to someone who loves you.

  “Kappa!” I yelled.

  Darius winced away from the noise.

  My beloved bog-monster galumphed down the long hall as fast as his four legs could carry him. When he was close enough, he launched himself at me, hitting me in the chest and throwing his arms around my neck. Darius had to put his hand on my back so I wouldn’t fall.

  “Hey, buddy!” I laughed and squeezed him in return.

  “Mera-Mera!”

  “Yeah. That’s me.”

  “You’re home!”

  “I’m home.”

  He scowled at me. “Stay home.”

  “Okay, I’ll stay home. For now.”

  “Big!” He craned his body in all directions to look around the hall.

  Oh, geez. He was too heavy to be doing that.

  I put my arm on his back and pulled him closer to me. “What?”

  “Big! Where’s the wolfman?”

  “Conrad? He should be right behind us.”

  A huge shadow cut off most of the sunlight streaming through the door. Kappa ducked his head and his top fin flattened against his skull. He peered over my shoulder at the wolfman.

  “Welcome back, Conrad,” Jacky said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Noctis.”

  I jostled Kappa. “Go on,” I whispered. “Say hello.”

  The bog-creature didn’t move.

  “Weren’t you asking about him?” I said.

  Still, Kappa stared. Then I felt him slowly peel one webbed hand off my shoulder and offer Conrad a tiny wave.

  “Hello, Kappa,” the wolfman said softly.

  When I looked around, Conrad was smiling.

  For information about the release for the next book in the series, Christmas Noctis, see below, in the post-chapter author notes.

  The first draft of Christmas Noctis is already complete and undergoing the edits needed to make it readable. I'm pushing hard to get it done ASAP because nothing would delight me more than being able to release my Christmas book during December, and it looks like I'm on schedule to start releasing at the beginning of November!

  [knocks furiously on all the wood in the area]

  And again, thank you for reading. An author really can't say that enough.