Damn hormones, she thought, knowing full well it had nothing to do with her hormones, or almost nothing.

“We don’t get headaches,” he told her.

Elora’s head tilted back to look up at him. “Ever?” she asked skeptically.

“Can you ever remember being sick?”

Elora thought for a moment and then thought some more. Her eyes widened as she realized the answer to his question. “How have I never noticed that?” She looked over to Lisa who was sitting on the counter, looking more like a teen than a mom. “Am I that dense?”

Lisa laughed. “No, Elora, you just didn’t think about it because it wasn’t something we ever brought up. No one was ever sick in our house.”

“But Cassie’s been sick before,” she argued.

Cush took a step closer to her, obviously not liking the fact that she wasn’t giving him her full attention. “The point is that you shouldn’t have a headache.”

“Point or not, the fact is…,” she snapped, “is that I have a headache. So instead of standing there glaring at me for having something that I can’t control, how about you get me a Tylenol, Motrin or a hammer.”

He tilted his head at her.

“Don’t do it,” Oakley muttered.

“Why would you need a hammer?” Cush asked ignoring her brother who was now shaking his head.

Elora grinned at him and cocked a hip out to the side as she crossed her arms in front of her. “Because then I could hit you with it and your head would hurt too.”

Cush’s lips tightened. “And what would that accomplish? You’d still have a headache.”

“Misery loves company, Elf Boy.” She winked at him and then gulped down her milk. Leaving him in his stunned silence she walked around him and smiled at her brother who was chuckling under his breath. “Alright people, let’s get this show on the road. We have a book to translate, portals to open, and lives to save. No time for dilly dallying.”

“Who is she and where did my sister go?” Oakley asked Lisa.

Lisa smiled. “She’s still her, but now she has that,” she pointed at Cush who was staring after Elora, “to contend with, and it’s bringing out her spunky side.”

“You say spunky, I say horny, but who am I to mince words?” Oakley joked.

Cush glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

Oakley shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it. You might want to make sure to lock your bedroom door at night or you might find yourself being mauled by a half elf.”

“She just said she wanted to hit me with a hammer,” Cush pointed out dryly.

“To Elora, that’s foreplay,” Oakley retorted just as dryly. Rin who had been quietly listening to everything spewed orange juice everywhere at Oakley’s declaration.

Lisa laughed as she tossed him a wet sponge. “He’s just kidding, Cush,” she paused and then looked back at Oakley, “sort of.”

Cush shook his head and muttered under his breath as he turned and followed after Elora. “Let’s go get this book and do what needs to be done,” he nearly growled.

Lisa smacked Oakley’s arm as they followed behind Cush. “She’s going to kill you when she finds out you said that.”

Oakley smiled, not the least bit remorseful. “Naw, she’ll give me her evil stink eye and I might need to hide my toothbrush for a while, but in private she’ll wish she could have seen Cush’s face when I told him.”

Rin chuckled. “I need to come to the human realm more often; you guys are extremely entertaining.”

“You might be disappointed in other humans,” Lisa told him as they climbed into the van. “They aren’t all as amusing as Elora and her hammer.”

“What about my hammer?” Elora piped up at the mention of her name.

“You’re not getting a damn hammer,” Cush growled.

Elora turned to look at Oakley and Rin as they both let out rumbles of laughter and Lisa grinned at her. Elora looked over at an obviously irritated Cush and then back to her mom.

“I don’t get it,” she finally said.

Cush looked at her and she saw something in his eyes that stirred up the ever present butterflies. She swallowed hard and tried to keep from fanning herself as desire poured off of him in waves threatening to drown her.

“There’s nothing to get; just know that you aren’t getting a hammer,” he spoke slowly and his deep voice vibrated in his chest.

“He’s afraid you’ll try to bang him with it,” Oakley blurted out.

Elora slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing but she couldn’t stop her shoulders from shaking. She looked up at Oakley who was driving and trying to explain to a confused Rin why his statement was so outrageous. She saw the moment Rin got it, like a light bulb being switched on his face lit up and laughter rolled out of him like red carpet at the Oscars. She lost it then.

Cush stood in Lisa’s office watching as she climbed up on a counter and reached deep into the recesses of a cabinet. She pulled a thick book from the cabinet and then turned and knelt down holding it out to him. As he reached for it her eyes caught his. “He will kill for this book,” she warned him.

Cush took the book from her. “Then let’s make sure he doesn’t find out we have it,” he responded firmly.

She hopped off the counter and then motioned for him to have a seat at her desk. Once settled, he opened the book and the pages crackled with age. The words on the pages jumped out at him immediately as the language of his people whispered in his mind. This book was full of magic and power. He could feel it in his fingers. As he flipped the pages, sharp tingles reverberated up into his hand and wrist.