Magic girls of multivers.., p.1
Magic Girls of Multiverse Inn 3, page 1
Would you like to see chapters of my books before they come out? Do you want to see cover art sketches and vote on which poses should make it to final production? Would you like to see even sexier versions of my covers? Would you like to get my audiobooks at a deep discount?
Of course you would! Join my Patreon here to get all these awesome benefits (or search for my name on Patreon.com).
You can also join my Facebook group right here. Then you’ll know when my books come out before anyone else.
Chapter 1
“Oh, I can’t wait for them to come down,” Prinna muttered.
Her hands covered her cheeks as she stared up at the four-story inn’s roof and the crew of six men who walked across its steeply sloped shingles without more than a single safety line each.
“It makes my calves tingle with displeasure,” Kaz agreed, and I could see the muscles in her jaw clench.
I gazed up at the roofers who were just finishing up the last bit of work on the creepy old inn’s roof. The place didn’t look nearly as decrepit as it had the first time I’d laid eyes on it, and the dark shingles really cleaned up the overall facade.
“That’s called vertigo,” I said to my magical lovers. “I’m not a big fan of heights, either. I could never do work like that.”
Kaz’s violet eyes scrunched closed as the work crew’s lead guy angled his body over the edge and onto the scaffolding they’d constructed up the side of the inn. The sight of him leaving the relative safety of the solid roof for the rickety-looking scaffold sent a shiver down my spine. My breath came a bit easier as he climbed the last bit of ladder, and Prinna’s hazel eyes rolled with a sigh of relief as his feet touched the muddy ground.
“Welp, we’re just about done up there, sir,” the crew lead told me. “She looks pretty damn good, if you’ll pardon my language.”
“It looks incredible,” I agreed, and I reached out to shake his hand. “We really appreciate the quality of your work.”
“There is a bit of a balance remaining…” the roofer said, and he scratched at his short beard.
“Yep,” I said as I pulled a check for the last thousand dollars from my pocket. “I’ve got it here for you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Woods.” He nodded. “It’s been a pleasure doing the work for you. Such an interesting building.”
“We get that a lot,” I chuckled.
“Will you be opening her back up?” he asked.
“We’re planning on it,” I said casually. “There’s still a lot to do, though.”
“Well, we’ll clean up our tools and get out of your hair now,” the roofer said.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll be sure to leave a positive review on your website, too.”
“Thanks, every kind word helps.” He smiled.
“Thank you,” Kaz said, and her voice hitched up at the end as she looked back up at the other men on the roof. “They’re coming down now, right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the crew leader said with a chuckle. “I must say, your roof is the highest we’ve worked on in a long while.”
“I’m not surprised,” I chuckled. “There aren’t a lot of tall buildings in Arcton.”
The small suburban town in Oregon had only a handful of buildings as tall as my inherited inn, and every house we’d seen was one or two stories at most.
“Good money, though, eh?” The roofer winked as he turned to walk away.
He began to shout orders to his crew about packing up all their tools and deconstructing the scaffolding. I figured they had a few hours of work to complete all that, and I nodded for Kaz and Prinna to come inside with me.
“Let’s have lunch,” I suggested.
“Ugh, yes, please,” Prinna sighed, and she tucked her shoulder-length white-blonde hair behind her ear. “I can’t watch them anymore.”
We walked inside, and I marveled at how much the parlor had changed in the last month. We hadn’t spent much time exploring other realms since our time in Bioniin because we’d had so many contractors running through the inn. None of us felt comfortable leaving unfamiliar humans in the Multiverse Inn without supervision in case one of them accidentally wandered through one of the fourth-floor doors and let it shut behind them.
I knew Prinna and Kaz were itching to check out another door as much as me, and now that the roof was about done, we could start planning a new trip.
We went into the kitchen, and I shook my head at how incredibly clean and modern it looked now compared to the first time I’d stepped inside.
The first work we’d had completed had been the rewiring of the entire building, and as soon as it was done, we’d plugged in our fancy new fridge and range.
I walked over to the sink to wash my hands, and Kaz and Prinna walked up to the top-of-the-line fridge with its fancy LED touch screen.
“Hello, Fridge,” Kaz said in a polite voice. “I hope you are well today.”
I couldn’t suppress the grin on my face, and I didn’t even try. Both of my lovers were convinced the fridge was a sentient creature because of its voice recognition features.
Kaz opened the door, and the fridge immediately spoke in a cheerful female voice.
“You are low on eggs,” the fridge’s AI informed us.
“Thank you, Fridge,” Kaz said, and she pulled several deli bags from the drawers. “How is the weather today?”
“It is currently forty-three degrees,” the fridge AI answered, “with intermittent clouds. There is a possibility of rain showers tonight.”
I tried to smother a snort under a cough because I knew Kaz thought she was simply making conversation with the sentient woman trapped inside the fridge. In reality, the fridge was just answering her question as its programming dictated, and no matter how many times I tried to explain the AI to Kaz, she wouldn’t stop. I’d given up on the idea, and now I just enjoyed her little chats with the appliance.
“Sandwiches?” Kaz asked Prinna and me as she closed the fridge. “Thank you, Fridge.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said with a grin.
“I’ll help,” Prinna said, and she pulled the bread from a cabinet.
“I’ll get plates,” I said.
“What’s next on the repairs list, Sam?” Prinna asked.
We came together at the metal prep table in the middle of the large kitchen.
“Let’s see, the electrical is done, roof is done,” I said as I walked to the fridge for mayonnaise. “We still have the plumbing work to do, and the remodeling work on the inside. But now that the fire and safety hazard stuff is taken care of, I thought we could take a short break from babysitting workers.”
“Really?” Kaz asked with excitement.
“Yeah.” I grinned. “Could you grab an onion from the pantry please?”
Kaz nodded and walked over to the well-organized and pretty well-stocked pantry. Just a month ago it had been so overrun with garbage we couldn’t even step inside. It could still do with a nice coat of paint, but at least it was fully functional and clean now. It was really nice not to have to order out or eat frozen dinners for every meal, and I realized how much I’d missed cooking since moving into the inn.
“Will we pick a new door?” Prinna asked with excitement in her hazel eyes.
“Yeah, why not?” I shrugged as I cut the onion into thin slices for our sandwiches. “I know you’ve both missed traveling as much as I have.”
“It was nice to remain here for a while,” Kaz said. “But I am getting a bit bored now. I miss the excitement.”
“I miss the new experiences,” Prinna agreed.
“I’m glad you can finally appreciate what I’ve been trying to tell you,” I chuckled. “Earth is all kinds of boring compared to the Grymm.”
“All kinds of fascinating,” Kaz corrected. “But I do believe I can understand your point of view better now.”
We finished making our sandwiches, and I pulled two bags of chips from the pantry.
“Wanna try something new?” I said in a playful tone. “Sour cream and onion, or salt and vinegar?”
“I’d like to try both, please,” Kaz giggled.
“Hmm…” Prinna’s blonde eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the two bags. “I want to try these with the little green flecks, please.”
“Good choice.” I gave her a little wink as I put chips on our plates.
We quickly tidied up the small mess we’d made and headed out into the parlor to enjoy our lunch.
“We really need a proper dining table,” I said as we piled onto the floor as we’d done for every meal. “Or… well, several if we’re going to have guests here.”
“A full dining room would be a good idea,” Kaz agreed, and she popped a salt and vinegar chip between her lips. “Mmm!”
“Good?” I chuckled.
“Oh, it’s so…” Kaz waved her hands in a circular motion as she tried to describe the flavor. “Sharp! I love it.”
“Sharp?” Prinna asked with alarm, and she picked up one of the chips from Kaz’s plate. “Do these cut you?”
“No,” Kaz laughed. “They aren’t actually sharp, but the flavor… it’s… it’s, um… Sam?”
Kaz looked at me with light-hearted desperation as she tried to explain. I chuckled and smiled at Prinna.
“She’s not wrong,” I said. “Try one, they’ve got an intense flavor, but I think you’ll like them.”
Prinna eyed the chip with suspicion. “Alright.”
She placed the crispy, fried slice o
“Oh!’ Prinna gasped. “It is sharp!”
“See?” Kaz laughed.
It turned out that Prinna liked the salt and vinegar even more than the sour cream and onion, and Kaz enjoyed them both. At one point, Prinna opened her sandwich and shoved several chips into the middle. Then she took a bite, and tiny broken bits scattered all over her plate.
“What are you doing?” Kaz giggled.
“Try it!” Prinna said around a mouthful of food. “It’s so crunchy!”
I marveled at the simple delight my magical lovers found in the super basic lunch items that had been packed in more of my school lunches than I could ever have counted. As a lower-middle-class American I’d come to take sandwiches and potato chips for granted over the years, but the excitement Kaz and Prinna ate with brought the delight back for me, too.
Prinna picked every last crumb off her plate with one long finger, and Kaz sighed with satisfaction as she sipped her water.
“I have another surprise,” I said. “Would you two like some dessert?”
“Dessert?” Kaz eyed me with interest.
“Hang on,” I chuckled.
I collected our plates and headed into the kitchen. After a quick rinse, I tucked them all into the new dishwasher we’d just gotten a week ago, and I scooped up the assorted bag of fun-size candies.
“I hadn’t realized how noisy they were until now,” Prinna was saying as I walked back into the room.
“Neither had I,” Kaz agreed. “It’s so nice not to have the constant hammering and footsteps.”
“What?” I asked, and then I realized. “Oh, you mean the noise from the roofers?”
“Yes,” Kaz said. “Even from four floors down, the noise was bothersome.”
“It’s nice to have the quiet again,” I agreed. “Doug’s construction company will make plenty of noise, too, unfortunately.”
“When will they start?” Prinna asked.
“I spoke with him yesterday,” I said as I sat down with the candy bag in my lap. “They’re finishing up a job this week, and he estimated they’ll be ready to start next Monday.”
“Excellent,” Kaz said. “That will give us several days to ourselves.”
“Yep.” I grinned and held up the bag. “Want something sweet?”
“Yes!” Kaz giggled. “What are these called?”
“Well,” I said as I dug into the bag, and I pulled out a big handful of options. “This is a Snickers, this one’s called Twix, these are Skittles. Um… Here’s an Almond Joy, I don’t much like that one personally.”
“But what are they?” Prinna asked as she picked up a small bag of M&Ms.
“That’s chocolate with a crunchy candy coating,” I explained. “The Snickers has peanuts, caramel, nougat, and a chocolate coating. Oh… I suppose neither of you know if you have a peanut allergy?”
“What is a peanut?” Kaz asked as she tilted her head to the side.
“Something that’s a common allergen on Earth,” I said. “Well, only one way to find out.”
“How do we open these things?” Prinna asked as she inspected the brown M&Ms package. “Does it require a spell?”
“No,” I chuckled. “You just rip them, like this.”
I tore open a small bag of Skittles and dumped the colorful candies into my palm.
“Oh,” Prinna hummed, and she ripped the chocolate candies open. She carefully selected a brown one and popped it into her mouth. “Mmmm, that’s delicious.”
“I’d like to try this one,” Kaz said as she picked up a mini Twix. “What’s in it?”
“Uh, that’s a cookie bar with caramel and a chocolate coating,” I said. “Twix was my favorite when I was nine.”
Kaz peeled the golden wrapper away and took a bite. “That’s very good.”
I enjoyed watching Kaz and Prinna discover their preferred candy types. My Enchanted lover had a taste for the fruit candies, and my white-blonde lover preferred the chocolates. Kaz had a small bite of each kind and then she settled back as Prinna proceeded to eat a dozen whole candies.
“Are you quite enjoying those?” Kaz teased.
“Yes.” Prinna grinned. “I can sense you don’t enjoy them quite as much as I do.”
“It’s a bit overwhelming after a few bites,” Kaz said. “Don’t you think?”
“No,” Prinna laughed. “I could eat this whole bag!”
“You probably don’t want to,” I chuckled. “If you eat much more sugar, you’ll make yourself sick.”
“Do these cause a dangerous illness?” Prinna asked, and she eyed the candy with sudden wariness.
“No.” I grinned. “It just means your stomach would be upset. You might throw up. I did that once with M&Ms when I was a kid. I still can’t eat them to this day.”
“Oh,” Prinna murmured. “I suppose I should stop.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “My mom always said you shouldn’t have too much of a good thing.”
What a weird sentiment that was to me now. It still made sense in regards to things like candy or sweets, but she probably could have found a way to apply it to my life as a whole now. She would never understand my choice to come and live in this inn, let alone the idea that I was in a committed relationship with the two beautiful women in front of me.
I didn’t talk with my parents often, but I’d felt guilty about trying to keep my general location from them. I’d told them I’d moved to Oregon, but I hadn’t really gone into detail.
And they hadn’t pried.
They were satisfied with my vague explanation of a new job opportunity, and I would talk to them again for a few minutes in several months as per usual. It was kind of nice having pretty uninvested parents, but it had sort of sucked growing up. I suppose being left to my own devices had taught me to be pretty resourceful, though.
I shook away the strange tangent of thoughts and turned back to Kaz and Prinna.
“How long will the remodel work take?” Kaz asked.
“Doug’s estimated timeline was five weeks,” I said. “He did explain that sometimes things can happen and we shouldn’t hold tight to that timeline.”
“What kind of things?” Prinna arched a sleek blonde eyebrow at me.
“Supply issues,” I said with a shrug. “Um, they might demo something and find more damage beneath than they expected. That sort of thing.”
“Nothing we can control, then,” Kaz said.
“Right.” I nodded.
“It will be very busy here,” Prinna said.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a madhouse,” I said.
“What is a madhouse?” Kaz asked.
“Oh, it’s just a saying,” I said. “It means it will be busy and probably a bit chaotic. There will be a lot going on.”
“Oh, okay,” Kaz hummed.
“Doug said his crew consists of at least twenty people,” I continued. “But I don’t think they all work on one job at the same time. I expect the crew will probably be about the same size as the roofer’s team.”
“Where will they begin?” Prinna asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “They might work from the bottom up, or the top down, or maybe they’ll have different guys working in different areas all at the same time. He’ll let me know, based on how his supplies comes in.”
Prinna and Kaz nodded sagely like they understood, but I knew the idea of having workers repairing their home while still living in it was completely foreign to them.
Kaz had spent the majority of her teens and early adult life living in a caravan and being owned by that asshole Mairo. Prinna grew up in a home at least through her childhood before being forced to carve out an existence wherever she could, but I had no idea what that had looked like. Neither of them spoke about families or even parents very often, and I didn’t want to pry. I’d made it clear I was available to listen when they were ready, but I refused to push for more information about their pasts.
I knew who they were now, and that was plenty for me because they were both incredible, caring, and powerful women. Half the time I still couldn’t believe they’d decided to stay with me when I’d offered to bring them wherever they might want to go.
“So we have about a week to explore a new door, right?” Kaz said in a leading tone of voice.
“Which one should we pick?” Prinna giggled.
“We’ll go through a new one, right, Sam?” Kaz asked.
