“Of course it is sharp, Liam. What would be the point to having a sword that wasn’t?”
Babs pulled the sword out of its sheath and executed a perfect lunge and thrust before returning it to its place on her belt. “Do not worry, Liam,” she said in a calm and matter-of-fact voice. “Baba has been teaching me. I am very good for someone so small. She says so.”
Barbara watched Liam take a deep breath and hold it. She was pretty sure this meant he was doing that thing where he counted to ten in his head.
“Of course you are,” he said. He gave Barbara a weak smile. “Sorry, sometimes I forget she’s not just a regular kid.”
Barbara punched him affectionately on the arm, her version of a hug. “That’s why we keep you around, Liam. So there is someone to remind me who she is supposed to be, when she’s not busy learning what it means to be a Baba Yaga.”
“Couldn’t I just take up juggling fire over a pit of alligators?” Liam muttered. “I think it might be easier.”
“You Humans,” Chudo-Yudo said from his spot by Barbara’s feet. “I don’t know why you want things to be easy. Difficult is so much more fun.” He showed impressively sharp teeth in a wide doggy grin. “Well, are we going or not?”
Barbara looked at him with surprise. “You’re coming with us? Don’t you have to stay and guard the Water of Life and Death?”
The Water, a gift from the Queen that boosted the magical powers of the Baba Yagas and helped them to age considerably slower than normal Humans, was part of the reason they were going to visit the Otherworld today. Not only did she have to formally introduce Liam to the court as her mate, but she needed to get the Queen’s official permission to marry him, which would allow him to drink the Water of Life and Death too. Otherwise, he would age at a normal rate and she would far outlive him. She shuddered at the thought.
“Are you kidding? And miss you asking the Queen for Liam’s hand in marriage? Not a chance,” the dragon-dog said with a smirk. “Besides, we need her to replenish our supply of the Water after your last adventure, so I’ll just bring it with me.”
“Why do you have to get the Queen’s permission to marry Liam?” little Babs piped up in her reedy voice. “Did you not already get married last month? All those people came and threw things at you.” As usual, she looked vaguely baffled by the bizarre behavior of Humans. (The oddness of the Otherworld, on the other hand, didn’t faze her at all.)
“That was a Human marriage ceremony,” Barbara explained. “We have to be hand-fasted formally at court in front of the Queen and her consort the King in order for us to truly be bonded for life in their eyes.” The court of the Otherworld had little respect for Human traditions.
“Oh,” Babs said. “I understand now. But if anyone pinches my cheeks like at the other wedding, I am going to hit them with my sword.”
“I don’t blame you at all,” Barbara said. “Just try to use the blunt end, okay?”
***
They got to the Otherworld the usual way—through the door inside the Airstream that was sometimes a plain old wardrobe and sometimes the entrance to the enchanted lands of the Otherworld. It only took Barbara three tries and some discreet cursing to get the door to open onto the passageway. Apparently the Airstream was pouting because it was feeling ignored. Barbara reminded herself to spend more time in the trailer when they got home.
Chudo-Yudo raced ahead of the others, as Barbara and Liam crouched down to get through the door and Babs marched along at her usual measured pace. Coming out the other side, Barbara let out a small sigh as she was enveloped in the sights and smells of the Otherworld. Giant blue and purple flowers swayed in a nonexistent breeze, towering over carpets of blue-green and lavender grass. Tiny sprites with gossamer wings played tag with gleaming lemon-yellow hummingbirds, their shrill laughter echoing above the meadow.
“Happy to be back?” Liam asked. He held on to one of Babs’s hands as if he was afraid that she would disappear, but otherwise seemed reasonably at ease for a man who until a couple of months before hadn’t even realized that magic was real.
Barbara shrugged, feeling her shoulders relax minutely. “It’s kind of a relief to be someplace where I don’t have to hide what I am, that’s all. In the Human world, I always have to be on guard against slipping up. That doesn’t mean I like it better here.”