Free Tiny Glitches: A Magical Contemporary Romance by Rebecca Chastain

Kyoko’s feet gouged huge chunks every time she pivoted to confront Dali. I sighed. My next six months’ worth of consultations weren’t going to be spent paying for all the things this elephant destroyed. Maybe Jenny would reimburse me.
    Ha. That was about as likely as her forgetting about my curse.
    Kyoko’s attention was diverted by the pool. She slowed to a walk as she neared the edge, running her trunk along the hot flagstones and smacking the water.
    Large, square, with a dark bottom and salt water instead of chlorine, the pool contained a wide shelf that spanned the width of one end, designed for lounging where the water rose only calf deep. The rest of the pool dropped to six feet deep for laps. Dali raced to the shallow shelf and plunged into the water. Kyoko followed, dropping into the pool beside the dog. Mud and feces and unidentifiable grime washed into the water. I added pool-cleaning services to my list of growing debt.
    In doggy heaven, Dali romped around Kyoko, his tail a wet whip spraying water in arcs behind him. Kyoko slid her trunk into the water, then raised it over her head, spraying her back. Dali barked ecstatically. Kyoko did it again, only this time she angled her trunk to wash over Dali. He yipped and leapt out of blast range straight into the deep water, paddling to a step on the opposite side. The expression on his face made me laugh, and my shoulders loosened.
    I was home. Safe. I was as far as I could get from anything electrical, situated where my curse could do the least damage. I relaxed the clamp I’d wrapped around my emotions. Mental knots of tension lifted, and I felt physically lighter.
    I unbuckled my sandals and tossed them under the lounge chair, then padded to the shallow shelf.
    “Are we friends?” I asked the elephant. She turned to watch Dali, who had climbed out of the pool at the opposite end and was now rolling in the grass. I eased into the pool beside Kyoko and stretched a hand to touch her side. She twisted to look at me, and her trunk hit the water, the spray soaking my side. “Not cool, Kyoko.”
    Dali trotted to the edge of the pool, dropped a tennis ball into the water by my legs, and shook. I obediently tossed the ball across the lawn, then watched him tear out after it.
    A blast of cold water hit the back of my head and drenched me. I spun to Kyoko, shoving strings of hair off my face. She blinked large brown eyes at me with false innocence.
    “Fine. Let’s see how you like it.” I splashed an arc of water into Kyoko’s face. She tilted her head back and opened her mouth to catch it. “Oh, you like that, do you? How about this?” I circled her, kicking and splashing and spraying her with as much water as I could. She blasted me with another trunkful. She looked so smug I burst out laughing. “You just wait,” I said.
    I was headed back to the pool with the hose when I noticed my audience. Sofie sat at the patio table with three glasses of water and snacks. She watched Hudson watch me, puppets the size of small mice coating her fingers. I narrowed my eyes at her, and she smiled serenely. Hudson stood at the railing, arms crossed over his chest, grinning like a fool. He unabashedly stared, and my body went hot when I realized my drenched dress clung to me like a second skin. A surreptitious glance confirmed my headlights were on. I blushed, then gave a mental shrug, seizing on my favorite embarrassment-coping strategy: pretend everything is normal.
    “Want to join in?” I called to Hudson.
    “Looks like you’ve got it covered.” His gaze roamed down my body, and fire followed in its wake.
    “Chicken.” I put my thumb over the end of the hose and sprayed water in his direction. It fell well short of the patio. He backed up anyway, holding his hands up in surrender. Too bad. I wouldn’t have minded seeing his shirt molded to his chest. He could even have taken it off, if he was worried about getting it wet. If Sofie hadn’t been there, I would have