Southwest Nights (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 1) Kal Aaron (best book club books for discussion txt) 📖

her gun at the marching constructs. “You were attacked by their big brother sent by an assassin, so you hid in there? It trashed the place looking for you?”

“Big brother? Oh, no. Not at all. Uh. Actually, yes. That’s perfectly correct.” Serafina gave a firm nod.

“Huh?” Lyssa grimaced. “You’re not making any sense. Or you’re making less sense than usual, which isn’t a lot.”

“Aren’t I? I was attacked and used the security system, but it’s mine. The construct, that is. Oh. And the security system. That’s mine too. And I’m not an assassin. There was that one time Elder Samuel said I was an Assassin of Dignity, but you’re talking about the killing people kind of assassin.” Serafina shrugged.

“Yes, I’m talking about the killing people kind of assassin.” Lyssa groaned. “And you don’t care that there are a dozen of those things around you now? I get that they’re smaller, but it doesn’t mean they can’t break your ankle or your nose.”

Serafina waved her hands in front of her. “Don’t worry about my dolls, Lys. They’re going to help me clean up. They were doing that before the incident. These aren’t designed with any sort of battle abilities. They couldn’t fight you even if they wanted to.”

“Don’t worry?” Lyssa inclined her head at their destroyed large brother. “That thing just tried to kill me. It trashed your workshop. It’s a miracle you weren’t killed.” She took a couple of deep breaths and found that the ache was better than before but not gone. “You don’t have your regalia on.” She gestured at the alcove. “If you didn’t have your panic room, it would have smacked you through a wall and killed you. Trust me, I know. It hit me more than once.”

“It hit you and tried to kill you?” Serafina looked confused. “That makes sense. It’s not unexpected, but I wasn’t sure things would work out that way.” She bobbed her head. “Hmm. Excellent test against someone I couldn’t have ever asked to do it. It has battle abilities, but the generalized attack response wasn’t what I’d intended at all. What went wrong?”

“To be clear on this, you’re saying you made that thing into a killer on purpose?” Lyssa tucked away her gun but took her time. She stared at her friend, dumbfounded, her irritation and surprise distracting her from the residual pain not handled by the herb.

“Yes! It’s a new experiment. A guardian doll.” Serafina gestured with both hands toward the destroyed construct like a model on a game show introducing the grand prize.

Lyssa tried to fold her arms and grimaced at the resulting pain. She reached into another pocket to grab a healing herb bag. “I didn’t ask to be part of an experiment.”

“Of course. I’d never do that without your explicit permission.” Serafina shook a finger. “This was all an accident, but you can’t spell serendipity without Serafina.”

“Yes, you can. They’re only the same at the b…” Lyssa rubbed her temples. “I’m so glad me getting punched into a wall helps you.”

“Oh, thank you.” Serafina smiled brightly.

“I’m not…forget it.”

“I’ve been interested in constructs for a while, and it’s a good way to apply some of the newer techniques I’ve been developing.” Serafina pushed her cheeks together with her hands. “I need to be more flexible.” The words came out muffled. She released her cheeks. “I thought I told you about this. I remember having a whole conversation about it. We discussed the pros and cons.”

“You never mentioned it! I think I’d remember if you said you were building huge killer constructs.” Lyssa jabbed a finger toward the destroyed construct. “Especially one that dangerous.”

“Oh. I didn’t mention it?” Serafina looked to the side for the moment and laughed. “That’s right. That conversation was with someone else entirely. She didn’t look like you, and for that matter, she was a man, not a woman.” She nodded firmly. “Yes. Not you at all. Sorry for the confusion.”

Lyssa scrubbed a hand down her face. “This isn’t a game, Serafina.”

“Of course not. It was a test and a successful one. It wasn’t intentional, but you have to roll with the punches in life, right?”

“This woman always presents interesting reactions,” Jofi said. “She defies the normal human behavior patterns I’ve come to expect.”

“You’ve got that right,” Lyssa muttered.

Serafina rushed over to Lyssa. The Torch’s hand twitched toward a gun by reflex but stopped when her friend skidded to a halt in front of her, her face only inches away.

“You’re talking to him, aren’t you?” Serafina whispered. “What’s he saying? Is he interested in a construct body? Maybe we could do a project together.”

“I would prefer not to risk my existence in one of her creations,” Jofi said.

Lyssa shrugged. “He thinks you’re interesting.”

“Good.” Serafina spun on her heel and hurried to snatch a scratched ball-peen hammer off the floor. She lowered her glasses and eyed the tool. “Thanks for stopping by. I know I said things were ready, but you still came at a great time. I would have been stuck in there for a while if you hadn’t come in. The threat spell needed to dissipate before I could get out, and the doll might have killed me when I did.”

The mini-dolls picked up debris and hauled it to the corner pile. It might have been adorable if Lyssa hadn’t just fought something dangerous. All they needed now was high-pitched nonsensical singing. On another day, she might have been tempted to ask for a tiny doll in Kawatsu-chan form.

“Did you not hear me earlier?” Lyssa asked. “Your toy tried to kill me. I don’t mean it accidentally bumped me. It came at me and punched me into a wall. If I hadn’t been in my regalia, it could have gotten nasty.”

“Don’t take it personally, Lys.” Serafina giggled and walked over to the downed doll. “It tried to kill me, too. The poor creation didn’t recognize its goddess.” She crouched and poked the hole in the doll’s center. “Hmm, blew right through it, didn’t