Tananda caught it immediately. Her gadfly manner dropped away like a mask and she signaled desperately to Chumly. The troll was not insensitive, though. His reaction was to catch my eye with a pleading gaze.
It was up to me. Terrific.
“Well, like… um.”
And Massha exploded into the room.
“Everything’s ready downstairs, hot stuff, and . . . oh! Hi there, green and scaly. Thought you were gone for good.”
Aahz spun around, his eyes wide.
“Massha?” he stammered. “What are you doing here?”
“Didn’t the man of the hour here tell you?” she smiled, batting her expansive eyelashes. “I’m his new apprentice.”
“Apprentice?” Aahz echoed, his old fire creeping into his voice.
“Um . . . that’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about, Aahz,” I smiled meekly.
“Apprentice?” he repeated, as if he hadn’t heard. “Kid, you and I have got to talk … NOW!”
“Okay, Aahz. As soon as I….”
“Now!”
Yep. Aahz was back.
“Urn, if you’ll excuse us, folks, Aahz and I have to…”
For the second time, there was a BAMPH in the room.
This one was louder, which was understandable, as there were more beings involved. Specifically, there were now four Deveels standing in the room . . . and they didn’t look happy.
“We seek the Great Skeeve,” one of them boomed.
My heart sank. Could my involvement with the Mob have been discovered so fast?
“Who’s asking?”
Aahz casually placed his bulk between me and the intruders. Tananda and Chumly were also on their feet, and Massha was edging sideways to get a clear field of fire. Terrific. All I needed to complete my day was to have my friends soap up the trouble I had started.