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The explosion was minor, according to Hazel. Barely an event to concern myself over. Except, when I had gone to the apothecary to check on her, the entire back wall was blown out and bottle after bottle of noxious potions were strewn across the floor in a rainbow array of destruction. The fire had gone out by now, if there ever was one. Or, maybe acid had been what had eaten away at the wood. Either way, ‘minor’ was not how I would have described what was before me.

“Ready!”

Hazel came bounding down the stairs with a suitcase in hand, her hair fastened back with a few pieces of braided ribbons.

“Minor?” I asked her.

She didn’t bother glancing at the knocked out wall and instead came to my side, looping her arm within my own. When she had sent the pixie messenger, it was to ask if she could stay with me for a few days while the wisps took care of things. I had of course responded yes and had come down to collect her. And, if we were being honest, I had come down to see the damage for myself. Somehow I just knew that her description wouldn’t be entirely accurate.

“It’ll be nice to have a short vacation,” she said, trying to tug me from the apothecary. “I mean, it’s not what I planned but I think it could be good. I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of time at your place and this will be like a sleepover.”

I was still staring at the hole in the wall, watching the boards crumble. “Hazel–”

“And,” she continued excitedly, trying to tug me away. “We can go to that cute bakery down the way. Get some scones. I love scones. Especially fresh baked scones from a dragon's egg. The taste is so much sweeter.”

“Hazel.” I stopped her. I placed my hands on her shoulders, turning her slowly towards the back of the apothecary. Yes the wisps were already getting to work and knowing Hazel, there were probably several other magical elements at play that would begin the clean up after we left. That wasn’t the point. Even if there was no magic to get this set straight, it wasn’t like Milo hadn’t rebuilt this shop several times over by now. The apothecary would survive. There was something else I was worried about.

“That’s not minor,” I repeated again. “What were you doing that caused an explosion like that?”

“Oh, you know. This and that.”

It was an average work day. Individuals were coming in to purchase their weekly tonics. A few were going to stop by for performance spells. Luck enhancers. Love potions of varying degrees that Hazel didn’t even sell. It was not meant to be a day where bombs went off in the back of the shop.

“This and that doesn’t usually require such destruction.”

She laughed, her smile bright as she leaned her head against my shoulder, tugging us away from the shop. My feet shuffled across the ground, leaving small scrapes of displaced ash across her wooden floor.

“It was a strange day, that’s for sure,” she said.

I wasn’t buying it. I hadn’t bought it from the beginning. Hazel sending me a pixie was odd all on its own but I had assumed it was just her way of expressing frustration over the business. It had been some time since we had gotten a moment of peace with each other. The last few times we had seen each other had been infiltrated by family dinners, a drunk Milo, and one memorable night, Belladonna showing up for tea. Hazel didn’t do well when she didn’t get some moments of quiet, too used to the years she had spent utterly alone. I was all too happy to come and whisk her away when the opportunity presented itself. But this felt odd, even for her.

Planting my feet firmly on the ground, I took her suitcase and placed it next to us. “What actually happened?” I asked her, trying to give her no room to wiggle out of the conversation.

She blinked at me innocently. “It was a small mishap. I was mixing up a new tonic, nothing big, and I must have mismeasured. One minute I’m humming to myself, putting a sprig of mint into the pot, and the next, BOOM!, the entire shop is on fire.”

My eyes widened. “The entire shop?” I was now glancing around, looking for other burn marks. Broken rafter beams. Smoldering ashes that were waiting for us to leave so they could ignite and relish in destruction.

“No,” she squeaked. “No. Not really. A small fire, actually. Not even a fire at all, really.”

My heart rate began returning to a normal rate. Hazel was shifting back and forth on her feet, grinning a little. It was that smile that I had grown to crave. It made her nose wrinkle up and her eyes became so much softer.

“Really, it’s not that big of a deal. The wisps will have it all spic and span in two, maybe three days time.”

I glanced towards the back of the building. Was the hole already smaller?

“Well, we better go,” she chirped, grabbing my arm again. I kept my feet firmly on the ground. It was almost kind of cute the way she tugged at me, using both of her hands to try and pull me out of the shop.

“You did something?”

“What?” she laughed. “No. Why would you say such a thing? That’s just funny. Like, really haha kind of funny.”

Now I knew for certain she had done something. “You’re cute. But stop smiling at me like that. I know you and I know you did something.”

She blushed a little, stepping closer to press her body to my own. She was still smiling, her nose crinkled and her expressive eyes dancing with mischief. Behind her, the hole was closing.

“So,” she said, swaying us a little as she hummed out the word. “I was thinking that if catastrophe struck, and we ran away to your apartment, everyone would leave us alone.”

“What?” I laughed.

“Think about it. Milo and Mal will go all big brother and come here to put things back together. Bella will not put herself in your cramped apartment. Gabriel is not even allowed in Artisan Alley. So, you know,” she grinned. “We’ve had days of uninterrupted time to ourselves.”

I stared down at her. My grinning little witch with the impish grin. Of course she would go to such lengths to have me all to herself.

“So the shop didn’t blow up.”

“Of course not,” she snorted. “I’m careful with my potions.” That wasn’t true but I did believe her in this incident.

“But it’s going to look like it has blown up to fool everyone?”

“Yup,” she popped her lips. “I gave the wisps extra honey so they could keep up the illusion. We have a week if you really want to push it.”

Picking her up by her hips, I swung her around. I loved this woman. She was insane, but I loved her. Only Hazel would fake some sort of terrible accident to get uninterrupted time with me, and do it all unapologetically. Malcolm was going to be pissed when he found out. Milo would probably feign indignation until she made some soup for him. Hazel’s own customers would most likely just be confused.

I didn’t care.

Setting her down, I grabbed her suitcase and held my arm out. “Shall we?” I asked.

She giggled, looping her arm within my own. “Absolutlely. Save me from this. It was such a trying day. I definitely need time to recover.”

As we exited the building, Malcolm and Milo came running from the path, their faces frantic.

“What happened?” Malcolm demanded. “Are you two okay? Was anyone hurt?”

Hazel was hiding her head within my shoulder, trying not to laugh. I simply turned to the two men, nodding sagely. “It’s pretty bad,” I said. “It’s going to take a week for the wisps to fix it.”

“A week?” Milo started. “No. I’ll get this all up and running way before that. You two just leave it to me, yeah?”

I nodded. “Thanks, Milo. I just want to get Hazel home with me. To recover.”

Hazel snorted into my side and I began steering her away from the apothecary so she wouldn’t give us away. Malcolm was already side-eyeing his sister.

“They’re going to find out,” I whispered to her when we had enough distance.

“That’s next weeks problem,” she said with a grin. “This week, we hide.”

And we happily did.