Later that Evening
The temperature had dropped well below freezing, but the roads had been cleared in town, including—amazingly—Cider Lane.
Perhaps the metamorphosis it had gone through in the past had moved snowdrifts in the future.
All I knew was that when Lorne was carrying me and Argos into our cottage and I looked to the right, I saw in the distance the lights of the Johnson Apiary, and then checking left, the lights at Wingate Farm.
“We’re in our right time,” I whispered, “and everything is how it’s supposed to be.”
“It is,” he confirmed. “And after we sleep for a week, I want to hear everything that happened.”
“I promise,” I said, kissing the side of his neck as Argos purred.
We were only inside for a few minutes when there was a knock on the front door. I was not surprised to find Amanda, Eddie, and the boys there, though we’d had no plans.
“Why are you two covered in dirt?” she asked, horrified. “It’s winter. You’re not supposed to be outside. You could freeze to death.”
I tried to hug her, but she evaded me, heading to the kitchen, where her children and her husband were unpacking food.
“Lorne, I got the good beer,” Eddie called over.
“Thank you,” Lorne managed to choke out.
“You all right?”
“I had a weird day.”
“Oh, don’t I know it,” Eddie stated. “Driving in this weather is the worst.”
“Go take a shower,” Amanda ordered me. “There are more people coming.”
“For what?”
She tipped her head and squinted at me. “We’re having a little midwinter chase-the-blues-away party to bring everyone back to the land of the living.
You have to visit and eat and laugh and hug so everyone remembers they’re part of a community.
You agreed we should have these get-togethers every other week so that even while we’re all hibernating, we also remember to touch base and make sure everyone is good. ”
I nodded. “That sounds perfect.”
“All my ideas are amazing, and you and Lorne are hosting this week. Your neighbors are coming, and also James and Cass—they’re bringing some woman who’s staying with them…Theseus? That can’t be right.”
“Thessaly,” Lorne corrected her.
“Still terrible.”
“That’s not nice,” Amanda’s youngest child, JJ, said as they rushed into the room to bring me a snickerdoodle. “Don’t make fun of people’s names.”
“Yes, dear,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
“Why do I get a cookie?” I asked JJ, accepting the offering.
“You look like you need a cookie,” they told me. “And you’re kinda dirty.”
“I will go shower now,” I promised, taking a bite and then returning the cookie. “You have the rest and we’ll eat some more of these when I come out.”
I got a big smile and a happy nod before they darted away.
“Uncle Xan, I can’t find Argos’s food, and I think he’s hungry,” Toby, Amanda’s oldest, called over.
“Wait, I brought him chicken hearts—his favorite,” Amanda apprised him, and Argos darted over to her as she got them out of another bag for him.
“Gross,” Eddie commented, shaking his head.
“Uncle Xan, I found this in a box in the attic,” Toby announced, rushing from the kitchen over to me, reaching into the right front pocket of his pants, and pulling out a pendant. “Is it okay if I wear it?”
It was a small silver disc, darkened with age, clearly an antique, and very beautiful. When I reached for it, touching it gently, immediately there came the familiar thrum of my own magic. Taking it from him, I noted that even after two hundred years and counting, it was still a powerful talisman.
“I want to get a chain for it,” he said.
“Or perhaps a leather cord instead,” I suggested.
“Yeah, that sounds better.”
“When did you find it?”
“Yesterday,” he replied cheerfully.
“I said it was fine,” Amanda chimed in, joining us. “I mean the Algiz rune is for protection, right? How can you go wrong with that.”
“You can’t,” I whispered, overcome, for a moment, by the past. “It’s safe, I made it for her.”
“What?” Amanda asked.
“Nothing,” I murmured, wiping away quick tears before my best friend saw them. I then turned to her son. “I’m sure I have some cord in the sunroom. Go look in the usual places and I’ll tie it for you.”
“Thank you,” Toby said smiling at me before bolting away on his quest.
“Are you all right?” she asked, scrutinizing me before calling over to her husband and asking him to bring me a glass of water.
“Yes,” I affirmed. “It’s been a long day.”
“Well, it’s going to be a long night too because we’re all drinkin’.”
I loved her enthusiasm, her evil smile, all of her. “I’d hug you, but I’m dirty.”
“Yes, you are,” she said with a grimace, “and why is that again?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Not all of us will be drinking,” Eddie stated dejectedly, reaching us and passing me a large glass of ice water. “I forgot I was the designated driver, so I guess I’ll just watch Lorne drink the good beer.”
Amanda cackled and he rolled his eyes. It was obvious he was getting no sympathy from the woman he married. “Yeah, you will,” she asserted, watching him walk away, but when she turned back to me, she scowled. “Why aren’t you in the shower?”
Moving quickly, I nearly plowed into Lorne.
“What’re you doing?” He chuckled.
Passing him the empty glass, I promised I’d be in and out of the shower fast so he could take one too.
He nodded, seeming a bit overwhelmed.
I said, “Maybe we should have everyone—”
“No.” He sighed. “This is good. They should stay. We’re human, Xan. Our hibernation must include friends, food, and board games.”
I couldn’t agree more.
“And kisses from the people we love,” he whispered.
“Definitely that,” I said, reaching for him as he bent and gave me one.