40. Healing Crystals
Healing Crystals
“ I haven’t seen this kid this tuckered out since she pulled that back-to-back all-nighter while getting her masters. Are you sure she’s okay, Talli?”
“Full manifestation takes a lot out of dragon-shifters, especially when one experiences the change so quickly. It takes a lot of energy.”
“It’s been days, Talli.”
“It’s only been two days, Everett. She’s breathing, she’s safe, so let her rest. After everything she’s been through, she’s earned some sleep.”
W hen I woke up, it took me a moment or five to remember where I was. My whole body felt heavy, and I tried to stretch the last remnants of exhaustion from my bones. The movement was enough to spook Dinah, who yowled at me before jumping from the bed.
My bed with its assortment of pillows and Stella in the crook of my arm.
I was in my room.
The sun beamed in from the always-open windows, lighting my bedroom in a sunny blaze that bounced off my crystals throughout the room. My dragon stirred underneath my skin, stretching herself and lingering there just beneath the surface. It was surreal having her there, out and proud, but it was also extraordinarily comforting.
The house was quiet. I reached for my phone on the nightstand, noticing the date and time. It was morning?—
Three days later ?!
I sat up in bed with a sudden jolt. I had slept for three days ?! The last thing I remembered was falling asleep on the couch after coming home from the trip. I was still in the same robe from that night. How the fuck had I slept for three days ?!
I opened my phone. There were numerous notifications. Simone and Maisie had texted to make sure I was okay and sent some memes in our chat. Rhois and the rest of the Archive’s Throuple had wished me a fun Friendsgiving Trip, none the wiser to its premature ending. Uncle Everett and Teddy had sent that they would be at work today and wouldn’t be home until late.
The most messages and missed calls by far were from Quinn.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
Hello, love. Simone texted that y’all made it home, and you’re asleep. I love you so much. Dream of me, sweetness. ??
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
I know you are still asleep. We are headed home now. A witch here was kind enough to teleport us back. The cousins are FURIOUS. I had to hold Natassa back from killing her on the spot.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
Made it home! You should have seen my Mama’s face when I told her. I think that if I don’t take care of Zaria, she absolutely would. I guess there’s a line. She loves you so much. It makes me so happy.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
I miss you so much already. I hate dealing with my family’s bullshit. It’s so stupid.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
I just can’t wait to see you again. I miss you so much it hurts. I wish we didn’t have to cut things so short. I just want to be with you.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
I hope you are okay. It’s been two days, and I’m kinda worried. I love you.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
I’m so sorry, Bee. About Zaria. About the vamp on your birthday. Everything. You deserve better. You shouldn’t have your life put in danger with someone you spend time with. You are so sweet, and I… I never want to see you hurt. Zaria is so lucky that I’m my mother’s daughter as well as my father’s. As much as I want revenge, I want to make sure that whoever sent her is taken out, too. No one will harm you and get away with it. I’m so sorry for the rant. I’m just worried about you.
QUEEN OF MY HEART ??
I love you so much, Byrd. Please call me.
Tears stung my eyes as guilt took hold of the pieces of my heart that weren’t broken after reading her messages. Three days, and I would be losing my mind with worry, too. I couldn’t press call fast enough. Quinn answered on the first ring.
“ Sweetness !” she exclaimed. The way she said my nickname, so full of relief and affection, I couldn’t have been more in love with her if I tried.
“Quinn! Ohmigods, I’m so very fucking sorry for worrying you. You have no idea how sorry I am.”
“I was starting to think that you were ghosting me.” Quinn chuckled, but there was no humor in it. She was trying to joke, but I could tell she at least kind of meant it. I felt for her.
“No, I wasn’t ghosting you, pumpkin, I swear. I know this is going to sound insane and like a cop out, but I was literally asleep for the past three days for no reason. I’m so sorry for making you worry, Quinn. I wish I had a better reason that made more sense and could justify your concern. I’m just so, so sorry?—”
“Hey, hey, hey, Byrdie, it’s okay. I believe you. You have always trusted me. The least I can do is give you the same grace. But I know that you have never not talked to me for days on purpose without good reason. I love you, and I’m just happy to hear your voice.”
I sniffed but smiled. “I love you so much, Quinn. Gods, I miss you. What are you up to today?”
“I love you back, and I miss you so much. I need to see you. I need the distraction and to be with you. Do you have any plans today? Can I see you?”
A beat passed.
Another one.
And another.
All in silence.
I was just too stunned to speak.
Quinn must have taken my silence the wrong way because she said. “We don’t have to do or talk about anything. We don’t have to talk about Zaria or shifters. In fact, we can have a normal day, like a normal complete date for once. I can make you something, too, since you have been asleep for so long.”
I rushed to respond. “That sounds like a dream, Quinn! I would love that! We would have to pick up something from the grocery store because we have nothing here. How do you feel about going and wandering the aisles together?”
“Oh, now, you are speaking my love language. Food shopping is everything. Are you going to be okay walking around for a while? I love to window-shop.”
“The longer with you, the better, pumpkin.”
“How long do you need to get ready?”
“Give me twenty, my love. See you soon!”
I texted Quinn my address, hoping Blackbell would allow her in since she is some kind of supernatural, while simultaneously trying not to think too much about what that kind of supernatural could be. I showered and started to get dressed. By the time I was dressed in a sweater, shorts, tights, and boots with my hair styled, Quinn texted that she was outside. I squealed so loudly when I saw her that I think they could hear me from Atlanta. I excitedly joined her in her bright orange Jeep Wrangler, and we were on our way.
We went to an insanely posh grocery store that Teddy loved to shop at and I loved to wander and look in. It had something for every dish with fresh herbs, local homegrown vegetables, sustainable meat, and all sorts of other groceries for specific supernaturals like blood dishes for vampires or elemental drinks to help replenish their powers. There was a butcher shop, wine pairing store with a sommelier, a cheese shop with a cheesemonger, a coffee shop with traditionally-trained baristas, and a deli restaurant with seating all within the gigantic building. Gods, I would drive Everett insane looking at everything and asking questions about what different ingredients could be for. He would always ask me why make a list if I was just going to go down every aisle regardless and make what would be a twenty-minute trip to the store into a two-hour trip. He didn’t understand how fun it could be.
But Quinn did.
Quinn’s jaw was on the floor as soon as we entered Destiny’s Market, and she danced with a childlike joy that made me throw my head back and laugh. Quinn got the biggest buggy and started driving it with me by her side.
We sampled the cheeses and added our favorites to the cart. We smelled the different breads and got the best, most delicious smelling ones. Quinn tossed some herbs, vegetables, and other items that piqued her interest as we went up and down every aisle.
As she shopped, I pointed out different products and asked what they might be used in. With everything that I asked, Quinn would say what it was, describe its taste, and list what it could be used in. Then, she would describe a delicious dish that she wanted to make for me someday. She would pull her phone out and add the dish to a notes file that I discovered she had named after me. She did this every single time, and it never got old. My heart warmed, seeing the effort she put into it and her excitement to share her passion with me.
We checked out, with Quinn paying and refusing to let me even offer. She drove us home, and, of course, she grabbed all thirty bags in her hands in one trip without letting me help. The only thing she let me do was open the doors.
She sat the bags down and started to unpack everything. In no time at all, she was asking where she could find cutting boards, knives, and everything else to start prepping.
After I had directed her where everything was, she started chopping and prepping. “I’m in love with this kitchen. It’s crazy that you and your uncle have everything a chef needs, but neither of you cook.”
“It’s wishful thinking, babe.” I smiled, sitting on the barstool to watch her cook. “Do you have any idea what you are making for us, Chef?”
“Ha!” Quinn’s eyes darkened to the same color as dark caramelized sugar in a pan, her smolder strong. “You will be on the menu if you say chef like that again.”
My face heated, and I squirmed in my seat.
“ La Hechicera. ” Quinn smirked.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you what that means.”
“Enchantress or seductress, which is definitely what you are for me. I can’t keep my hands off of you. If you hadn’t eaten in three days, I would be on you right now, especially with how your ass looks in those shorts today.” Quinn continued to chop garlic while she looked me up and down. “My wicked bruja of charisma and seduction.”
“You love this bruja so much.” I winked.
Quinn chuckled. “To answer your question, I am making sopa de fideo y sándwich de queso , which is a seasoned Spanish tomato soup and fancy grilled cheese.”
“Oh gods, that sounds so freaking cozy and good! I can’t wait!” I bounced in my chair.
“I hope you love it!”
“I already know I will.”
We fell into a comfortable silence between us. The only sound was her dicing garlic. Her knife work with making food was just as good as her other skills.
Speaking of…
“You know, Quinn, about the other night?—”
“Hey, don’t do that.” Quinn looked up from her work to make eye contact with me. “Let’s act like we are normal. You were a theater kid, and I was a techie and Stage Manager so it should be easy for us.”
I tilted my head. “Act normal?”
“Yeah, like human. No shifters. Nothing about Zaria or my family. Just me cooking for my girl and her picking us out a show to watch while we eat.”
“Human, huh?”
“Just for a day.” Quinn shrugged. She turned around and started the stove with a large dutch oven on top. She poured some olive oil in it to start heating up. “I think we could both use the distraction.”
“Well, you are making a Libra make a decision.” I pulled out my phone to start searching for something for us to watch. “That is pretty demonic, if you ask me, so not the best start.”
Quinn raised her slitted eyebrow. “Libras are that indecisive?”
“It’s our whole personality. That and flirting relentlessly.”
“That feels more like me than you.” Quinn pointed to herself with her knife as she opened the cheeses, cured meats, and small bread loaf to chop them and place them on a wooden board. “I’m an Aquarius, though.”
“Ah, an Aquarius! The conspiracy theorists!”
“Oh, that definitely tracks. I don’t believe in a lot of things.”
“Okay, I know we are acting and all, but you just took me out of my role, so I have to break. You know about the existence of supernatural creatures like energy vampires, shifters, and mermaids?—”
“Oh, my!” She smiled, making me roll my eyes.
“But you don’t believe in things?” Quinn pushed the charcuterie board over to me before turning to put the chopped garlic in the hot dutch oven. “What don’t you believe in?”
She didn’t hesitate to answer. “Pandas.”
I almost choked on my bite from the board. Which would have been a shame because it was delicious . Quinn had done a great job picking things out. “You are fucking absurd.”
“Have you ever seen one in the wild?”
“There is literally an organization dedicated to them.”
“Dedicated to their lies . “
I shook my head and popped another bite into my mouth. “Okay, what else?”
“Pigeons.”
“Well, everyone knows those are government birds. They are walking cameras.”
“See? I’m not that crazy, now am I? I mean, have you ever seen a baby pigeon? Has anyone?”
“Nope, definitely not.”
Quinn stirred the garlic to brown it. “I also think that the air dryers in bathrooms are harbingers of the plague.”
“Again, breaking here: you can stab someone without batting an eye, but trying to conserve the environment by not using paper towels is the line for you?”
“I don’t know about you, but I would rather disembowel ten men than have poopy air blown back on me. Pink eye is gross, okay?”
I threw my head back and cackled. I could listen to every single one of her silly goose thoughts all day. Even if they were insane, I loved her passion and seeing the destinations her mind could reach as it ran a million miles a minute. She talked about her celebrity theories and how much worse even her dad was with thinking that air fryers weren’t real because when has the air even fried something? It was cute seeing what got her going.
Quinn poured the tomato sauce into the dutch oven along with the noodles and garlic that she had browned. She stirred in a few cubes of chicken bouillon seasoning and some water and allowed that to simmer. Quinn started a flat pan on another burner. She paused in our conversation, starting to season some butter to spread on the bread.
Suddenly, she asked. “Do you think your mom would have liked me? Like, seriously?”
I chewed my bite of charcuterie thoughtfully so I could answer as honestly as I could. “Well, my dad certainly would have. He was easier on the girls I liked than mom was. I came out to them at a young age and would let them know when I was bringing a girl home and when I was bringing a girl home. Pops was sweet and would dote on them. But my mom? She became a fucking detective and wanted to know everything about them, what their intentions were, and how they treated their own mom. She was kinda batshit, honestly. My Aunt Max would usually egg her on. She always said I was too soft and sweet, like an angel food cake. She said I would crumble if the right person was actually mean to me. My mom used to say she was wrong, that there is strength in being soft. Honey attracts more flies than vinegar.”
“Your mom sounds very smart.”
“You have no idea. But she could be easily bribed using dessert, though. Make her a cheesecake, and she would adore you!”
Quinn laughed, and I joined in.
“I wish you could have met them.” I smiled nostalgically.
“Me too.”
The house smelled like a Taqueria by the time Quinn was done cooking. It was well-worth the wait. The soup and the sandwich were the best I had ever had, bursting with flavor across the board. We decided to watch a competition cooking show instead of a movie because we didn’t want to think anymore and wanted our brains turned off. We made quips and admired the food, but we mostly chilled and enjoyed the presence of each other.
After eating lunch, putting the leftovers away, and cleaning up the kitchen, I laid against Quinn’s chest, her arm wrapped around me holding me close. She curled her fingers around my locs, looking at the pink entangled around her finger. Her touch was so gentle, tender, and deliberate, I felt shivers down my spine.
“When’s the last time you had a retwist, sweetness?” Quinn asked, touching my overgrown roots and trying to view my scalp.
I turned around with my eyebrows raised toward my edges. “Ma’am, what do you know about retwisting locs?”
Quinn laughed. “I date black women, remember? You don’t think I’ve picked up a thing or two?”
“Taking out braids or straightening hair has nothing to do with locs.”
“Oh, now, I have to prove a point.” Quinn took me up in her arms and lifted me off the couch. I squealed in surprise. “Bathroom?”
I pointed Quinn to my bathroom. Once inside, she sat me down on the counter to start the water in the soaker tub. She poured in some bubble bath wash and a few bath bombs. The scent of both filled the bathroom with the smell of tropical fruits. I had forgotten I had bought those. “Hair products?”
I pointed to my wash day bin on the counter near me. Quinn grabbed it and sat it within reach of the tub. Once the water was ready, she turned the faucet and started to undress.
My jaw dropped. Quinn raised her slitted eyebrow. “Do you want me to get my clothes wet?”
“You’re getting in with me?”
“Of course. I know washing natural curls can take an hour, but locs? They hold onto water tighter than I hold on to my sanity. I don’t want to put your legs through that.”
I laughed. Quinn took off her shirt, jeans, sports bra, and boxer briefs until she was naked. I looked her up and down, taking her in. Gods, I would never be able to get over how gorgeous she was. Even though I had just eaten, I was hungry all over again.
Quinn watched me look at her and smirked. She sauntered over to me. She took my face in her hands. Her eyes were dark, her smolder hot enough to keep me warm in the coldest winters imaginable.
“Let me take care of you, Byrd,” Quinn whispered in such a way that went straight to my core and my heart.
All I could do was nod.
Our lips met, and I melted into her. I was clay in her hands, ready to do anything and everything that she wanted. She kissed me deeply and lovingly. There was no lust in this. She was focused on showering me in a different desire.
Quinn pulled my shirt over my head and made quick work of my bra, too. Without breaking our kiss, she managed to wiggle me out of my tights, shorts, and panties in one fell swoop. The cold air made goosebumps prickle my skin for the briefest moment before Quinn took my lips again. Then she lifted me and carried me over to the tub. With ease, she settled us both down into the water. It felt divine.
“Turn around,” Quinn instructed, and I listened. The water sloshed against the edges of the tub as I leaned back against Quinn. I couldn’t tell if it was the water or her, but the warmth was soaking into my soul.
Quinn turned the faucet back on, but set it to use the handheld nozzle. She wetted my hair, ensuring every loc was dripping with water. Then she got some of my shampoo and got to work massaging it into my scalp and roots. Her fingers hit all the right points, scratching and working in the shampoo. She wasn’t gentle, but she wasn’t so hard that it hurt. I wasn’t tender-headed by any means. I actually preferred my locticians to scrub and dig into my scalp to ensure it was clean. Quinn applied the perfect amount of roughness that my scalp needed. It was the best kind of spa treatment. There was something about Quinn doing it, too, that just made my toes curl. I couldn’t tell if it was how good of a job she was doing or that she was doing it at all. It was so simple, this act of intimacy, but there was a depth of love there that I couldn’t describe. In that moment, I had never felt closer to Quinn. I don’t think I had ever loved her anyone more than in this moment. I moaned in pure ecstasy.
“Does that feel good, baby girl?” Quinn asked, her chest behind me vibrating from her voice.
“You have no idea. Please don’t stop.”
Quinn chuckled. “What was that about not knowing about locs?”
“Shut up and keep at it, Magic Fingers.”
Quinn laughed.
She rinsed out my shampoo, wringing out each individual loc until the water from them ran clear. Then she conditioned my locs and did the same thing to ensure they were clean and no product lingered inside. I don’t think my locs had ever felt cleaner.
She drained the tub, and magicked towels, courtesy of Cleo, came to us before the chill from the air could cause our skin to pebble. Quinn wrapped us in the towels and dried us off. She grabbed a lint-free towel for my damp locs and wrapped them up as well. After getting dressed in some lounge clothes—Quinn borrowed one of Everett’s old shirts I had stolen from him and put her undies back on since I didn’t have anything else that would fit her here—Quinn carried me downstairs with hair supplies in tow. Just like when I was a kid with my mom plaiting my hair for school the next day, I sat between Quinn’s legs and she started twisting my locs one-by-one to get the new growth loc’d up. She was methodical and deft, working better than most professionals I had been to see. Plus, we both got to catch up on our favorite trashy reality television shows while she did it.
I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Quinn plaited my locs into my favorite style that I could never do: a braided half-up half-down ponytail style with pieces left to frame my face. She put golden hair jewelry and crystals in my locs, too, from my stash. It was so cute. I was admiring it and about to send pictures to Simone and Maisie when Everett texted that he would spend the night at Teddy’s since it was closer to work, anyway.
When Quinn came back from putting my hair products back in the bathroom, I turned to her from the couch and asked her eagerly. “Can you spend the night with me, fellow human?”
Quinn smiled slowly, and my heart threatened to explode with love.
Quinn joined me in my bed that night, but we didn’t do anything except cuddle and hold each other close until we fell asleep. The next morning, when Quinn’s phone went off with a call for a work assignment, we had to untangle ourselves from each other. Her voice was so deep and raspy with sleep as she answered the phone. I wanted it to be the first thing I heard every morning.
I wanted Quinn to be my first and last everything, to complete me and be my forever.
I walked her to the door, and she took me in her arms. Our kiss was a morning one, barely awake, clinging to each other like the last bits of dreams. She nuzzled her face into my neck, and I giggled.
“I hate that I have to go,” Quinn mumbled.
“I know. I want to always do this with you. I want every day to be a perfect date and then end with a perfect night and wake up to you to do it all over again. I don’t want to pretend to be human to do it. I just want it to be us being perfectly us together.” I clung to her hair, inhaling the scent of citrus and smoky chocolate.
“I know. We are going to have that. I’m going to figure out how. I want this forever with you, Byrd. I’m so happy right now I’m sure the others are going to flame me alive when I get there,” Quinn joked.
I kissed her. “We’ll figure it out together. I love you so much, starlight.”
“I love you back, sweetness. I’ll see you again soon.”