Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dear Journal (NOT a fucking diary!),
After last night, I thought today might end up being kinda weird, but instead me and Hal got on like two peas in a pod, as my grandma used to say. She and I did too.
We mostly stuck around the house, doing some chores to get it ready for winter.
Can’t believe that’s creeping up on us already.
Apart from a near brush with death after I fell off a ladder, it was a good day.
Thank fuck for Hal and his quick knight-in-hairy-armor reflexes.
We even spent some time talking about business stuff, and Hal let me help him create a website for the B&B (I still can’t wrap my head around him not having one before now) and put together a business plan to draw in more customers.
I know the B&B is his baby, but I want to help in any way I can. This house has been a real haven for me in my time of need, and it’s quickly come to feel like home. More people should have the chance to experience what this place and its top-notch host have to offer.
Look, I’m no genius or anything, but Hal trusted me to guide him through it all, which blows my mind, and he actually valued my ideas.
He gave me so many compliments that I’m still blushing afterward.
Not used to that at all. But it was nice and gave me a boost of self-confidence that I didn’t know I needed.
Later tonight, I’m taking Hal on our very first official date. Let’s hope I can keep my shit together when it comes to this whole romancing thing.
—Skylar Wright’s Personal Journal
Skylar
Discovering I have time to take a quick shower before we head to the meeting at Town Hall and needing to be alone so I can calm down for a bit, I leg it up to my room and get undressed.
I’m grimy and gross from all the chores, especially the gutter.
Having always lived in apartments, I didn’t realize that job would be so fucking hard.
Under the spray of hot water, I try not to fixate on how fucking amazing Hal was when he saved my life.
When I fell, I had a split second to realize I was quite possibly going to break my neck or hit my head hard enough to do serious damage.
But then, like a fucking hero out of some kind of fairy tale, Hal was there, catching me in his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world.
It was everything.
My work with Dr. P has shown me how much I’ve been searching for someone who’d be ready and able to catch me when I fall—in more ways than one—ever since my grandma died. Someone I can trust to have my back and help keep me safe, and who cares about my well-being. A novel concept, I know.
When I felt Hal shaking with fear after what had happened, it knocked down another barricade I’d erected over my heart.
In that moment, I was relieved to be safe, but I was even more grateful to whatever force brought me and Hal together.
Already, I’m finding it real hard to imagine my future without him in it.
I should be more worried about the magic being all out of whack in town. Instead, all I can think about is Hal and the fact that I’m pretty fucking sure I’m falling in love with him.
Hal is on a whole other level from anyone I’ve ever been with.
Spending time with him is something I can’t wait for, and when I get home from working on the salon, all I want is to tell him about my day and hear about his.
I want to share my hopes and dreams with him and what’s even more shocking to me is that I want to tell him my fears and failures too.
He’s the first guy I’ve ever felt this with—and I’m pretty sure that means it’s the real fucking deal.
But I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. For now, I just gotta keep working on becoming the kind of boyfriend Hal deserves and making him as happy as he makes me.
By the time I get out of the shower and am toweling off, I’ve strengthened my resolve. I’m ready to stand at Hal’s side and face whatever will happen at tonight’s meeting.
Probably.
When I join him downstairs a short time later, Hal offers me my ancient Goodwill-purchased leather jacket with a gentle smile.
“Be sure to bring this with you. The nights are starting to get cold, so you should bundle up.” He fusses over me with obvious concern.
“We’ll need to get you a proper winter coat soon.
It can get brutally cold in January and February. ”
I smile in thanks as I take the jacket. I haven’t known a lot of basic kindness in my life beyond my time with my grandma, so simple gestures of care and concern like this mean more to me than most folks.
My therapist points that out to me on a regular basis.
But Hal’s particular brand of care and concern is so natural that I’m starting to realize it’s just part of who he is.
And I’m fucking honored to be getting even more of Hal’s precious attention than anyone else.
It’s a perk of being his boyfriend that I won’t take for granted.
I shrug into the jacket, inhaling the familiar smell of old leather and faded cigarette smoke that still clings to it, and we head out to the meeting.
Being able to walk just about everywhere is an unexpected bonus of Mystic Hollow that I like more than I would have thought.
The streets are quiet as we make our way to Town Hall, and I notice that even the businesses that normally stay open in the evening have closed early.
Town Hall is a beautiful brick structure from the early 1900s, according to the plaque outside, that, like much of Mystic Hollow, still retains a lot of old-fashioned charm.
Once inside, we follow the printed signs that direct us to a small auditorium packed to the brim.
It looks like practically every resident of Mystic Hollow came out tonight.
No wonder it felt like a bit of a ghost town on the way here.
Hal offers me his arm. “Stick close, it’s pretty crowded in here.”
I don’t fucking hesitate before looping my own through his and letting him guide us toward the front row of seats. The softness of his warm, hairy pelt is strangely grounding, and I’m kinda sad when he lets go so I can take a seat.
Fucking hell. My mind’s been a bit distracted all day.
I haven’t been able to go for more than a few minutes without thinking back to last night.
Part of me still can’t believe I fucking went for it like a boss and laid it all on the line for Hal.
Not only did I ask to be his boyfriend, I also told him my whole sordid tale of trauma and woe—and he didn’t run screaming for the hills. Or forest. Or whatever.
Dr. P’s gonna be impressed at our next session.
My thoughts scatter when Baxter climbs the few steps up to the stage, then walks over to a tiny podium with a microphone.
“If I can have everyone’s attention,” he booms.
In an instant, silence falls.
Not one to beat around the bush, Baxter is clear and direct as he outlines what’s going on in town with the unstable magic power node, the new musical nature of some of the apples in the orchard, and the suddenly psychedelic mushrooms in the forest—apparently, a link was discovered based on the samples we collected.
When he draws to a close, the audience murmurs among themselves in anxious tones.
I don’t blame them.
Before things get out of hand, Astraea joins Baxter on stage. He steps to the side, and she replaces him behind the podium.
“Most of you know by now that I am the dragon goddess of the Celestial Realm. I’m also the one who used the ley line magic in this and every other Sanctuary Haven in the Terran Realm to create protected places for Otherkind many centuries ago.
My intention at that time was twofold.” She holds up one finger, her long nail now painted bright purple.
“I wanted to safeguard Otherkind in this realm from persecution by establishing places they could exist and be safe. But my motives weren’t entirely selfless.
” A second finger goes up in the air. “I wanted this to be a learning opportunity for my sons, teach them responsibility as the guardians of the magic that guards these places.” She sighs, a look of consternation on her face.
“When I used my powers to connect my son, Zarian, to the node in Mystic Hollow, I assumed he wouldn’t have any trouble maintaining its stability.
For male dragons, such magic requires the bond of a fated mate behind it.
Male dragons who go too long without their mates start to lose control of their powers.
Over time, it can even lead to death.” She sighs.
“So I gave the nodes time for my sons to find their loves. But I thought surely Zarian would find his fated mate after several centuries and everything would be just peachy.” She mutters something in a language I don’t know, but I suspect it’s dragon curse words.
“Ahem. I woefully underestimated how long this would take. But fear not, I’m in the process of tracking them all down and helping them find their mates as soon as possible.
” She shakes her head sadly. “I’m so very sorry.
I honestly never imagined this would be an outcome.
But trust me, I’m not going to sit around and let them die or this town’s magic fall apart. ”
“Hold it! Our town’s magical stability is tied to a dragon dude getting laid or not?” someone shouts in disbelief.
Folks nod in frustrated agreement.
I wince. They’re not exactly wrong, or at least, that’s what it sort of sounds like from what Astraea said. Mate bonds are probably more complex than that, but in a nutshell…
“What happens to all of us in the meantime?” someone else yells from the audience.