Chapter 9 Sage
Sage
Sage wanted his rubber gloves. Truth be told, he wanted a warm body, but the gloves made for a good alternative. Who am I kidding? They’re just magicked rubber, not a person. Fuck me.
After Will had ended up in Sage’s bed just for sleep, Sage couldn’t see himself bringing some random warm body over either.
That would’ve felt…inappropriate? Will was supposed to be Sage’s apprentice.
Plus, the wolf had issues, and thinking of Will as a potential warm body felt ethically questionable.
Inappropriate. I’m thinking inappropriate thoughts. Should I ask myself “What would Peter do?” Because if I do anything untoward with Will, I know what Peter will do. I am so very fucked.
Sage considered all this in the morning, after he had woken next to Will. Will had still been asleep when he woke up, huddled under the blankets, his bangs looking wild and soft at the same time.
Once they went downstairs, Will settled in on the couch, keeping one of the handsy cushions pinned with his knee and scribbling in the notebook Sage had given him for practicing spells. Sage, meanwhile, was trying to concentrate on writing invoices on his laptop at the dining room table.
But concentration would not come, and Sage kept messing up adding the services he had performed for people, which meant he had to do things over and over again.
It didn’t help that Sage could feel Will stealing glances at him. Annoyed with himself, Sage went to the kitchen to refill his coffee mug. He sat back down and tapped the old family silverware sugar spoon on a silver platter in the center of the dining table next to the sugar bowl.
“Two, please,” Sage instructed the spoon.
The decorations along its handle promptly unfolded into tiny silver arms and legs, and it went about tossing two heaping spoonfuls of sugar into Sage’s mug.
Sage stirred his coffee then took a long sip, sighing when the flavor hit his taste buds. Without Will, I’d still be having jam-flavored coffee. I’m glad he’s here.
Will moved around on the couch while Sage was trying to get the invoicing done again. He then got up and paced for a minute, before carefully pulling out a chair at the other end of the dining table. He did all of it slowly and quietly, almost as if he were waiting for Sage to tell him to stop.
Sage redoubled his attempts at being a professional adult who knew how to do adult things, like invoicing other adults for minor acts of magic.
Will looked up, this time for longer than he normally did. Sage couldn’t help himself. He looked back.
“What’s up?”
Sage hoped it wasn’t about last night. I hope he doesn’t have questions about the box of rubber gloves under my bed.
Will twirled his pen. “The full moon is coming up.”
Sage nodded. “I guess.” Then he remembered why that mattered. “Oh, right. You have to shift on the full moon.”
Will nodded, fumbling with his notebook as if he needed something to do with his fingers.
“I can’t change back all night.”
“Right. Do you want to head out to the woods or something? I can drive you and pick you up after if you want?”
Is that what I’m supposed to do for my werewolf apprentice? I’d guess I’d have a clue if I’d made the time to read that shifter book instead of writing invoices.
Will blinked up from under his dark lashes. He looked so much better now than the day Peter had dropped him here, cheeks less hollow and eyes brighter. Sage liked Will’s golden eyes. They were unusual, and they made Will look like the mythical creature he truly was.
Will cleared his throat. “Do you think maybe I could stay here?”
“Here in the house? Or in the garden?”
The garden was wild, with generations of witches having imbued the very soil with magic. It tended to overgrow to the point where you needed a machete to get to the strawberry patch and blackberry bushes. Sage didn’t see how a wolf would be able to run there.
“Inside? Maybe downstairs. I don’t get destructive or anything. I’ll be quiet.”
Sage didn’t get that. From what he knew, the great outdoors was a big part of full moon shifting for werewolves. Even the lazy ones loved running that one night a month.
“I mean, I already told you that’s fine. You can shift wherever you’d like. But are you sure you don’t want to run and hunt squirrels?”
Will blanched rather than smiling at the joke, and Sage knew he had stepped in it. He just wasn’t sure what exactly he’d stepped in.
“I don’t want to run.”
Will looked tense, like there was more behind that statement, and maybe he wanted to say more, but he was hurting to get the words out. He pressed his lips tight together, and his shoulders were so tense that it got the cushions on the couch agitated.
“Well, if you wanna spend the full moon inside with me, that’s fine. You live here too. Or do you want to be alone? I can go to Peter’s and—”
Will jerked his head up, his face flushed. “No! I mean, I don’t want you to go. This is your place.”
Sage nodded, really only half sure he’d said all the right things. “If you change your mind, I’m happy to hang with Peter.”
“Do people ever just hang with Peter?”
Sage gave that some thought. “I honestly don’t know how to answer that.”
Will nodded. “I’ll shift here then?”
“Sure.” Sage did his best to make his voice light and keep the excitement out of it. He was looking forward to seeing what Will looked like in his wolf form.
“Thank you.”
After a moment, Will went back to quiet glances and scribbling in his notebook. He stayed seated at the dining table rather than returning to the couch.
The oddest thing was that Sage didn’t mind at all that Will was looking for some kind of closeness. It irritated Sage more when, five minutes later, he accidentally brushed against Will on his way to get more coffee and made Will flinch.
He’s been having nightmares too. Nightmares in this house. As the older witch with more life experience, I should’ve noticed, right? Should’ve done something. Can’t say I mind him staring and wanting to be near me though.
Sage didn’t have to do anything other than finish his invoicing all day, and he wasn’t really getting anywhere with that.
After his third coffee, he headed out into the wilderness of the Vert garden.
Thinking about the strawberries had made him want to get some for a snack; something for Will as a reward for working on his spells.
The house was comparatively tiny, with the garden taking up most of the property.
Sage walked past the primroses he’d planted and enchanted himself, evaded the branches of the witch hazel and the willow tree spelled to grow no taller than a shrub, and just barely avoided stepping into the wandering pond, which changed location after every rainfall, fish and all.
A squawk from behind Sage made him stop and turn. Will had followed along, completely silent, and one of Granny’s roses had caught him with its thorns. Will was licking the back of his hand, his expression somewhere between sheepish and guilty.
“Will, the garden knows the taste of your blood now.”
Sage walked back to Will, avoiding the pond again.
“Does that mean I get to be, like, a sacrifice or something?”
“Nah. Let’s just say the flora is temperamental. Can I have a look?” He pointed at Will’s hand.
After a moment of hesitation, Will held out his arm, and Sage slowly took hold of his wrist. The roses had dug their thorns in deep.
“Truly mended be this skin, leave no scar, without, within.”
Will gaped as the scratch closed and healed. To Sage’s surprise, he didn’t even pull his hand right back, rather, he let Sage hold him. So Sage did.
“I didn’t know you could do that.” Will’s eyes were wide and shining with wonder, like two beautiful golden gems.
“It’s easier to do it on others than on yourself, just so you know. And unless you specialize in healing magic and learn more about how the body works, you won’t be able to do super major stuff.”
“Super major?”
“Yeah. Magical jargon. You’ll get used to it.”
“Okay.”
Sage wasn’t sure whether he should move, but Will seemed at ease, even smiling; maybe at the joke, maybe at something else entirely.
The two of them stood in the wild garden, not quite holding hands, but almost. Sage didn’t mind the almost.
The roses watched from their nest of thorns, very much satisfied with themselves.