Chapter 36
LEO’S NOTES
Place: Athens, Greece
Favorite quote: The goddess Graces and Persuasion put
the gold metal around Pandora’s neck; and then
the Hours crowned her curly tresses with spring-time flowers.
Misc: Roughly translated poem that often comes to mind
Leo sat in his book den, not thinking about Pan. Instead, he was video conferencing with a faerie-kin professor of history—and they were finally coming to some conclusions.
“So we’ve nailed down parts of the provenance,” Leo said. “The manuscript arrived in North America via the Lost Shipment.”
“From Lisbon,” the professor said, because she loved details. “Along with seeds, for staples like white potatoes and cabbages. A stock of spices, too. Pepper, clove, and cinnamon.”
Leo nodded, still not thinking about Pandora. “Right. Books and seeds and spices.”
“Which we tracked to New York,” the professor said. “That’s more than anyone else managed with the Lost Shipment.”
“So the book came from a European faerie-kin community—”
“Then vanished in New York approximately two hundred years ago.”
“We still don’t know how the manuscript got to Beane Isle, though,” Leo said.
The professor leaned closer to her computer’s camera. “That’s not the most pressing question, Leo. The most pressing question is what the book does. And the potential consequences.”
Leo agreed, and the conversation continued while he didn’t think about Pan.
He’d really screwed up with her. The minute after she’d started glowing with happiness, he’d started ruining her joy.
What an ass. He could’ve found a way to urge caution that didn’t make her feel attacked.
Instead, he’d done worse than make her angry, he’d made her sad.
He couldn’t forgive himself for that. Maybe she was right, she couldn’t trust him, because he hadn’t changed.
When the video call ended, Leo stared at the blank screen until Bob’s head popped up from the other side, a crown of green clover in his hair.
If they did end up sending the creatures back, he was really going to miss Bob.
And he’d like to house some brownies at his office in Boston, to keep the dust at bay.
Although, they’d probably misplace his documents and muddle up his bookcase.
Leo reluctantly smiled. “Yes, you’re adorable. But that call wasn’t helpful.”
After flying in few tight circles, Bob landed on the keyboard, one foot on the Escape key.
“We are going around in circles,” Leo told him. “We need the manuscript.”
With a tsk, Bob mimed eating.
“We need food? It’s dinnertime already?”
Bob darted toward the study door, his clover crown falling in his eyes. He straightened it, then returned to Leo, before he darted toward the door again, urging Leo to leave.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” Leo said.
When Leo opened the door, Bob zoomed past. He expected to head toward the kitchen, but the little pixie ushered him toward the stairs instead.
“What do you want upstairs?” Leo asked.
Bob mimed showering, which was unfair. Leo hadn’t let himself go that much. Still, he obediently trooped upstairs to shower and shave. When he returned to his childhood bedroom, he found clothes laid out for him. His light gray linen button-up, along with his black pants and a flower crown.
“I’ll wear the clothes,” he said, “but c’mon, a daisy-chain tiara? Did you make that?”
Bob made a “ta-da” motion in the air.
“Sorry,” Leo told him, as he dressed in everything else. “I’m not listening to my dad laugh at me all night.” It made him sad to think how his mother was missing all this. She would’ve loved the pixies, but that much real magic would surely give her a migraine.
Bob sulked, then grabbed the flower crown and followed Leo downstairs. Except when Leo started for the kitchen, Bob blocked the entrance. With grand gestures, he ushered Leo toward the front door.
“I thought we were having dinner,” Leo said. “Why do you want to go outside?”
Bob swung the crown over his little pixie body like a sash and clasped his hands together, pleading.
“Fine, but if you chase squirrels again, I’m cutting off your raspberry allowance.”
After buzzing in dizzy circles around Leo’s head, Bob led him through the blueberry field.
Leo followed, bemused—and resigned to Bob’s enthusiasms. The sun was dipping into the sea, but the salt air felt warm on his skin, almost tropical, and the white cup-shaped blueberry flowers smelled sweet and syrupy.
Leo took a deep breath, and let the stress of the day seep out of him.
Bob did a little aerial show, still wearing the daisy-chain sash, as they headed toward the ocean. Leo followed along, tired of worrying, tired of speculating and cross-referencing and researching. He wanted to relax. He wanted to smile and drink. He wanted—
“Pan,” he breathed.
Because there she was, forty feet in front of him. As Leo walked toward her in a daze, Bob laid the daisy crown around his head.
Pan stood in an oceanside gazebo that he’d never seen before.
Gauzy curtains billowed in the breeze, hanging from a domed roof supported by twined-branch pillars woven with white sea roses.
The gnomes had been busy. Honey-scented lanterns splashed light across the wooden floor and Pan stood under the canopy, her beribboned hair curling around her face, her eyes reflecting the magical lights.
Leo stopped a few feet away, his breath catching in his chest. He gazed at her, ethereal and beautiful, and couldn’t take another step. She looked like a fae out of myth, or a goddess surveying her domain. She looked almost remote, almost like a stranger… until she smiled.
Then she said, “Now’s when you tell me how good I look.”
“You’re breathtaking,” he told her. “You’re stunning.”
She flushed even though she’d asked for the compliment. “The pixies dressed me, they didn’t tell me why.”
“I’m not done.” He moved to join her in the gazebo. “You’re magnificent, Pan, and it’s not just the flowers in your hair and the pixie dust on your skin. It’s you.”
The warm breeze grew warmer and the evening smelled of her, the aromatic sweet-herb scent of her shampoo, the honey of her breath. Her gaze settled on him and the pursing of her lips opened a hole in his stomach.
He felt himself tremble, with nerves or excitement. “It’s you, Pan. It’s always been you. I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass about—”
She touched his cheek, then leaned forward and kissed him.