Chapter 15 Plot Twist #2
“I suppose everyone’s used to it to some extent,” she theorized to Casimir as they strolled through the dell.
They shared two halves of a sandwich, prepared by Maggie, as they walked. The air was chilly, but the sun was warm, a scent of wood smoke still lingering from recent fireworks alongside the faint aroma of pastry and pie crust from Shirley’s delicious offerings at Wheat and Walnut.
“But you’re really telling me you can’t see it?” Sage glanced across at Casimir and found he was already staring rather fixedly at her from the corner of his eye. He immediately dropped his gaze to focus on his sandwich and took a large bite with a slight frown.
“I’m not sure how best to describe it,” she went on, ignoring that strange awkwardness from him.
She probably just looked even more tired than usual.
“There’s a glimmer. A sheen. Like everything around here has been dipped and glazed.
It’s clinging everywhere. Look—the bridge.
That hedge. Over there, even the postbox. You haven’t noticed?”
Casimir shrugged. “Must be a witch thing.”
Sage was bewildered. Not by the glimmer, but by the idea of being the only one able to really see the magic—the way it caught the sunshine, the way it seemed to waver like heat and ripple like water.
She had found herself judging that streak in her sister’s personality before—her insistence on seeing the bright side at all times, her easy distraction at something unusual, the silly little details that Laurel alone noticed and found so much joy in.
Sage had long since trained herself out of that kind of pointless behaviour.
But now, being the only one to notice the sparkle that had been scattered over Port Sylvan…
it felt oddly good and gave her cheeks an unexpected flush of pride.
How could something so indisputably beautiful be dangerous?
Sage shook away the doubt and returned to being purposefully logical.
She scolded herself for getting carried away by the fluffiness of it all. Ridiculous.
“Well, that’s obviously concerning,” she said, returning to the matter at hand. “Very bad news indeed. You know…regarding the coven. Probably.”
“Are you convincing yourself? Because you’re not doing a very good job at convincing me,” Casimir said, grinning. “If anything, Specs, it sounds alarmingly like you’re enjoying this.”
Her smile stayed firmly locked in a twitching line.
“I can see that dimple,” Casimir said, pressing a finger into her cheek.
Dusting the last of the sandwich crumbs off his doublet, he threw an arm over her shoulders as they strolled side by side and rested his chin on the top of her head.
“We owe Lilara for this. Maybe some kind of offering, a little permanent shrine at the museum. A full cloak dry-clean, at the very least.”
Sage smirked. “I always knew she’d be the answer to everything. It’s been the thing I’ve been surest of my whole life. Ever since I spotted her name for the very first time in The Almanac of Day and Night. Something about it, I just knew…But I’ll admit, this is not what I had in mind.”
“You thought you’d just eventually discover how she rid herself of magic and follow suit. ‘Hey, presto.’ ”
Sage nodded.
They paused as a mother duck and a trail of perfect yellow ducklings crossed the pathway ahead, followed by one very flappy, distinctly tufty-looking grey one, who was stumbling his way along at the rear.
Ugly, she supposed, although that seemed a bit mean.
She gave a tut at the tweeness of it all as she bent down to shimmy him along to catch up with his siblings.
“Let it be known, I was right this whole time…”
“Naturally,” Casimir said.
“…that she would be significant. But instead of my initial hypothesis, she’s made me feel for the first time as though…as though maybe there could be an alternative choice.”
“Now, hang on a second. I don’t think I’ve ever known you to so much as change your mind about a menu choice, let alone a lifelong ambition.” They came to a stop, and Casimir’s eyes pinched as he tried to gauge her expression. “Are we changing course, Specs?”
Sage shook her head hurriedly. “I’m not saying that.
I’m not. I’ll still be rid of everything as soon as I find out how.
But perhaps there’s no need to…rush. Perhaps it is in our best interest after all to—in the name of research, of course—let the spell unfold and let it work its absolutely ridiculous magic.
I owe her that much. At least for a few more days. ”
For once, Casimir seemed lost for words. He just gave her a simple nod, making the feather in his hat dance endearingly. “A few more days.”
Sage sheepishly nodded in return.
“There’s a little curl right there, sticking out in the shape of a cloud,” Casimir said, the lopsided grin lighting up his face.
He tucked it behind her ear. “Cute,” he added, more to himself than to Sage.
A slight flush crept up his neck, and his jaw tightened a fraction.
He cleared his throat and they continued walking.
For once, Sage allowed herself to test the waters of being proven wrong and discovered a spring-like lightness for it.