Chapter 21 Gracie
Suggested Listening: Rainin’ Fellas by Todrick Hall
I stand with my hands braced on the long, sturdy table in my workroom and glare at the scribbled pages spread in front of me. Spellcrafting is my one gift. It’s the thing I’ve always been able to do well. So why can’t I make this work? Have I overlooked something?
Ezra could be dying right now, and here I am. Uselessly staring at pages.
Groaning, I lean forward and prop my elbows on the table. I broke down and took the prescription pain killers I try to avoid when I woke up in the early morning hours. I barely slept, and only because everyone insisted I had to try. Vyslan dragged me to bed after the sixth failed spell. But I only slept in brief moments before starting awake. I was able to slip into the bathroom without waking him thanks to Hausé.
“What am I doing wrong?” I mutter and stare at the pages.
I wish we could go confront Farid, but that’s a bad plan. He’s powerful and well-connected. The knowledge that he’s a Unique only makes it a worse idea. Until we know more, it’s better if we stay far away from him. Which leaves us with no leads.
“Knock, knock.”
The voice is familiar, yet too soft, which is ultimately what gives him away.
I turn as the workroom door creaks open. Darius stands there wearing the same dark jeans and black tee from last night, but without shoes. His dark brown feet seem untouched by his vitiligo. I don’t know why that surprises me. Also, toes shouldn’t be that cute. I can’t even say what it is about them. They’re just a little stumpier than Puck’s and adorable.
Darius’ familiar is still draped around his neck in the form of the ferret-like thing. It’s obvious they have a very close bond. I’m a touch jealous seeing as I still don’t have one.
A problem for another day.
Darius lifts the tray in his hands and smiles sheepishly. “Thought you could use a hot cup of something to warm up your brain.”
There are three different tea bags lined up in front of the two cups and a ceramic tea pot with steam trailing up out of the spout.
“Which one do I pick?” I ask.
He considers the question and a little wrinkle develops between his brows.
Humans and fae have very similar facial structure. But the eyebrows give them away. Human eyebrows can go all kinds of wrong. But fae brows are almost always artfully perfect. Darius’ are no exception.
At last he shrugs and gives me a lopsided smile. “Hm, I couldn’t tell, so I decided it wasn’t for me to pick your destiny.”
Suddenly I feel silly standing here with him hovering in the doorway. “You can come in. I’m not going to bite.”
He smiles back at me, flashing mostly straight teeth. He has two sets that are pointy between the blunt teeth. “Don’t break my heart.”
I narrow my gaze at him. “You want me to bite you?”
His face flushes, and he ducks his head as he sets the tray down on the table slowly. It’s the way his lips spread into an even wider grin that is somehow both delighted and embarrassed all at once.
Darius has no filter. No way to hide what he’s feeling or thinking. It makes me think of specific moments early in my relationship with the Puck. Moments where it felt like his walls came tumbling down and I got to truly know him. All of those were Darius. He isn’t a stranger to me, but I don’t really know him. I can feel a pull, though. Like a magnet. And I’m just not sure what to do with all this information.
“Maybe I’ll bite you. Maybe I won’t. No promises. What tea do I drink if we just talk?” I ask.
“Ah, then I would recommend the apple breakfast blend.”
I hum in approval and pluck the homemade tea bag from the lineup and dunk it in the small tea pot alongside the mugs. It’s a blend of black tea, apples, lavender, and something that gives it a buttery, smooth taste. Poppy rarely tells us what she puts in the mix, and I don’t ask.
Darius braces his hands on the table. “How’s it going?”
I groan and roll my eyes. “You tell me.”
He shrugs. “You’ll figure it out. I have faith in you.”
I stir the tea bag around, then place the lid back on the pot. “Have you seen it?”
“No, but that first vision? The one where we’re all sipping tea in the living room? It’s clear. The clearer a vision is, the more certain I am. It will come to pass. It’s been hazy these last few weeks, but now that we’re here, I can’t help but believe we’ll figure it out. My brother will pull his head out of his ass. And maybe I won’t embarrass myself too much.”
I’m still hurt. I don’t like how Puck decided so many things for me. I can’t just forgive him. Not without some promise that he won’t meddle like that anymore. But it’s also hard to give up the idea that I can have it all. I can be happy without the coven messing with my life. And that I would have a family that wants me. It’s a dream I’ve tried to give up, but here Darius is, handing it to me with a neat bow tied on top of it all.
“Want to know a secret?” he says.
“Um, sure?”
Darius grins and it’s hard to not feel some of his impish glee. “Puck is my brother’s second name.”
“What?” I know fae have five names, some of which are only shared with family. “Seriously?”
Darius nods. “It’s our family’s tradition to give a historical second name. His actual name is Jira, but he doesn’t like it because it’s too girly . So he’s always gone by his second name. Puck.”
“What’s your second name? Or is that a secret?”
“You already know it.” He chuckles. “It’s Puck.”
“No… You’re both Puck? Darius Puck? Jira Puck?”
He nods and his body shakes with laughter.
“Your parents are the worst .”
“The absolute worst. I’m telling you right now, you never want to meet them. I’m actually eager to spend time with your father. He is such an interesting character.”
Either he’s being earnest or he’s good at picking out my soft spots. “Maybe that’ll happen?”
While Puck and Darius were sharing a body, they met Dad. But it was brief. Dad was very much overprotective. He’d just met his now-girlfriend. And was feeling torn about dividing his affection.
“I hope so.”
I sigh and my gaze drops to the worktable with the remnants of my failed work.
“Keep telling me it works out, please?” I mutter.
Darius lifts his hand as if to reach out to me, then lowers it to grip the edge of the table. Under the good humor, he’s brimming with nervous energy and uncertainty, yet somehow he’s still a calming presence. He’s familiar and a stranger all at once. It’s strange. But I like his energy. It’s like a warm, comforting blanket by the fireplace on a foggy morning.
We watch each other for several moments, neither of us speaking.
“Sorry, I was supposed to respond out loud, wasn’t I?” he blurts out.
I chuckle and shrug. “It could have been a rhetorical question.”
He sighs and his shoulders slump even farther. “I forget to talk. And then other times I can’t stop talking. The worst is when I respond to the wrong time. So I’m here, but my mind is in on another path and I just blurt things out. I’m afraid I’m very poorly socialized. I can go, if I’m in the way?”
I gesture at the mugs. “I can’t drink two cups at the same time.”
He holds up both fists and mimes drinking from one mug, then the other. “Sure you can. Double fisting the tea. It could be a thing.”
“You and Jira are quite different.”
His shoulders hunch and he whispers, “Don’t let him know I told you that.”
“What’s he going to do? Punish you?”
“Not a chance.” Darius’ shoulders bounce, and his familiar makes a grumbling sound as it clings to his shirt. “I am everything our parents didn’t want him to be. I am his softer side. His hope and trust personified. I’m not saying that to make excuses for him. We’re fundamentally different people in every way. I think who we could have been is a very tortured soul. Divided, he is so fucking strong. I’m in awe of him, honestly. He doesn’t always make the right decisions. Trust for him is difficult. But I couldn’t do what he’s had to do for us. I think I just responded to the wrong time. Tea’s done.”
“Um, okay…”
I blink a few times and just look at him.
Regardless of what time Darius is speaking to, his words to help me understand. Things about Puck are beginning to make sense in a way.
I use the spoon to pull the tea bag out, then we spend a moment pouring our tea and adding sugar. We end up facing each other, leaning against opposite tables. “I feel like I know you. But I don’t.”
He grins at me over the cup. “Fucking weird, isn’t it? Welcome to my world. It’s disorienting. Sometimes, I don’t know what I’ve remembered from a vision and what’s real. What’s happened or what might still happen. It’s such a mess up here. I’d be lost without my brother.”
“Trying to make me like him?”
Darius shrugs. “He’s my favorite person. He’s everything I wish I could be. A total badass. My hero. Of course, I want everyone to like him. He does himself no favors, though. Likes to make it harder than it has to be for others to see the good in him.”
There’s this innocence to the way Darius talks. Unrestrained joy. They really are the extremes. And maybe I will forgive Puck. But not before Ezra is home. Not until Puck has proven himself.
He reaches over and gently touches a sheet of paper filled with scribbled notes. “Would you tell me about your gift? I’m dying to understand it.”
My skin heats and I sip the tea. Right now I feel like a child finger-painting being complimented by a master. “It’s not all that amazing, really.”
“Of course it is! You’re creating new things. That’s interesting.”
I roll my eyes. “Says the fae .”
“We’re bound by completely different systems.”
I sigh and nod. He isn’t wrong.
The fae are beings made from magic. They don’t need mediums or anything to cast a spell except themselves. But they can also spend themselves into non-existence. That’s always terrified me and made me glad I wasn’t fae.
“Well, for you, magic is in your very being. Witches are the remnant of humanity that still retains our ability to use magic. But, because of the broken covenants—“
“Everything I’ve read mentions the broken covenants, but they don’t explain what that means. What are they?”
“They are promises made between the gods and humans. Promises we broke and lost the right to know about. What were they?” I shrug. “No idea. What we do know is that by breaking our promise, we lost the ability to freely use our magic, as you do. It became locked inside of us. So while a fae can simply snap their fingers…” I snap mine. “And make fire, we no longer can.”
Darius snaps his fingers and the tips begin to burn.
I chuckle and watch the flame dance over his fingers before he waves his hand to put it out.
“Now, we have to use mediums to draw that power out. Spells, words, specific ingredients. Every spell has an additional cost on top of our abilities.” I press my hands to the top of the worktable. “Most spells are handed down through generations. Certain ingredients have a long history of being used for specific purposes. Loveroot is one that’s highly regulated because it can have psychoactive properties that impede on a person’s free will.”
“Fascinating. So it’s like a tax?”
“Yeah, kind of.” I nod and pull a few papers over to show him. “Spellcraft is an odd gift. It’s the ability to see new connections. New combinations for spells. I’m a bit of a rogue when it comes to spellcraft because, honestly? I don’t always know the traditions and history behind why something is used the way it is, so I use it differently. Loveroot for example?”
“Yeah,” he says slowly.
I pitch my voice to a whisper. “I used to use it as a pain reliever. I’d use it to trick my mind into thinking I wasn’t in pain, for example.”
“An unorthodox use, but—did it work?”
“Yes, but it’s not ideal. There are drawbacks to it that weren’t worth the risk or stigma.”
“That’s fascinating, Gracie.”
We grin at each other and I feel lighter. People don’t often compliment my work, so it’s nice.
“Your turn,” I say.
His eyes widen. “Me? What am I doing?”
“How does being a seer work?”
“Oh.” His shoulders relax and he sighs. “It’s… A strange gift. It’s less like an ability and more like being strapped to a horse you can’t get off of. Most seers are kept in isolation. This helps focus our gifts so our visions are more numerous and detailed. That’s why our family locked me away. They wanted to keep my visions focused on the family.”
“What made them agree to let you go?”
The corners of his mouth jump up and a mischievous grin spreads over his face.
He looks nothing like Puck when he does that. Puck is always in control. Always stoic. Strong. He would never grin.
“I can thank my brother for that. He would sneak things in to me. Books. Paintings. Letters. Anything that created connections outside the family. He corrupted my visions over time, making me less and less valuable to the family.”
“That must have made them angry.”
“Oh, yes. But also, proud. They were proud of Puck for doing it, even while hating him for it. They see his rebellion as a badge of honor.”
“How are you doing? I mean, since getting out.” I lift the mug to my lips and drink. The tea is just below scalding. It spreads through my chest and stomach, leaving a pleasant warmth curling through me.
“I’m…” He licks his lips and hums at the taste of the tea then rubs the furry head of his familiar. “I’m still getting my legs. I’d be having a hell of a time if it weren’t for Isa.”
“Isa? Is that your name?”
The familiar makes a trilling sound and leans into Darius’ touch.
“Isa is a mimic slime. They came to me while I was in the seer’s chamber. They were such a tiny drop of goo, weren’t you?”
“A slime? Are you serious? That’s so cool.”
“Yeah. Isa, would you mind showing Gracie your true form?” He lifts his head. “Isa is a little self-conscious about their true form.”
“I get that.” I take a step and pivot to lean my hip against the same worktable. “People have made fun of me for the way I look my whole life.”
Isa jerks their head up, toothy mouth open in what I can only imagine is astonishment. Or maybe aggression? The fluffy dark brown and white coat ruins the fearsome predator vibe.
“I’m just jealous you have a familiar. May I scratch your head, Isa? Would that be okay?”
Isa scrambles around Darius’ shoulders like they have a case of the zoomies then launch themselves at the workbench. Their form changes into a round, blue ball, and bounces.
Darius groans and covers his eyes. “Now you’ve done it. Isa, come on. We said we were going to try to be cool .”
Isa bounces in place. There are these two divots I think might be their eyes. Slimes aren’t a creature native to our world, so I only know about them in theory.
“You’re adorable,” I coo and reach out.
Isa holds perfectly still and I rub my fingers over what I suppose is their head. The texture is cool and a bit like a gelatin filled balloon. I give Isa a gentle poke and they ripple. Again, they make a trilling sound that’s utterly adorable.
“I hope my familiar is half as cool as you are, Isa.”
“I was wondering why you didn’t have one,” Darius says slowly. “I’ve never seen it. And that’s odd, right?”
“Very. A witch usually gets theirs between twenty and twenty-five. I just turned twenty-five.” I glance at the door and bite my lip.
His voice lowers, his face serious now. “The girls left already. Said they were going to run some errands.”
That’s not suspicious at all. Hopefully, whatever trouble Poppy and Briella are cooking up isn’t dangerous.
“I wonder if the coven has done something ,“ I say out loud finally.
Darius nods slowly. “Once we get Ezra back, I’ll refocus my mind’s eye. Maybe I’ll see something?”
“I’d appreciate that.” I stroke my hand over Isa’s cool surface. “You’re like a mash-up of D&D monsters, you know that?”
“A what?” Darius chuckles. “That reference goes completely over my head.”
“There’s a movie we’ll have to watch.”
“I’m dying to watch a movie.”
“You’ve never seen a movie?”
“Nope.”
“Oh my— fuck . We have to make a list.“ I pat my pockets and pull my cell phone out of the right one. Isa stretches part of their blob like body up and I tilt the phone so they can see it.
“These phones are so bonkers to me. You can do everything from them. It’s wild.”
“Adding, get Darius a cell phone , to the list right now…“ I mutter as I pull up a note app and jot down movies and a few other things.
Without thinking, I add: Watch one of Ezra’s movies .
My heart stutters and stalls.
“What is it?” Darius asks.
“Ezra.”
“We’ll get him back. I know we will. I’ve seen it. Have some faith we’ll figure it out together .”
“How? How though?”
“I don’t know. But the future has a funny way of working itself out.”
I study him for a moment. Maybe I do need to refocus my mind for a bit. Step away from the problem so I can see it in a new light.
Darius’ body seems to jolt and his hands shoot out. “Puck has managed to sneak me a few things over the years. I had a Game Boy. Big gray boxy thing. Loved it. He got me a Steam Deck a few years ago. Changed my life. Isa and I have had a blast, haven’t we?”
I chuckle. I think he’s responding to the wrong time again, but it’s adorable. “I can’t believe your family locked you away…”
He shrugs. “They did worse to Puck, if you ask me. I know he messed up…”
I cradle my tea and stare into the liquid. “He knew how insecure I was. He had to know how inferior I felt. And instead of wanting the best for me, he wanted to alienate me. That’s… That’s a hard thing to get past.”
“I know,” Darius says softly. “I tried to tell him… I’m sorry, Gracie. It’s fear. I know that doesn’t make what he did okay. What I helped him to... I just…”
I reach out and take his free hand. He jolts, eyes and mouth opening wide as our fingers twine together. His skin is so very soft. Thinking about why is going to make me angry, so I focus on this moment with him. “Let’s focus on getting Ezra back and take it from there, okay?”
Because ultimately, this can’t work if Ezra and Puck clash. And right now? I’ll pick Ezra over Puck. How could I not? I don’t want to pick, but if they can’t get along, I’ll have to.
He nods and Isa bounces up to his shoulder before transforming into the ferret-thing again.
I’m not sure if it’s Vyslan’s influence or the confidence in Darius’ point of view, but I feel more grounded and less anxious about what comes next. He says he can see a future where we’re all happy and together. And I want to trust that. I want to believe that I really can have it all. That Puck makes amends. That he and the others can get along. That Vyslan won’t leave. And Darius is safe with us.
I tug on our joined hands and twist my arm so he has no choice but to loop his arm around my waist, bringing us chest-to-chest. His face goes slack, his eyes wide, and his silvery eyebrows try to crawl up into his hairline. He’s so open and expressive.
“I’m going to bite you,” I say.
“Fuck. Promise?”
I chuckle and go up on tiptoe, but I don’t bite him. I press my lips to his, and while he might be Puck’s identical twin brother, they aren’t interchangeable. They’re each a unique person. His lips are soft, just like his hands, and the sweet press of lips is utterly innocent. There’s no mistaking one twin for the other.
He’s spent two hundred years locked in a room by himself thinking about a future with me. That’s humbling .
Darius lifts his head. His cheeks and ears are flushed. “Wow. You can bite me anytime.”
I chuckle and lean in, pinching his peck with my teeth. He isn’t as bulky and muscular as his twin, though their shape is similar. It’s much easier to bite him than it would be Puck.
“Ow! Is this happening?” he mutters.
I drop down to my heels and look up at him. “Yup.”
“Oh. Cool.” His brows slam down and he frowns.
“Darius?”
He turns his head, as if listening to something I can’t hear. “We should… We should go to the front door. Yeah. Well. You should. I’m going to stay here for a moment, if you don’t mind?”
I can’t help but snicker as I step back and glance down.
“Don’t look!” He covers his groin with his free hand. “It’s embarrassing if you look.”
“It’s only embarrassing if you let it be embarrassing. When Vyslan showed up, he was totally naked rocking a meat baton.”
Darius shudders. “Do I want to ask?”
“You don’t already know? Come on.”
“I don’t know everything .”
He follows me out into the hall that leads back to the central heart of the house. I hear Vyslan in the kitchen and pause to peer around looking for Puck, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
My demon turns from where he’s stress baking and smiles. “Sweet witch. Hungry?”
“Nope. I had a bite.”
Darius groans, and Vyslan grins, no doubt picking up on the vibes or our aura. He seems delighted, so I take that as a good sign.
“Where’s our other house guest?” I ask.
Vyslan braces his hands on the counter. “He’s doing laundry.”
That makes me pause.
It’s such a Puck thing to do. He was always taking care of things without asking. Which was nice. But not his responsibility. I’m not sure what I think of it right now.
“Um…”
I glance back at Darius biting his lower lip and frowning at the front door.
That’s when I feel it. The tingle of warning that someone with no ill intent has passed through the wards.
“Who is it?” I ask.
Darius doesn’t answer. Because he doesn’t know? Or he doesn’t want to say?
I let go of his hand and head for the front door.
“Gracie,” Vyslan says in a low, warning tone.
“Darius said I needed to be out here, so whatever is happening is happening.”
I fling open the front door as a pink 1959 Cadillac comes to an abrupt stop in a plume of dust in our driveway. The driver flings himself out of the front seat like this is a horror movie, and he’s running from the strolling villain. He trips and nearly face plants in the driveway, barely managing to catch himself on the hood of his car. He shoves his glasses further up his nose and stares at me with wide, fearful eyes. Like I’m the evil witch or something.
“Please tell me you’re Gracie,” he says.
“Uh, depends… Darius?”
Both Darius and Vyslan are pressed to my back in the next instant.
“Hey there,” Darius says all cheerful like.
I glance up at his goofy grin. He’s excited. Which means this isn’t all bad.
The newcomer wrings his hands and comes to stand in front of us. He’s dressed in black slacks with a blue knit sweater over a white button down. It’s a very preppy look, save for the converse shoes and rune tattooed on his left temple. His hair is an unnatural blue-black with a single lock of platinum blonde falling over the left side of his face. Very 2000‘s emo, pop punk of him.
“Oh, boy,” I mutter and gesture at him. “Let’s hear it. What brings you here?”
“Are you Gracie?” he asks.
“Depends. Why do you want to know?”
“Huh,” Vylsan says and crosses his arms. I can feel him looming over my shoulder.
The newcomer’s eyes widen. “Fuck…”
I snap my fingers. “Eyes over here. Not to be rude, but we’ve got a situation on our hands.”
“Um, well… See, the thing is…” He stares at me, his brow furrowed. “You’re Gracie. You look like the picture.”
I’m going to nut punch this guy if he doesn’t answer the damn question. “And why are people showing you pictures of me?”
“Uh, funny thing. You see, the coven summoned me this morning. I’m a warlock. I’ve applied for membership, but—“
“I know how they are. Skip ahead.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “What did they want you to do?”
“That’s just it.” His voice goes high and squeaky. “They, um, sort of… Kind of… I mean, there’s no sort of or kind of about it. They did it. They… They bound me to you. In the very literal sense. If I’m not around you, I’ll die. If, um… If I don’t complete the binding, I’ll die. You see, the theme? Kind of a shitty theme. I’m, uh, your husband. Surprise!”
I stare at him in disbelief.
A binding?
Something like that would take blood. And we’ve all been so careful. So fucking careful. And now they’ve gone and done this.
“It’s okay, Gracie,” Darius mutters and rubs my back. “It’s okay. We’re all here now.”
Thank you so much for giving Gracie and her guys a chance!