Chapter 18 #5
Niven comes over to her and pats her shoulder in a friendly gesture. “Thank you, Esmeralda. This test will make tomorrow go that much smoother. Would you like any coffee or water? Some food?”
“No, I’m alright,” she assures him. “Just no strenuous activity for me the rest of the day.” She gives Niven a lighthearted smile and a thumbs up that he returns.
Niven addresses the group again. “Alright, I’d say that was successful. Tomorrow we’ll absorb magick from the rest of the coven, whoever is willing to help. We need a strong burst of it to flow into Ada. The power of her entire coven if possible.”
The witch who volunteered them earlier takes out her phone. “What time do you want them here?” she asks.
“We’ll take them in shifts starting at eight in the morning. We’ll take every step of this very slowly. We don’t want anyone to get hurt,” he announces.
The witch nods and turns around to make a phone call.
“Well, it looks like we’ll have a lot of guests tomorrow,” Ada jokes as she walks up beside me.
“Everyone wants to see you healthy and recovered.” I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her close.
“I know. I’m grateful for the lengths everyone has gone for me. And especially you. Thank you,” she says, her voice muffled by the pelt on my chest, where she rests her head.
Ada, Walt, Acton, and I move into the kitchen to talk. The witches and Elgar are still fussing over the relics, figuring out the least dangerous way to use the crown. We leave them to it as Walt and Ada need to discuss Acton’s decision.
Walt takes Acton’s hands in his and gazes at him. Acton leans forward and rests his forehead on his mate’s. “My bluebell, this is decided. My selfishness dictates it. I want both of you in my life as long as possible.”
“Acton, petal, what if it hurts you? I couldn’t stand it if anything happened,” Walt argues.
“There is great reward in this risk. The yetis and witches are very capable. They will not let it get to that point,” he maintains.
“It seems like the magick boost will enough,” Ada insists.
“It may not. Even the fae believed both would be needed to cure you of its evil spell. It was compelled to tell Niven the truth.” Acton is undeterred.
“Nothing to do with the fae and their magick is straightforward in this realm. But Niven is confident in what the fae revealed,” I add.
“What even is life force? Is it the body’s natural aging process? This is all too theoretical for me. I don’t want to change who I am or who Ada is,” Walt worries. “Is it something unique and fundamental to each of us like a soul?”
Acton carefully considers his response, tilting his head in thought.
“My small amount of magick is tied to Mother Earth and the nature she commands, the life that grows from the ground and everything it nourishes and creates. What I’ve come to understand is that the origin of life and magick within all of us and everything that is known as life force is not unique, like the human concept of a soul would be.
It’s another building block of nature. Ours is the same, I just have more to sustain me over a much longer lifetime. Even the fae shares it, so it seems.”
I will relate this explanation to Niven since life force seems an archaic topic even among witches. It is a small comfort knowing witches must have long ago shunned this topic and any attempts to manipulate it within themselves and others.
“I don’t like it, but I know I won’t change your mind,” Walt says ruefully, pulling Acton into an embrace.
“Don’t worry overmuch for Acton,” I soothe Ada. “I will make sure nothing happens to him. I would break the relic before I let it harm him.”
Her eyes look sad when they meet mine. I crowd her against the kitchen counter where she was leaning, wrapping my arms around her possessively.
She nods her head into my shoulder. “It still makes me nervous, but I trust you.”
It is all I can ask for.
Walt and Acton go home soon after to spend time together.
They need privacy to speak more openly about the potential outcomes, which are certainly very scary for Walt.
Ada is exhausted, and I help settle her into bed.
The witches stay well into the night, as they plan for every possible risk tomorrow.
Elgar pulls me aside once they leave. “I am impressed by everything I have witnessed today. This community has rallied to help your mate… Her uncle is sacrificing some of his own life for her… I am glad we were able to trek into the mountains to find these. It was a small effort for such an important outcome. It is an honor to have played such a part,” he says on a tired sigh.
“She downplays her deep connection with her coven and those who love her. But there are so many who would go to great lengths for her, as we saw today,” I expound, thinking of the last couple months.
“There is a line in a book that stuck with me. Deep roots are not reached by the frost. This hardship reveals the strength of their love for her,” he muses.
“It brought you back to her, after all this time. It also brought you back to yourself. I have missed that male.” My brother does not hold his tongue.
“It did bring me back,” I concede. “Something would have eventually. I’m not sure how much longer I could have gone on without her. But this was my chance to prove to her what she has always meant to me.”
“I see why you like it here in Monstera Bluff. I always wondered what your life was like here. But once you came back to the clan, I knew you did not want to talk about it.” He looks away with a mix of emotions on his face.
“I need to take a walk to settle my nerves. Thinking about what we face tomorrow makes me uneasy. I do not know whether sleep will find me tonight,” he acknowledges.
“I do not think it will find me either,” I confess.