Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Iset my duffel down next to Asher’s. Nobuddy circles it before climbing on top to sniff the zipper. “We better make sure that both puppers are accounted for when we leave. I have a feeling he’s planning on stowing away.”
Asher chuckles, carrying a snack tray to the coffee table in the living room. “You can’t blame him. Who wants to be left behind when there is magic adventure afoot?”
I chuckle, drop into the armchair, and look at the offerings he’s made us. “What’s this?”
He flashes me a waggle of his eyebrows and a mischievous grin. “Colcannon, boxty, and soda bread.”
I laugh. “I was upstairs for like half an hour getting packed and showered. How did you do all this?”
He grins. “If we’re headed off to the Emerald Isle, the house wanted us to be acclimated.”
I tear off a piece of warm bread and groan. “It smells so good. Thank you, House.”
Asher scoffs. “I’m the vessel of all the effort. Don’t I get any love?”
“You get all the love. Forever and always.” I bite into the bread and sigh. “Ohmygoodness, this is heaven.”
While I claim my bowl and set myself up, Asher grabs the remote and pulls up Disney+. “I’m thinking some action/adventure heroism to set the mood.”
I swallow a bite of potato-y bliss and nod. “Agreed. Let’s get our Thor on.”
“Oh, good choice.”
The two of us carb-load and sink into the joy of watching Chris Hemsworth all sweaty and brave. Before long, Somebuddy has jumped onto the coffee table, no longer able to resist the temptation of Asher’s cooking.
“No, little girl. We don’t jump onto the—”
“She’s fine. She can lick the bowls—”
“On the floor, maybe, but not—”
“There is no health code violation, P. This isn’t a restaurant—”
As if to prove my point, Somebuddy sneezes right over my half-full glass of cherry Coke.
I blink and peg Asher with a look. “You were saying?”
Asher scoops her off the table and sets her on the carpet next to her brother. "She didn’t mean to do that. She sneezes when she's excited. She knows we're planning to leave, and she’s not herself."
"And yet my Coke has been egregiously violated.”
He gathers my glass and stacks the dirty dishes onto the tray before carrying it toward the kitchen. “Hold please. I’ll pour you a fresh one.”
I look at the time on my phone and follow him to the island. “When Garrison said, ‘Be ready,’ do you think that means he’ll get back to us in hours? Days? I kind of wanted to go to Arcana to check on my sisters and ask Mica how things are going with the forge.”
Asher gives the dishes a quick rinse and slots them into the dishwasher. “Your sisters are fine, and Mica has only been working on the demon blade concept for three weeks. Give her space. She knows how important this is.”
“Three weeks for us. Three months for her.”
He closes the door of the dishwasher and leans on the island opposite me. “I still can't get my head around the compression of time inside magical pockets.”
“It’s mind-bendy, for sure. I just hope—”
The sound of the front door opening sparks a round of barking. Both chihuahuas detonate from their respective positions and launch toward the front door at a speed that seems physically improbable for animals that small.
Nobuddy leads the charge, all four legs a blur, and Somebuddy skids on the kitchen tile so aggressively she hits the wall and bounces off without losing any momentum.
“It’s just me,” Wylder calls.
I head toward the foyer to meet him. “Pups, it’s just Wylder. Calm down.”
“They’re doing their job,” Asher counters. “Wylder could be a threat. Maybe he’s a shape-shifting demon here on Tharuzel’s orders and the puppers can smell the stench of char on him.”
I grab the front of Wylder’s shirt with both my hands and claim his mouth. There’s a moment of surprise, and then his hand grips the back of my hair as his arms pull me closer to his muscled frame.
Yeah, baby. I’ll never get enough of kissing Wylder Howe. And as the scent of pine and earth surrounds me, I relax into his hold.
I forget about Asher. About the point I was making. About everything except the way the world falls away when he’s got me anchored in his possessive hold.
As if he realizes I’ve lost the plot, he chuckles and eases back from the kiss. “Did I pass the demon shapeshifter test?”
I swallow and fight my way through the sexy haze I’m in. “Yep. Definitely the real Wylder.”
The dogs are still bouncing on their hind legs, pawing at the pant legs of Wylder’s jeans. “Hey, pups. You keeping the home front safe?”
They lick his hands with the deep professional gravity of security dogs thoroughly dedicated to their duty. Then he straightens. “Any word from Garrison?”
I sigh. “No. Nothing yet. We’ve packed our go-bags, but now I’m wondering if we sit around and wait, or if we can go to Arcana to check on things.”
Wylder unhooks the strap of his bag and drops it to the floor. “You are Poppy-Freaking-Hallowind. You send him a quick text that says, ‘Off to Arcana to check on my sisters. Ready at a moment’s notice.’ Then, you follow your regularly scheduled plans.”
Asher grins. “Confident, wise, and sexy hot in lounge pants. This one’s a keeper.”
I snort. “I think so, too.”
Wylder grins. “That I’m a keeper or that I’m sexy hot in lounge pants?”
I swallow, still a little unsettled from our kiss. “We’ll circle back around to that later. Right now, I want to check on Vi and Lily, reconnect with Mica, and get back here without causing any major incidents."
Asher points at himself. "Was that last one directed at me?”
I blow him a kiss. “You know it.”
The three of us grab our winter coats, stuff our feet into our boots, and leave through the sliding glass doors. The air outside has a bite to it, and I watch for ice as I descend the porch steps.
“We have to decide what we’re doing for New Year’s.” Asher pegs me with a serious look. “It sets the tone for the year to come, and Birdie knows we could use a little intention in that column of our lives.”
“Birdie knows?” Wylder repeats.
I chuckle. “It’s Asher’s new expression. Instead of God knows, since Birdie is the Goddess Mother, it’s now ‘Birdie knows’.”
He arches a brow. “Don’t you think that’s a little familiar? The truth is that no matter what happened in the years she was watching over you, she is still the Goddess Mother.”
Asher scoffs. “Familiar-shamiliar, once you snake a cock ring out of someone’s bathtub drain, you’re beyond all formalities.”
The wide-eyed horror on Wylder’s face makes me burst out laughing. “It was only three weeks after she moved into our building, and she swore it was definitely from the previous tenant.”
Asher shrugs. “Potato-tomato.”
The crust of snow on the ground quiets a little under the soles of our boots as we reach the cover of the forest. It’s noticeably warmer, too, the breeze cut off within the shelter of the trees.
I sweep a loose bit of blue hair from my face to wrap it behind my ear. “But you’re right. We need to organize something. The questions are: big or small, locals or everyone welcome?”
Asher lights up. “If it doesn’t break any Wiccan laws, I’d love to invite the Wichita crew. It feels like years since we’ve seen everyone.”
It does. It’s hard to believe it’s only been two months since Sebastian portaled us here on Halloween.
The three of us leave the shelter of the forest and climb the hill toward the standing stones. The closer we get, the more the Hallowind ancestral power buzzes in my cells. It’s as energizing as it is rejuvenating, and I make a mental note to spend more time out here.
“Oh, Wylder, if we run into Briar, she’ll likely ask if we’ve spoken about the Concordance Mirror.”
His dark green eyes meet mine. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”
I give him a quick recap as we reach the plateau and step among the circle of ancient monoliths. “She told me to have a conversation with you, so you can remind me of the good work they do at Arcana.”
He frowns. “They do great work, but I would never pressure you to risk something of your family’s if you’re not comfortable with the idea.”
I let out a little sigh of relief, and Asher makes the sign of ticking off a checkbox in the air behind his back.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help.”
He rolls his eyes. “Of course you do. I get that. And yeah, when it comes to priceless enchanted objects, you have to look at things from all possible angles. I learned first-hand how cagey powerful witches can be.”
I take his hand for a squeeze, and marvel at how warm it is despite the cold. “What Laurel did was inconceivable. No one saw through her lies.”
“You did.”
“Yeah, she did.” Asher winks at me and raises a hand to press his palm against the nearest stone. “But, as you said, Poppy is an exceptional woman, and you’re all better witches and people for having her in your ranks.”
I blink at him. “No one said that.”
“Well, they should.”
Wylder nods. “Asher’s right. You are exactly the right witch at the right time to shake things up in Emberwood and get the empowered communities back on track. We are lucky to have you.”
Heat warms my cheeks despite the cold. “All right, you two. Rein it in. Let’s get going.”
Wylder steps into the center of the stones and pulls out a black velvet bag of glitter. When he raises his hand to start casting a circle, Asher rushes over. “Oh, let me. I’ve been practicing.”
The scowl on Wylder’s face is too funny. “Didn’t you end up in New Mexico the last time you tried to channel the energy in the stones to portal?”
Asher rolls his eyes. “Dude, that was so last week.”
Yeah, it was literally last week.
He waves away Wylder’s negativity and pushes on. “Now that my girls are in Arcana, I’ve got this. Tanner says it’s because they act as an anchor. Here, I’ll show you.”
Wylder studies Asher’s extended hand as if it might infect him with something unpleasant.
I step forward and take it, then offer Wylder my other hand. “Come on, Howe. Where’s your adventurous spirit? Even if we don’t stick the landing, we’ll be together and we’ll have an adventure.”
“That’s the spirit, P.” Asher stands a little straighter and offers his free hand. “Come on, handsome. Your mother wouldn’t have named you Wylder if she didn’t want you to be a little ‘wilder’.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, it’s literally your name.”
Wylder pegs me with a look. “Et tu, Brute?”
I laugh harder. “Come on, hotness. Have a little faith.”
With all the reluctance of a cat being carried toward a bathtub, Wylder accepts both our hands. “Please focus.”
Asher isn’t the least bit affected by Wylder’s pessimism… and good for him. Having been on a few portaling adventures already with my bestie, I know better what to expect.
When Laurel first took me to Arcana, she used a fairy portal, and it felt like being sucked into the swirl of a magical vortex. It was like being on that centrifugal force carnival ride that sucks you backward against the walls, as pressure builds in your ears.
Portaling with Asher isn’t like that. It’s more like the snap of fingers and the world falls away, only to clap back together a moment later in a new location.
One moment we're standing in my backyard, the next, we reappear on the grassy lawn of the Arcana Academy.
The main building stands at the far end of the grounds, with endless stone arches and rows of narrow windows catching the afternoon light.
And, far off to the right, by the edge of a forest walkway, in a place I was fairly certain there had previously been nothing, stood a stone mansion.
The building itself looked like a miniature castle. From what we could see of the rampart, the stone walls must be two feet thick. There was a heavy timber frame over the door, and iron fittings on the hinges and windows that were dark with age.
A massive chimney rose at one end in a blunt square tower, and out of it radiated a warmth we could feel from a hundred feet away.
It looked as if it had been there for a hundred years, but we knew better. Mica had only just arrived and anchored it.
"That is not what it looked like last time,” Asher says.
"It was a ghost town blacksmith shop when we found it." Wylder crosses his arms and studies the structure. "And from our research, it’s appeared as an Icelandic farmhouse, a cave, a mine, and a half-dozen other things. It adapts."
"Like a magical cuttlefish," Asher says.
Wylder considers that and nods. "Structurally, yes."
Asher turns to me with the particular energy of a kid whose brain has just handed him an idea he is very proud of. "Do you think one of my new powers will be shape-shifting? I’m imagining myself as a master of transfiguration. One minute I’m a bird, the next, I’m a building."
"A building?" I repeat.
"What? Buildings are useful."
"But do you want to be a building?”
"I want options, Poppy."
Wylder blinks at us in the way that says he just doesn’t get us. That’s fine. Nobody really ever has. Still, he brushes a hand over his mouth and erases his amusement. "The Goddess Mother grants powers based on her own reasoning. No one really knows what criteria she uses."
"So, transfiguration could be on the table."
"Likely not. You’re a guardian angel."
"But you don't know."
"We don't know," I admit, interrupting.
“Thanks, P.” Asher waggles his brow. "Now, come on. I want to try out that door knocker. Did you see that thing?”