CHAPTER ELEVEN
Shadow
An elderly woman on the sidewalk spots us and walks over, her cane thumping against the ground as she speeds up.
A poof of silver hair with a pale-purple sheen surrounds her light face, and she wears a bright-yellow tracksuit.
A large golden retriever strains at the end of a leash as the tulips run past, snuffling hard to try to scent the flowers.
The town’s protection spell makes non-magical humans see them as cats. I wonder what the dog sees and smells.
“Young man, I’ve been meaning to speak with you.” The wrinkles around her eyes deepen as she studies me with cool assessment.
I shoot Kayla a questioning glance.
“Hi, Mrs. Greely,” Kayla says. “Do you know Shadow? He’s a friend of Rune’s.”
“Now there’s a nice young man.” The elderly woman’s voice softens. “He did such a good job with the Fall Festival last year.”
I smirk. Of course she likes the wolf—she’s clearly a dog person.
She thumps the sole of my shoe with her cane. “That, however, does not excuse your actions.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, using my most conciliatory tone. I have no idea what I’m apologizing for, but it doesn’t matter. If Rune can make this matriarch happy, then so can I.
“I’ve seen you streaking across the green several times now. There are children in this town. It’s just not done.”
Ah, the human nudity taboo. To me, my werepanther form is well covered with fur. But for non-magical humans, the protection spell makes them see me as a naked man.
“I’m going to raise the issue at the next town meeting to get an ordinance passed.” Mrs. Greely gives me a disapproving look. “You will be at the town meeting.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” It’s not a lie. I’ve attended all of the meetings since I moved to Ferndale Falls, because Kayla goes to them.
As the elderly woman moves away, Kayla bites on a knuckle, shoulders shaking. “You’re in for it now,” she gasps in between chuckles. “Shoulda known all that naked was going to get you into trouble one day.”
“You can’t tell me I’m the only person to ever be naked in town.”
“People skinny dip at the waterfall sometimes, but Main Street?” She shrugs and gestures toward me. “That’s all you.”
I extend the bakery box toward her and grin. “I’m one of a kind.”
“You sure are something, all right.” Kayla snorts and picks up her second donut.
The last of my jelly donut goes down in a bright burst of delightfully sweet and tart raspberry. Fruit’s yet another thing I’ve recently discovered, pleasantly surprised to find my fae form enjoys it so much after a lifetime of meat.
“We need to talk about Victoria’s behavior.” I bite into my last donut, the sweet maple glaze perfectly offset by the tiny pieces of salty bacon topping.
“I know, right? This marriage thing is bad enough, but now she’s turning off the lights or the hot water to get what she wants.” Kayla shakes her head.
“I think she has the emotional development of a youngling.” At Kayla’s thoughtful frown, I continue. “Victoria might be as intelligent as an adult, but she’s still quite young.”
“Okay.” My wife nibbles on her donut while she thinks, then swallows. “Say you’re right, what does that mean for us?”
“We can’t react like we would with an adult. Getting angry and demanding that she change her behavior will backfire. We have to set firm boundaries and explain why what she did is wrong.”
Shock flickers across Kayla’s pretty face. “How do you know so much about children?”
“Cat sith live in packs. We raise kits communally.” I give a casual shrug and grin. “I am, of course, everyone’s favorite ‘uncle.’”
“You’re a funcle.” She points at me with her donut. “I can totally see it.”
“Funcle?”
“Fun uncle.”
“Sure am. I should get a T-shirt.” I gesture to hers.
She laughs, a sweet chuckle that makes her whole body shake. Goddess, what a delightful sound!
Right when I’m chewing my last bite of donut, my phone chimes with a message from Jace. The dragon grumbled the entire time I showed him how to use one of the magicked human phones, but he’s figured it out well enough.
I leap to my feet, wad the bakery box into a ball, and lob it across the green to land in a trash can. Then I hold out my hand to Kayla. “I have another surprise for you.”
“What is it?”
“You do know the meaning of the word surprise, do you not?” I smirk at her.
“You do remember that the last time I got surprised, it was a flipping marriage contract?”
My smile widens at the reminder I still need to get her to accept our marriage. I can do this. I will do this. And today’s surprise is all part of my game plan. I stretch my hand closer. “You’ll like this one, I promise.”
She lets me pull her to her feet and onto the shadow roads. After only a few steps, we pop out in front of the waterfall that gives the town its name.
Her head swivels as she takes in the lovely pond and the continuous fall of water splashing into its end. “Just because I talked about going skinny dipping doesn’t mean I want to.”
“We’re not doing that.” Or at least not right now, my mind spinning at the thought of taking her skinny dipping. “It’s this way.”
I lead her back into the trees along a faint trail bordered by heavy ferns.
After a few yards, we enter a small clearing dominated by a rock formation covered in crystals.
Continuing to tug her along with me, I step forward.
Instead of hitting stone, my foot disappears.
With my next step, the world spins around me in a dizzying whirl, and I step out into Alarria.
“What the actual hell?” Kayla whispers, eyes wide as saucers. “Am I in flipping Faerie right now?”
“Yes.” We stand in a wide glen surrounded by a mix of pine and blue birch.
Golden larks sing in the trees, and the breeze carries the rich mixture of plants and animals and fertile soil that speaks to me of home.
Power thrums all around us, spreading up from the ground to fill everything with magic. “This is Alarria, my birth realm.”
An orc grunts hello as she passes us, headed for one of the other six-foot standing stones that ring the clearing. They’re each carved with the name of a realm. She walks into one of the stones and disappears.
“What is this place?” Kayla asks.
“These are the doors of Faerie Naomi made. Each one leads to one of the major Faerie realms or to Earth.” I wave at the door we just came through. Pride fills me. “I helped Naomi make several of these.”
My witchy beauty turns wide eyes upon me.
“Now come. This isn’t actually the surprise.”
“It gets better than this?”
“Way better.” I smirk.
“Promises, promises,” she says in a teasing tone.
“Know this, my wife.” I step close, holding her eyes with mine. “I will always keep my promises to you.”
She swallows, her cheeks pinkening, and I can hear her heart speed. Then she clears her throat and breaks eye contact, stepping past me. “So this surprise…”
I pull her through the door to Dularia. Mountain peaks soar all around us, craggy gray triangles thrusting up into the blue sky.
We stand on the side of one such mountain, the wind whipping our hair and shivering across our skin.
It’s summer here, as it is in Ferndale Falls, but a cooler summer at this altitude.
Kayla gasps and points to where several dragons fly through the air, their massive sizes made small by distance. “Are those dragons?”
“This is the dragon realm,” I say. I’ve been here a handful of times, but always on official business, which is why I had Jace arrange permission for this more personal visit.
We watch for a good ten minutes as the giant fae continue to cavort through the air.
“You know,” she murmurs, waving a hand toward the display. “As grumpy as Luke and Jace are, I kinda didn’t expect playful dragons.”
“These dragons are only about fifty years old, which makes them teens.” I smile. “And Luke and Jace are both on Earth for a reason. From what I gather, neither fits in with the other dragons.”
“Because they’re grumpy?”
“No, more like the other way around. They didn’t fit in, and being treated as outcasts for three hundred years made them grumpy.”
“That’d do it,” she says, a wealth of empathy filling her voice.
It only confirms what I’ve long suspected: my witch’s prickliness also comes from feeling like an outcast, from feeling as if she doesn’t fit in. I will change this for her. I will show her she is wanted, exactly as she is.
“Are you ready for your surprise?”
She turns questioning eyes on me and hooks a thumb toward the dragons. “You mean you’ve got something better than this?”
“I certainly hope you think so.” I extend my hand.
As soon as she takes it, I step sideways onto the shadow roads and pull her into a slow jog, willing the road to open in the direction I desire.
The shadow roads crisscross all the realms in lines of possibility.
It’s the will of each individual cat sith that makes a road manifest for as long as we need it before fading back into intangibility again.
As we cut through gray billows of mist, Kayla’s breaths grow labored, yet she offers not one peep of complaint, her fingers gripping mine with an excited eagerness.
The road forms before me, solidified by my intention. I’ve never been to our destination, so I have to keep my thoughts firmly fixed on where I want to go. When my internal compass lets me know we’re getting close, I slow us to a walk and step out into the real world again.
Color and smell and sound dazzle my senses, everything made scintillating by waves of magic so thick the air almost visibly vibrates.
We stand at the edge of a clearing tucked into a small valley, mountains rising high all around.
Trees circle us, their smooth bark gleaming like polished silver.
Some are the blue birch of Alarria, but there are also two other types.
White flowers dot trees with rich-pink leaves, their perfume sweetening the air.
Fruits resembling tiny, dark-purple plums dangle in clusters from trees with bright-purple leaves, giving off a mouth-watering scent.
Yet as lovely as these trees are, I didn’t bring her here for the plants.
Tiny purple dragonets fill the air, dancing and swirling and chirping at each other as they play. Each adult is about the size of a large cat, and the younglings are smaller than my hand.
Kayla stands transfixed, tears in her eyes, her hands pressed over her mouth, muffling tiny gasps of awe.
An adult gives a high chirp and breaks away from the flock to fly to one of the trees beside us, trailing a line of three babies.
The dragonet plucks one of the fruits and pulps the surface with a series of gentle bites, then holds it out.
The little ones, who don’t yet have teeth, fall upon it, gumming the softened fruit and swallowing juicy bites of pale purple flesh.
I lean over to whisper, “Surprise.”
“Thank you.” My wife beams at me, her face achingly beautiful with delight. “This is the most magical and adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”
My heart leaps. I’ve longed to see her this happy since the day we met. And having done it once, I want to do it again and again.
I want to do it forever.