I almost laughed. “Me? You’re the one who just got tossed around by a ghost. Look at your arm.” One of the chair legs had caught his arm at a bad angle, leaving a bloody gash. It likely wouldn’t need stitches but was still ugly.
“I’m fine,” he said. He righted the chair and gave it a quick survey for damage. There was none, meaning he wouldn’t get in trouble with Wanda. “I’ve never seen a banishing that fast. I don’t even think Aunt Candy can do it.”
“It just takes practice,” I assured him, not wanting to make a big deal of it. Evan knew I had a shamanic background, but I didn’t want the extent of my power made that obvious. “Come on—we should get home.” I was already looking back on what I’d done with regret. In that moment, there’d been no question. I’d
Candace’s grim face confirmed as much when we got back to her place. “That ghost won’t tell any tales in the Underworld, at least,” she said with a sigh. “And if he was tied to that house, it’s unlikely he had contact with anyone who might be after you.”
“That’s what I was hoping,” I said.
“Still. You shouldn’t have done it, if only because you and those little ones could have been hurt.” Her gaze lifted toward the kitchen, where Charles was bandaging up Evan. “He’s got a lot to learn, but he’s tougher than he looks.”
“I know,” I said, feeling terrible. The ride home had given me a lot of time to consider my actions. One of the twins chose that moment to kick, just in case it wasn’t obvious that I’d put them at risk. “I just reacted. He was in trouble, and the wand was right there.”
Candace’s look was almost sympathetic as she rested a hand on my arm. “I know. And I know that’s your nature—especially if you’re anything like Roland. That man never did know how to stay out of trouble. But for now, you’ve got to let go. Next time you fight a ghost, it may tell the ones who are after you where you’re at.”
I nodded meekly. Further conversation was put on hold as Charles and Evan rejoined us. Evan stopped in the doorway to the living room and pointed at the TV set. “That’s where you’re from, isn’t it?”
I turned and saw a news report on a grocery store robbery in Tucson. The security camera footage was spotty, frequently going to static, but it showed a few bizarre shots of what looked like items flying off the shelves. Eyewitness reports were equally odd, and if I hadn’t known it was completely impossible, I would’ve thought the store had been hit by a ghost. But a ghost had no use for money—or, in this case, food, since that’s what had been stolen.
“Weird,” I said, once the story ended. If some other type of Otherworldly creature had been involved, I had no doubt Roland would deal with it. Knowing that made me feel even more ineffectual. Roland had theoretically retired, but my various actions over the last year had forced him to take on the role of an active shaman once more.
“It is,” remarked Candace. “But it hardly fits the usual—”
Her jaw dropped as a low rumbling sound filled the house. All of us stared at each other in confusion. Another rumble sounded, just as I saw the living room windows light up. My senses were suddenly flooded, seconds before the others realized what was happening.
“It’s raining,” exclaimed Evan. He hurried to the door, the rest of us right behind him.
Out on the porch, we watched in wonder as rain poured down in sheets while lightning ripped apart the sky. A fierce wind picked up, blowing the rain at us, but nobody cared. Charles laughed and stepped off the porch, holding his hands skyward.
“This’ll fix my garden right up,” he declared.
Evan turned to me in amazement. “You were right. She said this would happen, Aunt Candy. This afternoon —the sky was clear blue, and she swore there’d be a storm.”
Candace smiled and turned to watch Charles, oblivious to the true nature of my insight. “I guess some people just have a knack for the weather.”
“You have no idea,” I murmured.
Chapter 9
Despite our conclusions that I
My worries continued to be unfounded, and that slow, easy life resumed. Even doing customer service for Candace became more comfortable, and I simply learned to take the silliness in stride. Probably the part of my life that continued to bother me most was my longing for my kingdoms. I would often wake up in the middle of the night with a burning in my chest and tears in my eyes. I’d remember the clean, crisp perfume of the deserts of the Thorn Land or the soft, rolling hills of the Rowan Land. Most of the need was still on my own side, but every once in a while, I’d sense a faint whisper, as though the lands were starting to miss me too.
To my surprise, I also found myself missing Dorian. After finding out I was pregnant, I’d seen him almost every week in the Otherworld. Not having his sarcasm and wit around anymore seemed weird, leaving an empty spot within me. Weirder still was that, aside from that last idyllic week, he and I hadn’t really spent much tender or recreational time together. It had always been business, making plans for our kingdoms and figuring out how best to thwart Maiwenn and Kiyo. Nonetheless, I’d simply gotten used to having him around. No matter our personal differences, we worked well as a team.
Occasionally, more troubling thoughts about him would plague me. Lying in bed at night, sweating from the Alabama heat, I’d find myself sifting back farther in my memories, to the time when he and I had been involved. I was rapidly reaching a point in my pregnancy where sex sounded like the least appealing thing ever. But in my memories, it was still easy. There had been a lot of nights in the Thorn Land, when Dorian had been with me and we’d lain in bed in similar kinds of heat, sweaty and restless. Even in those conditions, we hadn’t been able to keep our hands off of each other. His skin had felt like fire against mine as he moved in me, his mouth equally hot wherever it touched me. The heat around us had seemed inconsequential to that between us.
Recalling that night did more than just torment my body. It tormented my mind. I still hadn’t gotten over the way he and I had parted.
How did I feel about that? How did I feel about him?
Although the weather in Huntsville remained hot, summer was winding down, and with its end, Evan would be returning to school. He began spending more time with me, still in that polite, hands-off way. Sometimes I’d catch him looking at me in a manner that made me nervous, and I feared some outpouring of affection. It never came, showing he was just as patient and content as he’d claimed to be. He further proved the point while we were out fishing one day.
I’d never been fishing before. It wasn’t something you really did a lot of in Tucson. We were out on a small, quiet lake ringed in willows, in a no-frills motorboat that had just enough room for us, our catch, and a cooler stocked with Coke, juice, and Milky Ways. Evan was very critical about everything we caught, and it was important to him that we caught no more than we could eat. Anything else was a waste, he declared.
“Uncle Chuck makes a mean batter for these,” Evan told me. “We can have a fish fry tonight.”
That sounded great to me then and there. I was starving, but then, I always seemed to be lately. My appetite had shot up out of nowhere these last couple weeks, much to Candace’s delight. While I certainly didn’t try to halt my eating, every extra bite was a reminder that I was going to get bigger and bigger. As it was, my weight had shot up exponentially too. It was still mostly confined to my stomach, but every day, I felt a little slower and a little more uncomfortable.
I finished off a Milky Way to curb my hunger, fully knowing no obstetrician would endorse it as sound nutrition. I chased it with a thermos of cider, giving me a brief flashback to the Oak Land harvest parties. Those
