“It was. Very uphill.” He gave me a quick glance up and down with his smoldering golden eyes. I wasn’t even sure what he was looking at. Maybe he’d just gone too long without seeing boobs. “Many Sinistrals, although we may have some traits that your people have deemed immoral, are very honorable beings.”
He seemed a little sorrowful that he had died without doing anything for his people, and I didn’t know much beyond that, but I wanted to think he was a good person if he was going to haunt my dreams for the next month or two. “I know. I believe you. I really do. I know that the magical worlds aren’t as simple as they teach us when we’re kids. But…what is the thing? Can you tell me that?”
“I’m afraid not. A powerful spell prevents me from telling you anything of worth, and no one hates that like I do. I can only say that it is terribly important. Lives were lost to obtain it, and I advise you not to tell anyone that you have it. I’m hoping you’re trustworthy, because…I don’t have a choice, at this point.”
“Oh…it sounds really…dangerous.” I was half intrigued, half no-thank-you. “I do feel like I should mention that while I am a proficient witch, third in my entire graduating class, which had a lot of talent, I was also…third in my class. And this sounds like a first in class witch sort of object. I’m also an Ethereal witch. And this is a Sinistral thing.”
“Yes.” He crouched, across the floorboard from me, and trailed one rather elegant hand across the boards, like a caress. Even though his hands had small claws. “This is a Sinistral thing.”
“But…not everything…is a Sinistral thing?” I was trying to puzzle out what seemed to be a riddle now.
He raised one eyebrow. “Just hold onto it, Helena. Keep it safe.” Now he placed a hand over mine, the hand becoming solid so it could touch mine for just a brief second, as he looked at me with a sexy seriousness that left me too speechless to protest, and made me wish I could feel more of that touch. I knew it was because he was an incubus, and no woman could resist, which meant it was sort of meaningless.
But damn.
KEEP IT SECRET. Keep it safe, I whispered in my head as I tossed and turned on my air mattress, worrying over the Thing.
I kept shoving away a slight worry that I might be in over my head, as I was but a humble house flipper, not the reluctant guardian of some maybe-evil, maybe-not magic object that I needed to protect.
Harris had called me back and told me he had no idea what it was. He suggested I try to take a rubbing of the writing. I didn’t really want to try and touch it, but I said I would, and assured him I was fine, and asked how the kids were doing even though I didn’t really care about kid stories. Harris’ wife Charlotte was pregnant with their second kid now, but it seemed to me the first one was still a huge handful. Harris kept telling me how smart and funny Cassandra was, but I just saw a lot of screaming and mess when I visited. It was so weird that my cynical, loner brother was suddenly a family man. I guess when you had four dads, you could handle it.
This was why I liked being alone and single. And I was proud of it. There was no reason I should be feeling so lonely tonight.
But there was no denying that having Jake and Jasper around for a brief time had shifted something in me and left me wishing I had a partner. The work would go a lot faster, and I’d have someone to share my triumphs with. Or to share my anxiety over this magical thing. One thing I would say about Harris, he always had his crew in high school, and now they were a family. All the best friends I used to have had been lost to the ages, but by becoming bond-brothers, Harris and his best friends would have each other’s backs for life, through thick and thin.
It didn’t help that Kiersten sent me a text:
HEY LADY, Caleb and I were just talking about you and that crazy mansion of yours. How ya holding up??? Finding anything cool in those hallowed halls? Don’t hesitate to call if you need help.
EW. Gross. How condescending.
I started hate-scrolling her social media feed, with tons of pictures of her ridiculously gorgeous children frolicking in the sunlight, her and Caleb opening a bottle of wine from their friend’s vineyard, Kiersten’s pregnancy photo shoot, Caleb’s stupid ruggedly handsome bearded face mugging for the camera before he demoed a wall.
I imagined them snuggling in their California king bed, wearing organic cotton pajamas that didn’t exactly match each other but did match the entire room as a whole, being like, Babe, I wonder how Helena is doing? She spent way too much money on that house.
I don’t know, babe, should we ask her if she’s okay?
You’re so right, babe, we are the best humans on earth so we need to make sure to take care of poor Helena who doesn’t have what we have. I’ll text her now.
No matter where you are in life, I guess now and then you have a sleepless night where you question all the decisions you’ve ever made.
“OH, HEY, I ACTUALLY FELL ASLEEP!” I said, finding myself in the dream garden.
“I like the boots,” Byron said, crossing his arms over the iron gate that separated us. This was a smaller gate than usual. I seemed to be in a different part of the garden and he wasn’t so far away. In fact, I’m sure he could have vaunted himself over the gate if he wanted to, but maybe dream rules held him back.
“Boots? Oh—“ I was sitting by
