“Child, you don’t even know what ye’ve done, making that thing. I don’t know what ye’ve done. The little dragon was one thing, but a giant of wood and dirt… don’t ye think it will be noticed?”
“I got him some old clothes today. He’ll look like just a big man… at least from a distance.”
She gave me a level look, the kind that demand I examine my words and thoughts. “Do you really believe that, lad?”
Deep down, I knew better. “But what do I do with him?”
“Let him rest in his forest, lad. I’ll wager you made him near that old stone fence pile, didn’t ya?”
“Yeah. That’s where I cut up my wood.”
“And where ya go to daydream. Did ya ever wonder why ya like it so much?”
“It’s just very comforting. Relaxing.”
“On account of what has lived in the earth there and now lives in your dirt man. Put it back, lad. Let it rest where it loves to be. And we’ll get a wee tractor.”
“And a chainsaw,” Levi said, immediately holding up one hand to forestall my aunt’s protest.
“I’ll teach him and supervise its use. Honestly, Ashling, if he can be trusted with such power, he can be trusted with a tool.”
I waited, breathless, for her reaction. When she nodded, I got excited… until I noticed Darci staring at me, her head tilted a little. She hadn’t spoken in a while. Now she was frowning, her eyes on me, but I’m not sure she was seeing me.
“How?” she said. I had no idea what she was talking about.
“How what, dear?” my aunt asked, all calm and patient.
“I knew you had abilities, have seen you find missing people like you have GPS trackers on everyone, even seen you blow smoke away, blow wind in a face or two, but this…”
“This isn’t natural even for the supernatural, is that your point?” my aunt asked softly.
“It’s crazy. He floated a log and burnt it to a crisp in seconds. Do you have any idea of what the government… what any government would do to control that kind of power?” Darci asked.
“Oh, but I do, dear, I really do. Which is why we’re in hiding, why we hide our abilities, or at least are supposed to be hiding,” Ash said, her eyes zeroing on me at the last.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Ash. I was real careful.”
“I know, lad, but even your careful casting is enough to send ripples like a great boulder dropped in a pond. As I’ve told ya, you’re not a regular witch.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Oh, now come the ma’ams do they?” she asked, but I could tell she wasn’t mad, or at least not real mad. Maybe worried. “Now, how about you run down and put your friend back into the Earth where he belongs, where he’s most comfortable?”
“Yes ma’a… yes, Aunt Ash.” I turned and took off, eager to escape the tension. But my hearing was good and the barn walls were worn and holey.
“He seems like just a kid, but he can do crazy things,” Darci said, her voice quiet but not quiet enough.
“He’s a great kid, Darci dear, and he’s here for a reason,” my aunt said. I slowed my feet, knowing that listening wasn’t a great idea, but too curious to ignore the opportunity.
“He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever met,” Levi said. “But what reason could there be for him to have what he has?”
“Have ya heard me tell him time and again of the three-fold rule?”
“Yeah,” Darci responded. “Over and over.”
“It’s a real thing, Darci, and he’s the very proof of it.”
“What’s that mean?”
“For hundreds of years, witches have only taken each other as mates, trying and trying to pool the powers. All that energy and intent put out into the universe.”
“And it came back three-fold in him,” Levi guessed.
“At least. And ain’t it just like the universe, or God, or the goddess to return the lesson to us in the form of a skinny boy witch that the world doesn’t even know exists?”
“You think his powers are a slap in the face of witches?” Darci asked.
“Partly. But I also know, to the depth of my being, that Declan O’Carroll is here for a bigger reason than any of us can even guess. And it falls to us to guide him and guard him.”
“How?” Darci’s voice. “He created a magical robot, for God’s sake.”
“He created a shell, and something moved in. Something that lives in this land, has lived here long before people. The native peoples might call it a spirit of the land. My kind would say it is an elemental being.”
“Why did it move in, and what keeps under control?” Darci asked.
“It likes my lad. Jest as his wee dragon of the Air does. And nothing controls them. These things don’t tend to notice us people, or if they do, it is like a man scratching at a flea.”
“Is Declan their pet flea?” Levi asked.
“Declan is nobody’s pet anything. I don’t know what the connection is, but these things favor the lad, ‘tis all I can tell ye.”
My feet had never fully stopped and by now I was far enough that Aunt Ash’s voice was very soft on her last sentence. I heard a few murmurs as I headed down the hill toward the forest, but my brain was whirling with too many thoughts to focus at all.
Inside the treeline, I found Robbie lying against his pile, right where I had first made his form. His clay head moved my way, but I held out a hand. “No, Robbie. It’s time to rest. My chore is done, and you’ve done me a big favor. But as Aunt Ash says, it’s not right for a witch to ask nature to change for him or her, but that the witch should change for nature.”
I sat on the rocks next to him, my hands on his arm and shoulder. “So, let’s have you go back to rest, my friend, right here, right in your woods and your
