They glowed, a deep amber hue. We weren’t anywhere near direct sunlight, yet flecks of gold danced along the planes of his face and through the grass around his head.
“How do you do that?” I asked.
Tanner stared hard into my eyes, his gaze flicking from one eye to the other and back. “Oh, you mean the special effects?”
I giggled, “Yeah, we can call the golden sparkles ‘special effects,’ sure.”
“They show up when I feel light, feel the light,” he said, not a trace of irony in his voice. “We all have access to the elements, Calli. When I’m in balance, I can manipulate those elements.”
“Like what you did with the rocks and using them to smash Meribah?”
He nodded. “Yes. I used her momentum and my connection to you to work with the rocks and get them to do what I wanted.”
“Can you manipulate people in the same way?”
“Only under extreme circumstances would I do that,” he said. “Say, if my life—or the life of someone I care about—was threatened.”
I let that sink in then poked at his words. “Are you saying that you care about me, Tanner Didier Marechal?”
“I’m saying, yes, I care about you, Calliope Jones, and one of these days you’re going to tell me your middle name.”
I giggled and lowered my face to his chest. “First I have figure out what it is.”
Chapter 6
Between Tanner and myself, I was dressed and on the front porch first, watching the trio of men surrounding the crabapple tree, deep in a discussion about something likely portal-related. They did not appear to have noticed our extended absence.
“Wes, Kaz, you two ready?” I yelled, waving my arm and gesturing toward the line-up of cars. The day was marching on, and the latest text from River included no news on Cliff and Abi.
“Two minutes.”
I toed off my boots and tiptoed up to the second floor landing. Thatch’s bedroom door was ajar. He was reading on his phone. Sallie was next to him, asleep on top of the covers, and Rowan was curled into the orange-and-white-striped bean bag chair, her hands tucked under her cheek. I blew a kiss into the room and made my way downstairs.
At the last step, I was overcome with uncertainty. Maybe I should be staying at home, getting one-on-one time with my grandfather, possibly with Rowan. Or maybe the universe would smile on me more kindly if I headed into my office and caught up with Kerry on the status of our ongoing investigations, complaints, and certifications.
None of those options got me any closer to finding Abi and Cliff, and I wanted to meet my first necromancer. Lucky for me, someone had remembered to plug in my car. The battery was full.
The three druids piled into Kaz’s sedan. Before starting my car, I dialed Kerry, put her on speaker phone, and made my apologies.
“If I wasn’t driving right now, I would be on my knees,” I joked.
“Calliope, I am all for us taking days off in the summer. Rainy season will be here in another month,” she said. “Besides, you know if anything really important was happening, I would call.”
“I know you would, but I feel badly for not even leaving you a message.”
“You can make it up to me by giving me a day off next week.”
I laughed. “You got it. Hopefully it won’t coincide with me forgetting to come in.”
Hanging up, I felt the tiniest bit lighter.
Spotting Kaz’s car ahead of me, I followed him the rest of the way and tucked my little two-door nose-in near the Pearmains’ fence. I turned off the engine, swiped my hands on my thighs, and checked my face in the make-up mirror.
My eyebrows were overdue for shaping. And the look in my eyes reminded me I had a whole lot more than the Blood Ceremony to process. Let me find Abi, I promised my reflection. Then I’ll take time off.
We exited our cars and made our way through the gate and around the bend. I stumbled at the sight of the empty rocking chairs lined up to either side of the door before I noticed the bright pink Volkswagen parked next to River’s nondescript sedan. The urge to proceed barefoot, my wands at the ready, was overpowering.
I tugged the intertwined pieces of wood from a thigh pocket and brought them up for inspection. The old wand was cracked and a bit stubby compared to the new one, which had been donated by the crabapple tree adjacent to my garden—the same crabapple now known to house portals. The fresher piece of wood was slowly and surely incorporating the older wand into its embrace. Protruding branchlets had created a live, organic filigree running the entire length of both.
Tanner cleared his throat behind me.
“Witches first,” he said, waving me up the stairs.
“You go on. I need to take a reading.” I finished removing my boots and let the dust settle under and around my feet. The ground below responded to my inquiry with a nervous flutter.
Witches welcome. Druids walk. Hidden folk return.
From a far-off section of the property came a wave of melancholy, and from a different quadrant, a sensation of…
I probed deeper, waited, held out a metaphorical hand to steady and support.
One who talks with the dead.
Blank space. Shrouded—or perhaps cloaked?—in a thick mist the color of newborn clouds rising from fir trees.
I focused on the task ahead and made my way up the steps and into the farmhouse. Tanner and the others were inside. The murmur of their voices rose and fell, circling through the rooms and toward the yard in back.
Hand on the knob of the screen door, I paused and looked behind me. The paint on the Volkswagen had to be a custom job, draping the curves of the vehicle like shimmery fondant on a wedding cake. I had never seen the car before, and the cheery, optimistic color evoked an immediate invitation to play.
Instead of taking up the offer, I
