Page 24 of The Witch & the Dragon

He ground the fancy coffee beans and created what he hoped would be an enticing aroma that would invade Chloe’s olfactory senses and lead her to the kitchen like a magic spell. He still kept stumbling on too many memories of his parents here, but they didn’t hurt as much as he thought they would. This wasn’t something he could fully get over, but at least it no longer conjured the impulse reaction of pain. Now, he had the time to think things through and focus better on the happy memories, not just the bad ones.

As predicted, the coffee aroma did indeed act as a perfect lure, and Chloe slunk into the kitchen area, yawning, and blinking sleepy, moist eyes. “Hello.”

“Hi.” With a flourish, he handed her coffee. “There’s no sugar in it; feel free to add what you like.”

She added nothing and sipped it just as it was, smiling and leaning her head against his shoulder until she jerked more alert. “Oh!” One hand went up to her neck, feeling for something. The pendant? She wasn’t wearing it. “Oh…” She disappeared, and there were the distinct sounds of things being moved aside. “It’s gone,” she said from her originally assigned bedroom.

“The pendant?”

“Crap. The dream was real.” She walked back into the living room, rubbing her eyes. “That bitch really did take it…”

“What bitch? What are you talking about?” Some puzzlement followed as she encouraged him to sit down to deliver the next piece of news.

“So, uh, I think I had one of those vision dream things last night. The… Old Spirit was in it. The dragon you left some offerings to.”

“The Old Spirit?” Tiran sat up, more alert. “What did it look like?”

“All shiny and ghost-like, I guess. Anyway, they were there, and so was the dryad, and the spirit wanted to steal my pendant, and they did, and they said that your parents’ will is actually in the cabin, and you now have some anti-glamour spell on you, so these Unseelie fairy people don’t make you want to jump off a balcony again…”

“Whoa, whoa, what?” He got her to repeat it all a little slower, and a strange, wild tale emerged. One that he wouldn’t believe normally, except it was her, and he felt an inherent trust in her presence and her friendship. “Okay.” A curiosity grew. “If my parents’ will is actually here… but where would they hide it? There are not really many hiding places.”

“Let’s look. If we find it, then we’ll have concrete proof.”

“I believe you,” he said, but they both got up to scour the cabin all the same. He checked all the usual places, now more carefully, in case he missed some lock box or manila envelope that might contain the sought-after documents. He checked everywhere possible but couldn’t find anything. This wasn’t really a place for them to store precious and expensive possessions since there was always the risk that someone might attempt to break into the cabin in spite of its isolated location.

“What about weird, hidden compartments? Like a sliding bookcase, a safe behind a picture, loose floorboard that could actually contain something.” Chloe was crawling across the floor, testing the pressure of every floorboard.

“I really don’t remember anything,” he said, now double-checking places. Plus, his parents never mentioned anything about needing to hide stuff. And the last conversations he remembered with his parents – they didn’t hint at anything. All they had was the cabin trip and then that fancy gathering where his loathsome uncle resided. If his father had hinted at anything, he’d completely missed the point.

Drat. He really should’ve been paying attention. But how was he to know that the last meeting truly would be the last?

It sent a cold chill through his soul, digging deep into his organs as if he were standing in the middle of a blizzard until Chloe let out a triumphant yell.

“Hey! There’s a loose floorboard here!”

“There’s a what now?” He darted to what used to be his parents’ bedroom just in time to see Chloe’s feet sticking out from under the bed. “I had to shove aside a box of clothes, but…”

Her feet wriggled slightly as she worked on whatever floorboard she referred to. Now that Tiran thought about it, he did see faint scrape marks on the wood, where the bed had been adjusted before. That didn’t necessarily mean anything on its own.

“Ah-ha!” Chloe finally crawled out, taking with her a thin, metal container. A small, metal briefcase, by the looks of it. “We have something here!”

“Holy crap,” he whispered, astonished. There was something hidden here. In a place he’d never thought to check. She handed the briefcase to him. It didn’t seem like one that needed a code or key to unlock. It was unlatched with two clicks, revealing the contents within. Wrapped bundles of twenty-dollar and fifty-dollar bills, some photos of his parents’ wedding, of him as a chubby, not exactly pretty baby, and a brown envelope, almost the size of the dimensions of the briefcase itself. Shaking, he pulled out the envelope, opened it, and read.

Both parents’ wills were in this suddenly valuable briefcase. Both were updated three months ago. “They must have… hidden this here during our last trip to the cabin.” He stared at the documents, stunned. “These list the law firm they used. It’s out of the area, not associated with or known by any of our circle. They took no chances. This makes me think… they must have suspected something was wrong. If they suspected, though… why didn’t they do anything about it?”

“I couldn’t tell you that,” Chloe said, sitting on the bed, gazing at him sympathetically. “But whatever they were thinking – here we are. As the Old Spirit said.”

Tiran placed the wills back in the envelope, still shaking. “I never thought… I never suspected. Chloe, that’s four times you’ve saved my life now.”

“Four?” Her eyebrow twitched. “I only know of one incident.”

“This will is two. I now have something I can counter my uncle with. He won’t be getting his grubby hands on the estate and divvying it up among his followers. Third, you told me about the anti-glamour the Old Spirit placed on me. Not that I want to test it or anything, but I think if you saw the wills in your dream, then I can believe that is true as well. Last, well… you’ve given me hope, love, and joy again.”

With these words, he wrapped her up in his arms, hugging her tightly, unwilling to let go. She sank into his embrace, and they remained in that state for a while, sharing that heartfelt fullness, letting the meaning of the words sink in. More could be said in actions and physical contact than the clumsy dance of his words.

Chloe coming into his life was truly a blessing. One he felt from the start, though it took a little time to fully materialize into this form.

They weren’t completely out of the woods yet, however. Chloe did mention his uncle Max Umber didn’t have a hand in the glamour, except for unknowingly passing along the glamoured words of the “sheriff” whom he spoke with. He could probably trust his uncle, but he didn’t want to risk bringing this updated will to his attention just in case eyes were watching him from the shadows.

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