Page 37 of A Wolf in the Garden

Nerilina shrugs. “I suppose it simply indicates no one has come hereyet; although you indicated on the phone that there had been one incident on the property before? Why don’t we start there?”

It’s fascinating to watch Nerilina work. She finds nothing out of the ordinary in the flower bed where I found the fae mushroom, and so we all move to one of the grassy spots in my garden. Van guides me so that we’re standing a fair distance from her, and we watch as she closes her eyes, and loosely clasps her hands together.

After a couple of minutes of this, I tug on Van’s arm, pulling him until he bends low enough for me to whisper in his ear. “Is this it?”

He grins, shaking his head. “Patience,” he whispers in my ear, the brush of his lips making desire curl in my core. “Hmm,” Van murmurs, picking up on my shift in mood. “Soon, baby.”

It’s another ten minutes or so before a sapphire-blue glow envelops Nerilina’s body, her clothing changing before our eyes, and I realise she’s been cloaked in some sort of glamour all along, the simple pants and top she wore suddenly replaced by silver-spun robes and a delicate silver amethyst-encrusted diadem. Her eyes remain closed, but she lifts her hands, palms facing up, and suddenly, the entire world is blue.

I find Van’s hand, gripping it tight as I look around. On second glance, it’s not that everything has turned blue, it’s that she’s put us in a huge blue box.A box of magic.The ground glows with it, the magic extending to the four sides of my property’s boundaries, where huge blue walls stretch into the sky. Far above, the box closes in on us, so that the sun and clouds above are filtered through this giant blue lens.

Nerilina begins to chant, low and monotonous, and elvish script appears to write itself in silver over the ground, extending out from her body like a huge mandala that grows and writhes, stretching as her voice rises in volume, extending up the magical walls, continuing until the writing encloses us entirely. There’s a ringing sound, and a deep, near-painful pressure in my ears, and then with apopit’s all over, and the world is disorientating in its sudden normality. I stagger against Van as the pressure releases and he catches me before I can fall, lifting me into his arms. “Easy, it’s alright. I’ve got you. It’s always a shock the first time.”

It’s downright embarrassing how little I know about any of this, but I remind myself that everyone has to start somewhere. The shock of it all — of the last 24 hours — feels similar to that first day of the Unravelling, and I blink back tears against Van’s neck while he holds me, until I’m composed once more, and nudge him to set me down.

“Alright?”

Nerilina’s clothes haven’t changed back, and she looks like an elvish queen, the oddest sight against the backdrop of my cottage garden, especially when one of the chooks — Phoebe, of course — runs over the back of her train, pecking at the lush fabric.

“Shit, sorry!” I jump into action, scooping up the chicken before she shits all over this living goddess’ clothes. “Bloody hell, you’ve got no sense,” I growl at Phoebe, shoving her back into the coop, earning me an indignant squawk. “One day you’re going to peck at the wrong person and end up as a roast dinner, you know that?”

When I turn back around, Van is biting on his fist, shoulders shaking with silent mirth, and I feel a bit better, a bit more like myself, a bit more sure of things and a little less like I’m being buffeted around by all of these uncontrollable events.

I brush my hands on my jeans and give Nerilina an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. Is that it, then?”

“That’s it for the property. The process foryouis a little more involved.”

“Oh.”

“Perhaps we should move inside, and I can begin.” It’s not a question, and I nod, swallowing back the stress that threatens to overwhelm me again. I walk ahead, Van following close behind as I leap up the stairs two at a time, only a slight tremble in my hand as I fish my keys out of my pocket and unlock the French door. I unhook the latch at the top and open it up fully, pushing the glass panes back until they sit accordion-folded at the other end. It’s the quickest way to make the small interior of my house feel larger; by opening the huge door, it creates the illusion that the living space extends out to the end of the deck. “Come on in,” I say with a forced smile, turning to Nerilina. “Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee? Or something to eat?” It’s force of habit that has me acting like she’s any other guest, even though I’m an adult I know for certain that Mum would tell me off if she ever heard I’d had a guest over without offering them any food or drink as soon as they set foot in the door.

“Oh no, I’m fine, thank you.”

I catch Van’s eye as he slips off his shoes on the deck and ducks his head in order to step inside, and he smiles warmly back at me. When he straightens to his full height, he looks far too big for this small space. It’s strange, having him in here, and for a moment I forget all about Nerilina, far too focused on watching Van examine my place. He reaches out to touch things carefully — a framed artwork on the wall, the wooden stairs, the tiled backsplash behind the small stove top — his lips turning up in a small smile, and his eyes seem strangely moist when he glances back at me. “When you said you had this place renovatedon the cheap, what did you mean, exactly? Because it doesn’t look cheap at all. It looks amazing.”

My heart feels like it’s lodged somewhere in my throat. “Oh, Mum and I did it. We painted everything in here white, because it reflects light and opens up the space, and it highlights the beautiful wooden bench top that was already here. I re-did the stairs to the loft — that’s recycledkauri, that was a great find, I actually repurposed the wood out of —”

I’m cut off by his lips crashing against mine as he picks me up, hand fisting in my hair as he devours me with his lips and tongue, until finally with a growl he presses his face against my neck, whispering, “You are so fucking amazing, you know that?”

I cling to him, heart bursting. “Thank you.”

To her credit, Nerilina gives us some privacy, waiting patiently on the small wooden deck until we’ve both composed ourselves. I have a small fold-out table built into the wall and I pull it down, offering her a seat opposite me while Van relaxes back on my oversized L-shaped couch that sits in the corner and takes up a fair bit of room. It’s a beautiful brown aniline leather piece, and the one item of furniture I really splurged on.

Nerilina takes my hands in hers, violet eyes pinning me with a stare. “Have you ever had any incidents where you have created magic?”

I shake my head. “No.”

She tilts her head, considering. “Youdohave fae magic; I can sense it, though it’s… buried for the most part. I think that’s why they want you. To access that.”

“Why?”

“For power. To increase their magic by stealing yours; think of it like draining a battery. You are a source of magic, of power, that can boost their own. I would say that’s probably why they’re going after changelings like you.”

“Changelings?”

“People with a small amount of fae blood. It’s far more common than you think, especially these days. Not all of them have the physical characteristics you do that set them apart,” she adds nodding at my ears. “Look, this is all just my guesswork from what I’ve heard, so don’t let it panic you. Fae have very long lifespans, and one does have to wonder if this is what they’ve been planning for a few centuries; sow their seed — quite literally — far and wide, and in a few generations time, reap the harvest.”

Reap the harvest of their own descendants.That’s horrific.I try to pull my hands away, and she tightens her grip on my fingers, almost painfully so. “I have to protect you from them by creating a barrier around you, the same as I have around this place, and Lost Moon.”

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