Page 53 of Wild Scottish Rose

Thinking back to how Owen had opened up to me last night, I decided to change tactics. While Gnorman was deeply annoying, he was also a magickal being that lived in my greenhouse and commanded an army of hedgehogs. It wouldn’t kill me to get to know him. I paused for a moment and then walked to the other side of the greenhouse where I was growing a batch of mushrooms. Slicing one off with my pocketknife, I returned to where Gnorman stood on the table, his arms crossed.

“Here. Tell me about being a gnome.”

Gnorman’s eyes widened, and that same look of wonderment flashed through his eyes before he snatched the mushroom from my hands. It was about the size of his head, and he held it up in front of him, almost drooling with excitement.

“Och, this lad is going to sleep well tonight!”

“Gnorman, did you do this?” I’d just now registered that the thyme I’d left to dry was no longer hanging up, instead packaged in small bundles wrapped intricately with twine, and ready for burning. Peering closer, I saw a small paper seal at the bottom with an outline of a bright red gnome hat.

“Of course I did. It’s what you were wanting it for, no?” Gnorman settled down on the table, crossing his legs out in front of him and took a huge chomping bite of the mushroom. A delighted grin spread across his face as bits of mushroom fell everywhere. “Och, lass. You’ve outdone yourself here.”

“Thank you,” I said, somewhat absentmindedly as I studied the bundles of thyme. Would it be weird of me to perform magick at someone’s property without them knowing? My stomach twisted as I thought about how to accomplish what I felt I needed to do.

“Gnomelife isn’t for everyone,” Gnorman said, startling me from my thoughts. “It’s a tough job. You have to constantly be on the lookout for pests in the garden, protecting the plants.”

“Wait,” I said. “Are you the reason I don’t have a problem with moles or mice?”

Gnorman saluted me, and I shook my head in disbelief.

“And here I thought it was because I was leaving scraps out front away from the garden.”

“Och, everyone enjoys those scraps, lass. Particularly the birds.” Gnorman chuckled at my look. “But ’tis me that’s keeping the riffraff away. Well, and my army of course.”

“I had no idea.”

“Clearly. We’ve been waiting for you to pay attention for a long time now. It’s been years since Seònaid passed.”

“You knew my gran?” My eyebrows winged up my forehead.

“Of course I did. She was mine as well. Lovely woman. Much less cantankerous than you.”

“I am not cantankerous, G. Ever consider that you’re the difficult one?” I pointed out and he just shrugged.

“I know tetchy when I see it.”

Though I bristled at his words, I also realized that now was not the time to get into it with my gnome.

“How come I, well, we, were yours? Do you get assigned to us by some gnome overlord?”

“No lords in our world. No religion. Just nature and their beautiful energies. Mother Earth, Sister Sun, Father Moon, Brother Ocean, they’re all a part of this. Family. But this place? Here? This is my land. And you live here, so you’ve become mine.”

“Wait, does every piece of land have a gnome?” Struck, I thought about all the thousands of gnomes that could be running around Loren Brae.

“Nae, lass. Just the enchanted ones. I have a small community here. Several of my cousins are up at the castle. We meet at the full moon and have ourselves a mead orthree.” Gnorman laughed, spewing mushroom bits, as he slapped his knee.

“You have cousins at the castle,” I repeated slowly. “Does Archie know about them?” Archie and Hilda were the castle caretakers and Archie mainly looked after the expansive gardens.

“He’s onto us, that’s for sure. Love that cranky old man. He doesn’t take anyone’s crap.”

“No. No, he does not.” I held up a bundle of thyme. “How did you know that I needed this to be done like this?”

“Because that’s what the spell wants.”

“And I’m just meant to go burn it?”

“That and state the intent. Intent is everything in magick, lass.”

“Can I screw anything up? Make it worse?”

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