Page 78 of Wicching Hour

We walked into the retail space. It was wide open and mostly empty. I looked up and the ceiling stole my breath. It looked like what I would imagine the top of a pyramid would look like if one were looking at it from the inside. It started about twelve feet high, at the tops of the walls, and angled up and in to meet in the middle, maybe fifteen feet high. The ceiling was paneled in wood, with the boards all perfectly aligned to create a perfect inverted pyramid.

I pointed up. “It’s stunning. What kind of wood is that?”

Declan looked up with me, smiling. “They finished it.” He walked around, studying it. “Great work,” he said, his voice raised for the others.

His crew, men and women, had filtered in to see what he thought. At his praise, they grinned and nodded, looking up themselves.

“It’s reclaimed wide-plank heart pine,” Declan finally answered. “I’ve been refinishing the boards for weeks.”

They were a satiny, well-oiled reddish brown. “Please tell me you have more of these boards to use in your apartment.”

Laughing, he picked me up and spun me around. “It’s happening,” he whispered to me. “I have a home.”

He put me down and then, noticing a woman, waved her forward. “Cam, tell me where we are.” The tall Black woman who looked remarkably like Melissa moved toward us. She wore dark blue coveralls and a bandana over her hair.

“Arwyn, this is Cam. She’s the forewoman on the project,” Declan explained. “Cam, this is Arwyn.” He pointed in the direction of my gallery. “The Sea Wicche.”

She nodded at me. “My cousin Melissa said she was boxing up art at your gallery yesterday.”

“Yes,” I said. “She and her crew did a beautiful job.”

She smiled at that and then returned her attention to Declan. “As you can see, we finished the ceiling. The tile guys were here yesterday. The bathrooms, upstairs and down, are done. By the way, the crew are asking if they can use your shop toilet instead of the porta outside.”

Declan nodded. “Of course. This is Jake and Tyler. If they like the apartment, they’ll be staying up there for a little while. I was hoping the bathrooms would be done. What about the kitchen?”

“There’s a microwave and the refrigerator that got plumbed yesterday. The stove is supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow.”

“Hey,” I interrupted, elbowing Declan. “You didn’t ask me what kind to get.”

He wrapped his arm around me again. “That’s because I just ordered the same model you use.”

“Oh. Nice.”

“The crew’s been focusing upstairs,” Cam continued. “West and Joaquin are working on the bookshelves today. Jim and I were just about to put up the lighting fixture in the living room. Do you want to come see?”

Declan nodded, excitement bright in his warm brown eyes.

“Okay, everybody back to work and the shop bathroom is available if you don’t want the porta outside,” she told her crew before mumbling, “And who the hell would?”

Leading the way, she took us through to the workshop toward a back staircase. The workshop was fully equipped with a wall of tools and freestanding table saws and I didn’t know what because I’d just seen one of the merry-go-round steeds leaning against a wall.

I detoured from the group to go see it. This property had been a tourist trap with a dangerous merry-go-round. The whole place had fallen into disrepair years and years ago. Someone bought it maybe a decade ago and went broke, dealing with the crumbling building, the rusty pipes, and shaky foundation. Could they have just torn it all down and started again? Sure. There still would have been a ton of repairs needed to the infrastructure, but there also would have been huge delays, waiting to get all the permits approved for building new construction in an historic part of town. So builders seeing it as a money pit, passed on the project.

Declan worked with Kenji’s sister Natsuki to work with what was here while creating a completely new masterpiece.

When I’d seen the carousel animals thrown in a pile during demolition, I’d asked if he could keep the octopus for me. It was the one I’d ridden when I was little. He promised he would, but it looked like he may have salvaged another.

Leaning against the wall was a seahorse. All the paint had been sanded off and the wood treated. It felt so strange to see him naked, without his garish Day-Glo paint. Declan had given him his dignity back. I ran my gloved fingers over his narrow snout. The brass pole was now tarnished, but that somehow fit. He’d been through a lot in his life. He wasn’t pretending otherwise.

I turned to call after Declan but found him standing behind me. My eyes filled with tears. “He’s beautiful. You’ve restored his pride. Look at him.” I put a hand on Declan’s chest and leaned in. “Can I paint him?”

He kissed me and said, “I think he’d appreciate that.” He paused. “I know you want to see the octopus, but I wanted to do a test run on one you didn’t feel such an attachment to. What if he fell apart once I took the paint off? I couldn’t be sure about the state of the wood until I sanded it.”

“I get it,” I said, smiling up at him. “Thank you for taking care of them.”

He took my hand again. “I want you to see the upstairs.”

Cam, West, and Joaquin had already gone up. Only Jake and Tyler were waiting for us.

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