Page 169 of Sigils & Spells

“Hi, Kent, I’m sorry to bother you guys so late. I was hoping to talk to Sterling.” Minho stepped a little to the side to reveal me, making me realize I had, in fact, accidently cowered behind him a little. “I think my friend is a werewolf.”

The big man, Kent apparently, looked me up and down.

“Hmmm.” He said. “Ok. I’ll wake him. You two come in. I’ll have Marge get you some tea.”

We stepped into the big house, and Kent led us to a drawing room with a big fireplace and bookcases filled to the ceiling. We sat in armchairs the color of moss and Kent disappeared.

I wanted to protest that he didn’t have to wake anyone up to bring us stuff. I felt bad, but then a tray with two silver tea cups floated into the room. I stared at it like I was going crazy again. I looked from Minho to the tray, back to Minho. When Minho noticed he laughed.

“Marge is a poltergeist. Sometimes poltergeists like doing tasks if you can get on their good side.”

I had absolutely no space left in my brain to unpack that so I just nodded like that made sense. “Ok.”

Poltergeists are real too? My brain screeched as I took the teacup from the tray, and it drifted, seemingly on its own to Minho. Shhh, brain. I thought back, go with the flow.

I drank the tea which was thick and sweet with honey. It warmed me from the inside, and I didn’t think I’d been cold until that moment.

The tray drifted away and out the door, and a moment later, the doorway filled with the huge man again, only now he wasn’t alone, he stood just behind another man.

This man was much smaller, not exactly short except in direct contrast with Kent. He had dark skin and salt and pepper close cut hair. He was a lean man, and even though he must have just been woken up, and wore a bathrobe, he looked composed and somehow serene. The man emanated calm. My heart hadn’t stopped racing for two days, but now, looking at the intense, but kind looking face, I felt the knot in my chest ease. This must be Sterling.

“You’re up early aren’t you, Minho?” He had a higher voice, lilted with a southern drawl that felt older than the wood under our feet. The causal tone was totally undermined by the feeling in my bones commanding me to listen to this man. Somehow he demanded reverence without doing anything to ask for it. Before Minho could answer, Sterling turned his gaze on me, and it felt like the gentle looking eyes were piercing into my core. “What’s up?”

I almost snorted at the question. I glanced at Minho, who looked at home in the big chair. He nodded to tell me it was okay, so I took a breath and told Sterling everything that felt important, from falling asleep in the open to waking up in random places, naked, twice in a row.

While I talked, Sterling sat on a foot stool, listening intently. Kent came up and stood behind him, putting a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. Sterling casually laced his fingers with Kent’s as he listened.

“Hmm,” Sterling pulled his legs up under him on the cushion. “I feel like there’s something missing from this story, Hun.”

I blinked. “Uh, before I passed out I was at a party and a weird guy put something in the drink of the girl I was there with. I drank it.”

“I don’t know if that was brave, dumb, or pointless.”

I shrugged. “Probably all three.”

Sterling laughed. He still felt like he demanded respect, but not in a way that made me fear him. The longer I looked at him the more he felt like a kind youth pastor or your favorite English teacher.

“Well, Julian, it sounds like something happened.” Sterling shook his head and looked at Minho. “Minho, your friend is not a werewolf.”

I blanched and looked at Minho. He frowned and sat forward. “But, Sterling, he-he’s been waking up in random places just like I did.”

Sterling shook his head again. “I’m sorry to you both but I can’t help you. Use your wolf’s nose Minho. There’s no wolf in your friend. You know you can tell the difference.”

Minho closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. He frowned and opened his eyes, which were the gold from the truck again. They faded back to black. Minho sat back in defeat.

“You’re right. Damn it! I’m sorry, Julian.”

I didn’t know what to say. I looked back helplessly at Sterling who watched me with pity. “Then… What’s wrong with me?”

“I don’t know what you’ve got going on in there, but you are certainly not a werewolf.” Sterling stood and walked to a desk nestled between two bookshelves. “There is something related to our world though. This is not nothing. And it might have something to do with what that man put in the drink, or even where you fell asleep. Or something from a long time ago, that is just catching up with you.”

He scribbled something on a piece of paper as he talked, and then folded it back into a little square, and put it into an envelope.

“Just because I don’t know anything doesn’t mean there is nothing to know.” he sealed the envelope by folding it in half, and walked back to where Minho and I sat. “Take this to Ruby. She might be able to tell you something more helpful.”

I frowned. “Ruby? Minho’s girlfriend?”

They both ignored me. Minho looked from the envelope to Sterling. “What is it?”

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