Page 104 of Home to the Hollow

“Yes?” he replies as he repeats the weird sticky process on the other eye.

Trying to make sure I stay still so he can do this right, I murmur softly. “I’m really glad you guys are moving in. I mean, I’m trying to say…”

His fingertips rest on my cheeks as he uses some rubbery thing to press along my lids slowly. “We know, sugarplum. That’s why Teddy booked the el—er, the contractors. Once they finish here, they’ll work on turning our old house into a wellness complex, and his place into a team gathering spot. He’s converting it into some kind of clubhouse and guy cave type place.”

Frowning, I have to work not to move again as I whisper, “Isn’t that what the locker rooms and the coach’s office are for?”

“Well, yes, but I think he means for the staff, more often than not, and maybe the team when he wants to have bonding shit. Prez might be better at defining it than me… his years on the soccer teams make him more qualified. As you can tell, I’ve never been a rough and tumble guy. You can open ‘cause I need to see if they’re good.”

My eyes open, and I give him a soft smile, reaching out to grab the back of his neck and pull him closer. Once I kiss him thoroughly, I rest my forehead on his. “I like you the way you are.” I pause and smirk. “Clearly, Teddy does, too, because I’m the one person on earth allowed to use that name. I started calling him that in elementary school—before all the lines were so distinctly drawn. Even when he was with the girls who were mean, he never made me stop and he wouldn’t let anyone else use it.”

“And you didn’t realize that had to mean something, sugarplum?” Wolfie asks, pulling back a little. “I know you were hurt badly at the end, but consider you have always been something special to him. I think if he’d known what they were going to do, he would have stopped them, parents be damned.”

Blinking, I think about that. I’ve never thought about what would have happened if the girls hadn’t gone rogue and switched their evil plans to me when I helped Allegra Constance Holmes on that fateful night. She was a late transfer—moving here in our senior year—and besides the Nip/Tucks torturing her; she spent alotof time in Andromeda’s office.

That wasn’t necessarily suspicious because quite a few of us took more time with her than others, but Allegra eclipsed the rest of us by far. She had a class period in counseling every day, and the elites loved to rub that in. They were convinced she belonged in a loony bin because of her daily appointments and appearance.

I didn’t know her well; no one did. The only reason she wasn’t the recipient of their wrath that evening was because I was walking by the room where Amy Matilda and the others were discussing the plans. I scurried back to the dressing rooms, filling Antigone and Allegra in as quickly as I could. Antigone came up with the plan for me to switch places in the lineup with Allegra and rushed off to let the escorts know.

The boys—Edgar, Benjy, Billy, Sander, and Dylan—were nowhere to be found, according to Antigone. I remember assuming they were out smoking weed and it wouldn't have been unusual for that to be the case. Once all the athletic scholarships were locked, the boys went a little crazy with rebellion. WHFS’ janitor quit over some pranks they played in the last three months of school. So the three of us worked to execute our plan to prevent them from making Allegra the butt of the jokes for the next decade.

Unfortunately, I claimed that title. How is another story, but perhaps I need to forgive Teddy for not being able to control the girls when he wasn’t even around? It’s always been possible that the boys didn’t even know about the original plan to hurt Allegra, and his behavior afterward was a stupid kid doing stupid things because his parents encouraged him.

Well, shit. I may have some apologizing to do.

“Hold that thought, sugarplum. You haven’t seen what we’re all wearing yet, and we haven’t opened your bag. Reserve some of that fire for the big reveal,” Wolfie says as he holds his hand out.

My eyes narrow. “Why would you say that?”

“I’ve guessed what the theme is, and based on everyone else, I can’t WAIT to see what your crazy bestie did with your costume. You’re going to need to walk in with the confidence of Beyonce, love.”

Oh, fuck me.

Couldn’t things be simple just this once?

Wreck Havoc

“We can’t let this take too long. Peanut will wonder where the feck we’ve been, and I can only make so many excuses for our absence. She doesn’t believe that we got called away as it is.”

Julia looks at me, pushing her silvery hair out of her eyes. She knows that even if I’ve rejoined her polycule, my first allegiance always has to be to my charge. Guardians frequently have to make choices they aren’t fond of when their charges need them, but it’s what they have trained us to do since birth. “Flash, you know we need to deal with this. There’s no way the coven hasn’t made their way here. We thwarted their activities in Salem until we’re ready, but…”

“I know, J. But we won’t be able to help protect them and keep her in the dark until she’s fully emerged if we don’t get there to ward off any issues.” I tap my foot, gazing into the distance, waiting for Bane to appear. She called us to fight off the ‘tiny problem,’ two weeks ago, but what we found was a major uprising.

Tharin shifts his bulk. “The increase in activity from non-Society malcontents is troubling.”

“Fuck yeah, it is. They’ve had to recall loads of retirees to assist the current Guardians. People who haven’t been active in decades or longer are now trying to catch up with both tech and magick. It’s a goddamn shit show,” Zasha grumbles. “Meanwhile, we just got settled for the first time in easily as long, and we have to zip around.”

A flash of light announces the elder Guardian, and we all wait until she stalks up to our group. Andromeda Bane has been molding pre-emerged hybrids for longer than any of us have been alive, and that's saying something when you count Zasha. Her dark obsidian eyes glitter with impatience as she runs them over us, silent until her enormous ghostly gumiho approaches. The phantom fox shakes its massive tails, sparkling magick separating over us as it takes an aggressive stance.

“There’s no need for theatrics, Andromeda. Call Kumiko off before Zasha and Seer lose control. You know we can’t have an event outside of Whistler’s Hollow,” Julia says as she rolls her eyes.

“I do not take orders from you, Ricci. The Society and the Council are my only masters and even they do not give me sarcasm when they hand down missives. Know your place.” Andromeda retorts.

“Lasses, we dinna have time to swing dicks. Our little group needs to get to our house to change and head for the ball. Bane, you need to find Mayor Nelia and fill her in on the mission. She needs to prepare her resources to create a search party—the witches and mages cannot find the entire town in one small building. It would be disastrous in more than one way.” I sigh, looking at the watch on my wrist. We’ve wasted enough time waiting for her to get here; there’s none left for disagreements.

“Aye, the pixie is correct. We all have roles to fill this evening, and our ability to stop the impending doom is waning as we waste time,” Zasha adds, yawning as if he’s bored out of his mind.

He’s beautiful to look at, but he’s such an asshat when he isn’t being entertained.

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