Page 10 of Finn's Solace

I couldn't believe he'd asked to meet up tomorrow. This was exciting!

I hadn't been to the café he'd mentioned, but I'd seen it when I'd driven around town to get a sense of where everything was. It looked cozy, and it was right by the docks, so it was popular too.

When was the last time I'd been this excited to see someone? I couldn't remember.

It wasn't all about reconnecting with an old friend either. The Finn of today was a lot different than the brave little child I'd met years ago. I'd been a kid back then too, but now we were both changed. We were both adults, and Finn had grown up into a fine specimen of one.

While I did just want to rekindle our friendship, I wouldn't complain if things took a romantic turn.

Five

Finn

I'd asked Levi to meet at the new café at the docks, The Witching Hour, because it was mostly aimed toward the tourists—one of Cam's brainchildren—and therefore not usually frequented by the people I knew. Until I was a hundred percent sure about letting Levi back into my life, I didn't want to introduce him to anyone.

Plus, they made great coffee, and they had an extra-strong supe menu. The locals might not visit it often, but they definitely ordered deliveries. I was pretty sure it was the only place in town with a delivery service for coffee, and even that was only for the local supe clientele. The guy who delivered was supe himself, and could fly fast enough to deliver piping-hot coffee anywhere in town within minutes of ordering.

I'd shown up a few minutes early, and I was glad I had because finding a space to park was a nightmare.It was why I usually preferred to walk, especially when I was headed toward the touristy side of town, but I hadn't wanted to risk being late.

Once I found a spot, I made my way to the café, and debated between sitting outside or inside. It didn't look like Levi was here yet, so the choice fell to me. The weather was perfect today—a rarity these days—so I picked a table outside that would still afford us a little privacy to talk freely.

My basilisk side was unusually quiet in my head, and I hoped he would stay that way. While he didn't actually talk to me, he was very good at communicating without words.

"Finn!"

I glanced up, smiling as I saw Levi approach. Then I spotted Greta riding on his shoulder, and my smile softened.

"Hey, Finn. Greta insisted she tag along. I hope you don't mind," Levi said, probably noticing my preoccupation.

Greta peered at me with beady black eyes, and I smiled, giving her a little wave. "Not at all. Like I said, she's cute. I didn't really get to talk to her yesterday."

"You've met a familiar before, haven't you?" Levi asked, his blue eyes bright with curiosity as he took the chair across from me, and Greta slid from his shoulder to his lap before standing up with her hands clasped on the table's edge, clearly curious about my answer as well. She hadn't met Neya when she came by yesterday, but I had a feeling they'd make good friends.

"I live with one. My dad is a mage," I explained, and he blinked.

"Your dad? Did you reconnect with your family?"

I winced, and shook off the memories of the 'family' Levi was referring to. "No. My dads adopted me and my siblings. It's a long story." A story that I didn't really want to dive in just then. Not before we'd talked about simpler things, before I had an idea of how much Levi had changed in the years since we last met.

"This place looks great," he said, clearly sensing my wish to change the subject. He was as perceptive as before.

Levi's messy black hair looked windblown, and his blue eyes were bright as they watched me, his lips curved in a smile. Last time, I'd noticed he was a few inches shorter than me—which had felt strange because he'd been the taller one the last time we saw each other—but he was stockier, muscular where I was still mostly skin and bones. He was dressed in dark jeans and a graphic tee with the picture of a rock climbing a ladder and the text 'Rock Climbing' beside it. I snorted.

"You like my shirt?" he asked with a grin, and I shook my head.

"No way," I said, though my smile proved me a liar.

He chuckled, then eyed the front of the café. I followed his gaze, taking in the glass front and what we could see of the inside from here. Donna—short for Belladonna—the resident black cat of the cafe, sat in her perch on the other side of the glass, watching people walk by with her inquisitive gaze. Behind her, the café was decorated in blacks and purples, herbs and fake bats hanging from the ceiling.

From my last visit, I knew they served coffee in little black mugs with a design of purple flames licking at their sides, and their coffee pots were shaped like cauldrons. They also served some 'special' drinks in weird colors to make them seem more 'witchy.'

"I'm guessing an actual witch owns this place," Levi said, and I hummed in agreement.

"Yeah, his name is Rory. How did you guess?" I asked, since there were a bunch of clues to pick from.

"The menu has a section shielded from human eyes for supe-only drinks, and this," he said, pointing to the cat figurine sitting in the center of our table. It was a tiny thing, barely the size of my thumb, but very detailed.

"The cat figurine?" I asked, confused. But when I focused on it, I realized there was magic contained in it. A spell of some kind? Huh. How had I not noticed it before?

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