AllFreeNovel
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I take note of their actions, then follow their lead.
We stay at the bookstore for a perfectly reasonable few hours, all while I attempt to figure out what’s going on. Mentions of Faerie appear in such brief snatches, it’s as though they’re hardly important. Existing with magic at their fingertips isn’t some massive revelation. It’s their normal life.
Discussion of the latest royal court comes on the coattails of trying a sushi train in the town over, which devolves into whether we should go by flying carriage or car.
And.
I.
I just.
I cannot hope to compare myself to the insanity.
Willow’s bluntness has me reeling almost every time she opens her mouth, and Alana? Alana has barely stopped singing to herself the entire time I’ve been around her. The tunes ebb and flow with purpose, and they’re beautiful, unlike anything I’ve ever heard.
In contrast to the vibrant way these women live, I’m nodding along to plans of a sushi train as though I’ve not been vegetarian my entire life and the inevitable cross-contamination would give me the worst food poisoning ever.
The hints of magic in the air have me completely forgetting I drove to the bookstore until I’m halfway down the forest path leading to Willow’s cottage. Blinking out of the trance, I discover my face hurts. It’s been frozen in a smile for the past few hours.
I’m exhausted.
I don’t know why.
I want to cry, just a little bit, but all I can do is grip Howl’s Moving Castle a little tighter and attempt to find the correct spot to interrupt the conversation with the smallest ha ha, I left my car at the bookstore. Crazy, I totally forgot I was having so much fun. We’ll have to do this again sometime. Bye.
Alana is relaying, in detail, the events of an anime I have never heard of. She is going three thousand miles per hour.
There are no openings.
Despite the absence of openings, Willow interjects, “Sandwiches.” Tilting forward, she looks past Alana at me. “We’re having sandwiches for dinner. Leftover rooster.”
My muscles tighten. Because I don’t know how to reply to that any more than I know how to reply to what Alana is still saying about magical boys and pink wombats. The surreal feeling snaps, and I remember how one interacts with people. My script is the same as it has been since middle school. How silly of me to forget. “I have to get back home soon. My parents are probably expecting me.”
Willow arches a brow. “So what you’re saying is you could have sandwiches with us if you lived with Pollux.”
My heart hits my ribs.
Alana pauses her rendition of whatever episode she’s on now to add, “Pollux has a whole bedroom ready for you.”
Dry humor washes across Willow’s face. “And you two are already married.”
Alana’s eyes bulge. “Wait, what? This is not information I received during my last session. I didn’t know you could get married before you were claimed.” Her attention whips to me. “Congratulations.”
I open my mouth, remember I shouldn’t thank her, and bite my tongue before I blurt how it was an absolute accident. Until this moment, I was not aware it was a semi-public one. But of course it is. Why wouldn’t Pollux share news of his marriage with his friends? As far as I can tell, he’s been waiting on his soulmate for a long, long time with very limited access to people who could stand being around him.
I’m a game changer for him on so many levels. My presence alone allows him to exist around people who would, without whatever it is I am interfering, be terrified of him.
“You seem stressed, Kass,” Willow comments. “Is matrimony not all you thought it might be?”
“It’s…” My mind wanders. “…interesting.”
“You get used to the biting, in my experience.”
I shut my brain off in order to block out the resulting imagery.
“My, doesn’t this sound fun…” A voice whispers from the trees, and my companions freeze.
As a unit, we look up to find a man twisting a dagger between his fingers. Contrasting heavily against his black robes, long white hair shines in the dying rays of sunlight. Like fingers, the light slips across a tattered strip of cloth tied around his eyes.
