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Fire engines and police cruisers greeted our arrival. Someone—or something—had set the house ablaze and torn most of the roof off.

Conn wandered away to find out what he could. I stared at the mess and made a list in my head of all the possessions being burned to cinders. It wasn’t long before Conn reappeared.

“No one was in the house when they arrived. The man-made guardian we captured is gone, handcuffs and all. They’re saying the furnace in the attic exploded. It’s the only answer that made sense to them with all the debris scattered around. The guardian that attacked us either did something to cause this or he was rescued by others of his kind.”

I nodded absently. At least Conn hadn’t concluded that Rasmus flew over here and released him. I think we both believed that the tormented creature we saw Rasmus turn into was too confused by his pain to take such an action.

“Well, it’s not like I had a lot to lose. I’m going to miss my witch kit for sure, but it’s all replaceable. The only true loss for me tonight was Rasmus. And I still have hope he somehow survived his transmogrification.”

Conn reached out and patted the top of my head. “Your naivety is showing, but I’m going to let you float in denial. You deserve it after today.”

“I’m being hopeful, Conn. Come with me. I need to show ya something.” I took Conn by the hand and led him to the side yard.

“Look down,” I ordered, putting my own gaze on the ground. There was a trail of feathers leading from the front of the house to the backyard. “I think Rasmus is still transforming. He may remember himself yet.”

“It doesn’t matter if he remembers being human or not, Aran. Nephilim don’t have feelings and emotions like humans do. That’s part of what makes their immense power so destructive. Their creation was outlawed by the gods for the good of the world.”

“Are ya saying Rasmus is some kind of Frankenstein monster?”

“I’m saying, that if Rasmus is Nephilim, he’s the child of an angel-human relationship. It’s the most prohibited relationship in all of creation. Eons ago their existence prompted the gods to wipe out all of mankind just to get rid of them. The guardians, whoever they are, are playing with things that could end all life on Earth again.”

“But we don’t know his story for sure. Rasmus himself told me he didn’t remember anything about his past.”

Conn narrowed his gaze. “Give it up, honey. You cannot save that creature. You tried to save the vessel he dwelled in and that didn’t work. There’s nothing to be gained by wishing for a different outcome. You know I would never lie to you about something this important.”

My sigh was loud enough to drown out the sound of more sirens. The closest fire engine was still pumping gallons and gallons of water onto the roof of the house.

I nodded to let Conn know I’d actually heard his lecture and taken it in. “I liked it better when all we had to worry about was a cheapskate troll stealing sheep from local farmers for his dinner. Life was simple back then. Ireland was simple. Why does everything in America have to be so freaking complicated?”

Conn smiled at my complaints. “Go talk to the owner of the rental. She wants to know we’re both okay. I told her we were out for the evening and came home to find the house on fire.”

I nodded before Conn walked off.

When he could no longer see me, I stooped to pick up a feather. It glistened gray in my hand and turned to white while I watched. Fascinated, I stooped and gathered up a few more. All of them did the same as I held them.

I could use them to scry for Rasmus and keep track of the creature he’d become. Would that be considered stalking? Would Conn gripe at me over it? The answer to both was yes, but I was feeling rebellious.

I gathered up all the feathers I could find until the pockets of my clothing bulged with them.

As I turned to head back to the front of the now sopping wet house, I felt the wind lift my hair—except the wind wasn’t blowing.

A naked man with glowing blue eyes and dark gray wings floated gently down to land until he stood in front of me. His hair was long and black with white at the temples. He bowed his head to me slightly. The Nephilim’s physical body—if Conn was right—looked enough like the human version to be a blood sibling.

I more than suspected the Rasmus I met was still in there... somewhere. Since I was afraid to speak aloud and break the moment, I merely repeated his head bow. Finally, my tongue got the better of my mind. “Are ya okay, Rasmus? Did the change hurt ya? I was worried about what happened.”

His body changed from gray to white until it glowed like the feathers I’d gathered. Instead of answering, he bent his knees and launched himself like a rocket into the night sky again. His wings wrapped around him, shielding the rest of him. He looked like a shooting star as he moved.

Had the feathers been a message for me? Conn would likely call them a warning. Perhaps they were both. But given the fierceness of Conn’s fight with the man-made guardian we captured, I think if the new Rasmus creature had wanted me dead I would have been.

I studied the sky, looking for signs Rasmus was flying around up there, but I saw none. I hadn’t imagined that whole thing, though. He’d come to see me after his change and left me some of his feathers for proof.

One day soon, I was going to have to tell Conn about the creature’s visit, but not tonight. Right now, I needed to call Katie, tell her what happened to the house, and see if she had a room for us. I also needed to reassure our rental house host that none of this was her fault.

Tomorrow, I would need to shop and replace the things I lost from my witching kit. When I wasn’t sharing Conn’s energy, I needed a full witch’s toolbox. I could do simple spells without those things, but I couldn’t scry or do the more complicated ones.

I suppose things could have been worse. I couldn’t see how yet, but it would come to me. It always did.

What still depressed me was that none of my numerous goodbyes to Jack had been good enough to banish him. Now, after losing Rasmus, my only option to discover the truth of things was to track down my devious ex-husband and torture him until he answered my questions.

I’d rather kiss a fish-lipped leprechaun than deal with Jack again any time soon, but a magickal life tended not to give ya a lot of options. Would I be paying forever for my decision to marry Jack? Goddess, I hoped not.

I followed my heart when it came to love and my head when it came to witching. Both led me into trouble and more trouble, but there had been plenty of good times too. Twenty years ago, they’d led me into marriage and motherhood. Maybe one day in the near future they would stop leading me back to a man I never wanted to see again.

At least turning forty wasn’t as terrible as I feared it would be. And I’d survived the last seven years of my life, which validated my optimism for what lay ahead. Conn and I had freed some sort of ancient creature from captivity. That counted in my favor, right?

Maybe I was officially a midlife witch, but the biggest adventure of my life seemed to be just getting started.

— THE END —