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“What do you say?”

“I’d love to.”

“Be back for dinner. You’re invited, too, of course,” she said to Asher.

“I will be,” said Sunny as she bent down to slip on some shoes.

Before long, they were making their way down the worn path that connected her house to the mountain where the Black family lived. Not only was it walked by Asher and Sunny almost daily, but Asher had two older siblings who Sunny was close to, and their mothers were best friends. It was a charmed existence here on the mountain at Hecate’s Hollow.

It wasn’t like Sunny had been to many places, but she understood there was something very special here. Part of the mountains lived in their very bones and biology. The women in his family wielded magic to protect the mountain, and the men were given animal forms to protect that magic. Even though gender wasn’t a hard and fast rule, Asher had a great aunt who could turn into a peregrine falcon.

Sunny had a magic all her own. She was a seer. As she and Asher got older, he was called to protect her, just as he was called to protect all the witches in his life.

At first, it all kind of sat a little weird with Sunny, but the more she was with him, the more it felt natural. Here, walking down the path hand in hand, felt natural. Everything between them was always easy. That’s just the way Asher was. He was easy to be around.

As they walked, they came to the stream separating their properties. She was expecting them to sit and have a picnic right here, in one of their favorite spots. But as she slowed, Asher turned to her with a mischievous smile.

“I found an amazing field full of wildflowers. Would you like to see it?”

Sunny nodded, returning his grin.

“Okay, this way,” he said, guiding her over the stepping stones to cross the creek.

The path on the other side was rougher, having not been walked as much. But Asher was ahead of her, holding back branches and knocking down spiderwebs. Asher took her hand and helped her up a small climb, where the exposed roots of the tree acted like a ladder. Sunny was more than capable of doing it herself, but Asher liked to help her. He was becoming more and more protective of her.

Afterward, they came to a beautiful clearing.

“Oh, Asher, this is beautiful! When did you find this?”

Before them was a field of soft yellow and purple flowers. In the center was a gnarled old oak tree that looked to be older than she could even comprehend.

“I’ve been exploring on my own a lot more since the shift. I’ve found some really cool spots, but when I saw this one, I knew I had to show you.” He bent down, plucked a purple flower, and tucked it behind her ear.

Asher’s shift transformed him into a beautiful black wolf. The first time Sunny had seen him in his wolf, she was terrified until the big animal trotted right up to her, licked her cheek, and laid his huge head in her lap. All he really wanted was scritches.

“Come on,” he said, taking her by the hand and walking them over to the tree before he flicked out the picnic blanket.

She followed him and dropped down on the blanket, gazing out over the field. A breeze forcing the flowers and grass to curve into a technicolor wave.

“My mom made these,” he said as he brought out a Tupperware container filled with crispy marshmallow treats. “But I made these.” He pulled out two waxed-paper-wrapped sandwiches.

They sat together in silence and enjoyed the meal, the mountain, and each other.

Somewhere in their friendship, things had started to turn into more. Even though they were young, having Asher in her life filled her with a bone-deep sense of peace.

“I had another vision last night?”

“Oh yeah?” he said as he ripped off a piece of his sticky treat.

“Yeah, when I was getting ready for bed, I looked out my window. When I looked up in the sky, I could see an older woman in the moon. Then all the shooting stars started shooting off around her.”

“Do you know who it was?”

Sunny shrugged and shook her head. “My mom thought it might be an ancestor or maybe even Hecate herself.”

Being this young, she didn’t have much control over her visions. Her mom had told her that was something she would get in time and practice using her gift.

“There’s only one more week of school. What do you want to do this summer?” Asher asked.