Page 96 of The Witching Hours

“What in gods’ names?” David said.

“That’s Mason’s fiery rain whispering to each other,” I yelled over them.

Aeskilas handed the pen to David and the house fell silent again while David signed.

“So, are you going to keep this solarium, or do you want the backyard returned to its former need for landscaping?” I asked.

David looked around. “This is beautiful, but we need to be able to send the kids outside sometimes.”

Just like that David, Aeskilas and I were sitting on pretty patio furniture in a yard that had been beautifully landscaped with decorative trees, shrubs with shiny polished leaves, flowering plants, and ferns with long delicate fronds.

“Molly is going to love this,” David marveled.

As Aeskilas stood, he said, “Would you like me to wall off the egress now, so you don’t have to worry with it?”

“Yes.” Now that the decision was made, David was looking more lighthearted. “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

“Consider it done.” Turning to me, Aeskilas said, “As for you, are you requesting brokerage commission? What would you like for yourself?”

“I’m being paid by my client. But thank you.”

“Are you sure?” Aeskilas pressed.

“I really have all I need. Unless you can put my bridge back.”

Aeskilas looked askance. “Your bridge?” The humming and whispers in the room surged again. “Ah,” he said. “Your bridge. Well, that would be a big undertaking even for me because I would have to adjust the memory of each and every person who’d been made aware, then I’d have to make sure every bit of evidence to the event was also obliterated as if it had never happened.”

“Yeah. That does sound impossible. Even for you,” I said.

“I didn’t say impossible. I said big undertaking.”

I smiled. “Are you sure you won’t share what you are?”

He smiled. “Nice to meet you Valerie Campbell Danann.”

With a faint pop and a notable adjustment in the air pressure, he was gone leaving David and me sitting on his lovely patio with the remains of lovely drinks.

“You never told me your middle name is Campbell.”

I shrugged. “In our culture, exchanging middle names is an intimacy.” He ducked his chin and chuckled. “Who knows? We might be distant relatives.”

“Might be.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m calling Molly to let her know the coast is clear. She and the kids can come home.”

“And you can get a good night’s sleep in your own beds.” He sighed happily, slurped down the rest of his drink, and said, “I’m going inside to see if there’s a wall.”

One thing I’d learned about Aeskilas from our brief encounter was that he never does things halfway. He’d not only created a wall, but had painted it with a gorgeous mural to match the print Molly had hung of Monet’s garden bridge. Further, the floorplan had been stretched to add another twelve feet to the former living room. It was now an open living and dining space with the dining room furniture sitting in front of the mural.

“She’s going to love this,” David said behind me.

“I think so, too.”

We wandered around to the kitchen and found the door between kitchen and former dining room was closed and locked. A drop box had been installed so that David could retrieve tolls without opening the door.

“Looks like my work here is done,” I quipped.

“Don’t you want to stay until Molly and the kids get here?”

I shook my head. “I think coming to terms with your new normal is a family matter. One thing is sure though, I’m notworried about your financial future. There’ll be enough that you have options.”