Page 4 of All My Hexes (Pine Gulch Ever After)

Shadow

“Oh my gods this place is hells on Earth!”

Amadala and I turn together to look at the troll male who’s just sidled up to the bar at the Lizard Lick Saloon.

We’re at the far end of Main Street and we’ve been into almost every business.

Amadala’s drunk as shit and was just flirting with a hot minotaur in a three piece suit, but then this troll shoved his way between us and the bar.

He’s sweaty, hands trembling as he dabs his forehead with a handkerchief. He snaps the fingers of his other hand, trying to get the bartender’s attention. “A pumpkin mead, please.”

The bartender sets it down with a wry look. There’s history there, I’m sure of it.

No sooner has the troll lifted the goblet than the legs of his stool crumple and he falls to the ground.

“Nooooo!” he shrieks as the mead goes flying, covering his face and chest.

Amadala and I step to the side as he flails. Before he can get his footing, the rustic floorboards ripple hard, the bar carrying him through the crowd. The male unwillingly rides the wave all the way to the door, where the saloon flings it open and tosses him into the street.

The female bartender laughs, slapping her rag over her shoulder. She cups her hands around her mouth. “Keeper down!”

Monsters all up and down the bar start banging their cups against it, echoing her words as laughter rises up around us.

Amadala and I shared a wide-eyed look, and then burst into laughter.

We watch in shock as the bartender reaches under the bar and withdraws a cowbell. Hopping up onto the bar, she hangs it from a hook in the ceiling, in line with maybe a dozen others.

When she leaps back down, I can’t withhold my curiosity.

“What’s the scoop with the cowbell?”

She pours two meads as she grins at Amadala and me.

“It’s pretty much a running joke at this point how PG herself won’t tolerate any of the keepers monster HQ sends us.

So at this point we bide our time and once the town’s had her fill of ‘em, she kicks ‘em to the curb just like that one. Maybe we’re just a little too wild for traditional monster politics, I don’t know. ”

I mull that over as the troll at the bar starts flirting with Amadala again. Lizard Lick Saloon’s a little younger crowd than the Whiskey Business. I preferred that one, but who am I to stand between my friend and the booty she’s definitely getting tonight?

As I finish my second pumpkin mead, Amadala turns to me with wide eyed excitement.

“Girl, I think it’s happening. He asked me to get out of here, wants to show me the stars or something. Which I hope is code for fuck like rabbits on his truck hood. You good if I skip out?”

I knew this was a possibility and I’m thrilled for my girls. We’re career women at home. We need this.

I shove Amadala toward the big, handsome minotaur, who’s eyeing her like the snack she is. “Get outta here, girl. Tell me all about it tomorrow.”

She goes up onto her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “Love you, bitch. See you for…not breakfast. Lunch for sure, though.”

I smile. “Linner is more like it, knowing you.”

She blows me a second kiss as the minotaur takes her hand and guides her toward the door.

Around me, the bar bustles and I’ve got a nice little buzz, but I haven’t struck up a natural conversation with anyone else here. Pulling out the scavenger hunt paper, I check out the only thing we haven’t done yet.

“Pumpkin and gourd maze,” I muse aloud. That definitely sounds up my alley, so I scan the directions before shoving the paper back in my purse.

Outside, Main Street is even more full than before. The band is crazy loud, so I pick my way around the musicians and up the sidewalk. I cross over at the Welcome Inn, finding the alleyway that leads behind the row of businesses. Monsters walk up and down the alleyway. Most wave and say hello.

It’s lovely, the small town vibe of everyone knowing everyone or at least greeting those they don’t know.

The alleyway ends, opening into an enormous oval space.

In front of me there’s a flea market with string lights above it.

Even this late at night, most of the vendors are open and hawking their wares.

On the far left, the auction house encloses the space.

The back patio is full of groups laughing and drinking.

But the entire area between those two things?

A maze.

Not just a maze, but a maze made of arched hallways dripping with pumpkins and gourds. My mouth drops open, my magic buzzing to my fingertips. It’s so?—

“Beautiful, ain’t it?”

I jolt and jump back a foot, heart racing as I jerk my head upward.

Dain laughs, brows raising as he lifts both hands. “Sorry, Shadow, didn’t mean to terrify ya. You must’a been a bit more entranced than I realized.”

I wave a hand to cool down my face. Is it hot out here? Laughing, I point to the green floral pattern on the edges of my sleeves. “Green witch. This place is pretty much my catnip.”

He grins at me, and it’s so fucking sexy with the way his amethyst eyes crinkle in the corners.

Not to mention he’s huge, standing almost two heads taller than me.

And now that he’s not tucked behind that skinny bar, his wings are held aloft and more relaxed.

They’re gorgeous too with deep purple and black veins and sharp black claws.

Andddd now I’m thinking lascivious thoughts about the male smirking at me. I’m about to start babbling about how many species of gourd there are, but thankfully, he saves me from my favorite topic.

“The garden’s the last spot on your scavenger hunt, if I recall correctly. Although,”—he looks around—“you seem to have been deserted.”

I laugh. “They left me for greener pastures, you might say.”

He snorts. “Is that a country metaphor? Well done.”

When he offers me his arm, I slip my fingers through, resting them in the crook of his elbow.

“How are you growing this garden here?” I glance up at him. “The west isn’t exactly known for rainfall but these plants are thriving in a way even green magic can’t achieve without nature doing some of the work.”

He nods. “We had a very beloved keeper long ago who built this garden. After he passed, the Gulch never ever accepted anyone else, and this garden was his passion project. So the town got together and devised a system of gutters and rain barrels to collect the little rain we do get.”

He points to the red dirt beneath our feet. “There’s also an underground reservoir and series of canals beneath us that’s fed by snowmelt. So, there’s a bit more water than it seems at first.”

I pepper him with questions about their water containment system as we walk to the closest pumpkin hallway.

“Gods, these are so pretty!” I squeal with excitement at the multicolored mini pumpkins hanging like tiny decorations from the arched frame. Their vines and leaves curl throughout a network of supports. Up close, each one is supported by a near invisible mesh that’s tied to the metal bars.

“Brilliant,” I murmur. The creative side of my brain is already thinking about how to incorporate this into some of my upcoming projects back home.

By my side, Dain’s quiet, seeming content to watch me as I gush over the garden.

Or maybe I’m being weird, getting so excited about pumpkins at midnight. Just as quickly as awkwardness rises, I quash it down. If he thinks I’m being weird about pumpkins, then we’re likely not a great fit to hang out.

Laughter rings out from the opposite end of the maze, followed by a crash and a series of loud curses.

Dain sighs. “Sounds like one of the tourists tried to walk into the gnome village.”

“Oooh, got zapped by the protective magic, I suppose?”

“It’s strong here,” Dain says with a gentle laugh. “Our gnomes are just about feral on the best of days and they don’t take kindly to monsters walking through their space. The magical barrier around their village’ll blast you back a few feet.”

“Poor things,” I say. “So, I guess that’s what’s in the middle of the maze?”

Dain chuckles. “That’s it, pretty girl. You got the scavenger hunt all checked off?”

“I do now.” I wave the paper to show him. He takes it and shoves it back in my purse, slinging his other hand around my waist at the same time. Bending down, he drops his gaze to my mouth and licks his lips.

“I got a beautiful garden at my place, Shadow. Would you like to come see it?”

My mouth drops open, but I zip it quickly shut. He’s speaking my love language by hinting at yet more foliage. I lift a brow. “Are you offering to show me your…plants?”

His answering chuckle is so deep and resonant, my nipples pebble at the promise of it. “That and anything else you might wanna see. You can take what you want from me, little witch.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” I say with a wink. Don’t mind at all.