Page 61 of Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches
On the evening of his eighteenth birthday, Kieran found himself watching Sebastian’s sisters tear him to pieces.
“You look like you’re going to a business meeting,” his sixteen-year-old sister, Mei, said.
Her inky-black hair was in a long braid down her back, tied off with a ribbon, and she wore a stylish skirt and a button-down shirt.
The outfit was nice, but not overly formal, unlike what her brother had chosen.
“I want to make a good impression,” Sebastian shot back, straightening his tie for the umpteenth time. “And most good impressions start with looking the part.”
“Of what, a tax collector?” eight-year-old Lisha shot back from where she was sitting on the couch beside Kieran.
While Sebastian blushed, Kieran couldn’t hold in his laughter.
Now that he’d known Sebastian’s sisters for a few months, it occurred to him that they had a lot in common with Briar—namely, their ability to absolutely eviscerate their brother at the drop of a hat.
Mei and Lisha, though, managed to do it even more sharply than Briar most days.
They may not have been trained assassins like their brother, but that didn’t mean they weren’t well-versed in cutting deep.
Sebastian sighed. “I’m meeting Kieran’s aunt Adelaide tonight—it’s essentially like meeting the parents. I can’t make a fool of myself.”
Kieran smiled. The four were getting ready to head to the Pinwhistle Forest, where the twins had elected to throw a joint birthday party for Kieran and Briar. People had come out from all over Celdwyn, including Adelaide, both of Delilah’s parents, and Ariel and Santiago.
Their pilot and chef had just returned from Esperona, where Santiago had introduced Ariel to his family.
They’d sent piles of postcards detailing their adventures and describing all the finest foods and wines they’d sampled.
Kieran, in turn, had written them enchanted letters: When Ariel and Santiago read them, it was as if they were actually witnessing Kieran’s memories along with him.
Kieran showed them the springs in the Pinwhistle Forest, Verbena, and even the day when Kieran had brought the Witches’ Council to see the springs.
They spent hours examining the waters, taking samples, and discussing what to do.
After they determined that Kieran had, in fact, found a panacea, they announced that he had officially passed his Calling.
They also agreed to help protect the vein in any way they could.
They insisted, though, that Kieran and the others never tell another soul of its properties, lest it be drained of its power, to which the four friends agreed.
And Kieran’s magic, for all its faults, was still flickering proudly in his chest.
“She’s gonna think you’re a weird small businessman,” Lisha shot back at her brother, breaking through Kieran’s thoughts. Seaweed sat in her lap, letting the girl stroke her like a pet cat.
Sebastian put his hands on his hips. “A weird small businessman ? Come, now.”
As much as Kieran was enjoying seeing Sebastian’s slow roast, he stood up from the couch, crossing the floor to reach his boyfriend.
“Hold on,” he said, placing a gentle hand on Sebastian’s arm. “I have an idea of how to fix this.”
“It better not be kissing again,” Lisha grumbled.
Kieran’s cheeks flared red. Earlier, when he and Sebastian had met up in Shui City, Lisha had made the unfortunate mistake of not knocking while the two of them were enjoying a private moment in Sebastian’s bedroom.
Lisha had screamed so loud the neighbors had come over to make sure no one was being murdered.
Kieran was just relieved he’d been wearing pants at the time.
Now he and the Feng siblings were all in the kitchen of Kieran, Delilah, and Briar’s apartment in Gellingham.
The whole place was full of boxes, most of the trio’s belongings packed away in preparation for their upcoming move.
With some financial help from Klaus—in exchange for a small amount of panacea spring water—they’d been able to have a second cabin built in the woods beside the one Klaus had been living in during his time studying the vein and had left to Delilah and Briar. The second one was Kieran’s.
“Take the jacket and tie off,” Kieran said to Sebastian, “so it’s just the button-down and suspenders. That way it’s formal but not too formal. Oh, and, ah…you could always unbutton the first two buttons on your shirt. Or three, if you feel really adventurous.”
“No,” Mei chimed in, glaring at them. “No buttons undone until marriage.”
Sebastian scoffed at her. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“Well, Mom would want me to say the same thing,” Mei argued.
“Yeah!” Lisha agreed. “Mom’s gonna haunt you if you unbutton your shirt!”
Kieran held up his hands. “All right, all right. Understood. Buttons all buttoned, zippers all zipped. Now we should get going. We don’t want to be late for the next trolley.”
The girls and Seaweed got up from their seats to get their things, and as they did, Sebastian nodded toward Kieran gratefully. He mouthed, Thank you.
“Anytime.” Kieran looped his arm through Sebastian’s and flashed him a grin. “You look great, by the way.”
Sebastian’s eyes flickered from Kieran’s face down to the peacock jacket he had on. It was the one he’d gotten in Yarrowport. It looked a bit ostentatious but also very much in line with what Kieran typically chose to wear on a night out.
“You too. You always have good taste in clothes.” Sebastian leaned in close to him and whispered, so quietly there was no way his sisters could hear, “Plus, that collar’s doing a great job of hiding your hickey.”
Kieran turned bright pink. Even with his curse broken, Sebastian still had a habit of biting.
“Okay, let’s go!” Lisha called, marching toward the door. “Don’t wanna be late!”
Kieran and Sebastian exchanged a look, snorted with laughter, and headed out.
When Kieran and the others arrived at the party, they discovered that Delilah had truly outdone herself.
The springs were decorated with layers and layers of lights, both hovering near the ground and sparkling in the trees.
Paper stars were affixed to the branches, and a sign reading Happy 18 th Birthday, Briar and Kieran!
hung over a table boasting carafes of hot cocoa, coffee, and mulled wine.
There were also fires burning in firepits around the springs, seeing as winter was still holding tightly to the region three months after that first blizzard had hit the city.
People wore heavy coats over their party clothes.
There would be time later for everyone to return to the cabins and warm up, but for now, they seemed perfectly happy enjoying the scenery of the spring—and the enchanted warm drinks.
Already, the area was filled with guests.
Kieran recognized a few of Briar’s friends from the gym where she’d been teaching ledrith recently, along with some of the witches with whom Delilah had been rubbing shoulders as she continued her freelance cursebreaking work.
Ariel and Santiago were helping to hand out drinks, along with a warm stew that Santiago had cooked up.
Delilah stood by the fire chatting with her mother, who had made the trip up from Kitfield, while Briar was with Adelaide at a different fire.
As Kieran, Sebastian, and his sisters approached, Ash turned from the fire he was standing at with Klaus and waved.
It was still a bit odd to see him simply as one of his friends, but Kieran had begun to feel rather good about it.
“There you are!” Briar called, waving, as Adelaide just smiled. “We were wondering where you were!”
“Sorry, we missed our trolley!” Kieran jogged in his twin’s direction, Sebastian and Seaweed following while Sebastian’s sisters went to grab hot cocoa. “Everything going well here?”
“I’d say so. Though one of my ledrith friends asked me to introduce her to Adelaide to maybe try asking her out, and it was a little awkward explaining that she’s, y’know, ten times our age.”
“What can I say?” Dressed in a rich blue peacoat, Adelaide adjusted the matching hat over her pale hair and smirked. “I look good for my age.”
Kieran said, “Oh—yes! Adelaide, this is Sebastian—the one I told you about on the phone.”
“And that’s Seaweed,” Briar added as Adelaide’s eyes wandered to the otter-like creature at Kieran’s side. “She’s Kieran’s familiar.”
Adelaide smiled at both, reaching down to scratch Seaweed’s chin. “It’s an honor to meet you both. Always exciting to have new additions to the family.”
Kieran gently took Sebastian’s hand, and the other boy stiffened. Sebastian’s palm was clammy, and it occurred to Kieran that, as usual when it came to meeting new people, his boyfriend was nervous.
“It’s good to meet you, Adelaide,” Sebastian said, offering her a deep bow. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting more of Kieran’s family.”
“Well, the great news is, you can stop with me—there aren’t many Pelumbras worth meeting.
” Seeing the way Sebastian hesitated at that, Adelaide just laughed.
She straightened from petting Seaweed and patted Sebastian on the shoulder.
“Kieran’s told me all about your adventure together. It’s a pity I couldn’t join you.”
“But who else would take care of ruining the Pelumbra family in the meantime?” Briar pointed out.
Adelaide looked more than a bit proud of herself. “You know, I meant to tell you both about the last time I saw your father. Oh, he was boiling mad…”