Page 106 of Found in Obscurity

They were, but this felt right. He had a whole house that breathed with his mother’s and father’s memories. This…he could let go. “I’m sure. I’d be happy for you to have it.”

Millie’s eyes glistened more and she squeezed his hand tighter. “Thank you so much, Lorin.”

Lorin turned his smile downward. “It’s nothing.”

“Not true,” Kit murmured, hugging his arm tighter and pressing his mouth to his shoulder.

“I’d hug you too, but this belly and all these layers are like a forcefield, I swear,” she joked. “It’s hard to make it outside of my own orbit.”

They all laughed together and Lorin felt…happy. Despite the sense of impending doom, thisdidfeel like fate. Like they had been put on paths to intersect at the exact right time.

They traded numbers to set up a time for Millie to drop by and then she hurried off to work, leaving Kit and Lorin standing where they had stopped. Kit was staring up at him with glowing eyes filled with some unnameable but delicate emotion.

“What?” Lorin murmured.

“Love you,” was Kit’s easy response, but it still knocked all the air out of Lorin’s lungs. “You’re brave.”

“You’re braver.”

“We’re braver together.” Kit turned his face up for a kiss and Lorin gave it without question, their chapped lips brushing and warming one another.

A flap of wings and a shrill caw broke them from the moment. Lorin pulled back and looked up at the gray sky where Sjena was perched on a lamppost, staring at them with her beady eyes.

No more delays.

The spell and spellwork was intensive. Lorin had never seen anything like it when they stepped inside, couldn’t begin to understand the intricacies of it, and it scared the stars out of him. It was only his complete trust in his grandma that allowed him to stand by and not whisk Kit away immediately.

It took four elders to perform it, one at every pole with their familiars at their feet. North, East, South, and West. His grandma and Flora were familiar at the North and South, but Lorin only loosely recognized Nomi and Alfred from around town—Nomi’s ebony skin offset by her white robes, Alfred’slong, gray beard brushing the embroidered stars on his chest. They chanted for what felt like hours, staffs stuck firmly into the ground, pointed hats pulled low over their weathered faces.

The sky shifted with the pressure of their combined magic, like a building storm as they chanted together. Lorin could hear it rumble in the distance, in roiling waves that made it hard to breathe or talk.

And in the epicenter was Kit, glowing white, everything focused on him.

Once it was done, Lorin rushed forward, catching Kit before he hit the ground. He was like a limp doll in his grip.

“Kit?” Lorin turned his face up to him, his beautiful features slack. A lance of worry pierced his stomach. “Kit? Come on, don’t play around with me. Please…”

When Kit’s eyes finally opened they were burning white still, his expression far, far away.

Lorin caught his breath, looking back at his grandma, who was leaning heavily on her staff. “Grandma?”

“He’s fine,” she said roughly, the exhaustion making her voice weaker. “We need to go while the spell is fresh.”

“How? Kit is deadweight and you can all barely stand,” Lorin exclaimed.

All of the elders bristled, drawing themselves upright purposefully while grumbling at him. The only one who laughed was Flora, as bright as ever with her ginger cat familiar winding around her ankles. “We’ll all be fine in a few minutes.”

Lorin gently gathered Kit’s small frame into his arms, one arm hooked under his legs and one behind his back. “Are you sure—”

“West,” Kit mumbled.

Lorin snapped his gaze down. “Kit? Are you okay?”

“West,” he said again, dreamy and far off.

“Let’s go. We have no time to lose,” his grandma said, leading the charge out of the house.

The three of them ended up in one car, with Flora, Alfred, and Nomi following in another. Lorin sat with Kit in the back seat, worrying over him, Kit slowly giving directions as he felt them.