Page 43 of Reluctant Witch (A Course in Magic #2)

43

Dan

Dan wasn’t sure how he felt about what he could do magically. He’d reduced one witch to ashes, and he’d left another witch as a powerless badger. He felt like there were good magics and bad magics, and his gift felt like both. He could take people’s magic, leave them empty, but he could gift that magic to others.

He felt the weight of the magic he’d stolen from the last head of House Grendel. Who will live and die as a wild animal. Dan touched the wall of the castle, and a pressure inside him made him lean against the wall.

Let it go.

Let it flow into this place that has felt like home.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, and Agnes’ magic rolled out of his body into the stones. As it did, he felt like pain was escaping. A weight shifted from his shoulders. He was no longer holding on to stolen magic.

Now I just need to deal with a stolen house.

He was more stressed about moving into the house that was, by extension, his now. The castle hobs were like family. Well, like a family of pranksters… and Agnes had felt malevolent. Her magic had made him feel agitated.

“Clance?” Dan called out. He was sitting on his bed in his room in the castle.

“Yes.” Clancy appeared next to him, sprawled out on a pillow that was almost sofa-sized for someone of his stature.

“Why are the hobs so nice to me?”

“Because you belong here.” Clancy looked up at him, expression uncommonly serious. “You were always going to replace the last Grendel. She was untethered. We knew.”

“How?”

“Because we are magic, child.” Clancy sat upright, legs folded crisscross, and hands held loosely in his lap. “We made this place, you know, and we knew you were ours. You’ll be good for a lot of people.”

“Oh.”

“Some people aren’t ready to be who they are. Some people are afraid of their magic. Some people want to be something else entirely. You? You are sure of yourself.”

“Me?” Dan gaped at him. “I doubt everything. I feel like I think things to death. I’m anxious. I’m… just a guy who screws up a lot.”

Clancy shook his head. “You’re a person who tries. You ask hard questions. You and Thesis were needed. Now that you’re ready to be what you already were, you’ll help Crenshaw. That’s the real secret of being a house head. You do the hard things, and you try to make the world better.”

“Oh… well, thank you.” Dan squirmed a little. “I don’t want to go to that house without any hobs, or without Axell, but…”

“Why would you go without us?” Clancy scowled. “I picked you. You’re my witch. I’ll transfer to House Grendel and look after you. That was already the plan.”

“I’ll screw up.”

“Well, of course you will. Witches are human. So they make mistakes. Luckily, you have magic—and by magic I mean hobs. We always steer things back to right.” Clancy stood and stretched. “Now, I need to get back to work. The house is tidy, and her things were re-sorted. Furniture shifted. Everything will be yours soon.”

“Right… then, well.” Dan looked over, but Clancy was gone. The decision to move felt better. I can do this, Dan tried to tell himself, although to be honest, he was still fairly sure there was a mistake. He didn’t feel like he ought to be in charge of anything.

But houses were limited, and he couldn’t just decide to stay in the castle. Could I? The last of his cohort was settled in the castle, and a few of the people from town were deciding to stay here. Other witches were moving to group houses or apartments. Everything was starting to change.

There were still at least two remedial witches who might be siphoned, and Dan could tell that now, but tonight they’d all been given leave to roam freely throughout the castle. It felt like a small victory to him, since he’d been doing as much since he was released from the infirmary.

Maybe I am House Grendel.

“Ana has been making liquor,” Axell announced from the open door to Dan’s room.

“Where?”

“Built a still in an unused classroom.” Axell shrugged, as if brewing a highly flammable liquor in closed spaces was of no concern.

“Moonshine? A still? What was she thinking?” Dan gaped at him.

“It’s not just moonshine,” Axell said, grinning at him. “I am to be Dionysus, and she is a part of my house. We are updating the liquor options for the tavern.”

“In a classroom ?”

Axell shrugged, and Dan couldn’t question the idea that the beautiful Norwegian man in front of him was well suited for the role of Dionysus. He was languid in ways that made him look like a rock star without putting any effort into it.

“I was thinking that you would need a house-toasting party,” Axell said the words casually, but there was a question there, too. He wasn’t pressuring, wasn’t even asking if they would live together in the house that Dan suddenly had.

He knows I’m scared.

“Warming,” Dan corrected absently. “ We would have a house warming party.”

Axell stepped into the room they’d been keeping as “Dan’s” even though they practically lived in Axell’s room. The door closed behind him, and Axell leaned against it. “We?”

“Do you plan to live in a tent or something like the last Dionysus? Cuddle up with badgers and whatever willing person—”

“I want a specific willing person. No matter where I sleep.” Axell shook his head. “I know what I like, Daniel. I like you. ”

“Enough to live with me?” Dan asked softly. “If you had a house, too, would you still want to live with me?”

“ Ja. Yes. Always. Yes.” Axell crossed the room and crawled onto the bed, so he was sprawled on top of Dan. He leaned down, lips hovering over Dan’s. “Is that what you want?”

“I do,” Dan said, thinking briefly that he liked saying those words to Axell. Maybe someday…

But then Axell’s lips met his, and Dan stopped thinking.

Right here, right now. This was enough.