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The trees gave way to a large clearing, and the most beautiful home in all of Octavia Falls stood before us. A wall of green ivy grew up the side of the house, and the large arched doorway stood propped open.

After the Miriamic Conflict ended, Nadine and I had returned to our special place at the abandoned mansion behind the school. Turned out the old headmaster’s family still owned the property, but they didn’t wish to return to Octavia Falls and were willing to sell it at a low price. They didn’t think anyone would be interested in sinking their money into restoring the building, but this place had always been our safe haven, and we didn’t care what it took to restore it to its former glory.

We made a respectable salary serving on the Imperium Council, so we’d been able to remodel the front of the house so we could live in it while we worked on restoring the rest of the property. The old, cracked stone steps had been repaired, and the roof had new shingles. We’d removed overgrown weeds and dead shrubs, and now the lawn flourished with fresh-cut grass and colorful flowerbeds. It was everything I could’ve ever dreamed and more for us.

I recalled the first time I brought Nadine here. She’d seen so much beauty in this house, even in its former dilapidated state. I’d struggled to see that and had called it just a house . I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was so much beauty in the detailed crown moldings, and an elegance to the carved mantle in the living room. I once struggled to see the beauty in the world, but Nadine inspired me to find the good in everything. I used to be so unsure of myself, but I wasted so much time looking at the bad. Nadine fell in love with me here in this mansion because she saw all the good I couldn’t see, and I was grateful to finally be witnessing it myself.

That didn’t mean we didn’t have hard days. Nadine and I still had disagreements from time to time, and I could slip back into depressive episodes, but we knew how to communicate through those moments so that even when things were tough, we didn’t have to suffer through it. I attended weekly therapy appointments, and Nadine joined me in healing therapies that had helped us both immensely. We practiced yoga together every morning before the kids woke up, and on the weekends we attended breathwork classes and sound bath therapies at a local studio. We found that when we connected with our bodies, we could create our own kind of magic—in the bedroom and out of it.

When slowing down didn’t work, we strapped the kids in a stroller and took them down to the park, where we played disc golf together or pushed the kids on the swings. Every day was different in our family, but we found that as long as we spent it together, we could get through anything.

As I pulled into the driveway, Nadine stepped onto the front porch with our daughter propped on her hip. She lifted Erica’s hand and helped her wave. The two wore matching dresses that were casual enough for summer, but professional enough for the ceremony today.

“Mommy!” Marcus cried happily.

I parked the car and helped Marcus out of his car seat. He tore across the lawn with his arms spread wide. Isa, Oliver, and Rishi had followed Nadine outside. Rishi ran toward Marcus, but the cat tripped down the stairs and face-planted into the dirt. Isa rushed over to lick Rishi’s ears.

Erica pointed a tiny finger at me. “Dada.”

I hooked the wooden box under my arm, then climbed the porch steps. Nadine and I traded kids. I took Erica in my arms while Nadine scooped Marcus into a tight hug.

“Oof, you’re so big,” Nadine told him. “You’ve only been gone an hour, but I think you grew two inches!”

“Yeah, I’m three inches!” Marcus held up three fingers.

“I think you’re three years old,” Nadine humored him. “And maybe three feet tall.”

“I’m three,” Marcus said. “Three of everything.”

Erica mumbled a string of words I didn’t quite catch. Then she shouted, “Two!”

“That’s right,” I told her, stroking her brown pigtails. “You’re two years old.”

We found out shortly after the war ended that Nadine was pregnant. Erica had been born a few weeks early, though not dangerously early like the twins. She was seven pounds at birth, which was large for a baby born at thirty-six weeks, but now she was a petite little thing that I didn’t think would ever catch up to her brother. She was fourteen months younger than Marcus, but looked significantly smaller.

Nadine leaned forward to peck me on the lips. “We have guests.”

We carried the kids inside, and our cats followed. I hung my keys on a hook near the door, next to Nadine’s set. The modern brass key I’d found upstairs years ago, which I’d given to her on her birthday, dangled from her keychain. It fit into all the locks in the house.

I recalled when she first saw the key, she asked why I’d give it to her.

“ It’s our special place ,” I’d said. “ And this is me promising you we’ll be making lots of memories there. ”

I’d fulfilled my promise, and I continued to do so every day.

Nadine led me past the living room, but I paused for a beat outside the doorway just to take it all in. Sometimes, I still couldn’t believe this was my life. The peeling wallpaper that had once sagged from these walls had been replaced by new drywall and a fresh coat of paint. We’d kept the original hardwood floors but had them refinished. Now, the room was full of our furniture, and children’s toys scattered across the floor.

Above the mantle, the chariot card we’d pulled from Talia’s deck at our wedding hung framed. A taxidermy mouse Gregory had gifted me a few years ago stood on display. We’d found the mouse dead in the house after Oliver caught him, and I remembered what Gregory had said about wanting to do taxidermy art, so I’d given it to him. He came back with this reaper mouse he’d made special for me. The creature was dressed in a black hooded cloak Gregory had sewn himself, and the mouse held a white wand carved out of bone.

Laughter rang down the hall from the direction of the dining room. I tore my gaze off the mantle and continued down the hall, where I found Grant, Talia, Miles, and Chloe gathered around the table. Tall stacks of programs for the ceremony lay in front of them, and they worked together to fold them and pack them away in boxes to take to the school later. There must’ve been hundreds of programs, as we expected a large audience.

Nadine situated Marcus at a kids’ table set up in the corner. She laid sheets of paper in front of him and opened small containers of washable paint. He was already sticking his fingers into them and smearing the colors across the page. If there was anything Marcus loved more than making up stories, it was painting.

I placed Beau’s box next to a stack of papers on the dining table, where Gus, Bella, Kiki, and Marley were lounging. Then I set Erica in a chair at the kids’ table and scooted her close so she could craft with Marcus. Instead of paints, she opted for crayons. Even at two years old, she was more poised than Marcus, sitting straight up while she ran the crayon over the paper intentionally. Marcus, on the other hand, hunched over his painting and smeared colors together frantically. Erica was intentional with her lines, but Marcus understood color, and he avoided mixing anything together that would muddy his painting. Somehow, everything he made turned out looking really good—better than a three-year-old should be able to make.

“Is that what I think it is?” Miles asked, gesturing to the stack of papers on the table. He was dressed in his sheriff uniform, as usual. When the elections took place, the coven had voted him back on as sheriff, and the townspeople loved him.

“That depends,” I said as I sat beside our friends. “What do you think it is?”

“I’m hoping it’s the finished draft of the guide Nadine’s been working on,” Miles said. “She says she won’t come to work for me until that’s done.”

Nadine grabbed a stack of programs to start folding. “I said my Curse Breaker guide will be finished before I come work for you. That still stands, but I need to finish my degree first. We’re busy enough with council duties, classes, and parenting that I can’t add another job into the mix, even if it’s only part-time.”

“I need a good detective on the police force,” Miles begged. “No one has the attention to detail that you do.”

“Call me when there’s a murder,” Nadine said playfully. “Until then, I have my family to focus on. Once the kids are a little older and in school, I’ll have more time to be a cop. You can count on that, because it’s literally all I ever dreamed of being, but I’m not in a hurry.”

Nadine had always been a high-achiever, and that hadn’t changed. She was still aiming to become a priestess and a police officer, and she didn’t give a damn if anyone said that was too much, because it was her dream. It wasn’t one or the other, because she believed she could serve the coven best as priestess by working closely with law enforcement, and many of the duties overlapped anyway, so it was worth following her passions.

“If that’s not the guide on Curse Breaker magic that Nadine’s been working on, what is it?” Chloe asked as she packed a pile of programs into a box.

I slid to the pages closer to me. “I was waiting to tell anyone until it was done. I wrote a reaper guide.”

Grant’s gaze snapped up from the programs he was folding. “Lucas, that’s great! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t want to feel any pressure to get it done,” I said. “We still have time until a new Reaper’s Apprentice awakens their powers, and I wanted to give myself that time. But as it turns out, I loved every second of working on it, and it’s as complete as I can make it for now. I’ve transcribed everything from Autumn’s Reaper Records, and I’ve added in my own observations, insights, and experience to teach the next Reaper’s Apprentice about their powers. I’ll keep adding to it as I learn more, but for now, this is the first edition.”

“That’s really awesome you did that,” Chloe said. “You could have it printed and sell copies in the local bookstores. This history and these principles aren’t just for reapers. All Mortana should have access to this information. It could help fund the newspaper you want to open.”

Nadine and I exchanged a glance.

Talia narrowed her eyes at us. “You two are hiding something, aren’t you?”

“It’s not official yet,” I admitted. “We’ve been in touch with the owner of the Miriamic Messenger , and she’s hiring me to do a feature on the Hawkei tribe. I’m really excited about it, because it perfectly aligns with my mission as a journalist. It’s important our people understand more about other supernatural cultures so we don’t cause harm. I’ll get a chance to visit Hok’evale again and learn more about the Hawkei.”

“Chief Cauac has already agreed to do an interview and help in any way he can so that Lucas portrays the Hawkei accurately and respectfully,” Nadine added. “It’s going to be a really fascinating piece.”

I nodded. “That said, the owner of the Miriamic Messenger wants to retire in a few years. She insists the business needs to go to someone who she trusts to report impartially, so she’s offering a really good deal to the right person. If all goes well with this piece on the Hawkei, she wants me to take over the paper once my term as priest expires.”

Talia squealed. “Lucas, that’s amazing! Can I see your reaper guide?”

“Sure,” I said. “If you want to read it, I’m open to feedback.”

Talia reached across the table with her left hand.

“Hold on. What is that ?” Nadine cried, pointing at a ring on Talia’s finger—yes, on that finger.

Talia and Grant burst into a fit of laughter together.

“We were waiting to see how long it’d take for someone to notice!” Grant exclaimed. “I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold it in!”

“We’re engaged!” Talia cried happily.

“Congratulations!” Nadine sang as she stood to give Talia a hug.

Chloe shot out of her chair. “Are you kidding me? We’re going to be sisters-in-law?”

Talia nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”

Chloe rushed around the table and practically shoved Nadine aside to throw her arms around Talia. “Finally!”

Miles leaned an arm over the back of his chair. “Took you two long enough.”

“I’ve been waiting to propose until we could settle down,” Grant explained. “Now that we’re done with school and I’m making good money as a cook at The Pie Shack, I could afford the ring. And Talia’s thriving in her job at the counseling center, so it felt like the right time for both of us. I’m still going to open my own restaurant, after we get settled down. I wanted this moment marking the beginning of the rest of our lives to be perfect.”

“And it was,” Talia gushed as she showed off the ring. It was a small, dainty ring with an oval diamond in the center and smaller pointed diamonds made to look like leaves. “Grant rented out The Pie Shack after hours and decorated it with the most beautiful witch lights. He set up a table with flower petals and romantic music. The candles even sparkled from this alchemy wax he created that made the flames glow different colors. Then he made me the most delicious chocolate silk pie. When he brought out my slice, the ring was propped up on the whipped cream, sparkling so beautifully.”

“That sounds so romantic,” Nadine said dreamily.

“It was,” Talia replied. “I love how much of himself and his magic he put into it. A girl couldn’t possibly say no.”

Grant leaned over to stroke her hair. “ You’re the magical one, because you said yes. I’ve never been happier.”

“Hear, hear!” Miles exclaimed, raising an imaginary glass.

We all agreed. None of us had ever been happier, and I didn’t go a day without marveling at the joyous life we woke up in. It was certainly not something to take for granted.

My friends continued laughing, telling jokes, and reminiscing on good times while we finished folding the programs for the ceremony. Nadine served lunch—a delicious stew with a side of homemade bread and apple pie for dessert—then we cleaned up and gathered our things to head to the school.

“Daddy, look!” Marcus yanked on my hand and guided me over to the kid table, where his painting had been drying during lunch.

I looked down at it to see he’d painted a bunch of dark blobs with strange faces. Some of them had a dozen eyeballs, and others had sharp teeth. I was amazed at what he could do with finger paints at three years old, but at the same time, the picture gave me pause. These blobs looked a whole lot like… monsters.

I worried about Marcus a lot. It was common for parents to do, but Marcus was… special. We’d tried to break his curse with the Master Wand, but that had backfired on us and the Master Wand snapped in two. The Oaken Wands hadn’t been any more capable of breaking his curse.

After the Waning ended and we got our magic back, Nadine was able to perceive Marcus’s curse again. The curse the priestesses cast on Marcus—which prevented any witch or warlock from telling him about his demigod powers—was still active, and we hadn’t found anything strong enough to overpower it. Furthermore, his curse prevented us from creating another Master Wand, so we couldn’t try that again.

Professor Wykoff had been searching for solutions for years, ever since the night the Master Wand broke. She had yet to find a viable solution.

Marcus was a happy kid now , but I worried what exposure to this curse would do to him long-term. We’d already seen how a curse from infancy had affected Nadine and Chloe, and Marcus’s was stronger yet.

As a father, all I wanted was to let Marcus be a kid as long as possible, but when he showed me pictures like this, I worried there was a darkness buried deep inside of him that I may be unable to save him from.

“That’s lovely!” Nadine told Marcus as she came up behind us. “The purple monster’s my favorite.”

“The black one’s my favorite,” Marcus said proudly. He snatched up the painting and romped off down the hall.

I turned to Nadine. “Do his paintings not bother you? This is the third monster painting in the last week.”

“It’s not unusual for kids to imagine monsters in their closet,” Nadine said with a shrug.

“Yeah, but what if his are in his head?” I worried.

“I simply told Marcus to make friends with his monsters. He seems to be doing well with that advice.”

“Marcus isn’t just some ordinary kid,” I insisted. “He’s got a curse he can’t break, and on top of that, he’s my son.”

Nadine frowned. “Lucas, we’ve talked about what it means to be the son of a reaper. I don’t believe the bullshit about the Reaper’s Shadow curse—that Samael Davis killed his mother and cast the curse because he was born with some darkness carried down from his Reaper’s Apprentice father. Witch magic doesn’t work that way, so that part of the story can’t be true. Something else happened to that kid who cast the Reaper’s Shadow curse, and whatever it was isn’t going to happen to our son.”

“I agree with you,” I said. “I used to think reaper powers were dark and dangerous, but I don’t believe that anymore. What happened with the Reaper’s Shadow curse was some sort of cycle of generational trauma, and we’ve stopped that cycle in our own families. But that doesn’t mean Marcus won’t have trauma of his own. He’s already gone through so much, with a curse we can’t break on top of it. I want to be able to help him, and if we can’t tell him what he is or what he’s capable of, we can’t prepare him or help him properly process any of this.”

I’d tried telling Marcus of his demigod powers before, experimented to find loopholes and workarounds, but every time I tried to talk to my son about anything remotely related, I choked up against my own free will. I’d tried writing it down, and the ink would fade before he could look at it. There truly was no way to tell him, and so, he would always be left in the dark. This wasn’t something I wanted him to figure out on his own.