Page 89 of WitchCurse
I could feel Nick’s own internal battle, worry and fear, anger and sadness, all lingering close enough to touch. But he tugged us forward, set on exploring the realm, and I tried to echo his enthusiasm and the bleeding tendrils of our hope to find Kiran alive in one piece. Kiran had made this place, so it was a little like exploring all the things he’d experienced long before we’d ever been born.
“How big do you think it is?” I asked as we wandered, studying flowers, and passing other fae. Nothing threatened us or ran from us, the breeze was calm and the air warm. It was a little like heaven.
“The sanctuary was enormous at first,” Nick said as he slid a hand over the trunk of a giant tree we passed. “Inside at least. The actual space was no more than a small living space in a little rock cliff. But Kiran’s magic made it huge, with at least two dozen rooms, and the giant library. The grounds had been filled with flowers and trees of a thousand types. As his magic faded, the world outside vanished and the rooms began to disappear, until the cessation. This feels bigger. Like we could walk forever and never find the end?”
“Nothing looks corrupted here,” I added, thinking the trees weren’t the twisted gnome trees in Nick’s memory and none of the animals frightening, even when we passed a few that were larger than us.
“Was this what he was meant to be without the touch of the dark fae?” Nick asked. He paused, and I caught the movement then, too, a small fox bounding our way, two tails, one red and one white, puffy behind it, but it was tiny, the size of a small dog or a domestic cat.
“Ari?” Nick asked. The fox raced across the distance and flung itself at us. Nick let go of my hand to catch it, and there was suddenly a child in Nick’s arms, grasping at his shirt and crying.
“You’re back!” Ari cried. “Papa and daddy will be so happy.” Ari reached out a tiny hand for me. “Toby!”
I grabbed the baby’s hand, the weight and warmth of it real in my grasp. “Hey baby,” I said. “We’re looking for Kiran, do you know where he is?”
Ari snuffled their little face on Nick’s shirt, wiping snot and tears. Kids were gross, but I couldn’t help but smile. “Kiran is everywhere, but doesn’t keep Ari or Papa or Daddy out.”
That was not the answer I wanted. Kiran was the realm? Did he not have a human form anymore? My heart skipped a beat in fear. I wasn’t certain how the god thing worked. Technically Ari was sort of a god-like being as well.
“Do they visit Uncle Kiran?” Nick asked.
“Yes, but only daddy can get close. And only sometimes. Daddy says Kiran is sad and healing. Papa says he’s just being stubborn.”
Get close, meaning a physical location? “Where can daddy get close?” I asked. “Does Kiran have a physical form in here?”
Ari wiggled and jumped free of Nick’s arms, turning instantly to the fox and darting off. I blinked and rushed to follow; Nick close behind. We veered away from the water and deeper into the woods, trees towering above us like skyscrapers, trunks larger than trucks.
We both hesitated when we saw Sebastian in his human form sitting on a blanket with a buffet of food spread out around him, including several kinds of cake. He turned our way and gasped, stumbling to his feet and racing across the small area to wrap his arms around us. Ari danced in a circle, the little fox excited and chirping. Sebastian captured my face in his hands and his omega presence slid over us like a warm blanket, not overwhelming like it had been in the past, but everything about this place was calm and peaceful, without aggression, so the omega strength was just an added layer of ease.
I reached out to wipe tears from his cheeks. “Hey, Seb,” I said. “Any of that cake for us?”
“Yes, please. Maybe? I bring it to tempt Kiran, but he always ignores me. We are pretty certain he needs to eat real food, even if he refuses. Sometimes he’ll play with Ari, but mostly ignores me.” Sebastian let Nick fold him in strong arms and didn’t protest the tight squeeze. I wrapped myself around him too, sandwiching the omega between us. He ugly cried and we didn’t let him go until he sucked in a lot of air and rubbed his tears away with his shirt sleeve.
“Where is the cynical bastard?” I asked gazing at the spread of food and the giant trees that surrounded us. No sign of Kiran. “What happened? What did we miss? Is this place real? I have questions.”
“I do too,” Sebastian said. “Where were you?”
“We just woke up in a room inside the camper,” I said. “It was a room without doors or windows, like sleeping wrapped in vines?”
“It sounds like where Kiran rests. This is Kiran’s realm. Mostly contained to the camping park where we had set the camper,” Sebastian said. “Both Ari and I have been spending some time here trying to learn how Kiran has woven the space while keeping it contained. It feels vast and endless, like an entire world, but we know it’s not. It doesn’t bother my realm at all, even sitting right on the edge of it. But yes, this place is real…as real as any magic can be.” He gripped both of our shirts. “You both vanished. But then life began to spring up in here. Fae long since thought gone, returning. Like Kiran respawned them with his magic from whatever tiny bit had remained?” He studied us. “Maybe you guys, too?”
I looked at Nick, both with regular sight and the magic woven stuff, and he looked alive, woven in colors as I was used to seeing him. “We look alive. Everything here is woven in living color.”
“I’ve not seen anything leave the realm,” Sebastian said. “Except Ari, Liam, and me.”
“Who would want to?” Nick asked. “It’s beautiful, and peaceful. Not like Underhill where you felt a sense of dread with every breath.”
“Let’s find Kiran, and have cake. I might leave for cake, as long as I can come back,” I said. “And bacon.” My wolf said bacon would be divine right then.
“There’s a tree,” Sebastian said, and pointed at one in the distance. “I can’t get any closer today, but he’s nestled in the roots. Sometimes he lets me sit a few feet away. Other times, like now, he won’t let me get close at all.” Ari bounded off and bounced happily around a tree. “Never keeps Ari out. Sometimes Ari curls up and naps with him.”
Would we be able to get close? I took a step away from them, but Nick grabbed my hand, going with me, sticking like glue to my side. We wandered to where Ari played, the little fox chasing a rainbow of butterflies that flew around a giant tree. The tree wasn’t as tall as the rest, but the base wide with giant stalks branching out of it, and the entire thing seemed to wrap around an enormous rock.
Kiran was here? I couldn’t see him, not with regular sight or the magic one. In fact, my magic sight turned molten, everything blazing with brightness that hurt. I blinked back tears at the light, having to shut off the magic part of it, and watched as Ari pawed at the side of the tree. The base shifted, branches sliding away and revealing a giant red and white kitsune, curled up and seeming to be fast asleep.
Sebastian couldn’t get close, but shouted to us, “He’s never awake. Not even for Ari. Sometimes a fox will appear to play with Ari, but Kiran still sleeps. When we woke him the first time, and he called back the power you took, Nick, he nestled in here and began to build the realm, and hasn’t awoken since.”
Called back the power? “The darkness?” I asked sorting through Nick’s thoughts with my own.