A child licking a candied apple walked past holding her father’s hand. “I’d wanted a family, but I couldn’t bring kids into that life.” Charlie’s face changed when I mentioned children, and a million questions ran through my head. Did he not want any? Or would he outlive a child? That thought saddened me and I kept talking. “I supported him as long as I could, but I eventually walked out.”
“So, you’re mated?”
Five
December Fifth: Charlie
“Skating!”
I held the phone away from my ear, but there was an ear-splitting grin on my face at hearing Miles’ voice. “Me, on ice?”
“Why not? You grew up in the deep dark forest. I bet there was a river or lake nearby and you went skating in winter.”
“There was.”
“You can’t stop now, Charlie. It’s December fifth, so the first week is almost over.”
I usually begged the universe to speed up December, though it never listened. I tried not to think about Christmas Day, when I’d be back to normal and Miles would return to doing whatever he did when he wasn’t playing chief cheerleader to a broken wizard.
And ironically, having the future blocked was eye-opening. It was dawning on me how much I relied on my foresight before making decisions when instead, I should have been weighing things up and going with my gut. “Miles?”
“Still here.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. You’ve convinced me.”
“Meet me there at six?”
My new friend was doing the heavy lifting, and I had to step up. “I’ll collect you from work.” There was silence on the other end. “Don’t worry. I won’t come in. I’ll wait for you outside.” I pictured bedpans banging and shouting from every room, “We cancancan.”
After saying goodbye, I considered calling in to the office on the way to the hospital, but I wasn’t ready to face my colleagues. They weren’t kids who clapped at my magical mishaps. Or Rosemary, who patted me on the back and said, “There. There.” They were professionals who’d honed their magical abilities and worked to maintain the safety of Vale Valley.
Normally, if I ventured out before Christmas, I’d keep to the shadows and cringe whenever something went wrong. But today, I strode along the sidewalk with my head held high. An alpha shifter’s mail box spat out a bunch of letters and squawked, but I tipped my beanie and kept walking.
My thoughts went back to the previous night when I’d discovered Miles was mated.
“Not anymore,” he’d responded to my question. “The coven worked their magic—literally—and our bond is broken.”
I’d probably worked on that breakup, but hadn’t paid any attention to the omega’s name. He’ll need plenty of support in the days and weeks ahead. And I must give it to him.
But it was his talking about having kids that had alarm bells ringing in my head. That wasn’t possible for me. But in my usual fashion, I ignored it. We were so far from being more than friends—and probably wouldn’t ever be a couple—so it wouldn’t be an issue. I was focusing on the present and grasping a sliver of happiness while I could.
When Miles appeared, he grabbed my arm. “Hi.” His enthusiasm was infectious, and he jumped up and down. The wide grin on his face had me wanting to kiss him. But I didn’t. That would have spoiled everything.
“We’re going skating, Charlie. I haven’t done this in forever.”
“Me neither.” Hoping I hadn’t made a mistake, I allowed the omega to drag me toward the town center. But as we hunched over against the cold, Miles faced me and asked, “Where’s your toad?”
Was this one of those mortal conversations I didn’t quite understand? If I’d been on social media more, I might have, but most of the posts made my head spin. I couldn’t work out the meaning of those little squiggly symbols.
I was over a hundred years old and technology had me feeling every one of those years. But the truth was, I was avoiding any mention of me and my lopsided magic. “Ummm I don’t have one?” My voice rose at the end, as though I was asking a question.
“But Poppy has a Fred.” He paused. “I haven’t heard Calista talk about a familiar, but does Hugo have one?”
I sniggered as I imagined the spell checker with a familiar. “Not every witch or wizard has one,” I replied. “Can you imagine Hugo being followed by a toad or a cat and saying, ‘Repeat after me. I am the spell checker.’”
Miles shoved a hand over his mouth and snorted. “Can he hear us? He’s not lurking nearby, is he?”
“Doubt it.” I glanced back the way we’d come. “Hugo’s special skill is his ability to check spells. But to answer your question, I do have a familiar.”
Miles’ eyes lit up. “Where? Is it hiding? I can’t wait to meet him or her.”
“He’s a bat named Gerald.”
The omega made a face but covered it up with a cough. “Ohhhh. Nice.”
I nudged him with my elbow. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“Bats are… interesting.” He glanced up at the night sky and shivered.
“He’s not here. These weeks in December are difficult for him.”
Putting his hands on his hips, Miles frowned. “So Gerald ups and leaves you to cope with everything? Some friend!”
“You’ve got it wrong. He takes my problem as a personal failing because he can’t stop it. I insist he takes a vacation before Christmas but he doesn’t stray far. He skulks around the Valley trying to put things right but it never works.” I peered at the trees, draped in Christmas lights, wondering if Gerald was hanging upside down with a blinking star on his head.
“And when Gerald is with you, does he sleep inside the house?”
“Mmmm. I have an empty closet just for him.”
“Of course you do.” He gazed into the distance at the Valley residents enjoying the Christmas Fair. A flicker of a smile appeared on his face. “So is he great at gymnastics?”
I closed one eye as I tried to fathom what Miles was saying. “Why would he be?”
The omega clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Acro-bat, Charlie.”
“I’m completely lost.”
“You really are an old soul, aren’t you? Gerald is a bat. And he hangs from the ceiling. So, in my mind he’s an acro-bat.”
“Oh.” Reality dawned on me. “It’s a joke.”
Miles sighed. “It was, but it kinda fell flat.”
“No, I get it. It’s funny.”
Shaking his head, Miles leaned forward and then reared away, as though he’d changed his mind about something. I was overcome with disappointment at being cheated out of a possible kiss.
“You’re adorable, Charlie. I was trying to make light of the whole magic thing. It’s hard enough grasping the idea I’m in a place that’s hidden to most of the outside population. But when I witness Poppy floating or Hugo putting splattered eggs back together it’s unsettling.”
“As with anything new, it takes some adjusting. Perhaps talking to Arlo might help. He experienced the same thing. Though his wizard isn’t…”
“Don’t say it.” He placed his gloved hand over my mouth, and the soft wool tickled my nose. “Please don’t put yourself down.”
“You’re right.” I had to stop comparing myself to other people.
“And if we stand here any longer, I’ll turn into a popsicle.”
“We can’t have that.” I pulled his beanie down and adjusted his scarf with my trembling hands. Miles caught me staring at him. Those hazel eyes made a puddle of my emotions and I wondered about the hurt lurking in their depths.
Though the Valley eased pain, it didn’t remove it completely. But a child tripped over and howled, and the piercing noise pulled me out of my trance.
We avoided the stalls, though my stomach rumbled when we passed Ren making crepes. After hiring the skates, Miles led me onto the ice.
“Charlie, I want to thank you.”
“For what? Shouldn’t it be me thanking you?”
“I’ve had such fun thi
s week. Though I can be snarky, I’m shy, and it’s been hard connecting with people.”
“I think you’re perfect, especially with everything you’ve gone through.” Was that too much? I should clarify. “That didn’t come out right.”
He cocked a brow. “I’m not perfect? Good to know.”
“That’s not what I meant. You are—to me.” Again, I’d gone too far. There was a gap between my mind and the words that came out. This omega befuddled my thoughts, and my emotions were a tangled, jiggly mess.
“Hurry up, you two. Stop saying everything and nothing. We’re here to party!” the skates grumbled. My pair took control and partnered with Miles’. They sped us into the center of the ice and we twirled around at a terrifying speed. My heart was hammering and my mouth was open in a silent scream as bystanders, stalls, lights and the omega blurred.
“Charlie!” Miles was hoisted into the air, and he twisted around four times before making a perfect landing. “Holy, shit. That was incredible!”
The omega’s skates put on a bedazzling display of leaps, jumps, twists and landings and people whistled and cheered, before I lifted him and swung him around with his head barely an inch from the ice.
And when it ended, I was out of breath and Miles panted at my side, and we bowed and skated off the ice. The two pairs of skates nudged one another and murmured, ‘Good job.”
“Charlie, that was the most amazing thing that has ever happened.” Miles flung himself into my arms and placed his lips on my ear. “Can we do it again?”
Six
December Sixth: Miles
“I need a Christmas tree, Miles.” His voice echoed down the phone as I nibbled on a sandwich at my desk. “I do have one. It’s in a box in the spare room.”
“That’s cool, Charlie.” I was impressed. We’d progressed from me making all the suggestions.
“Yes, it’s definitely cold outside today.”
I bit my tongue. Even though he was born to a human family and had lived among the non-witching community in the Valley, part of him remained in not the 20th century but I guessed the 19th. To Charlie, Christmas was sleigh bells, mince pies and roast goose, and the tree was decorated with candy canes and candles. “But you definitely need a proper tree.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “I miss the scent of fresh pine in the house. It was my job to collect and tidy the pine needles on the floor when I was growing up.”
I’d read on the Vale Valley Message Board that two elves were selling Christmas trees outside town. “Elarian and Traviel have trees for sale. We could do that tonight.” We’d be outside town, which would be nice for a change. “What could go wrong?”
“Plenty. Trust me. But I want to do this,” he replied.
“Cool.”
“Yes. Cool.”
I giggled. It was weird hearing that word come out of his mouth.
“And not temperature cool,” he added.
Awww. It was so sweet when he added an explanation.
After work as we made our way to the Christmas tree lot, Charlie’s hand brushed against mine. He was wearing leather gloves and I had on my woolen mittens, but the warmth from his hand seeped into mine, despite the wintry night.
We both breathed in the aroma. Sweet. Clean. With a hint of citrus. The cold, bracing air and Charlie’s closeness had my skin tingling as I gazed up at him. He had his eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. One side of his mouth was turned up.
“This is amazing, Miles.”
“And it’s pretty.” The surrounding forest was dark, but the patch where the Christmas trees stood was lit up by colored lights strung around the surrounding branches.
I asked, “See anything you like?”
“I like that small one over there. My living room’s tiny so that’d be perfect.”
We headed toward the back of the lot and Charlie admired the small tree. But something caught my eye and I wandered away.
“Please, don’t go anywhere, Miles. We don’t have permission to take anything from the forest.”
“Okay.” But I couldn’t help striding off the lot into the darkness and examining a small tree that had been hacked off at the base and was lying on its side. “You poor thing.” I kneeled on the ground and brushed one of its branches.
But a grumble followed by something heavy crunching over the snow had me silently pleading, “Please don’t spoil this experience for Charlie.” I couldn’t wait for whatever disaster was about to happen and had to turn around.
“Oh God!” I gulped. A huge tree behind me had heaved itself out of the ground. Large branches on either side curled inward and reminded me of arms, while two unused bird nests glowed in place of eyes.
The pine needles parted, and I peered into a gaping mouth as a deep voice washed over me. “That’s my baby. Back off.”
“O-O-Okay.” Those words, “Back off. Back off!” echoed in my head. But it was a familiar voice spitting them out. I was with my former mate and he was yelling at me. I stumbled backward and bumped into Charlie.
“It’s the little tree’s mom, Miles. She’s grieving.” He took my hand and addressed the tree towering over us. ”We didn’t do this but we can help.”
But as the pine tree stomped over the ground, I yelled, “Run!”
“No, Miles!”
I raced through the forest, and the moon shone through the clouds and guided me between the trees.
“Miles, come back!”
Being out of breath forced me to stop in the middle of the forest. Charlie was panting when he caught up with me. He bent over with his hands on his knees and gasped as I gulped mouthfuls of oxygen.
“Sorry, but I was terrified and thought the tree would crush me. And that voice reminded me of someone.”
“It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.” He took both my hands. “That person who frightened you is out of your life. He’ll never do that again. Trust me.”
His words eased my fears, though I peered over my shoulder. “It’s not following us, is it?” I imagined the surrounding trees shaking their heads, thinking how I’d hurt one of their own. “Was there much damage at the elves’ tree lot?”
“A broken limb or two. I told Elarian I’d get Hugo to help, but he used his own magic to sort it out.”
“And the little one?” My lips trembled as I imagined it being taken from its mother.
“I bought them both and will plant them side by side in my back yard.”
“But the baby is…” I gulped. I couldn’t say the word. “…it doesn’t have any roots, right?”
Charlie took my hand. “The Valley is a magical place, Miles. And besides, a simple spell from me will do the trick. They’ll be together for decades, or perhaps centuries.”
And you’ll be here to watch over them. “Oh, Charlie. You sweetheart. But you won’t have a Christmas tree. Damn, and it’s all my fault and that’s why we came and I’ve messed it up.”
The wizard shut me up by slamming his lips on mine, and though we were surrounded by tall dark trees and snow, his lips were warm, and my body trembled.
When he finally pulled away, our breath mingled and swirled round us. His mouth was gaping and his eyes were open wide as his hands fluttered in the air. “I… That… It… I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I apologize. It was inappropriate.”
It was a mistake. That’s what he’s thinking. But I’d wanted him to take me in his arms and stick his tongue down my throat. Did Victorian warlocks do that? I must find one and ask. Another one. Not Charlie.
He rubbed his hands together and stamped his feet, but I was all warm and gooey inside.
‘I’ll use the fake one,” Charlie told me.
“Huh?”
“The tree, Miles.”
Ahhh. We’re ignoring what happened and changing the subject. I could do that.
“Besides, every morning when I’m drinking my coffee, I’ll see two Christmas trees through the window.”
“Great!” My mind was no longer on th
e trees but the kiss. I should have grabbed his butt and opened my mouth while his lips were on mine. Damn! But as I glanced upward, clouds floated in front of the moon and a bitter wind rustled the branches nearby. “Charlie, you did good. You saved a life tonight. Bravo!” I slapped him on the back.
He grinned. “We both did, and the only casualty was a few broken limbs, but let’s get you home.” Charlie took my arm and guided me toward town, avoiding the elves’ tree lot.
When we reached my place, I fumbled with the key. “Hot chocolate?”
He inspected his nails and avoided my gaze. “I should be getting home. I need to check in with Gerald.”
“Do you use the bat signal?” I sniggered despite the cold and my confusion about the earlier kiss.
He gave me an odd look and tugged at his earlobe. “We communicate telepathically.” He held up his hand. “But don’t go thinking I can do that with anyone. Gerald is my familiar.” His voice trailed off.
“I’m assuming you haven’t read many comics,” I stated.
“Comic books? No. Should I?” He had a perplexed expression on his face. “Have I missed out on something special?”
I shook my head. He was adorable when confronted with a 21st century…no, make that 20th century cultural touchpoint. “Nah. Not important.”
Seven
December Seventh: Charlie
My phone was buzzing but I ignored the messages, and I switched it off after the tenth missed call. But when there was a banging at my front door and Miles shouting, “I know you’re in there,” I couldn’t hide any longer.
I sniffed under my arms and ran my fingers through my hair. Luckily, I had brushed my teeth but I was wearing the same clothes from last night. I flung open the door and shaded my eyes from the dim winter light as I squinted at the dark shape.
“Why haven’t you answered my calls? And you’ve ignored my messages. You’re not sick, are you?” Miles felt my forehead. “Can wizards get sick? And why are you wearing your clothes from yesterday? Didn’t you sleep?” Miles shooting questions at me stabbed at my head and reminded me I hadn’t had coffee.
Witching You a Merry Christmas Page 3
