“It’s like you all are a family.”
“We are,” I said, feeling the correction in the words as the wind kicked up lightly, brushing my hair to the side. I gave a small chuckle at the memories I’d heard of and the ones I’d managed to experience over the past two years.
It didn’t feel like much time, but it was more than I could’ve ever hoped for.
And now, Ryan stood in front of me, eyes catching as something grazed the top of my head. I reached up for it, but his hand caught mine before I could.
“Wait.” He chuckled, pulling a dried leaf out of my hair, fallen from above. He held it up between us. “For you.”
It wasn’t flowers, but for some reason, it stopped the air in my lungs. I took the stem from his fingers. I twisted it back and forth, staring down at it with warmth flaring in my chest.
What was happening to me?
“What else are you thinking about?” Ryan stepped up next to me, looking into the river.
I shrugged. “Life?”
“That’s all?” he teased.
Like earlier in the house, he nudged me. This time, he leaned a little easier, lingering his heavy weight against my frame. Uneven, I almost reached out to hold on to him, to stay steady and to keep him right there, grounding me.
“You’ll figure it out.”
“You seem to be about the only person who thinks so.”
“Is there anything specific going on?”
“It’s a long story,” I sigh.
He shrugged. “Well, Gertrude said we have about fifteen minutes until they are out by the firepit for whatever else you all have planned tonight.”
The Mabon rituals. I shut my eyes, not attempting to hide my amusement at his contentment, having absolutely no clue what was going on this evening.
“So, Gertrude,” I started, saying her full name so he wouldn’t get confused, “she’s sort of the leader of our coven, you understand?”
He nodded. “I figured. She reminds me a lot of you.”
“She does?”
“In a weird way,” he said. “She has a certain vibe.”
Well then, this was going to go over easily for him.
“Yeah, well, she knows I’ve been struggling, and the other day, she basically offered me her position. The high priestess-ship when she’s done, the house … all of it.”
“I’m sure it’s not because she thinks you’re struggling.”
The thought had occurred to me that she pitied me, though I knew that was very un-Gertie-like. Ryan was right about that. I shrugged.
“And you don’t want that?”
“It’s not just that. I never thought it would be an option when I can barely figure out a single major at school, Ryan,” I heard myself complain.
He seemed to consider this very factual information. “Maybe you weren’t supposed to.”
He’d already spent too much time here if he was getting all fateful.
“That’s not the only issue anyway.”
