Heat flushes my cheeks. “Sorry, no. I learned about magic a week ago and know nothing that I haven’t read in my mom’s books. I sort of thought you were a shifter or something. Is that what your aunt and uncle are?”
He grins. “I’m both, actually. My father was a witch from Massachusetts, and my mother was Eliza and Declan’s younger sister. The Carmichaels are a rare shifter race, but super powerful.”
“Double trouble, then.”
He grins and waggles his brows. “I do my best.”
The two of us walk along the forested path, the sound of our steps absorbed by the pithy earth and fallen leaves.
“Poppy…”
When he says nothing else, I cast a sideways glance. “Yeah?”
“I don’t want to sound like a dick, but you may find looking so much like Zoe makes things difficult for you in witch circles. Living under your mother’s shadow will be a challenge.”
“Yeah, I got that impression. And me having the same spirit affinity has people spinning.”
“You’re a spirit witch, too?”
“Seems so.”
He purses his lips. “Yikes, the goddess has really tossed you into the fire, hasn’t she?”
I shrug. “People don’t choose how they’re born. They are who they are. Maybe that’s the will of the goddess or maybe that’s just the luck of the draw.”
He seems to consider that and nods.
“So, did I understand Laurel right that this Arcana place exists in a magical pocket?”
He reaches to pull a low-hanging branch to the side, so I don’t walk into it. “Yeah. It’s a magical expanse hidden from this realm.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It might sound like it. The important part is that for those of us having control issues, it’s a place that can handle and absorb magical fluxes, so no one gets hurt and no exposure occurs with the non-magical population.”
That’s what Wylder said. And as good as that sounds, I still would rather stay with Asher and stick close to the standing stones.
Even walking toward them right now, I feel calmer and more in control. They give me a sense of peace and rooted belonging I’ve never experienced before.
When we break through the trees, that feeling doubles.
So does my apprehension. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be stuck in a magical pocket, separated from Asher.
“Hey, Poppy?” Orion’s whispered words are filled with concern. “It’s fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. My aunt pulled strings, and we’re staying in the same dorm and everything. I’ve got you covered.”
I swipe at the moisture on my cheeks. “I haven’t been apart from Asher since he found me unconscious in the street and took me in. It probably sounds silly, but he’s my lifeline.”
“It’s not silly. You two have obviously been through a lot. Having someone who has your back when the world kicks you in the face is as rare as it is amazing. And I’m sorry, Poppy. You should never have been thrown away like that. It’s not right.”
The four of us stop at the top of the rise to the standing stones, and Laurel frowns at us. “Having an opinion about something you know nothing about isn’t helping, Orion. Remember your place.”
A menacing growl rumbles in the night air as Eliza lowers her gaze and prowls closer. “Orion’s opinion is of no concern to you. If he feels bad about the treatment of a friend, that’s his business. You may be his high priestess, but I am his alpha. And I encourage the members of my pack to speak their minds.”
Laurel obviously doesn’t seem to agree, but she doesn’t challenge the shifter alpha.
There’s a moment of tense standoff, but nobody throws down, so I gesture to the standing stones to get this moving along. “So, do we click our heels three times and say there’s no place like Arcana?”
“Something like that.” Laurel steps over the pithy corpse of a long-fallen tree and stops at a clearing where the last of the day’s champagne light spills through the canopy. “We’re taking a fairy portal.”
