Anton, Keryth, and all their kids, including Jed, were there, which accounted forso many people. Garrick, Tan, Oakley, and Roman were as well. Huh.
Everyone greeted us and even more hugs were given as I introduced my baby brother to everyone. Lanche introduced his family, and then everyone was talking and messing about. Anton and Keryth’s littlest kids started running around, chasing Tan’s orange cat, giggling up a storm.
Remi clapped his hands, cleared his throat, and said loudly, “Everyone ready?”
“Sure,” I said at the same time as five other people, making me chuckle.
Ignoring the giggling children, Remi smiled at us. “All you have to do is walk through the portal, and it’ll take you straight to my parents’ house. They have their portal in a shed too, and Tan already added you guys to the wards on the other side, so everything’s good to go.”
I wasn’t sure why, but I was nervous.
Like, really nervous.
I’d never traveled by portal before—honestly, most people outside of the Ellwood Coven hadn’t—and to top it off, I’d never even left the city before, either.
And here I was, using a portal to travel halfway across the world to some random house in Brinnswick. What the hell had my life become?
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart,”Lanche said to me through our link.
I shoulder-bumped him.“I know. I’m just nervous.”
“Me too. But this is going to be a fun day. I just know it.”
I sent him a fond smile before getting in line for the portal. Lanche held my hand the entire time until it was my turn to walk through.
Remi was standing there, overseeing everything, and he smiled at me. “You guys can go through together. You don’t even have to let go of his hand.”
“Really?” My eyebrows rose in surprise.
He nodded. “Yep. Bel and I have done that a million times.”
Well, okay then.
Lanche squeezed my hand when I glanced at him, and I held on tight before stepping through.
My stomach flipped as my body was transported across the world, but as soon as I was through the doorway, I felt… completely normal. Like… that had felt way smoother than walking through the ward earlier.
Huh. No big deal at all.
I blinked, worried it hadn’t worked for a few seconds until I saw Seb and Ailin standing outside of the opened shed door.
Lanche walked through behind me as Seb waved me forward. As soon as I stepped out, he pulled me into a hug. “Thank you for coming.”
I nodded, sort of in a daze. “Of course. Happy Solstice.”
“Happy Solstice.” He grinned at me when he released me and went for Lanche.
Ailin hugged me as well, although his hug was quicker than Seb’s. “Good to see you, kiddo.”
Once he gave Lanche a quick hug and everyone else came through the portal behind us, Ailin said, “If you follow the path around the side of the house, it’ll take you to the backyard. It’s not fenced in or anything, but it’s warded against the weather for the day, so you might see the ward. It won’t affect you. There’s food, drinks, games, and all kinds of stuff back there. Please help yourselves and make yourselves at home.”
I took in my surroundings and jolted when I got an eyeful of the house he wanted us to walk around.
“Holy shit. It’s like a woodland castle or something,” I murmured, and Lanche nodded in agreement—I saw it out of the corner of my eye since I couldn’t take my eyes off the huge house.
Seb and Ailin’s house was made of living trees that had grown and shifted to form a gigantic house that looked like something out of a fairytale book. There were leaves and vines climbing along the sides, and some of the windows were a sort of oval shape, almost looking like a natural divot in the trees, only they had glass and curtains.
The porch had a roof that was formed with a ton of smaller branches that were absolutely covered in leaves. The leaves were like shingles, I guessed, and I glanced at the roof of the house to see if it was the same. It was. But the branches up there were thicker, more sturdy, just like the rest of the fairytale mansion.
