“You could have said no to the whole thing.”
“I don’t leave my friends to fight monsters on their own.”
“You could have.”
“I’m not made that way. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to welcome every troublemaker who shows up on my doorstep.”
“What about gods?” he asked. “You’d turn gods away, because you don’t want to deal with whatever trouble they’re bringing with them?”
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” I crossed the grass, wishing I was barefoot, so I could better tap into the magic of the place.
The Crossroads wasn’t exactly a sentient building, but all the magic stored in it had somehow merged together to create a joined spirit.
The old house was my friend, and I was its guardian and the keeper of its magic.
Even if that magic was dangerous.
Especially when it was dangerous.
In return, the Crossroads did its best to help me. Lately, I’d been having the same dream on repeat, which I knew the Crossroads had something to do with.
I was floating in tropical water, the taste of sugar on my lips. A handsome man, a familiar man, with green, green eyes placed a flower in my hair, his fingers drawing down the curve of my cheek. “I’ve missed you, Ricks.”
That’s where the dream always ended, because that’s always when I’d recognized the man.
Cardamom Oak. That dryad-wizard fink.
I’d dismissed the dream every day for a week, but the Crossroads just kept putting it in my brain.
I knew it was an omen.
Trouble was coming.
And that trouble was somehow connected to my jerk ex-lover.
“Like you’d ever have the guts to show your face here,” I grumbled as I stomped up the stairs, then paused to take off my boots and socks.
As soon as my bare feet touched the old wood of the porch, warmth and ease flowed through me, settling me like nothing else could.
The ground was a neutral zone where supernaturals could claim sanctuary. That’s what the Crossroads had been built for back in the ancient days. That’s what they still stood for today.
“This is good,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “I got this.” I stretched to get the kinks out of my back, then pushed through the door and stepped inside.
The narrow halls were covered in faded flowered wallpaper, and the clutter of furniture and magical things made the big house feel cozy. A few of the rooms were getting a little too full of magical items. The Crossroads usually shuffled and sorted through everything that showed up here, and moved stuff from one room to another as it pleased.
The ever-shifting piles of books, scrolls, crystals, clockwork, lamps, caldrons, paintings, stuffed beasts, and a million other little things didn’t bother me. I’d grown up here, and I liked being in a place where lots of oddness somehow fit together.
Plus, my bedroom was tidy, as was the big living room, bigger kitchen, and of course the bathrooms. Other than those main rooms, I indulged the house’s need to decorate as it chose.
“It’s fine how it is. No need to change,” I said.
“You talk to yourself a lot, did you know that?” Val said. “I keep thinking you’re starting a conversation, but you’re just in a bad mood.”
“Who said I’m in a bad mood? Everything’s great. Can’t you see all this great?” I waved my hands above my head.
“You’re doing an awful lot of scowling for the happy words coming out of your mouth.”
“Really didn’t ask for feedback,” I said. “Go do something useful.”
