I shook my head at his smile, then opened the door, stepping out onto the porch that ran the full back side of the house. “Let’s get this over with, so you can leave.”
The property sat on the southwest side of a random crossroads south of Joplin, Missouri. Not a lot of people came this way. Hornet wasn’t so much a town as a forgotten little spot so near the Oklahoma border, folks who did wander by to see if they could catch the Spook Light down at the Devil’s Promenade never stayed for long.
We had fields, trees, flowers and grasses, and lots and lots of blue sky, but the magic of the place wasn’t something most people noticed. So they moved on. Moved away.
Not me. I had been raised here. Loved it here. And always would.
I walked across the old porch boards, power flowing through the house to pool around my feet. My tattoos warmed and pinged. The magic, which was never asleep, bloomed as I called all the ragged bits of power that filled the house to me, to my skin. To my command.
I leaned against the post at the top of the stairs, just as I always did. And then—
—heat and cool ribbons, the hush of ancient songs caught frozen in the breath of spirits long slumbering—
—the Crossroads opened to me like a gate, like a book—
—spells twisted, languages called out in harmony, power echoed with the galaxy’s light—
—and that power was me, and I was it, and all within these walls and land struck a perfect bargain of alignment.
Here, on my land, here, at this Crossroads, even the gods would be challenged to unseat me.
The sweet, deep tone of becoming one with the Crossroads rang out softly, and the wards and guards I’d worked into the edges of this place flared in response.
Fate, all three of them, noticed.
“That wasverydramatic of you,” Card said, coming up on the other side of the stairs and leaning into the post there. No sound rang out from his contact, but the magic deepened ever so slightly, as if it remembered him and his roots here.
“You brought Fate to my doorstep, Card.Fate.” I stuck my hands in my front pockets and inhaled the sweet, warm morning air. “What the hell did you want me to do? Offer them cookies?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means you never cease to surprise me, Ricky. That’s one of the things I lo...like about you.”
Yes, I’d heard what he’d almost said, and yes, I ignored it.
“That’s Fate?” Val asked. He’d winked into existence below us on the grass in front of the stairs, his wolf at alert, ears up, tail stiff.
Usually Val got right up in everyone’s face, knowing they couldn’t sense him. But this time, he stayed near me.
I didn’t know if he was afraid of facing the god, or if he was staying close to try and protect me from Card.
Maybe both.
“That’s Fate,” I said.
She’d come in three different vehicles: a mint-green Vespa, a baby blue VW van, and a black and red three-wheel Slingshot, all of which were pulled off the road nearest my field.
“Maiden, Matron, Crone, right?” Val asked. “Young, middle-aged, and old?”
“Yep.”
The three women left their vehicles and walked to the edge of my property. I thought about flexing, and forcing them to stay there, but this land was built to welcome, to bring in those who searched for knowledge or aid.
Besides, I’d rather not walk out there to talk. Staying connected to the Crossroads by remaining on the porch gave me the advantage, however slight that might be.
It was interesting to watch them pause. Then Clotho, the youngest, took a step onto the grass. She smiled when nothing happened and waved her hand over her head.
