The stone glowed red. It was faint, casting no light over the rest of the room. The color was the hue of a perfect ruby.
Nick stopped channeling the second the stone lit up, satisfied that he’d be able to put the nagging worry of blowing up the castle behind him. Putting the channeling rod back where he found it, he left the tower and headed back to his rooms.
Pouring himself another scotch, Nick sat back down in his armchair and picked up the book on the page where he left off. He read until he was tired, downing three more glasses of scotch in the process, at which point he made a mark of his location and put the book down. Making his way to the bedroom, Nick slipped out of his uniform and crawled underthe covers, curling himself around Billy’s snug little body.
All in all, it was a good way to end the day.
Billy was in a good mood. He slipped out of Nick’s apartment as quietly as he could, the alpha still snoring in the bedroom, and made his way into the hall and down the stairs two steps at a time. He’d missed breakfast, but he was just in time to join the throng of people making their way from the dining hall and into the workshop.
Being around the workshop elves was fun, Billy thought with a grin. Their collective joy and good cheer filled his chest with a happy feeling of belonging, and on top of the good feelings he already had from spending the night snuggled up to Nick, he was practically giddy.
It was no wonder he was smiling so wide as he fell into step next to Bop and Pop, two of the oldest elves in the castle. Their conversations were always hilarious, and Billy kept an ear open to hear what they were talking about while he looked around to see if he could spot Tulip or Pat. His friends were nowhere to be seen.
“Why are you smiling like that, Billy?” Bop asked, sounding very suspicious. Her white hair was piled high on her head, her wrinkled face kind but wearing a warily expression.
“You aren’t turning on that machine of yours again, are you?” Pop added, sounding just as suspicious. “My bones weren’t made to rattle like that, young man. Once a year, that’s all you get!”
Billy grinned wider. “Nope, not turning on the machine. Can’t I just be in a good mood?”
“You’re only this happy when you’re up to something,” Bop said. “What is it?”
Billy laughed. “I went on a date last night, if you must know, and it went very well.”
Bop and Pop both smiled. “A real date?” Bop asked, giving him a look. “Not just a…?” she trailed off suggestively.
“A real date,” Billy confirmed. “With talking and eating and everything.”
“Good for you,” Pop said, clapping him on the back.
“It’s about time,” Bop added.
“But don’t settle,” Pop said.
“Look at how happy he is,” Bop exclaimed. “He’s not settling. This is the one. I can tell.”
“He doesn’t know that.” Pop shook his head. “It’s always like that in the beginning.”
“Not with us,” Bop said, snorting.
“What do you mean?” Pop sounded outraged.
“You weren’t very impressive back when I first met you. I remember you broke your rod on the first day we worked together. I lost a bet to Pumpkin that my table would finish the most toys that day. I hated you.”
Pop looked mortally offended and Bop laughed. “You don’t remember?”
They reached the experimentation room, and neither Bop nor Pop noticed Billy walking away from them and toward his own table. He didn’t get to hear the end of their exchange, but if it ended with the two of them sneaking off for a romp in thecloset he wouldn’t be surprised.
Standing at his own table, Billy picked up his shaping rods. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be making yet—he hadn’t talked to Pat since finishing up the day before—so he decided to make dolls that could drink water from a bottle and pee until he was told to do otherwise.
Children loved dolls that peed, right?
Billy held his shaping rods firmly in both hands and reached for the castle magic, picturing what he wanted to make, and…nothing.
Billy frowned, wondering where the magic was. He could feel it in the castle walls, humming and soft and familiar, but the rods might as well have been sticks from the forest for all the magic they were channeling.
Taking a tighter hold of the two rods, Billy tried again.
It didn’t work.
