“Carl,” he said, unbothered as he waved us in.
I didn’t want to go inside. I felt like we could have this discussion on his dilapidated porch. Maybe I thought if we went inside, we wouldn’t be coming back out.
Carl, clearly seeing our hesitation, sighed. “I’m not going to eat you. Orc meat is bitter and elven meat is too sweet. I have the diabetes, you see.”
We looked at him in shared shock before he burst out in a barking laugh, startling me. “I’m kidding. Come on in. Sorry for my appearance. I was making a rather dangerous potion.”
Harris looked at me with a nod of confidence and led us inside.
We stepped inside and passed through what had to be a ward because my whole body tingled when I crossed into the foyer. That wasn’t shocking, what was shocking was the inside. Instead of the hazardous, pest infested, foul-smelling pit of hell I expected to see, we were welcomed to the scent of freshly baked cookies, and a clean, brightly decorated house with blue walls and white trimming.
When we looked back to Carl, he was now dressed in clean jean overalls and a plaid shirt underneath. His hair and beard were neater now, giving him the look of an off-duty Santa Clause.
I was confused. “I’m confused,” I said aloud.
“I don’t like visitors and I have a few enemies. Not a lot of people like to venture up to the creepy looking house,” he explained. “And my look at the door was a glamour. Only instead of making me look better, I look worse.”
Harris cocked a brow, still holding my hand tightly. “And it works?”
Carl chuckled and then waved us in the direction of his living room, off to the right. “You tell me. You both look like you’re deciding if you want to call cops about possible victims in my basement.”
I certainly didn’t disagree with that but as I looked at the inviting sitting room, his excuse didn’t seem too unbelievable. I looked up to Harris who was already looking down at me as if waiting for my okay. I smiled at him and nodded.
Harris looked back at Carl who was eyeing us with a patient smile. “I might have to do this myself.”
Carl led us to sit down, nodding. “It really works. Help yourself to some tea and oatmeal cookies.”
We sat down on the couch, his offerings arranged on a dark wood coffee table in front of us. He took one of two seats across from us before pouring the tea into the cups. It felt like visiting a grandparent’s house. Maybe he really was Santa on vacation. Stranger things could happen. “So, Kaylor filled me in on your troubles. You have a lot going on.”
Harris accepted the teacup he passed to him and sniffed it. “What’s in this?”
“It’s kava tea with some additional drops of a solution to help my magic connection to you. Kaylor is my friend; I wouldn’t kill her main employer.”
Harris gave him suspicious eyes and then tilted his head in my direction. “She’s not drinking this. Just me.”
“Then I won’t be able to help you with understanding whatever is after her. The only other option would be for me to see it formyself.” He looked over at me. “You can open a portal, and we can see if it comes back. Your aura is strong, but it still appears diluted. Your magic is not fully back. We can even wait for a portal to open on its own. It’s happening because the magic is drawn to you. You are made to open portals. They are like moths, and you are flame, and, until you can control it again, it will keep happening. Or you can suppress it again and again forever.”
Harris frowned. “Maybe she should.”
I side-eyed him. The thought had crossed my mind, but I had to admit that having it suppressed all this time was not a good feeling. Carl was right; I was meant to have power between the realms. Not acknowledging it actually made me itchy, and I’d just been pushing through in survival mode. Another part of me wondered what would have happened if I had gotten past my fear and gone through the portal all those years ago to find my dad. Maybe we could have saved him earlier.
I reached over and took the cup from Harris. “I’ll think about it. Until then, I’ll drink the tea, Harris. If something happens to us, your guards will kill him.”
Carl leaned back, looking very unfazed. “Oh well, it’s been a good life.”
I gave him an apologetic face. “Sorry, I had to get gangsta on you.”
I ignored Harris’s side-eye.
“I understand the hesitancy. It’s up to you both to decide what you’re comfortable with. After all you’ve been through, I don’t blame you.
I nodded and looked down at the brown liquid in the cup. “So, this will help?”
“Drink down the tea, and then I’ll be able to hold your hands and get a sense of all that’s surrounding you.”
I whispered a quiet spell over the liquid that I’d learned right after the death curse because my trust level was below basement level. I took a sip of my tea, happy that it wasn’t too hot, so I could gulp it down and get it over with.
Harris swore before taking his tea. “You should have let me drink first,” he grumbled.
