“I was thinking maybe we should go and see Kieran first,” Calvin said. “He said last night that he was going to try following up with his friendly sprite for me, so I was planning on talking to him again anyway.”
“That sounds like a great idea.” Diana nodded. “I think we’re actually pretty close to the B&B. Do you want me to text him and check if he’s around? Since, uh, well, you know. Your phone is a victim of this curse.”
“That’d be great.” Calvin paused as a thought suddenly struck him. “Uh, I mentioned to him last night that I’d found my mate, but I didn’t say who it was. He might work it out if we come in together. Are you okay with that?”
Diana thought it over for a moment, then nodded. “That’s fine by me. So Kieran knows what shifters are as well, does he? He knows much more about these things than I ever would’ve guessed.”
You don’t know the half of it,Calvin thought. He was sure Kieran wouldn’t mind if he told Diana that he was a shifter, but still, it wasn’t his secret to tell. Hopefully Kieran would happily tell her himself, and then it wouldn’t be hanging over his head. If he ended up living here in Girdwood Springs with Diana – and he certainly hoped that that would be the case – then it would be a bit awkward to be stepping around the issue for decades to come!
“Yeah, he’s had some exposure to these things,” Calvin said.
While Diana tapped a message into her phone, Calvin had a look around at their surroundings, gauging which direction they would need to go. He had a pretty good natural sense of direction, and as someone who enjoyed hiking, he was also well-versed in more scientific methods of finding his way…
It is 1.72 miles from here, at a bearing of 338.2 degrees,said the wyvern with a haughty tilt of its head.That is north-northwest, by the way. Return to the main path and continue along it until I tell you where to digress. I would give you the exact coordinates, but you would not comprehend them.
… But the wyvern, of course, had the best navigational sense of all. Once it had been somewhere, it could always find its way back.
At least you’ve updated to using decimal degrees for directions, rather than minutes and seconds,he muttered.Welcome to the modern age.
Only because you struggled to comprehend the correct version,the wyvern sniffed.
“Done,” Diana said, saving Calvin from further irritation. “He’s in town at the moment, but he’ll be back at the B&B soon.”
“Great,” Calvin replied. “Should we start walking? The wyvern hasvery helpfullygiven me instructions on how to get there, so we might as well head off.”
“Of course,” Diana said, beaming. “Will you pass on my thanks to your wyvern for me? It really is quite a lovely creature.”
Calvin felt his eyebrow twitching as his wyvern preened and smirked.
Our mate is clearly the more intelligent of the two of you,it said.Not that I did not already know that, of course. It seems unfair that she is having to spend all her time with you – perhaps we should shift for a while, so that she and I can be provided with a chance to become better acquainted?
“Believe me, it’s aware of what you said,” Calvin muttered.
They proceeded toward the B&B, making their wending way through the forest, the twitters and calls of birds accompanying them. It wasn’tquiteas incredibly hot as the previous day, and the coolness of the canopy took the edge off.
Still, Calvin was relieved when the B&B came into view.
“Hi there!” came Kieran’s cheerful voice, and Calvin turned to see him sticking his head out the front door, a tray loaded down with glasses and a jug balanced precariously on one hand. “Good timing! Come on in.”
They followed him through the front door and into an enormous sitting room with a vaulted ceiling, velvet couches arranged cozily around an empty fireplace. Calvin took a moment to admire the room – whoever had renovated it had done an amazing job.
“Right this way,” Kieran said, moving through the room and unlocking a door at the far wall.
Passing through the doorway, Calvin found himself in a small room – there wasn’t much here besides a booth-style table neatly ensconced within a bay window that looked out over a gorgeously green garden, plus a tiny kitchenette. Clearly it had originally been part of the room they’d just gone through.
“This is where we go if we need a little space to ourselves while we’re working or taking a meal break, since we like to stay out of our own section of the house while we’re on the clock,” Kieran said, locking the door behind him and then sliding onto one of the seats. “We won’t be interrupted here.”
“Good thinking,” Calvin said. The last thing they needed was to have guests asking them why they were talking about solving riddles to appease forest creatures.
“Would you like some orange juice?” Kieran asked, picking up the jug. “Freshly squeezed just now.”
“That sounds fantastic,” Calvin said, and Diana chimed in with her approval.
“We just bought a fancy juicer,” Kieran said as he poured. “Cost a small fortune, but the guests seem to really like it.”
Taking a sip, Calvin nodded. “I can see why. This is amazing.”
Almost like the oranges knew the touch of a unicorn,the wyvern said snidely.Not thatIwould know anything about such things. I’m just a lowly wyvern, after all.
