"The spell is pretty easy," I said, then squeezed his hand before his smile could fall, "but I'd like to have you there with me. If you want."
"I want," he said simply, a soft smile on his lips, and I glanced away as I felt my cheeks heat up. Why did the simplest words from him make me react this way?
"What kind of supe do you think they'll be?" Keoni mused, and I turned back to look at him. "What about a vampire? We don't have one of those. Then again, what kind of vampire could we help? One allergic to human blood?"
I chuckled, and he grinned at me, his eyes sparkling brighter than the sun that shone above us.
After a few minutes, Keoni declared he needed to stretch his legs and lay down on his side, splaying his legs over the edge of the blanket and into the sand. His brown coat gleamed in the sun, the white and silver of his stockings even brighter.
Moving closer to him, I placed my palm on his coat over his stomach, then ran my palm all the way to his tail. Thanks to magic and centaur physiology, his back legs were just as strong as his front ones, even though they hadn't been used until now. His tail was long and glossy, though I'd spent an hour combing it the other week to get out all the tangles from being stuck in the cart for years.
Keoni leaned up on his elbow to peer at me, and I gave him a smile as I moved my hand higher so he could feel it.
"I realized the other day that I don't get to touch this side of you much. Though I probably should've asked before doing it."
"You can touch me anytime, anywhere, Zephyr," Keoni murmured, and I closed my eyes as my cheeks heated again. If this went on, I would end up looking like I had sunburn.
Grumbling something even I couldn't understand, I pressed my face into his side, hiding away in his soft, warm coat. It reminded me of Rei's coat back when she was a dog, and I foundit comforting. The fact that his coat had the same sweet Keoni scent as the rest of him just made it better.
We lazed around on the beach until sunset, and then we packed everything up, leaving the blanket and parasol for Jacinta—as requested—and taking the basket with us to leave at the kitchen later.
"We need a shower. I cleaned off all the sand, but I still feel like I'm coated in it," I said as we stepped out of the Ocean area, and Keoni chuckled.
"I agree."
"Well, my shower is big enough, if you want to join me," I suggested, feeling bold after the day we'd had. Or maybe the sun had gotten to my head.
Keoni grinned, then made a beeline for the office as I followed after him, shaking my head at his enthusiasm.
I had a feeling we'd end up dirtier than we were now once we got into the shower.
I ran to catch up.
Twenty-One
Keoni
Like I'd expected, noone in the Sanctuary had any problem with Zephyr searching for a new resident, though Khush did ask if Zephyr could try to find someone who wouldn't need to live in the Forest area. It was understandable with how young Aspen and Reign were, and Zephyr had promised to try his best.
I took a step back as Zephyr waved a hand over his desk, disappearing every single object from the surface. It reappeared a moment later in the corner of the room, everything perfectly stacked together to minimize the space occupied.
I always found it hot when Zephyr used his magic so casually, like he didn't even have to think about it. I knew he was strong, and while I hadn't met many magic users in my life, I knew even the best of them struggled to use magic as easily as Zephyr did it.
"Okay, so what's the first step?" I asked, watching as he walked over to a tall bookshelf set against the wall behind his desk and pulled out a roll of thick paper.
Returning to the desk, he rolled it open on the surface with a snap, and I realized it was a world map.
"I have the spell perfected by now, but it doesn't work well with electronics, so we have to use maps. Once we have a general location on this map, we'll find a more detailed map of that area, and then repeat the process all over again."
I'd always known Zephyr searched for people like us, but I'd never realized this was how he did it. It sounded complicated, and I doubted a less powerful sorcerer could do it.
"How exactly does the spell work? Like what do you ask it to do?" I asked as I approached the desk, gazing at the map upside down since I stood on the opposite side from him.
"It veers on the edge of dark magic, but since I use it for good, I like to think it's okay," he said with a wry smile as he pulled out a small brass bowl from a drawer beneath his desk. He placed it at the edge of the map, then pulled out another long drawer. I walked around the desk to peek at it, and realized it was full of supplies for spell work. Herbs, tiny bones, small pieces of rocks, vials of liquid I'd rather not name.
Zephyr added a few herbs to the bowl, one of the rocks, two vials of clear liquid, a vial of... was that sand? And then he snapped his fingers, and dropped a handful of snow into the bowl.
"Oh! I get it! They represent the various areas of the Sanctuary, don't they?"
