Nightshade, who had hair the color of golden wheat and brilliant green eyes, said, “Can we have a pony?”
Herne sighed.“If we were living in Annwn still, I would say yes.But here, it’s not that simple.”He looked over at me.“I wish we could still…”
“Live there?Yes, me too.But Cernunnos was adamant that we’re needed here.We could, I suppose, buy a pony and stable it somewhere.”
“We’ll talk about that later.What about you?”he asked Mara.“What did you do?”
“I learned a song,” she said.
I glanced over at Evershine.“She can sing?That wouldn’t surprise me, given her nature.”
“Yes, actually, and she does surprisingly well at remembering the words.Not many two-year-olds who can remember a whole song.”She urged Mara to sing for us, and Mara belted out a slightly off-key version ofThe Rolling of the Stones.
Impressed, both Herne and I spent the next half hour playing with them, and finally, I helped Evershine put them to bed.By then it was time for dinner, but I wasn’t about to cook, and I didn’t expect Evershine to make anything.
“I’m calling for takeout,” I said.“What do you want?”
“Anything’s good,” he said, stretching out on the sofa.
I called and placed an order for Chinese takeout.“They’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”I curled up next to him on the sofa, resting my head on his shoulder.“Everything seems so odd now that we’re back here.It’s like falling into old patterns, and it happened so incredibly fast.I never expected this,” I added.
I paused as my phone rang again.I glanced at it, but didn’t recognize the number.“Hello?”
“Hey, lady.How about grabbing lunch together?I’m back!”
At the sound of her voice, I let out a joyful shriek.Angel was back!
“When did you get back?Is Sejun with you?Are you here for good?”The questions tumbled out of my mouth as I came to a seated position and turned to Herne.“Angel’s back!”
He grinned, disentangling his arm from around my shoulder.“Well, did Sejun come with her?”
“Hold on.”I held the phone out and hit the speaker button.“You’re on speaker, Angel.Now, tell us all about it!”
“We decided yesterday to come back.I missed you so much, and Sejun missed Herne.”
The two had become good friends, given he and Angel were dating and always over at our private quarters in Annwn.
“Where are you staying?We’d love to have you here, but with the?—”
“My house.What used to be your house, actually.I didn’t sell it.After Yutani and Lyrical broke up and moved out, I thought DJ might want to live there.We have a place to live, no problem.We have to unpack, of course, and Sejun will need to turn the third bedroom into an office, but that’s not a problem.”
I smiled, thinking back to where things had really started.I’d bought the house, and Angel had moved in with me.We were like sisters anyway.It had been a murder-house, but we’d cleansed it and cleared out all the evil spirits.When I moved to Annwn, I gave the house to Angel so that she would have it if she wanted to come visit DJ.Since Herne had his own house, and we had been engaged, it seemed right to make certain Angel had a place to go.
Now, we were both goddesses, but still best friends.And here we were, back to where our adventures with the Wild Hunt had started.Everything seemed still the same, yet so much had happened during the intervening years.
“We’re on a convoluted case.One thing I will say is: don’t go swimming or boating in Puget Sound.”
“Oh?That sounds intriguing,” Angel said.
“Intriguing but deadly,” I answered.“Anyway, come over tomorrow night?You haven’t seen the girls for a few weeks,” I added.
Angel loved the triplets, and she was their unofficial auntie.
“I will.Tomorrow night, DJ’s coming over to hang with us for a while.He’s so happy that I’m moving back.He’ll stay with Conner for now, but I’ll be able to see him at least once a week.He’s growing up, Ember.It’s hard to believe,” she said, a wistful note in her voice.“Mama J.would be so amazed by everything that’s happened.I miss her,” she added.
“I know you do,” I said.“I do, too.She took me in when my parents died.You asked if I could stay with you guys, and she didn’t even hesitate.She’ll always be my second mother.”We sat silent for a moment, then I said, “All right, come tomorrow morning, and we’ll have a huge brunch at the office.Bring Sejun.”
“Of course,” Angel said.“See you tomorrow!”
