A Nomadic Witch

Chapter 24

When the weight of forty-some years slid off your shoulders, even old women felt rather spry. Moira walked lightly through the informal party in her garden, smiling at friendly faces left and right.

No one wanted to leave.

She took a turn into her cornflower patch, graced by a rather large hole in the middle. She chuckled and handed a cup of tea to the person trying to fix it. “I really do need to give that boy of yours a lesson or two about harvesting flowers.”

“Good luck.” Nell rolled her eyes. “Ginia calls him the garden monster. Apparently her herbs live in terror of small-boy invasions.”

Herbs weren’t known for their flexibility. Moira settled in a chair by Sophie and motioned Nell into a third. Even very spry old ladies needed to rest their feet occasionally, and she really didn’t want a fire witch trying to fix her flowers.

Sophie smiled, fingers sending one last spell into the cornflowers. “Are Marcus and Morgan sleeping?”

Aye, and it had done her heart good to see the two of them curled up together. “I used a light sleep spell on wee Morgan-her daddy needed a nap, and he wasn’t going under while she was still awake.”

“He should sleep for a week.” Nell leaned back and yawned. “That was some way fancy spellcasting he finished with, and he was barely standing after pulling Morgan back from the great beyond.”

All true, but you didn’t interfere with a man who had finally found the thing he was born to do. “So he’s set up a path of safety out of the mists, has he?” She appreciated a complex spell as well as the next witch, but she lacked Nell’s skill in parsing them.

“Yup.” Nell looked over at her smallest son, currently deep in saber bashing with young Lizzie. “He used the affinity of Net and astral power and basically wove a bridge between the astral plane and Realm.”

With all the forces of hearth and home calling their travelers back to this side. Moira felt her tears welling up again. The man who had taken forty-three years to find home had rooted the entire astral plane as well. “And our Evan will set guarding spells at the other end.” She shared Marcus’s faith in the brother neither of them could see.

Sophie raised an eyebrow. “Do we need to be worrying about this end?”

Moira wished with all her heart the answer was yes. “No. Souls who have no tether can’t come back-they’ve no bodies to return to. Realm is safe.”

Sophie smiled, eyes full of empathy. “I was more worried about inquisitive witches messing around on this end. The citizens of Realm have been known to cause mischief on occasion.”

Oh, my. Moira frowned. That was a rather large hazard, and one she hadn’t considered.

Nell’s grin was quick-and fierce. “The best hacker in the world is on the job.”

All well and good, then. “He’ll enjoy the challenge, your Daniel. There’s a man who still needs plenty to do to stay out of trouble.”

“Nice.” Jamie ported into the center of their little chat, Kenna under his arm like a football. “The man’s going to be coding for weeks, and nobody’s so much as offered him a cookie yet.”

Moira was entirely sure the latter was false. “Eavesdropping again, are you?” She held out her arms for Kenna.

“Nope.” Jamie grinned. “There’s a pirate war breaking out any minute. I’m recruiting.”

Nell raised an eyebrow. “Who’s the other team captain?”

“Marcus.” Jamie waved his sword suggestively. “I think we can take him-he’s still asleep.”

Moira smiled, heart entirely full. Pirate war had always been Evan’s favorite. It was the right way to say goodbye.

Marcus shifted and held his girl-child a little tighter. Part of him knew this was a dream-but even now, the mists sent quiet echoes of fear skittering in his heart.

A soft light drifted to his shoulder, emanating peace.

He breathed, and realized the mists were oddly quiet. “Evan?”

Silence.

A shape drifted by in the mist. A soul, Evan had said, passing through. Marcus watched as another soft light took up residence beside the new arrival.

The lights were new.

Quietly, he drifted, watching. Three more shadows in the mist. Three more lights. Company on the journey.

And now, Marcus knew what it was that he saw.

The guardian of the mists had gone-and left magical escorts behind.

One last time, Marcus reached out for the mind of the brother he would always miss. And sent love.