Stranger Than Witches (The Witches of Secret Hallow Book 3) Read online

  “Hello, Kimberly,” Garrett said pleasantly, even as he hovered protectively over his partner. He was loaded with several bags of his own and couldn’t have carried Rowan’s, but he looked intent on trying to figure out how to change that. “Rowan, there are plenty of people in the coven who could pick up the slack. It’s not to say you still couldn’t take part—”

  “Thanks for your permission!” Rowan strode purposefully toward the kitchen, and Kimberly followed them back. Rowan had been in the house frequently enough that she knew where everything was as well as Kimberly. Possibly even better. “It’s really good to know that my husband wants to dictate how much I can be involved in my own coven with my own magic!”

  Garrett groaned. “I wasn’t trying to say that, Rowan!”

  “That’s how it came out.” Siobhan made a noise, and Rowan patted her back. “Don’t worry. Daddy isn’t that much of a meanie, sweetheart.”

  “I’m just saying you didn’t have the baby that long ago,” Garrett said, circling around and putting a hand on Rowan’s shoulder. “I’m sure Kimberly and Maddock could handle everything.”

  Kimberly blinked. She’d drifted into listening from the doorway—her favorite position in any argument that shouldn’t have involved her—but she didn’t see what any of this had to do with her.

  Rowan made a frustrated noise. “Could you actually try asking before you assume?”

  “Right.” Garrett turned to Kimberly, wincing apologetically. “Would you be interested in leading Beltane as high priestess? And then Maddock could be high priest!”

  “What?” Kimberly asked, looking back and forth between the two of them quickly.

  It was Rowan’s turn to look sorry in Kimberly’s direction. “I don’t know where he got it in his head,” she said, bouncing a bit in place when Siobhan fussed quietly. “But he thinks it’s too soon after I gave birth to run a major ritual. I don’t know why, since women in this coven have been doing just that for centuries—”

  “Modern medicine has also advanced since then,” Garrett said, crossing his arms over his chest. “We know more about childbirth now!”

  “—but there you go.”

  “So what do you think?” Garrett asked. “Might be nice for Keene to see his parents in action, right?”

  Kimberly flinched. “No. I don’t have enough power.”

  That was only the surface of the issue, but it was the easiest explanation. It certainly wasn’t a lie. Until she’d woken up feathered, she had truly believed she was too weak a witch to lead a coven.

  The power was there. It had just come in a form she had hoped that it wouldn’t.

  The thought of connecting with her magic again, when it had been acting up in such weird ways…Kimberly shivered, and not in a pleasant way.

  Doing something like that in front of the coven would be terrible.

  She was aware of Thorn flying over the house, their connection as solid as ever. She knew he didn’t like how the conversation was unfolding, but she couldn’t really help her emotional reactions. She projected comforting vibes his way, and he seemed mollified for the moment.

  Her silence and distant gaze was typical behavior. Neither Rowan nor Garrett were put off by seeing it. Kimberly often drifted off into the sky with Thorn, mentally speaking.

  They quickly abandoned dragging her into the argument and refocused on bickering with one another. Rowan and Garrett were unpacking what they’d brought for Beltane, and their volley continued.

  “—trust that I know my own body and what I’m doing,” Rowan was saying in a voice much calmer than Kimberly would have probably managed. But then, Kimberly wouldn’t have been in that situation. Not only did Maddock know magic as well as she did, and maybe better, but they didn’t really talk in the same way.

  “I do trust you,” Garrett said in a voice that told Kimberly this was in no way over.

  She sighed and walked into the kitchen. She might as well get a snack while this continued.

  * * *

  Kimberly was halfway through her snack at the kitchen table, Rowan and Garrett’s disagreement a hum in the background, when she heard the rumble of Maddock’s pickup.

  She sat up instantly.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said aloud during a moment’s pause in Rowan and Garrett’s conversation.

  It was odd enough for Kimberly to speak up that the arguing couple were momentarily silent.

  Rowan had her mouth open like she was going to say something, and she paused and said, “Okay,” pleasantly.

  Garrett nodded with a smile her way as well before snapping his head back to look at his wife.

  Kimberly would have normally been happy to have an excuse to leave. Instead, her heart was pounding in her ears as she jogged out to the barn, where Maddock was climbing out of his pickup truck. He must have seen her coming with the rearview mirror because he looked neither surprised or unready to meet her. If anything, he looked preemptively apologetic.

  Keene was not in the pickup.

  The aching emptiness she’d been struggling to ignore roared huge within her soul.

  Her darling bairn wasn’t there. She had gone flying with an eagle, returned for him, and yet he wasn’t there.

  “You took Keene to the Ash Academy, didn’t you.” Kimberly stopped several feet shy of him. She didn’t speak with a questioning tone in her voice.

  Maddock nodded.

  “You took him away.”

  Maddock nodded again.

  “And you weren’t going to tell me.”

  “I told you last night—” he began.

  That didn’t count, and he knew it. Kimberly held up a hand to silence him.

  He sagged like she’d said it aloud. At least they knew each other well enough that she didn’t have to say it all. “I know,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry. I knew you would be mad, and I knew I should’ve talked to you about it, but…but I thought it might be easier on everyone this way. It’s certainly easier for Keene not to have his parents pushing and pulling in all directions.”

  Kimberly crossed her arms over her chest, but she didn’t say anything or try to stop Maddock from speaking.

  “You need time to focus on yourself. You’re going through something big, wife of mine. My magic wasn’t anything like that. I had plenty of people around to help me, but for you, it feels like you’re alone and this was the only thing I could do to help. Keene’s in good hands, and…”

  He cleared his throat, and Kimberly heard the unspoken and Keene won’t hear his parents fight. Kimberly wasn’t entirely sure she agreed with that part of keeping him out of it. She was learning through her relationship with Maddock that everyone disagreed and had to find ways to come together on things. But Keene was only three. He would mostly find their argument confusing, as they seldom bickered the way Rowan and Garrett still were.

  When Kimberly and Maddock disagreed—which was rare—their so-called “fights” were quiet, respectful things. Both of them knew that they were on the same team, pulling for the same goals. They only took a stance because they believed that it was worth fighting over to improve their relationship.

  It was more difficult for a three year old to understand the subtleties of an adult relationship as complex and enduring as his parents’. Better for him not to hear it at all, for now.

  Kimberly’s son would grow up with a peaceful, joyful childhood, very much unlike the one that Kimberly herself had endured.

  “Thank you,” she said to her husband, and she meant it.

  They rocked together, embracing tightly.

  “Keene’s safety is as important to me as it is to you, wife of mine,” Maddock said. “Gemma’s with him, and I told her to call if she thought Keene seemed even the slightest bit off.” Maddock smiled. “She will, you know. She texted my cell while I was driving back and wanted to check again when we’d be picking him up.”

  Kimberly couldn’t dispute that.

  Maddock, seeming to sense that Kimberly was
relaxing, stepped closer. “There is another reason that it’s worthwhile to trust our son in the loving hands of the coven. I want to be here for you, too,” he said in a quiet voice, holding his hands out low. “You have my full attention, if you want my help.”

  “Maddock…” Kimberly couldn’t resist a small eye roll. “Of course I want your help.”

  She took his hands, and he breathed out heavily. That said a lot about his choice; he’d obviously known Kimberly wouldn’t like it, but he’d felt sure enough about what he was doing to go through with taking Keene to school.

  There was only one part Kimberly didn’t feel good about.

  “Just warn me when you’re going to do something like this,” she said. “Don’t wait until my back’s turned and just do it. We are a team.”

  Maddock nodded. “I will. I swear.”

  Kimberly stepped back, and she held her arms open. Maddock gladly stepped into her hug again, and she had to admit, she relaxed with him close to her again.

  Being sheltered within Maddock’s arms was as peaceful as the forest in many ways, and just as much home for her.

  Thorn radiated approval from a distance. He liked when his witch was taking care of herself, and this seemed to qualify.

  Kimberly felt it when he dived for another mouse. His satisfaction tripled when he caught it.

  Part of her wished that she could taste the fruits of his hunt, too.

  A voice ricocheted across the farm, shrill and piercing. “Excuse me?”

  Maddock jumped free of his wife, head whipping around so that he could stare at their house. “Who’s that?”

  “Rowan.” Kimberly shook her head. “She and Garrett came over to set up for Beltane, and he actually asked me if we could run the ritual.”

  “Instead of Rowan? Why?” He didn’t give her time to answer. “Because she just had the baby.”

  Though it had been three years since Keene’s birth, the memories of the time he’d been a newly born bairn—little more than a hatchling, in his way—were fresh within their minds. Both recalled Kimberly’s frailty in the postpartum healing period.

  It was tradition for witches to take months of rest after birth while the rest of the coven cared for them, bringing them cups of water, cooking them meals enchanted to increase milk production, and cleaning their home. Traditionally, a witch was meant to do nothing but nurse her baby, rest, and heal in those early days.

  However, witches were the fiery sort, and none of them did well taking time off—and Kimberly had been no exception. The entire village had risen up to help around the farm, yet she had been out there with them within days, canning peaches for later consumption with wee little Keene strapped to her back in a cotton wrap.

  Rowan was similar. She had been taking some of the help graciously, but she was a high priestess to her core. The coven was her birthright and passion, in much the same way the Leif farm was Kimberly’s.

  Garrett was playing with fire by trying to restrain his partner in such a way.

  Maddock whistled. “He knows he’s going to lose that battle, doesn’t he?”

  Kimberly couldn’t help but smile faintly. “There did seem to be a desperate edge to his side of the argument.”

  “Too bad I don’t have popcorn.”

  Kimberly could hear a distant “Sorry!” repeated over and over again, and she snuggled closer to Maddock as she waited for Rowan and Garrett to reach some kind of end to their disagreement. Then and only then would she return to their house.

  For now, she remained at her home within Maddock’s protective embrace.

  7

  Kimberly was flying.

  It was a low-level flight, a glide from tree to tree in a forested area surrounding a grassy field. This was not a day for the hunt. There were mice in the field, along with a few plump rabbits, but she was sated from the capture of her last prey.

  It was just a nice day for flying, and even in the body of an eagle, she was human enough to enjoy the sheer act of movement without touching the ground.

  She made a strafing run at the long grasses in the field. A flurry of motion signaled a gnome hill. Their tiny round bodies, dressed in bold shades of red, scurried across the dirt.

  They were taunting her. They knew she couldn’t catch them.

  Yet she also couldn’t resist the urge to give chase. The predator’s mind found such scampering irresistible.

  She buzzed past them, talons extended. She didn’t so much as nick a red hat’s pointed tip.

  Gnomes erupted in giggles when she whirled around, feet empty.

  She flapped to gain altitude. She was not so dignified that she couldn’t enjoy the chase, and she would have giggled as well if she’d been capable.

  One day she’d get her beak on a gnome. She wagered they’d be even more delicious than the bats—though probably even more elusive to boot.

  The wind picked up, and she turned toward the sky, the sun bright overhead. Kimberly spread her wings, feeling the tips move almost like she would feel it when she spread her fingers apart as far as they would go. There weren’t many limits on her body. The sky felt absent of boundaries. She could turn to the blue and just…

  Kimberly opened her eyes.

  She was in bed again, the warm morning sunshine streaming in and reflecting off their white comforter.

  Maddock’s side of the bed was empty, and her arms were spread to take up the space that he wasn’t using.

  Her arms showed bare skin. They were completely free of feathers. She should probably be relieved about it, but she rubbed a hand over his skin and ached with their absence.

  Thank the Hallows. Kimberly’s body showed no signs of attempting to shapeshift again.

  Her heart was filled with emotion that resembled disappointment.

  Keene shrieked outside. Kimberly shook off her glum reverie and climbed out of bed to feed him breakfast.

  He greeted her with his usual enthusiasm, which was similar to saying that a train crashing into a hapless car stuck on the tracks was enthusiastic. It was about as quiet, too.

  Still, Kimberly was happy to take the brunt of the impact. She ruffled his soft little hair. She petted Poke when instructed to do so.

  And once she sat him down with a bowl of cereal and a spoon, Keene was having a pretty quiet morning. He didn’t seem sick or anything; he was just content to play with his cereal and talk to himself quietly. Kimberly probably wouldn’t be able to follow much even if she could hear what he was saying.

  She could hear distant noise, loud enough for her to know it was Maddock working, but not loud enough that she could tell what he was doing specifically. All Kimberly knew was that he was out under the sun and the sky, and she could tell, from her connection with Thorn, that he was out in a field.

  Thorn was gliding on the wind. Flying didn’t feel entirely like her dreams—even if there was truth in it, it was still dreaming and had a bit of an unreal feeling to it—and it wasn’t as direct as it had felt when she had been in Thorn’s head.

  If she focused, she could feel the distance between Thorn and the ground, the sunlight on his feathers, the wind whipping past…

  Everything she wanted to do.

  Because she did want it.

  She could admit that much. Maybe she had to.

  If she were being honest with herself, she wanted to fly with Thorn much more than she wanted to spend another morning attempting to teach Keene his alphabet, a practice both of them found incredibly dull.

  She let her eyes fall shut so that she could focus on her familiar.

  Thorn tilted and swooped in a circle. It reminded Kimberly of her limited experience on a plane, when they would make it to their destination and circle before they were cleared to land. It was that feeling of being secure and solid where you were and also feeling like you were going to tip toward the ground at the same time.

  Flying seemed to be full of those kinds of contradictions. Full of strength but being light enough for the wind to carry. Se
eing everything below and nothing at the same time.

  Scary but comforting.

  “Mommy! Mommy, Mommy, Mommy…”

  Kimberly jerked with surprise.

  Keene wasn’t sitting in his chair anymore. He was standing in front of his mother and jumping up and down, and, judging by how flushed his cheeks were, he’d been doing it for at least a minute or two.

  She couldn’t speak. She was too horrified to make the words work.

  Kimberly had been so wrapped up in sharing Thorn’s joy of flight that she had completely ignored her sweet child.

  The doorbell rang, and Kimberly couldn’t even be relieved. Her heart was pounding too hard. Keene ran for the door, and Kimberly rose from the table to follow.

  Normally, she would be calling after him to wait until she got there to open the door, but she was as slow mentally as she was physically. She could soon hear Keene cheerfully greeting whoever was at the door.

  Keene was just in his underwear, too, which she only remembered when she rounded the corner and saw him happily babbling to whoever was there.

  “Oh, and here’s your mommy!” Rowan smiled Kimberly’s way. Siobhan was in the sling again, but she looked asleep.

  Gemma was next to Rowan and Siobhan, and she waved her free hand. The techno-witch held a cell phone in the other.

  A bright voice cheerfully added a “hello!” emanating from the device.

  “It’s Fox,” Gemma said, turning the phone so that Kimberly could see Fox’s beaming face on her chat app.

  FeistyFox was Gemma’s girlfriend who lived in Seattle. They had only been together for a few weeks, but there had been a marked improvement in Gemma’s overall demeanor. The two made each other very happy. Better still, Fox was a gifted witch in her own right. Though she was a solitary practitioner who preferred not to join the coven in Secret Hallow, she had added her wisdom and abilities to coven spellwork more than once.

  Everyone was grateful to have Fox in the family, even distantly. Her presence on Gemma’s cell phone was so common now that it felt as good as the real thing.