“Callie, what is this?” Kaleb asks, carefully flipping through the binder I gifted him.
Getting up from the floor, I walk over next to Kaleb, peering over his shoulder at the copies of ancient texts. “This binder is filled with passages written by the last Volkov and Lyncas high priestess spirit witches. I only found copies of copies of the Lyncas passages, the Bastard not having the originals, but from what I can tell, she was a woman who prided herself on being the harbinger of justice.” I reach over and flip through a few pages before landing on the one I need. “No life was too small for her notice, and to ensure justice for everyone, she created a spell that allowed ghosts to have their day in court so to speak. Even though her judgment was the only one that mattered, she still held massive hearings, making sure everyone heard the spirit’s side of events.”
Kaleb’s eyes scan over the page, not needing the notes on the side to read the original Latin the spell was written in. “If I understand this correctly, you wrapped your magic around him like a visible shield.”
“Something like that, yeah,” I murmur, gripping the back of the chair he’s sitting on. “It won’t affect Felix directly in any way, but he can interact with the corporeal world for a little while.”
Kaleb looks up at me, holding my gaze for a full beat, before nodding and making a seemingly distracted hum of agreement, fully understanding what I’m really trying to say. This spell won’t extend Felix’s existence. He will still fade away if we don’t put him in a body.
“Please be careful with whom you share that with,” Mildred warns, her lips pressed tightly together.
“I will,” Kaleb promises her, closing the binder and putting it away next to his other wrapped gift.
Mildred didn’t approve of me giving copies of classified family history to anyone outside of the family. It’s one thing to let him read it, another for him to have treacherous information to keep. I assured her Kaleb would be careful, and that he was trustworthy. I also may have hinted at how helpful his nearly perfect memory might be in solving some of our other family mysteries. Having a piece of his own to mull over might encourage him to seek out more and make connections we hadn’t thought of. She relented, mostly because technically anything relating to the Lyncas was mine to do with as I wished, so we might as well give him a fuller picture with the Volkov entries too. Not that she’s stated so out loud, but I get the feeling that my nan doesn’t like the idea of possible bias in favor of the Lyncas’ side of the family.
“I can’t fucking believe it,” Donovan whispers with awe, standing when Connor puts Felix back down. He grabs Felix by his shoulders and gives him a fierce hug, Donovan’s whole body shaking with emotion. “I just… fuck.”
“Same, dude,” Felix replies, hugging back as hard as he can.
After Donovan finishes, Kaleb rises with bright eyes and hugs Felix with all of his strength—his muscles visibly straining under his dress shirt.
Tears drip down my cheeks as I witness the guys fighting their own strong emotions, the dominant sounds of the room being sniffling, throat clearing, and watery awkward laughs. There are also quite a few muttered curses before Felix is squished by another crushing hug.
“Good thing I don’t need to breathe,” Felix wheezes once Nolan releases him from his third hug, which earns him a half-hearted punch to the shoulder.
My nan rises from her chair with a soft expression. Felix blinks at her when she walks over and lightly grasps his shoulders. “It truly is a privilege to finally meet you face to face. You’ve affected my granddaughter so much for the better, and there aren’t adequate words to express how grateful I am for it. You are always welcome in any place the Volkovs call home.” She then kisses his cheek and steps away.
Felix rubs the back of his neck and stutters, “C-Callie’s really great, so you know, I, um… It’s uh…”
“What he means to say, is that Callie has been good for us too, so the feeling is mutual,” Nolan supplies, wrapping an arm around Felix’s shoulder.
“Yeah, what he said,” Felix readily agrees.
I feel like a dozen butterflies have unfurled their wings inside me, happily fluttering throughout my chest and stomach.Even though I seem to keep blowing things up on what feels like a weekly basis, and crazy sticks to me like obnoxious perfume, Nolan still said I’m good for them. Me. The witch.
Mildred walks toward the stairs, and with a tired smile, and announces, “I’m knackered, so I think I’ll head to bed now. Feel free to finish unwrapping your gifts and enjoy the rest of the food. If you choose to stay the night, there are plenty of blankets and pillows in the cupboards upstairs.”
Making my way across the living room, I give her a hug goodnight. “You don’t have to go, you know.”
“I know, but this is something special for you and your friends. We’ll have Christmas with just the two of us.” She runs a hand down my hair and kisses my temple. “Have fun, my darling. I love you so much. Happy Yule.”
“I love you too,” I whisper, blinking back tears. “Happy Yule.”
Noticing my nan’s imminent departure, Mr. Mischief climbs out of his cat tree to follow her. He seems to eyeball Connor for a moment, giving the cat version of a calculating look, then deliberately rubs himself along my shins. Seemingly pleased that I have been properly scent marked, he bounds up the stairs. A moment later I hear Mildred’s bedroom door closed.
Maybe Mr. Mischief isn’t a fan of dogs and despite Connor looking human, he can still smell Connor’s wolf.
Spinning around, I smile awkwardly. “Felix, do you want to try opening your present again?”
“Pretty girl, this is more than enough,” Felix replies, his warm timbre enriched with genuine gratitude. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
“Good thing you’re not asking.” I retrieve the box from the floor and offer it up to him. All the guys crowd around to see what’s inside, which makes me self-conscious. It’s not as glamorous as some of the other gifts. Just heartfelt.
With furrowed brows, Felix focuses on opening the box, using one hand to hold it steady on my open palms, while the other lifts the lid. Nestled inside is a bracelet comprised of hematite and lava stone, the beads wrapped in a housing of black twine, and it has an adjustable, knotted string clasp. The pattern itself isn’t particularly interesting, the beads simply alternating back and forth, but how I’ve strung them together is slightly more advanced than my earlier attempts at jewelry making.
Taking the bracelet from the box, I loosen it enough to put it over Felix’s hand then tighten it around his wrist. “The shiny silver beads, that’s hematite and it’s supposed to help to ground you and push away negative energy. The black pocked beads are lava stone and encourage rebirth. I have no idea if they actually do any of those things, but my teacher seemed to like that I knew it when I turned this in for my final.”
“My gift was your final for Jewelry 1,” Felix laughs, while delicately running his fingers across the bracelet, the only thing on his person tangible from this world instead of something he concocted to wear from his mind.
