Page 26 of Autumn L.A.W

He was halfway through convincing himself that birdsong counted as therapy when he saw them.

A circle of eight women, all wearing black. No, one was a man. They stood in a clearing near the Ramble. Not tourists. Not a bachelorette party for a goth wedding. These individuals radiated something else.

The tall one with the fiery red hair pointed at a patch of ground, like she expected it to answer her back. The one with the brown braid looked pissed off and strong. And the smallest one⁠—

Cal blinked. It was her! Lioness Graves. The tiny woman who had shimmied through collapsed beams to rescue him like it was nothing. The one who’d crawled into hell with the confidence of someone retrieving a sweatshirt from under a couch. The one he had not been able to stop thinking about since.

He took a step closer, careful, quiet. He didn’t want to intrude. He just wanted to make sure she was okay. Or maybe he just wanted to see her again. He wasn’t interrogating that part of his brain yet.

Lioness stood at the far edge of the circle, rubbing sleep from her eyes and arguing with the tall redhead. Rayna, he thought her name was. The argument seemed equal parts irritation and affection. Something about coffee. Something about rules. Something about someone not being allowed near an obelisk unless properly supervised.

He frowned. Obelisk?

Then the wind shifted, and the air hummed.

A faint vibration crawled up his spine, like the tremor before a building gives. Cal automatically scanned for danger. Structural weakness. Gas leak. Smoke… There was none.

Yet the ground inside the circle shimmied as if lightly rolling beneath their feet. Not dangerous exactly, but not normal, either.

He took another step.

That was when Lioness noticed him.

Her head snapped up, green eyes widened. Her wild blonde hair floated on the wind. “Oh, no,” she muttered. “Not today.”

Rayna followed her gaze. “What? Wait. Is that the firefighter?”

Cal lifted a hand in a tiny, awkward wave. Smooth. Very smooth.

Lioness made a sound like a tea kettle starting to whistle. “Rayna, stall him.”

“Why do I have to stall him?” Rayna asked. “You’re the one who apparently left a hot civilian wandering around unsupervised.”

Cal choked, “Hot⁠—?”

Lioness hissed at Rayna, “Don’t you dare.”

Rayna smirked. “Please. I dare constantly.”

Cal approached anyway, hands up in the universal “I come in peace and also have questions” gesture. “Morning. Sorry. I didn’t mean to, uh… interrupt your…”

Lioness folded her arms. “Don’t say ritual.”

“Okay,” he said, “I definitely won’t say ritual.”

Lioness winced. “You said it.”

Rayna sighed dramatically. “Well, he’s seen too much.”

“Seen what?” Cal asked.

Magda waved a dismissive hand. “Magic. Trauma. Emotional chaos. You’ll get used to it, if what Lioness thinks is true.”

Cal blinked. “Magic?”

Lioness pinched the bridge of her nose. “Great. Awesome. Fantastic. Explaining magic. Exactly what I needed today.”

“Lioness,” Rayna murmured, leaning in. “He already knows some things. He was literally trapped under a collapsed building with you. Also, look at him—he’s harmless.”