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“That’s a better look for you,” Nolan teased, getting a snicker from Sky.
Maddox waved a dismissive hand at him. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve earned it.”
The moment the bottles were empty, Sky placed them in the box. He lit the bundle and blew it out again so that it smoldered, sending up a steady stream of smoke. “Do you have another bundle of sage?”
“I do. Want me to get it?” Maddox offered, all joking disappearing from his voice.
Sky nodded. “Give me your hands.” When Maddox extended his hands to him, Sky circled them several times with the smoke. “Bring it to me and open your chimney flue. I’m going to toss one into the fireplace to help get rid of the cloud over your house while I take this one through all the rooms.” Sky turned to Nolan and grinned. “This is the last step, I swear. I just gotta sage each room quickly to chase out the last of the nasty. Afterward, we can leave. Feel free to move now. You can walk or sit anywhere there isn’t purple.”
Nolan shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned forward, stealing a kiss from Sky’s perfect lips. “Take your time. This has been educational and interesting.”
Sky gifted him with the best, meltiest smile before blowing out the candles and dropping them back into the box. He then continued through the house, waving his smoking sage in every direction.
“Can I get you something to drink while you wait for him?” Maddox inquired.
“Uh…no, I’m good. Thanks.”
Maddox snorted. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. Even with Sky’s cleansing, I’ll probably throw out all the food in the house and start fresh. This shit was too freaky.” Maddox disappeared into another room. There was a rustling sound as he dug around, likely searching for the bundle of sage Sky requested.
From basement to attic, it took Sky about fifteen minutes to sage the entire house and admonish Maddox yet again for daring to cast a “hinky spell.” Maddox sighed and hung his head, pleading with Sky to not tell Red.
When they stepped outside, nearly all of the people on the street were now gone. A few were still standing about, though they didn’t seem as interested in the house anymore and were just gossiping about the other neighbors on the street.
Nolan threaded his fingers through Sky’s and walked with him to the car. “That was a very nice thing you did to help your friend.”
Sky swung their joined hands and smiled. “Yeah, it was. Especially since we had to put our date on hold. At this rate, we’re going to have less than half an hour to look at art before our dinner.”
“That’s okay. Saving Maddox from being swallowed by a purple fungus is more important.”
“Did it earn me brownie points even though I had to use magic?”
“Yes. I don’t know if that counts as magic. That was more like…cleaning, right?”
Sky’s expression brightened, his eyes widening as he sucked in a gasp. “You’re right! That was cleaning. I just had to clean Mad’s house. That’s all!”
They climbed into the car and Sky made a U-turn to get them out of the quaint residential area and back to the shops and restaurants.
“Maddox mentioned something about Moving Day and the fae. What was he talking about?”
“Crap,” Sky cursed under his breath. “I was afraid you’d remember that.”
Nolan’s heart sped up, and he leaned forward a little to see Sky as he worried his bottom lip. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing! I swear! It’s just…I didn’t want to throw more new things at you yet. You’re still getting used to witches, vampires, and shifters.”
“But the fae…like fairies and elves…they’re real?”
Sky shrank in his seat, his shoulders rising to his ears. “Yeah,” he replied, though it came out as a whimper. “And it’s a whole lot more than just fairies and elves. There are…fuck…a lot of them fall under the fae classification. It’s pretty much anyone who has to answer to the king and queen of the fae. But, that’s beside the point.” Sky waved a hand at him quickly as if to shoo away his own words.
Nolan could agree with that. They could talk about the fae and their kind later. His bigger concern was what would drive Maddox to risk casting a spell that he got from a questionable source. “Okay, Moving Day.”
“Yes. Moving Day is May first on the calendar. There are a lot of myths about it in books and even more misinformation in the human world. How it really works is that the fae are allowed to spend only ten years in the human realm at a time. Otherwise, they spend their lives in their world, which is sometimes referred to as Avalon from the King Arthur myth. Anyway, every hundred years, the door opens between worlds, and all the fae who want to return to play on this plane come back. A.k.a. Moving Day. Once here, they have ten years to play and cause mischief. At the end of that time, they all have to return to their world, or die. At least, that’s the legend.”
“You’re not sure?”
Sky shook his head. “I’ve personally never met a fae, and I don’t trust the word of people who claim they have. Most people don’t survive the encounter.”
“So…in a week, fae are going to be popping up all around the world because doors have opened between the two planes.”
