Page 90 of Shroom for Improvement

At the ley lines, I spread a blanket on the ground, took my jacket off and laid it on the fabric. Sonny opened a napkin, the mushrooms he’d picked earlier in the centre.

“How many should I have? And do I just eat them?” I asked.

“Let’s start you on one. I’m more used to them, plus I microdose. And yes, you simply put them in your mouth and eat them. If you don’t want to chew, I can chop it up a bit, but they slip down quite naturally. I sometimes dry them and make a powder, or you can make a tea out of them, but I don’t have the facilities to preserve them right now, or the time, so we’ll take them like this.”

I looked up towards the sky. “Will this work, Jenny?”

Jenny affected a yawn. Pretty sure it was affected since houses didn’t have lungs. “Who can tell?”

“You. You can tell me. Will it work?” I argued back. Sonny, having heard none of Jenny’s amateur dramatics, arched a brow.

“Well, you’ll just have to eat the bloody things and find out, won’t you?” Jenny said.

“Fine. Tell me nothing.” I grabbed a shroom from the napkin and shoved it into my mouth. And I chewed. Andchewed. It was spongy and earthy... kind of bitter... a little icky. I swallowed. Swiped my tongue around my mouth to catch any leftover bits, or juice, or whatever. Sonny ate two. Didn’t even chew. “How long does it take to work?”

“Anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours,” Sonny said.

“Two hours?!”

“It can do. So if you don’t feel anything for ages, don’t be tempted to take more, because you can easily overdo it. One time I took four because the first two did nothing, but all four kicked in while I was in the middle of the theatre watchingPride and Mpreg-judice: The Musical.”

“Oh, gods,” I said, unable to hold back my laughter.

“Right? Simultaneously, the best and worst trip of my life. I ended up naked on the banks of the River Rafet with my werewolf friend, Mash, who swears to this day we each had a kidney stolen, but our fae-werewolf bodies are too quick healing to know for sure. We don’t have any scars, but sometimes I get this weird ache. Right here.” Sonny pointed to a spot above his hip.

A hundred thoughts passed through my mind, but ninety percent were of Sonny naked on the pebbly beaches of Remy’s main river. And why was I extremely jealous of his werewolf friend and the bandits who may or may not possess one of Sonny’s kidneys?

“We should get comfy while we wait for the shrooms to take effect,” he said, and he lay down on the blanket, arms behind his head like pillows, his eyes closed against the late afternoon sun.

My breath stuttered. I tried not to stare at his elongated form... Let my gaze travel up his threadbare shorts, across the tiny patch of downy skin revealed at his belt... Watch his chest rise and fall with his relaxed breaths.

I lay next to him. Angled my body slightly away from his.

“What do you want to talk about while we wait for the drugs to start doing the druggy thing?” I asked.

Sonny peeked an eye open. I pretended I’d been staring at the sky all along.

“Why don’t we tell each other all our secrets?”

Long Shadows

Sonny

“You want to tell each other secrets?” Claude asked, pretending as though he’d been looking up at the sky the entire time and not watching me.

I wanted to say make out. Let’s make out until we start tripping. And then continue making out right the way through the trip and into the night, and not even stop until the sun comes up and we feel the morning dew through our clothes.

I chickened out.

“Whatever we say, we could blame on the drugs,” I said.

“But we’re fae, we can’t lie. On or off drugs.”

I shrugged. It had a muted effect since we were both lying down.

“You go first,” Claude said.

A smile blossomed across my face.

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