Page 45 of Wind Called

And because they were alone, that meant she and Marc wouldn’t have to watch what they were saying.

“My main talent is the dreams,” he said. “I inherited that gift from my mother. But I also got some of my father’s magic as well.”

“Which is…?”

“I can do this,” he said.

For the briefest second, an odd little bubble of light surrounded him before it winked out of existence once more.

“Pretty,” Bellamy commented. “But what does it do?”

“It protects me from magic and physical objects,” he said. “Me, and anyone who’s inside the bubble with me. The field my father can generate is larger, but still, my gifts doubled up because I got them from both sides of my family. And we’ve seen some of the same things in other people whose parents are from two different witch clans.”

“Like my friend Devynn,” Bellamy said softly. “Her father’s gift is being able to hide his witch nature, and her mother can give herself an extra five minutes whenever she wants it. Devynn’s time-travel talent is a little different, but still, she got it double barrels.”

Marc nodded, then took a bite of his mushroom swiss burger. Once he was done chewing, he said, “It’s not always consistent — there are people in my clan whose parents came from two different witch families and they still only got a talent that doesn’t have any relation to their mother and father’s gifts — but it does seem to happen at least half the time. That’s why I think the way our clans have started to commingle is changing us somehow.”

Something about that statement felt vaguely ominous to Bellamy, although she had to admit that having two witchy gifts had to be beneficial from an evolutionary standpoint if nothing else.

Not that she would know. She had only the one because the egg that had helped create her had come from a regular woman, not a witch.

And honestly, right now her one and only talent was causing enough problems. Bellamy wasn’t sure what she would do if she had to deal with more than that.

“Is this something Zoe has talked to Angela and Connor about?” she asked, and Marc shrugged.

“I don’t know. I suppose it’s more of an interesting side effect than anything else.” A pause as his gaze met hers, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “It’s not like I think it’s going to stop anyone in the Arizona witch families from looking for a partner outside their clan if they haven’t found the right one yet.”

His tone was casual enough, and yet Bellamy couldn’t hold back a small thrill of anticipation nonetheless. They were from two different clans and yet had declared their love for each other anyway. Thirty years ago, this would all have been unthinkable, but now it was just part of the way things were.

She supposed the real question was what they planned to do about it.

“No, I guess not,” she said with an answering smile.

He opened his mouth, as though he intended to reply, but then a couple of guys in T-shirts printed with the logo of a local construction company came outside and took the other empty table, and that seemed to be that, at least as far as any confidential witchy conversations went.

Without missing a beat, Marc made a comment about which trail they should hike tomorrow morning, and they went on to a discussion about whether they should head back to the Secret Canyon wilderness, or whether they might want to drive down to the Village of Oak Creek and explore Bell Rock. All totally innocuous, the sort of conversation anyone in the area might have, and it was clear the newcomers had absolutely no interest in it, since they launched into a discussion about whether the countertops that had been ordered for their current job would actually show up today or whether the supplier down in Phoenix would find some way to stall again.

Since she and Marc had already paid for their meal up front, all they had to do was drop their trays back inside after they’d disposed of their trash in the bin helpfully placed near the door.

“My place, or back to the ranch?” he asked as they climbed into his truck.

Maybe it would have been smarter to go to the ranch, just to see if she picked up on any vibes there. But because they might be doing some experimenting along those lines very soon, Bellamy thought she’d be happy to put that off for as long as possible.

“Your place,” she said promptly, and sent him a smile. “I can think of a few things we can do while we’re waiting to hear from Levi.”

“Say no more,” Marc replied with a grin.

With any luck, she’d be able to forget all about this for a few hours.

13

They’d just emergedfrom the shower in the Airbnb’s main suite — all that activity in the bedroom had made them sweaty despite the air conditioning — when Bellamy’s cell phone rang from inside her purse.

“I’d better get that,” she said, pulling her towel more tightly around her as she hurried over to grab the phone.

Marc watched as she picked it up and said, “Hello?” A pause, and then she replied, “Oh, hi, Levi. What’ve you got for us?” Another pause, longer this time. “Let me get a pen,” she said, and then gestured frantically at Marc.

Was there even a pen in the bedroom? He didn’t know for sure, but a moment’s rummaging in the nightstands didn’t turn up anything. A shake of his head to let her know that a pen didn’t seem to be handy, and she spoke again.

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