Page 64 of Earth-Bound

“Next time, could you say it like you mean it?”

“Eat up before it gets cold.”

I did as he said. It was delicious.

In fact, it was so wonderful that I forgot what we’d been talking about and Mrs. Winters went right out of my head. I washed up and got ready for work, and then took Terrund’s hand as we set out for the house again. That feeling was still new and exciting for me, and I revelled in the way Terrund felt beside me.

At the house, I took the large watering can and watered those plants that needed it. And this time, as I did so, I felt able to talk to them openly in front of Terrund. It was a relief to me and to them. I thought I felt them relax as I spoke, since I normally talked to them and they didn’t understand why I hadn’t done that yesterday.

Terrund stood nearby with a faint smile on his lips that made me want to kiss him and never stop. I restrained myself, but it was close.

When we went upstairs, I sighed. The plants in the master bedroom were wilting again.

By that point, I’d basically got used to swapping them all round so they could recover, and so I automatically began to drag the large pots out of the room and into the second bedroom. Terrund stared at them.

“I’m going to have to talk to Broadmire about this,” I said. “I wonder if he’ll let me clear the plants from this room and leave it bare once he and Randall move in. I can’t keep them on this merry-go-round. It’s not fair to them, is it, darlin’?”

I finished up by talking to the dragon tree I was dragging in a large clay pot. It was drooping and feelings sorry for itself, so I tried to perk it up by describing how much lovely sunlight it would get that day, sitting on the windowsill of the second bedroom.

Terrund perked up, too, and helped me to swap them all round.

I was trying to pep up a spider plant whose leaves had turned brown at the edges. “Come on, little darlin’, I know you can do better. I’ve never met a spider plant who can’t grow and grow. You’re going to love it in here with all your friends and all this light. Is your soil moist?”

Terrund snuck up behind me and put the tip of his fingers to the soil in the pot. “Yes, it is,” he said, and somehow the way he said it sounded incredibly dirty.

I was struck by an idea. “Hey, if you’re an earth spirit, does that mean you can tell what’s wrong with them?”

He shook his head. “I tried that, remember?”

“Yes, but I thought maybe you just hadn’t told me because it was about magic.”

“No, I can’t tell what’s wrong with them. They should be thriving.” He put his finger to his bottom lip and tapped it. I tried not to stare. “You know, we should probably ask Matty and Anthony to take a look in here once they’re done in the basement. Maybe there’s a spell on the window that makes it hard for the plants to grow.”

I was torn between hoping that was right and hoping it wasn’t. It seemed like such an awful thing to do to a plant – to stop it growing, to make it weak and shrivel – but on the otherhand, it was happening and it would be better if we knew why and then the witches could take care of it.

“We’ll do that, then,” I said, and waved goodbye to the lot of them basking in the sunlight as I took Terrund’s hand and walked out of the room.

Chapter 27: Terrund

After taking care of the plants inside the house, we went out into the sunshine again. The early morning was cool and there was a slight breeze. I was happy to get back outside and stood for a moment, my face raised to the light. I smiled to myself at the memory of Joe talking to the plants inside and the way they leaned towards him. He had no idea what he did to us earth beings. We wanted his attention and his love, and we’d thrive under it.

Those little plants in one of the rooms were struggling but that wouldn’t be for long, not with Joe around. And we’d get Matty to check the place over for any lingering spells that Mulgrave had left.

I was feeling happy and content when I felt Joe wrap his arms around me from behind. His touch was unmistakable and I leaned back into his embrace, warmed by that as much as I was the sun on my face.

“We’ll start work in a minute. I want to just stand here for a moment longer,” he said, and I nodded.

When we did start work on the garden, we dug a lot of it over and planted a few of the herbs. Others, we’d need to put in later, once the weather was warmer.

Matty and Anthony arrived with their three dragons and a dryad in tow. Cuthbert guarded the house again and Dee and Dum prowled around, touching things and asking personal questions.

“Did you mate him yet, Terrund?”

“Do you flower when you orgasm?”

I felt my face flame. Not to mention, it was the second time they’d let the word ‘mate’ slip in front of Joe, and I hoped he wouldn’t notice.

“Can you turn your skin to bark like Arram can?”

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