Page 39 of Summertime Hexy
I split another log. Watch the wood fall apart cleanly.
Camp gives me purpose. Structure.
Hazel makes me feel like I’m still capable of something else.
Something I thought was lost.
Not peace.
But maybe something likewantingit.
And gods, I don’t know what to do with that.
CHAPTER 15
HAZEL
“This is not a date,” I announce, stepping into the ley grove like I’m entering battle.
Derek just raises a brow and keeps walking, calm as a storm you don’t know is coming until it’s already wrapped around your ribs.
“It’s not a date,” I say again, louder, just in case the birds or the universe or mystupid heartdidn’t hear me the first time.
“We’re on assignment,” he says, barely glancing at me. “Which is the opposite of a date.”
“Exactly,” I say, tripping over a tree root. “Glad we agree. Completely unromantic. Full business mode.”
He smirks. The bastard.
Thorn gave us the mission this morning, in that annoyingly neutral tone he uses when he knows he’s throwing gasoline on a fire and pretending it’s rain.
“Ley lines have been fluctuating in the eastern quadrant,” he said, tapping a rune-marked map. “You two will recalibrate the anchors and stabilize the flow. It requires attunement, cooperation… and trust.”
Then he looked at me.
Then he looked at Derek.
And then he smiled.
I swear, that man lives for this.
Now we’re here, deep in the heart of the woods where the trees lean toward each other like they’re whispering secrets, and the air tastes like charged sugar and old magic.
The first anchor stone is buried under a layer of moss and tangled roots.
I drop to my knees and start clearing it, pulling back vines with practiced fingers. Derek crouches beside me, unrolling a scroll with a diagram of the runic sequence we need to reactivate.
His thigh brushes mine.
Just lightly.
But it’s enough to send my brain into a full system crash and reboot.
Don’t look. Don’t react. Be cool.
So obviously I blurt, “Do youmind, you’re practically on top of me.”
“You’re kneeling in the exact center of the activation radius,” he replies, not looking up. “If you want me to move, pick a better spot.”
