Page 6 of Shifting Winds
I gasped. “Mine?”
Ash told me a long time ago he was creating one for me, but after months had gone by, I’d forgotten about it.
He inclined his head. “A Satsuki azalea. She normally blooms in May, but as you can see, she’s prone to express herself.”
I pulled the rolling stool over and sat down, gently touching one of the blooms. Sending out the tiniest pulse of magic into the small trunk, I closed my eyes to get a read on her.
Gentle, feminine energy. Young. Happy.
A smile tipped my lips up. “She’s ecstatic to receive so much attention.”
Ash chuckled and stroked a finger down its trunk. “I think you should consider keeping her in the shop. She likes all the traffic and how much we’re all together.”
“Should I keep her in the window?”
Ash nodded. “Normally, these are outside plants, but this gal has the advantage of having two nature mages in close proximity. She’ll be fine as long as we check her every few days.”
“Thank you so much,” I said, meeting Ash’s eyes. “She’s gorgeous.”
“You’re welcome.” He jerked his head toward the window. “Want help carrying her over? The pot weighs a ton.”
Together, we carefully lifted the new bonsai and made a place for her in the shop window, carefully rearranging some of the other flowers until we had her right in the middle. She looked a little odd with her soft pink flowers in the middle of all the oranges, reds, and yellows of our fall display, but it made me laugh. The bonsai was gorgeous and showy, and she’d bring in foot traffic just because people would be curious about her.
Tess floated over, stopping beside Ash. She hadn’t said much this morning, but that was her way. The banshee rarely spoke unless she had something to say.
“Have you seen your mother?” she asked.
I blinked. Tess had a line on Cliona’s location most of the time because my mother was Queen of the Banshees. “Not since that night on Caelan’s land.”
“You’ll see her soon,” Tess said before floating away.
“Alright,” I said slowly. “Thanks for the warning, Tess.”
The banshee passed right through one of the walls, headed to the break room, I assumed.
“Is she okay?” I whispered to Ash.
Green eyes met mine. “Her powers have been acting up some. I think she’s gaining some new aspects of her magic she didn’t expect. It’s thrown her off a little.”
“Does she need help?” Tess had a strange variety of powers, most pertaining to the dead, but she could do other things that didn’t seem to fit in the banshee wheelhouse.
Much like my friend Moira, who was leaning against the register, watching us.
“I got it,” Ash promised. “If we need you, we know where to find you.”
“At Caelan’s,” Moira quipped.
I tossed a shed leaf at her, giving it a bit of extra oomph with my magic. It caught in her hair and stuck, the glimmer of orange bright against her dark tresses. Her grin widened as she plucked it out, turning it to and fro. “You’ve gotten control of your magic. Cool.”
I had. A teeny tiny part of me wondered if all the extracurricular activities with Caelan had calmed my Chimera down so much it lay like a content cat inside me.
Moira’s eyes glimmered. “You know what helps humans and paranormal alike when it comes to exerting extra energy?”
“Moira!”
“S-E-X,” she spelled, grinning like a lunatic.
“I wish I had a bucket of leaves I could throw at you,” I muttered.
