Page 144 of Soul of a Witch

Weakly, I crawled back to Callum’s side and lay beside him, facing him. His eyes were closed, but when I laid my hand against his face, his skin was warm. Too weak to speak, I lay there in silence, drenched by the rain, still and cold beneath the gray night sky.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed. Minutes or hours. Days or an eternity.

Time had changed, or my perception of it had.

Soft footsteps made me open my eyes. Over Callum’s shoulder stood the Old Man, a horse skull covering his face, red flowers blooming from his walking stick. He walked around us, and everywhere his bare feet touched, grass and flowers rapidly grew.

He walked behind me, toward the God, and said, “Scars will remain, but even the deepest wounds will heal, Lady Witch. Thank you. The fae will not forget.”

When I managed to turn over, he was gone.

Plant life was growing around Callum and I. Grass, flowers, moss and lichens. Sapling trees shot up from the dirt, reaching eagerly toward the sky. The God’s body was rapidly rotting, mushrooms overtaking and consuming It. I watched it all, grasping Callum’s limp hand, a weak smile on my face despite the rain.

Slowly, Callum stirred. He drew closer, his arms coming around me as he buried his face against me. Neither of us spoke; holding each other said everything we needed to.

Softly, he said, “You came back. I hoped…I remembered what you told me…”

He opened his eyes, and I gazed into the void. I guided his hand lower, laying his palm over my stomach.

“Do you feel it?” I whispered. As he looked at me and smiled, the expression was both full of pain and full of bliss.

“Our future.” His voice was tight with the sweetest heartache as he crawled to his knees, helping me stand. As he knelt, I used his shoulders to balance, and he kissed my stomach before he laid his cheek against me. “Our eternity, darling. Our peace.” He chuckled softly. “Or our new terror.”

I laughed with him. My hands tangled in his hair as I clutched his head against me.

“The war is over, my love,” I said. “It’s finally over.”

Epilogue

Everly

It was the last hour before sunset, and the garden was bathed in gold. Light streamed through the blooming roses, kissing the soft spring grass. It warmed my hands as I swirled my brush in dark green paint, carefully adding tiny leaves to the vines around the edge of my canvas.

Biting the end of the brush in thought, I leaned back on my stool. I’d been hunched there so long my back was aching, but I couldn’t resist staying outside as long as I could. The day was too lovely to miss even a moment.

Even after the sunset when my light was gone, I’d sit out here and listen to the crickets and frogs, the screech of the owls and clicking bats. Perhaps I’d ask Callum to lay with me under the stars until I fell asleep; he’d carry me back to bed after that, tuck me into the blankets and lay by my side until morning.

There was nothing to fear in the dark. Not anymore.

Or so I thought.

Something was creeping through the garden on nearly-silent feet. But it announced itself in subtle ways, with quick breaths and barely suppressed giggles. Although my eyes remained on my canvas, I was perfectly aware of where the little monster was as it snuck up behind me.

I was also aware that behind that little monster was an even bigger one.

Tiny footsteps sprinted across the grass, a war-like screech splitting the air before it ended with an abrupt “Oof!” Setting down my brush, I turned to see Callum standing behind me, holding our child in midair by one ankle as she clawed at his hands, snarling, “Not fair, Papa! Not fair!”

“What have I told you about sneaking up on your mother?” Although his voice was stern, the corner of his mouth twitched as he looked up at me and winked.

Our daughter groaned, folding her arms and scowling. “Don’t scare Mama when she’s painting,” she grumbled.

“And what exactly were you doing?” Callum insisted. The child started squirming again, grabbing at his arm like a monkey.

“She knew I was there! Didn’t you, Mama?” The child turned her bright golden eyes to me, giving me a not-so-innocent grin. “So I couldn’treallyscare her, huh?”

Grabbing her hands, I helped her flip upright as Callum released her ankle. She jumped up into my arms, laying a dozen kisses against my cheek as if that was what she’d planned all along. She was only three, but her size and maturity had already outgrown her young age. So had her cleverness.

“I knew exactly where you were from the moment you stepped foot in the garden, Heidi,” I said. “But you still need to obey the rules.”

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