Witching Time (The Wild Hunt #14) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,12
could phase in and out without using the portals, it required a great deal of energy, which she preferred to save for her other duties as Queen of the Bean Sidhe.
As she vanished down the street in her rental car, I shut the door and turned to find my father watching me, a soft smile on his face.
“Your mother is one of those rare women who can fill a room by just stepping into it.”
I wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or a dig, but I decided it was the former. Right now, the last thing I needed was for my parents to be snarking at one another, which they occasionally did. Overall, I knew they did love each other, but they weren’t a good match and never had been.
“Why don’t you put the dishes in the dishwasher while I take care of the ferrets, and then you can tell me what you’ve been up to the past few years, and how life is back in Hanging Hills.”
As Curikan headed into the kitchen, I checked on the ferrets. When I entered their room, Elise was awake, but Templeton and Gordon were still snoozing. I had to wake them in order to clean out their cage. They yawned, then began to race around the room.
Elise climbed up to watch me, sitting in one corner of the cage near the door as I changed their bedding and made sure their water bottles were filled with clean water, and that they had food for the day.
Gordon has almost slipped into permanent ferret state. I can barely get him to answer me anymore, and I’m afraid that it won’t be long before he’s simply…all ferret.
I sighed, leaning against the cage. “I’m sorry, Elise. I know that hurts you. I wish I could do more, but there seems to be a limit to what I’m capable of… I still haven’t found anything to break the curse that the three of you are under. I’ve read my way through countless books of curse breakers, but nothing even remotely seems to pertain to your situation.”
The ferrets were actually humans trapped in ferret form, and they’d been like that for years now. I took care of them, making sure they were comfortable and fed, but so far, I had struck out trying to find something to help them move out of ferret form and on with their spiritual lives. They had died decades ago, and their souls had been trapped in a tree by some wayward necromancer. I had found them, inadvertently, when I was up on Mount Rainier, and while I thought I was helping them, I only managed to transfer their spirits into ferret form. I brought them home with me, and had been taking care of them since early in the 1980s.
I know you’re trying, and I appreciate it. There’s nothing you can do for him, and I think we’re going to lose him any day now—but he’s happy and he enjoys his life and so, while I’ll be sad to see him devolve so much, it’s nothing that you can prevent.
Of the three, Gordon was the least capable of keeping his memories with him. Elise was strong-willed and so far, she was successfully resisting the temptation to just meld into “ferretness.” Templeton phased in and out, sometimes acting more ferret-like, and other times he was back to himself.
I finished up and then gave them all a long hug. Elise gazed into my eyes, then snuggled against my shoulder and I wanted to cry. I wanted to help them, so very much, but I just didn’t seem to be able to do anything for them. I set her back in the cage and locked them in again, then turned to leave.
Thank you. Templeton shot me a quick thought, and I turned, smiling. He was standing up to the cage, one paw outstretched.
“You’re welcome,” I said as I shut the door and returned to the living room, where my father was watching Teddy Bunny—a children’s show—with Raj. Both were laughing like hyenas, and so I settled down between them, surrounded by two of the three boys I loved the best.
I slid on my suede jacket and made sure I had everything I needed in my purse and my tote bag containing my to-go magical supplies.
“You’re sure you’ll be okay while I’m gone? It could be most of the afternoon.”
“I’ll be fine. Raj and I’ll have lunch and then watch some TV and maybe I’ll take