way as me.
“Perhaps… you’d still like to have your reading done tonight?”
“Really?” I asked. “Would that work out?”
“We could do it at my place,” he said, and then quickly added, “but I understand if you think it’s too late.”
“No,” I said. “The meeting took less time than I thought it would. I was worried we were going to be stuck there for a few hours. Alright, I’ll do it. No backing out now, I might as well get it over with.”
I started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. Kole looked over his shoulder at the school.
“I hope that I won’t cause you any undue trouble, Markos. I really should’ve had more self-restraint.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
Back at Kole’s loft, he spread sitting furs in the middle of the room and set up candles all around the plants that occupied the majority of the space. With only the flickering light coming off their tiny flames, it felt like we were in a magical forest. I sat down and pushed my fingers through the soft fur, waiting for Kole to finish with his preparations. I watched as he buzzed about, positioning crystals and other objects around the room.
“Why do you need all of that stuff? Seemed like you could read just fine on the fly.”
“These are like conductors,” he said, lighting a match and then touching the flame to a bundle of incense. “Mostly, they’re for you. To help you connect to the spectral realm.”
A pale, bluish smoke drifted amongst the leaves and gave off a pale glow in the candlelight, and it had a powerful scent that immediately seemed to fill my entire head. It wasn’t bad, though. The scent reminded me of him. He went to the kitchen and boiled some water. My heart was racing, both with anticipation for what I was about to go through, and for the way I was feeling about Kole. I wanted him. Despite everything I’d felt before, I really wanted him and I wasn’t afraid to admit that to myself. I…I had such a damn crush on him.
This was a first, and all I could do was hope I wasn’t getting myself deep into something that would end up biting me in the ass, as usual.
He returned with tea, and it made me happy to see he was using the cup I’d given him. He sat down across from me, the candlelight glinting off his glasses and glowing warmly against his cheeks. He sipped his tea, and I did the same with mine.
“Don’t be nervous,” he said.
“Trying.”
“I promise it won’t hurt a bit.”
“It’s not every day you find out your destiny,” I replied, chuckling.
“Drink your tea, and take a few deep breaths. Does the incense smell too strong?”
“No, I like it.”
I filled my lungs with it and quickly slurped down the entire cup of tea. Kole watched silently, his hands folded in his lap. He removed his glasses and set them aside. Slowly, a tingling warmth spread up from my stomach and my chest. When I turned my head, the flames created little trails across my vision, like comet tails. I rubbed my eyes and blinked, and the comets became like fractal rainbows.
“Hounds of hell,” I muttered. “What is this stuff?”
“A mixture of veckwood and mulderdeen wart, boiled before drying in the sun.”
“It’s getting me high.”
Kole smiled. “No, it’s opening up your mind.”
Then, he took my hands into his and pulled them into his lap. An excited shiver ran through my body, and I tried to control the feeling of want I had for him—if he was going to be going into my head, I was worried that he’d be able to see it.
He told me to close my eyes, and when I did, I saw a shimmering light dimly glowing in the darkness behind my eyelids.
Kole asked, “Do you see it?”
“What is that?”
“The flow of the spectral realm. Now I want you to imagine yourself in your wolf form. Don’t shift, just imagine it. And then picture yourself walking towards that light.”
I did what he said, shifting in my mind. I moved towards the flowing light, and as I did I felt a weird sensation go through me like I was suddenly floating above my body. I was a wolf and a human at the same time. I felt a squeeze on my hand and looked over to see Kole standing next to me. He was holding my hand, and I also saw him flickering between wolf and human form,