Chapter 7

• Hugging her coffee cup like a cherished prize, Kasey sat in a chair with her feet pulled up under her. “Will we have time for a nap before ritual?” She yawned, “I couldn’t get back to sleep after our watch last night.”
• Chris smiled at her knowing exactly why, as he’d had the same problem. He sat down on the arm of the chair and ran his hand over her silky hair. “We could probably fit a few hours in if you women don’t take forever giving out the gifts this year.”
• She smacked him and grinned. “It takes a long time to do this sort of thing, silly. Each gift needs to be explained, especially if it’s a spell or something charmed. Try using a wrongly charged oil or candle sometime.”
• He laughed and held his hands up in defeat. Looking around, he saw everyone was wandering in and out of the rooms or chatting quietly. Squatting down, he spoke quietly with his head close to hers. “I know I said paying for this trip was my gift to everyone, but I also got you something extra. I had to. It called to me.”
• “That’s not really fair, Chris.”
• “Just take a look. If it’s not something you want, I’ll keep it for another time.” Before he would open his hand, he grinned. “I put a little charm on it. It will only last as long as Solstice or not much longer, but I think you’ll like it. You have to be happy or dancing for it to work.”
• Kasey gave him a curious look and wrinkled her nose in a childlike way. “Okay, I’ll look.”
• He opened his hand. In it was a twisted silver chain with three little fairies hanging from it. They almost matched the one in her belly-button.
• “Oh!” She touched it lightly, and when her fingers brushed over the chain, the wings on the fairies moved and appeared to be flying. “Oh my gosh! Look at that!” she whispered. “Oh, Chris, it’s beautiful.” She pointed a finger at him, “Later you’re going to have to tell me how you managed to get them to move...” She touched them again to see the little wings flutter.
• “Will you accept it, little Kasey?” he asked quietly, wishing they were alone.
• Kasey studied him for a moment, her eyes excited. “You so cheated, Christopher Larkin,” she hissed at him while smiling. “You knew I would take one look at those little wings and fall in love.” She touched his cheek tenderly.
• Chris sat back on his heels and pulled one of her feet into his lap. With hands not as steady as he’d like, he fastened it around her ankle and watched her grin as the little wings fluttered. She was clearly happy with his gift.
• He grinned up at her for a moment. “They won’t fly every second when you’re happy, just the first few moments. They work with a change of emotion, but when you dance, they will dance with you the whole time.” His hand lingered on her leg as they both watched the fairies.
• Leaning forward, she kissed him quickly and then jumped up and danced around the room. “Look!” she said to Cora, walking out of the bedroom. “Look at the dancing fairies Chris gave me.” She danced around as everyone turned to watch.
• “That’s amazing,” Steven said, then looked over at Chris with his tongue stuck in his cheek. “You scare me sometimes, Larkin, the way you can charm things most could never do.”
• Chris shrugged and sat in the chair. “It’s a small talent of mine.”
• “Small?” Owen croaked. “No, mine would be the small talent. Yours is like Mount Everest in comparison.”
• Everyone laughed.
• Kasey stopped dancing around and looked at everyone. “I’m going to get my gifts!”
• Owen looked around when she raced from the room.
• Dade shrugged at him. “Kase loves giving gifts. She starts the day after Yule trying to figure out what to give for Solstice.”
• Owen shook his head and sat down quickly beside Leena. He leaned close to her and whispered in her ear. She smirked and nodded at him. Chris guessed it was about having gifts for Owen to give.
• Kasey flew back into the room and stood in the center for a moment as she reached into the cloth bag she held. “It took me a few months to come up with some of them this year.” She reached in, pulled out a tiny bundle, and walked to Dade while holding out her hand. “It’s a spirit stone. Tanzanite, to be exact, it can connect you to any spiritual realm. You, of course, would work it better than most.”
• She watched him open it. “I had it put on the chain so you could wear it if you needed a little extra when calling, if you want, that is.” She stood there and watched him examine the stone carefully.
• Dade looked up at her and smiled, looking genuinely pleased. “It’s wonderful, Kase. Thank you. It will come in handy when I’m having trouble focusing.”
• Smiling, she reached into the bag again.
• Pulling out another small bundle, she walked over to Owen. “It’s a protection stone, malachite. I got the idea when you were burned that very first time you used your gifts. It’s on a chain too so you can wear it, and as long as you do, you won’t be marked again when drawing negative energies from others.” She watched him open it, then look up at her.
• “This is wonderful, Kasey. I’ve been a little worried about burns, or worse, since the first time. Thank you.”
• She grinned, reaching into the bag again, and pulled out another gift. She walked over to Steven. “It’s pretty much the same thing I gave you last year, and will probably give you every year until you slow down. An energizing stone, only this time I put it on a cord, and I charged it four times to make sure it would last you a few months, at least.”
• Doc grinned at her. “I think it’s your stones that keep me going throughout the year.”
• Smiling, Kasey hopped around in her energetic way while she pulled the next bundle out. Grinning at Rachel, she held her hand out to her. “This one I worked really hard on, Rach. It’s really rare and hard to get a hold of too, or so I found out. It’s an amplifier. Moldavite, to be exact. You can use it when you really need to use a little extra for a spell or candle.”
• Rachel grinned widely. “Awesome! Will be trying this out soon. Thanks!”
• Kasey turned to Leena and reached into the bag. “I didn’t get you a stone charm, and I’m glad because you seem to have all that you need now.” Smirking at Owen, she pulled out a marble mortar and pestle. “Although marble is made from magnesite, so I guess it’s a stone after all, and it would be perfect for blending calming herbs.”
• Kasey quickly turned to Cora as she reached in again. “For you I had the strongest divination stone placed on a chain. It’s electric blue obsidian.”
• Cora looked surprised. “Where did you get it? I have been bugging this one stoneworker for months to find me one. Thank you so much, Kassandra. I love it!”
• Kasey danced around looking excited by everyone’s praise.
• “Kassandra?” Chris inquired softly.
• Cora’s head jerked up. “Oh, Kase, I’m sorry.”
• Kasey shrugged, “It’s okay, Cora. They would have heard it at some point someday.” She turned and looked at him. “Yes, my full name is Kassandra, not Kasey.”
• “It’s beautiful. It suits you,” he said calmly.
• She grinned at him, then reached into the bag. “Thanks. Now, you were the hardest one to find a gift for. What do you get for a man that can get himself three of anything?”
• Walking over, she held out her hand. “I guess you kind of get two things, as I had your stones made into cuff links. The stone is blue point celestite, it kind of looks like diamonds. They reveal the truth.” She watched him open the bundle. “I know it would be cheating, but for those cases where you really need something...extra.”
• “These are quite amazing, actually.” Chris beamed at her. “And occasionally I would be happy to have something extra, to prevent dangerous people from slipping through on small technicalities.” He looked back down at them and gave a quick glance to her ankle. The wings moved. “Thank you.”
• Dade glanced at his watch. “There’s not going to be a nap anytime soon, is there?”
• Everyone glared at him.
• He had been right, Chris thought. There was only an hour before the noon ritual by the time all the gifts were handed out.
• Rachel had, of course, gave everyone charged candles, and Leena gave specific blended oils.
• Cora gave them all a voodoo charm doll, with the exception of Dade, to whom she gave her grandfather’s drum. He’d never seen Dade look quite the way he had when she’d handed over the drum. For a quiet moment, everyone almost expected to see a tear in his eye.
• He, of course, made Cora cry by giving her his mother’s favorite scrying dish.
• Cora came through and saved the newly engaged Owen by bringing a gift for him to give his fiancée. It was a new boline to harvest her summer herbs. That took more than a few moments, as she all but made love to him right there in front of everyone. No one, of course, really wanted to interrupt that to speed up the gift giving.
• Everyone gave him the usual magical aids of stones or rods, although the mirror was something new. He never had the heart to mention that he required no aids or tools. He’d use them for show sometimes, but his abilities were well honed and practiced. However, his temple room at home was quite the showplace for trinkets. He imagined Kasey would love seeing it sometime.
• All in all, he mused, it had been much like Yule, and everyone was more than happy with what they gave or received.