Storm Season (35 page)

Authors: Nessa L. Warin

BOOK: Storm Season

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“Having second thoughts?”

Jasper smiled. He should have known that Darius and Carla would show up today. He hadn’t told them specifically when they were leaving, but he wasn’t surprised they knew.
No. I don’t belong here anymore.
Darius could hear him now without pain thanks to a trick Aaron had figured out not long after he’d healed Tobias, but the fact that Jasper automatically used telepathy instead of his voice spoke volumes about how out of place he’d felt since returning home. Even opening his mouth to speak to Darius was an effort, and the few times he’d ventured into town, he’d found himself wanting to shrink back the way Tobias had on their first trip.

Darius sighed. “Figured, but I had to ask.”

Yeah.
Darius had asked Jasper if he was sure every time they’d seen each other since the day he’d agreed to join Tobias. Even as Jasper started closing down his life in Brightam’s Ford, selling and giving away the things he couldn’t take with him and making sure the animals Darius and Carla wouldn’t be able to care for had homes, Darius had kept asking if he was sure. He never pushed, but he never quite accepted Jasper leaving, either. There was always that question in his eyes, that tiny spark of hope that Jasper knew he had to crush now.
I’ll keep in touch.

“Over the mountains?” Darius raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll figure out a way,” Jasper said, using his voice for the first time since his last trip into town so that Darius would know he meant it. The one regret Jasper had about leaving was that Darius and Carla weren’t coming with them and that there was a good chance he’d lose touch with his closest friends. He wasn’t going to let that happen if there was any way he could prevent it. “Maybe you and Carla can bring supplies over once or twice a year. There’s probably a good trade.”

“Show me a good route and I’ll think about it,” Darius said, his smile letting Jasper know that he was forgiven for leaving. “I’m not taking anything over those mountains blind.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Jasper bumped his shoulder against Darius’s and matched his grin. “Take care of my house, all right?”

“Take care of my car.” Darius pushed off from the SUV and gave it a once over glance. “She’s in good shape.”

“So’s the house.”

“And it’ll stay that way. The barn’s getting turned into a warehouse, though.”

Jasper had expected something like that. Darius and Carla couldn’t keep the animals and travel out to the west coast for most of the dry season, so Jasper had sold them and decided not to ask if Darius was going to find a use for the barn or just tear it down. It was oddly reassuring to know that he was going to use it.

The front door opened then and Tobias and Aaron stepped out, followed by Samantha, Carla, and the dog. The two women had grown close over the two months they’d waited for the storms to stop, and Samantha slipped her arm around Carla’s shoulder and hugged her before climbing into the car and calling the dog up with her. Aaron followed, getting into the middle set of seats with Samantha, and Tobias and Carla came around to stand next to Jasper and Darius.

“So I guess this is goodbye,” Carla said, squeezing Jasper in an unexpectedly tight hug. “Try to let us know how you’re doing.”

“I will,” Jasper said, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice as she turned to hug Tobias just as tightly. Darius followed suit, hugging Jasper like he never had before, and slapping him hard on the back before he turned to envelop Tobias in a similar embrace.

His hands shaking, Jasper held out the last set of house keys he’d kept, offering them to Darius. It was the final exchange that would make this permanent.

“No.” Darius stepped back, holding his hands up and shaking his head. “Keep them. You never know if you might need them again. You’re always welcome back, you know. Both of you.”

“All of you,” Carla added, glancing at Aaron and Samantha sitting patiently in the vehicle. “Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.” Jasper managed a small smile before pulling Darius and Carla in for one last hug and climbing into the car. The slamming of his door felt awfully permanent, but he didn’t let himself look back and instead focused on the road ahead.
Where to?

North,
Tobias said.
As soon as you find a road that takes us that way.

There was one not far out of town and when Jasper pulled out on the road, he headed straight toward it. He looked back once, glancing in the rearview mirror to see Darius and Carla standing on the porch, their arms around each other’s waists as they watched the SUV drive out of sight, and then looked ahead again to focus his eyes on the road.

Tobias reached across the center console and squeezed Jasper’s hand.
You’ll see them again.

He had no more reason to think that than Jasper did, but somehow, when Tobias said it, it felt right, and Jasper knew that it was true. He would see his friends again, someday, and until then, he had everything he needed right here.
Thanks.

Tobias smiled, his love and affection surging into Jasper, and as the house faded from sight and Brightam’s Ford fell away into the distance, Jasper grinned, his heart feeling truly light.

He was going home.

About the Author

N
ESSA
L. W
ARIN
lives in a fantasy world that’s mostly inside her head, though her physical address is in southwestern Ohio. Her two cats kindly play along with her fantasies and graciously let her pay all the bills, but they do require her to provide pampering on a regular basis. Nessa enjoys exploring the wonders of this world through travel—something her cats strongly disapprove of as it cuts into their pampering time—and can find whimsy in the most mundane places. When the real world becomes too much, Nessa enjoys dressing in costume and going to Renaissance Festivals and fantasy conventions. A short trip to either does wonders for her state of mind, so she makes sure to attend at least one of each every year. These trips help Nessa add to her collection of faerie and dragon art, and she swears she will frame and hang all the prints she’s collected sometime soon.

When she’s not living in a fantasy world, Nessa enjoys tasting and learning about wine, particularly since it’s one of the few things she and the rest of her family agree on. She’s a regular at the wine tastings held by her local wine shop, and considers it a sin for her wine rack to have more empty spots than full ones. She’d prefer her wine rack to be filled with Pinot Noir, Malbec, and Syrah, but one of her favorite things about wine is the way it can always surprise her. More than once she’s been taken aback by which wine she likes best at a tasting, and she loves the way her wine rack illustrates the joys of trying new things.

Follow Nessa on Twitter @nessalwarin and Facebook at NessaLWarin. She can also be reached at [email protected].

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ESSA
L. W
ARIN