Finding Her A-Muse-Ment (6 page)

But she didn’t see Isyllus anywhere. Maybe Sarka had been correct and this time it hadn’t worked.

What she
did
see, however, made her scratch her head. Three old women stood together, staring at a spindle. She walked closer to them. Maybe they could tell her where she found herself. Or maybe they couldn’t see her at all since she was dreaming. There was every possibility they were wide-awake.

“We know who you are.” None of them looked up and three voices spoke at once, echoing throughout the marble room. “We have waited for you, Susan Charlie.”

“You have?” Her voice faltered. This fell into a category of nerve-wracking. She put her hands in her pocket to try to steady them.

“We are the Fates. You have come to ask for something.”

None of them looked at her. How did she know who to speak to?

“Yes.” She nodded.

Although she’d planned to speak with Isyllus himself, she could just as easily plead with these ladies. They controlled him, told him where to go. Certainly if she begged they could give her six more days with him.

“We gave him to you and you threw him away.”

Susan didn’t want to argue semantics, and yet she’d never get anywhere if she simply agreed with them. “We had a fight. A big one. Humans do this, and when it happens the other party doesn’t go away forever. They’re around so the other person can take him back.”

Silence met her response so she kept going. “And I feel extremely sorry. I’d like to take it back. I’d like to have Isyllus returned to me so I might apologize.”

“Your apology is negligible at this point. It does not change things.”

“Okay.” That couldn’t be good news, not from the Fates. “What does?”

“Do you wish to stay with him always?”

It would be insanity to say that she did. From her end, she’d known him only a day. How could she say for sure she wanted him forever? Yet it felt like she’d known him longer than that. He was the scent of jasmine on the wind that followed her.
Isyllus
. He’d known her in all of her moments, the good ones and the bad ones. If he’d wanted to be disinterested, the last year alone should have done that. But he loved her instead.

“I do.” She meant it. The words were not hard to say.

“We care for Isyllus. He has helped shape destinies for thousands of years.” The trio of voices spoke. “Yet he loves and yearns for you. It is not with an easy heart that we let him go.”

“Why would you let him go?”

Did they mean to kill him? Had she done something to make this all much worse?

“If you want to be with him forever, he must stay on the island.”

Susan considered the possibilities. That wasn’t an insurmountable issue if the Rowans didn’t mind playing ball with her again.

“And we will have to end his immortality so he ages with you.”

“I don’t know if he wants any of this.” Maybe he wouldn’t be able to forgive her. “I know what
I
want, but I can’t speak for him. He has to have a say.”

“Foolish child.” A cackle filled the room.

With a gasp she sat up in her bed. Sage’s worried face stared down at her. “You slept a long time.” She gave Susan a hand up. Dizziness swarmed her for a second before the room righted itself.

“I had to convince the Fates to give me Isyllus.”

“We know.” She nodded, a smile crossing her face.

“How do you know?”

Had there been some kind of magical announcement made?

“He told me.” Sage nodded to the side of the room.

She looked in the direction Sage had indicated. Isyllus was leaning up against the closet. She gasped, covering her mouth.

Sage continued, “I think I’ll let you two catch up.”

With a swirl of her skirt, she left the room.

“You’re here.” She tried to stand up but never made it that far. He stormed to the bed and stood over her, his expression hard.

“You faced the Fates. Are you out of your mind? Do you know what they do to people who mess with them? You could have grown a third leg or ceased to exist.”

“They seemed okay to me.” She smoothed out his shirt. “They just kind of talked. Besides, I had to have you back. One way or the other I was going to do that.”

He kissed the top of her nose. “Apparently, we live here now. Rekkus told me this morning. You’re going to be the resident author and I’m going to help inspire the guests to be their best selves. He woke up this morning knowing this had to happen. Cyrus approved it.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “Can we talk about that later?”

“Sure.” He sighed and she caught a whiff of his jasmine smell. Home. His scent reminded her of home. Wherever they lived would be fine as long as he stayed with her. “What would you like to talk about?”

She grinned. “Who said we have to talk at all?”

“Well, that I can accommodate.” He tugged at her chin. “Sounds like you’ve thought of some fun things to do.”

Epilogue

I
syllus could hardly wait to see her. He walked south on the island toward their three room shack. Well, he smiled, he’d hardly call it a shack, but that was how Susan referred to it so that’s how he’d come to think of it now too.

The building itself stood near the Fun Shack, which made sense for the foreseeable future. Sage wanted Susie to continue going to that place every evening, at least for a little while. It helped her to be social and not lose herself again to her writing. Susie had to be Susie and not spend all her time as Charlie Preston.

He whistled while he rounded the corner. Their small home had been painted a light blue with black shutters. He’d done most of the work, fixing it up himself, but some of the guests had turned out to help him. Some people had just shown up with paintbrushes, saying something about completing tasks being good for the soul.

He opened the door. If she was writing, he didn’t want to bother her. Instead he found her standing over the stove stirring something in a pot.

Isyllus leaned against the doorframe. “Cooking? You know we have to go up to the Haus for dinner.”

“This is for later. I am making us something special for after. It’s called custard, and with that sweet tooth you’re getting, I thought it would be right up your alley.”

He grinned. It moved his soul to see her like this. “You’re right up my alley.”

Her smile could only be called breathtaking.

“I know and I love it.” She nodded toward the stool by the table. “Come sit and tell me about your day.”

“It was fantastic actually.” And it had been. In a million years, he’d never thought he would get a chance to do what he was doing. Helping the Wiccan Haus guests find fulfillment doing things they’d either stopped doing at some point or discovering new creative skills they’d never knew they had. The passengers got on the boat to go back home, or entered the paranormal portal, looking so much more relaxed than they had when they’d first gotten there. He played a small part in that.

“What did you do?”

“Do you remember Cara Monroe? You met her last night.”

She stopped stirring. “I don’t have anything wrong with my memory, dear. I met the girl last night, we played pool, and it turned out that once upon a time we attended the same Paul McCartney concert.” Susie laughed. “So yes, I remember her.”

“Right.” He scratched his head. “It is possible that you forget things when you’re writing. Distraction.” This way he could tease her, make her laugh, even frustrate her a little bit. He could thank the Fates for the chance to live like this. Humans sometimes took it for granted, but he never would.

“I didn’t work on my book today. I worked on the brochures. Also, I told Sage that I would be willing to teach that creative writing class if she wanted me to. I think it would be fun.”

He couldn’t be prouder. Every day Susie spent more time interacting with everyone around her. Sure, she still liked her privacy, particularly when creativity struck, but other than that, she’d gotten into the whole feel of the place.

“That’s great.” He drummed his fingers on the counter. “Well, since you remember Cara, I can tell you that she started to write music today. She had no idea she could—hadn’t even remembered she could
read
music. I guess she learned years ago but had stopped playing. She just lit up.”

Susie reached over and squeezed his hand. “That’s just fantastic. I love you and what you do for everyone.”

He stood up and came behind her. Wrapping her hands around her waist, he sighed. “What can I do for you now?”

A bang on the door stopped his make-out-with-Susie-while-she-cooked plans. “Just a second.” He let go of Susie and walked toward the door. It swung open right before he could open it.

Rekkus strode right into the house, followed by his mate, Dana. “Did you tell Dana it would be a good idea for her to dance naked in the moonlight?”

“No.” Isyllus answered quickly. “I would never dream of doing such a thing. Ever.”

“See? I told you he hadn’t done it.”

Rekkus waved a finger at him. “You know better than to give Dana ideas.”

“I think Dana has plenty of ideas on her own,” Susie called from the kitchen and Dana went to join her. He followed behind them with Rekkus on his heels.

The other woman squealed, looking down at the pot. “Oh. You’re cooking. Custard. We’re staying until we eat this, Rekkus.”

“We haven’t been invited, Dana, and we have to go to dinner.”

Dana waved her hand in the air. “Then we’ll come back after. I’m sure we’re invited. Aren’t we, Susie?”

His love grinned ear to ear. “There’s more than enough. I have to insist that you join us.”

Isyllus hadn’t counted on friends, but it felt remarkable to be making some. After thousands of years of being invisible, living his life for others, he’d finally decided what he wanted: Susie in his heart and good friends by his side. He could never ask for more.