The Reset

Chapter Twelve: We're Just Young Gods

The sounds of pages fluttering were all that could be heard against the soft, whistling wind outside. Kai's eyes were locked in focus at his writing desk in his study, a dozen grimoires laid out in front of him. He leaned forward, hands pressed on the polished surface of the cherry wood as his lamp illuminated the various scrawlings on the pages. A few of them were both his and Bonnie's - various notes and spells they had created while still undergoing their studies and there were those that they had created together.

Eventually, both young witches had created a joint grimoire - the very book that Kai was pouring over. Page after page was turned in frustration - going over the spell that he and Bonnie had both cast on each other several years ago. It was just after Lonnie had graduated from Portland University. They had everything together that needed to secure that the spell worked flawlessly. Every single piece from a bowl of water to sprigs of sage and Valerian roots.

Candles. Blood. Talismans. They had everything and had gone over the runes and incantations dozens upon dozens of times. It should have worked!

And yet here Kai was, tossed back in time when he should have been an old man. When he had been an old man mere hours ago...

Gray-blue eyes narrowed sharply, anger sparking in their depths as he trailed his finger along his handwriting and the side notes that Bonnie had made. Her sketches were damn near perfect and the runes looked like they were going to hop right off the page. His gaze lingered on his wedding band, the Celtic knot engraved on the surface of the gunmetal ring.

His heart hammered heavily against his chest, feeling the vein at his neck pulsing with his mounting anger. Kai's hands balled into fists before he let out a roar and swiped his arms across the desk - knocking all of the books off onto the floor. Books flew off the shelf and the lights flickered in response to his magic swirling throughout the room. The windows rattled and the entire study shook, barely sustaining the swell of power that suddenly began ballooning all around him.

Kai's chest rose and fell, his breathing labored and he swore his heart was going to thunder right out of his body and fall to the floor. The knuckles of his right hand crashed over and over again on the desk and it even shifted over a few inches from the blows. He could barely catch his breath, his legs trembling beneath him until he collapsed by the leather chair - his back resting along the side of the desk's drawers.

Lazily he gestured his arm forward, forcing one of the drawers to open and he blindly fished around inside. His fingers brushed along glass and he pulled out the neck of a bottle of whiskey. He cradled the bottle in front of him, seeing the letters "B-K" etched on the side in a lovely gold flourish - beveled from the glass. There was still half of the amber liquid swishing around inside the decanter.

A memory flooded his mind, causing a weak smile to tug at the corners of his mouth. Kai hated bourbon. Bonnie hated gin. Neither of them had wanted to battle with tequila. So they'd come up with a compromise.

"Whiskey!"

Kai's face scrunched up at her, his expression both amused and confused. "Whiskey? Really?"

She rolled her eyes, lightly shoving his shoulder. "Yes, really!"

"Maybe we should just abstain from alcohol altogether?"

The look on his wife's face was so close to an angry dragon who'd had its hoard of treasure touched that Kai couldn't help but laugh and shrink back a measure.

"Malachai Parker-"

"Bennett-Parker," he corrected.

Her eyes narrowed further. "I gave birth to twins two weeks ago. Deny me my booze if you want. I'll turn you inside out and hang you out to dry."