Charming the heart of a man is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Especially when it's already bewitched by somebody else - literally!
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All that former witch-in-training Avalon wanted was a simple job to get her life back on track and forget abo...
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Voices. She heard voices. Male. Heated. Arguing about something.
"–make sense!"
"I already told you, sense doesn't have anything to do with it."
"That's not possible, Gil."
"It's magic, dude! What do you expect from me? A scientific paper in double rhyme?!"
"Good idea! So explain to me the water bubble floating around us just like that. A crazy weather phenomenon?"
"Duude. Maaaagic!"
A moment of silence.
"I don't think that was in double rhyme."
A frustrated groan. "For fuck's sake... One last time: it's magic. Magic exists. Witches are a real thing. And you've been bespelled by your freak-of-nature girlfriend, so honest to God please deal with it or at least believe what I've been trying to explain for the last few hours!"
What have I been missing here? Avalon's head hurt, a throbbing pain in her temples making it difficult to really focus on the words exchanged. Going by Gil's exasperated tone, they'd been down that road more than once, and still Neymar had trouble with recognising the tree they'd passed by a couple of times already. She turned her head toward the voices, grimly becoming aware of her surroundings as she opened her eyes, squinting.
Neymar and Gil sat on the floor of a dimly lit storage room, the only source of light coming from a lonesome light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The walls were packed with cupboards and shelves, which in turn were full to the brim with boxes, cartons, items, bottles, glass containers of all sizes, and there were candles. Lots of candles. Something glinted as her gaze slid along the upper shelves. The scent of herbs hung heavily in the air... lavender, ginger, vervain, sage, sandalwood. Familiar scents. Witchy scents.
Frowning, Avalon struggled to sit up from the hard wooden bench she'd been lying on. Groaning, she put a hand on the back of her head, which was buzzing like crazy. Goddesses, had someone kicked her hard there or why were her ears ringing right now? Her hair was damp, not drenched anymore, and her clothes weren't soaked through either. How long have I been out?
"Gil, she's up," Neymar said, but it was Gil who hurried over in a few short strides while Neymar remained seated on the floor by the wall of shelving units on the opposite side of the bench.
"Hey, you," Gil said, smiling softly as he crouched down next to her. "Got us pretty worried there, Áva. How are you feeling?"
Avalon swung her legs from the bench, fighting the dizzy feeling the movement created. The stone floor felt cold through her sneakers. A multi-coloured quilt slid down from her upper body to her lab, making her realise how cold she actually was. She grimaced, balling up the fabric in her fists to keep it on her lab at least, and managed to return the smile. "Could be better, but I'm okay. Used up too much juice, you know."
