ch 18

I woke the next morning with Sage's head on my chest. She and I were intertwined in my sheets. It was strange I had never woken up with someone in my arms before; it was comforting to have her there. Ruby, ever the early riser, was staring at us from her side on the coffee table, just being creepy.

"Chicken and Waffles?" She asked with sad puppy eyes.

"Fine" I carefully pulled away from Sage, but I was sure to leave her wrapped in my blankets and hers since she was cold in the house. Ruby and I love chicken and waffles. Since we were kids, we always partnered this meal with ketchup and strawberry syrup so that our plates were entirely tan and red. I was sitting at the island with Ruby mixing the waffle mix when Jeremy came down the stairs.

"So what is this whole thing you are doing today?" Jeremy asked, resting his elbows on Ruby's shoulders.

"We are making a movie about the garden." I was adding cinnamon and nutmeg to the waffle mix before pouring it into the maker.

"Reed and his friends make the coolest movies." Ruby gushed.

"She is only saying that because she is always in the movies."

"No, Reed has these cool ideas and describes them, then the team works to make them, and it is cool to see all the way through instead of just seeing the end project. Yeah, they don't always turn out theater-quality but compared to the idea, they are darn close."

"Wow, I didn't know you had this skill." Jeremy drew a long breath before looking at the mass of sleeping humans by the couches.

"I am a mysterious artist." I was now putting the breaded chicken in the oven.

"Chicken and waffles cool," Jeremy noted. "do you think it is odd that Sage has been over here for the last two nights?"

"I don't think so. She was on the phone with her dad yesterday, and she hasn't mentioned anything and yes, chicken and waffles. Just be glad that we are not leaving the cooking to Ames and Sage anymore, or we would all starve."

"Right, but with her dad, I thought he wasn't ok with her talking to people?"

"Wait, what!" Ruby nearly woke the whole house with that scream.

"Sage has a controlling dad, but she would tell me if something was going on. We have enough things to worry about we don't need anymore."

"What things besides the reclassification?" Ruby asked. I was about to tell her it was none of her business when Sage answered from her blanket burrito on the floor.

"That would be my mother and fiance." Ruby gasped out loud like she was already acting in a movie. Sage pulled herself up from the floor, wrapped in one of my blankets, and made her way over to me. "You guys are not as quiet as you think."

"We were eventually going to wake you all up for food anyway." I pulled her by her waist and rubbed my free arm up her side, trying to warm her up.

"You are engaged really, but not to Reed, Right?" Ruby asked like she was afraid to hear the answer.

"No, I am engaged to a warlock. It was arranged. Your dad and cousin are trying to get me out of it." She shivered again. "Goddess, it is cold in this house. I thought it was summer."

"Ruby could you show Sage a couple of harmless spells to warm her up while I finish cooking," I asked.

"She doesn't know that magic heats your blood?"

"I haven't had an occasion to learn." Sage answers. Ruby hops off her stool and extracts Sage from my blanket before skipping away with sage dragging behind.

"Sometimes, I forget how much energy that girl has." Jeremy shakes his head and stares in the direction that the girls went. "I turned to air up higher since we had all these witches. Ames was miserable all night."

"What about Jules?"

"Her room isn't on the system for the house because it was an addition we were going to add this fall, so I just opened her window."

Sage and Ruby came back giggling (mostly Ruby was giggling) about whatever magic they were doing while everyone got up dressed and ate food. After we had to walk the equipment to the garden since Jeremy needed to go to work, it wasn't a far walk, and I didn't need to carry the computers because we were doing the editing later.

"I'll find Jen and get this sorted," Sage said when we arrived. "You should set this all down in my green room since we still haven't fixed the glass wall in the grey house yet."

"Ok, see you in a bit," I responded, pulling the camera bags more securely onto my shoulder.

"Oh, I will also bring both our walkies so that we can listen for tours." Sage ran off towards the main office where Jen's office was. I moved everyone to the gree house and into Sage's nursery room.

"Ok, give us the breakdown." Paul sat his equipment down while Ricky and Ruby got distracted by the baby plants growing in the water. Chrissy started to open up her cases since we will need makeup and costumes before filming. I was about to start telling them my idea when Denis walked in. His hair was blue, but he recently dyed it pink. He eyed all my friends before walking over to me.

"Walkie for ya, Reed." He handed me his walkie and waited since he would need it back.

"This is Reed," I answered, hoping it was the ok from Jen.

"Reed, this is Jenny. I'm with Sage. You have the go-ahead. Just make sure to report the areas you are closing for the movie," Jen answered.

"Thanks, Jen. I'll be sure to let you know as we are setting up, and I'll give you a finished list when we are set."

"Perfect! I'm sending Sage back to you," she responded.

"Reed, this is Sage. What is your location."

"Your nursery."

"I'll be there in a minute also; I got us my golf cart."

"I'm driving today."

"Sure."

I looked back at my friends who were eyeing me. Chrissy was pretending to be preoccupied with her makeup, but I could see her staring out of the corner of her eye.

"Here Denis, thanks, man." I handed the walkie back to him and patted his back as I directed him out. There was a thick tension in the air I wanted to put to rest before Sage got back. As soon as the door closed, I opened the floor for them. "Alright, let's hear it."

"So you really have been living a different life this summer. I mean Reed, you have human friends?" Ricky asked.

"Well, Jen is my boss and Leney, who you haven't meet, is head equipment manager, so he is a good guy to know. Denis and Reece are good people, but they are all more work friends." I answered. "I have never hung out after work or anything."

"Except for with the warlock." Chrissy's voice hit like ice. She was not a happy camper about this situation.

"She is more witch than warlock and Chrissy if you give her a chance, I think you may like her."

"Right, I could also have a lot in common with a demon, but unlike you, Reed, I don't listen to sympathy for the devil every night on repeat. You know what, let's just start this, ok." Chrissy turned away from me, eliciting silence from the group for a moment.

"Reed," Ruby prompted as I continued to stare.

"OK, let's set up these cameras," Ricky, Paul, and I started. I felt terrible for leaving Ruby to clean up the mess that is Chrissy, but I don't think the rest of us could have handled that. We set up tripods in different sections of the garden with time-lapse settings on the cameras. Sometimes Ricky set up lights, but that was usually in the shadowy areas. Paul also went for some creative shots from the side or under the flowers, but it was straight forward setup for the most part. As we were setting up, Sage, Ruby, and Chrissy found us.

"Ok, Brother of mine, what is the human element," Ruby asked, running up to me.

"I was thinking that you girls could be seen picking the flowers, then we would get a body cam to close in on the flower you picked. Bam! Video shifts to these time-lapse shots. Then at the end, we have you drop the flowers."

"How many do you want?" Ruby asked.

"Are all three of you comfortable being in the movie?" Chrissy and Ruby nodded, but Sage hesitated. "You don't have to if you don't want to," I said, getting closer to her.

"I would say no if I were you, Miss Sage Arden." A voice called out from behind our group. A middle-aged man was walking up to us with a clipboard and a frown. His eyebrow raised as he looked over our group? I didn't know what he was doing at this garden in a crips suit and gelled back hair but whatever it was, was not good since he knew Sage's name. His eyes cut into our group, bright green like the edges of a gem. "Miss Christina Willowwhite, Paul Littlebay, Richard Longman, Ruby Redfield, and Reed Redfield." He called us out like the creepy Substitute teacher that knows you did something stupid.

"Sir, can I help you?" I was attempting to get rid of this obvious stalker while standing in a spot that put both Sage and Ruby behind me. He smiled, and I swear that smile alone would be enough to get him hired in a horror film. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing from the teeth he was showing.

"I am here to do a random check of a candidate Sage Arden in her application to be reclassified as a witch." I nodded, still not comfortable with him being here. "I see already that Sage has broken the thirty-day noncontact rule of the reclassification." He was shaking his head at her. I didn't even know what that meant.

"That sounds serious," Ruby muttered from over my shoulder. I didn't even realize she was there.

"I don't recognize that rule?" I questioned. "If she wasn't supposed to be with witches for thirty days, I apologize. This was my doing. She didn't know I was bringing my friends here, so this is on me, not her."

"I know all about you, Reed Redfield. Throwing your last name around may get you out of trouble without doing time, but I don't think the last name protects your warlock friends." He drew out his words, but it was still smooth like I was merely a distraction from his real goal.

"I am now going to need to talk to all the witches that she has interacted with to ensure that she was not trying to get information of witches from them. So Sage, who have you had contact with besides Reed and Jeremy's family?" He stared at her through me, and I was getting tired of being treated like I was not there.

"Well, I was with all of them all night and this morning. I mean, everyone here" Sage's voice was small.

"Oh, this is bull; the girl never spoke to anyone but Reed. She is so much of a wallflower that I was am wondering what caught Reed's attention in the first place because it wasn't the conversation. So can we go now?" Chrissy growled out in frustration.

"This is necessary if Sage has been in contact with you; we need to know," he explained.

"Well, she has; hell, she basically slept with Reed last night!" Chrissy yelled. A gunshot interrupted our lovely day. Everyone jumped since we were so distracted by the man in the grey suit that we didn't see Sage's father walk up a shotgun in hand that was now pointed at me.

Great.

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Hello Beautiful humans

An extra drop since it is Imbolc. Technically considered the first day of spring since the equinox in the middle of spring, it doesn't feel like it. The Philly area has been in the middle of a snowstorm for the last three days. Yay spring! But I love looking out at the snow, so I am OK with this. I hope everyone is staying warm (everyone in the northern hemisphere where it is winter). Have a great Imbolc.

So mote it be

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