Qui puoi leggere il capitolo bonus di Crescent City 3, House of Flame and Shadow (HOFAS), in inglese, con protagonisti Bryce e Hunt. Se vuoi leggerlo invece in italiano, lo trovi QUI.
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HOFAS – Bryce and Hunt Bonus Chapter
“There’s no way your mom will let us do this.”
“What my mom doesn’t know won’t kill her.”
“Bryce.”
It was Hunt’s warning tone that had Bryce turning form the evergreen garland she’d spread across the kitchen table of her parents’ house, half of the pine needles blanketing the linoleum floor at her feet.
Her mate lounged against the pink plastic counter that hadn’t been updated since it was installed in the house a century ago. Bryce was sure any interior designer worth their salt would keel over dead at the sight of it – and the matching cabinets – but Bryce loved it. Loved every inch of this house, tucked among towering conifers on a hill just outside of Nidaros. Close enough to walk into the small town, but far enough away to avoid the snooping eyes and ears of any passing neighbors.
Which was pretty much everybody in this town. Bryce has no idea how her mother had survived it – the local gossips had lost their minds when she’d shown up twenty-odd years ago, a half-fae toddler in tow, under Randall’s protection.
Well, she knew how her mom had survived it: by picking a house on the outskirts of town, shielded by those centuries-old pines.
“What?” Bryce frowned at Hunt. She motioned to the garland snaking across the chipped wood table – another thing that had come with the house. “She’ll love this.”
“You’re using her… babies” – Hunt choked on the word – “to adorn a decoration for the temple.”
“So?” Bryce grabbed the hot-glue gun. “It’s free advertising for her.”
Hunt Pushed off the counter, wings rustling, and picked up one of the offending objects. “It’s sacrilege.”
“Is it, though?” Bryce surveyed the tray of tiny ceramic infants lolling in beds of lettuce or flower petals or little birds’ nests. “The winter Solstice is all about the death and rebirth of Solas and his final embrace with Cthona before dying. Hence the baby.”
“Yeah, but that offspring is meant to be Midgard. Not.. lettuce-babies.” Hunt eyed the figurine in his hand, a bald infant with arms and legs like overstuffed sausage links. “Some people might get offended.”
“Some people might also think it’s funny.”
At his pointed silence, Bryce sighed, setting down the glue gun. Hunt slid into the chair across from her. He wore his favorite white sunball hat backward and a thick green sweater that did wonders for his broad shoulders, but his face was stony, dark eyes wary.
Bryce angled her head to the side. “Don’t we all need something to laugh about?” She pointed to the brass-plated light fixture about the table. “We’re quickly approaching Firstlight Zero.”
In Nidaros – on all of Midgard – firstlight was used sparingly these days. Most people only turned on what lights they needed, in the room they were currently in. Charging phones: limited to a quarter power max. No TV. Unless it was absolutely, one hundred percent necessary, the majority of people on the planet were doing their best to conserve what firstlight remained while the scientists and engineers and magic-wielders raced around the clock to find an alternate energy source. And some way to retrofit all their tech to use it.
Bryce didn’t want to think about it. Not for the three days she’d be here with her family. So she tucked it away, along with all the other thoughts that plagued her about what had gone down this fall, about what they’d been dealing with since she’d shoved the Asteri into a black hole.
These three days were for her and Hunt, for Cooper and her parents.
And Syrinx, lounging at her feet, snoring lightly, wearing a little red solstice vest that Randall had knitted for the chimera.
"Where'd you go?" Hunt asked, and Bryce blinked.
“Huh?”
“You’re glaring at those… things.”
Bryce snorted and lifted a baby – one bawling from inside a peapod – and dangled it in front of Hunt’s face. “These things? Do they creep you out?”
Hunt winced away from the figurine. “Yes. Partly because they’re weird, and partly because your mom, of all people, makes them.”
Bryce dropped her voice to an eerie whisper. “They sing at the night, if you listen closely.”
Hunt grimaced. “Don’t even start.”
Bryce chuckled, setting the figurine down again and surveying the garland. She’d only glued one baby on it before Hunt had intervened. “So you really think we should just bring this to the temple with no extra pizzazz?”
“Yes. I think you should do exactly what your mother asked you to do before she left.”
He was dead serious. Hunt had faced down the Asteri, jumped into space and careened toward a black hole, and yet he was still scared of Ember Quinlan.
Bryce supposed that made her mate a very wise male. And she’d be wise to listen to his warning, too. So she began placing the figurines back in the tray she’d grabbed from her mother’s workshop – more of an attached shed, really – the ceramics clinking delicately against each other. “We’ll leave that terror on there, and see if anyone notices tonight.”
Hunt rolled his eyes. “I’ll pray to Cthona that you don’t get us chased out of town.”
“The pitchfork cabinet’s right next to the temple alter, you know.”
“Hilarious.”
“No, it really is,” she said, standing with the tray in hand, trying her best not to joggle it too much. If she destroyed the figurines, her mom might actually kill her.
Granted, her mom would have killed her for taking the dozen or so figurines from her workshop and gluing them to a garland, too, but Bryce had been willing to pay that price for her mom’s last-minute demand that she help with the temple decorations for the solstice ceremony.
After teleporting in late the previous night, Bryce and Hunt had awoken this morning to find her mom and Randall already out of the house, with only a note from Ember on the kitchen table.
We’re in town, helping set up for the ceremony tonight. Take Cooper to lunch – I know he wants to spend some time with you, and this holiday is a big deal for him.
That, of course, was no burden. At lunch, the teen had been a little quieter than the boy she’d come to know and love over the last few months, but she didn’t blame him. He’d lost his entire family, and though he’d been welcomed into a new one, the holiday was sure to bring up painful memories.
So Bryce and Hunt had let Cooper be as quiet as he wanted while they grabbed sandwiches at the local diner. And pretended that every patron and passerby on the street wasn’t gawking at them.
Save the world, get stared at for the rest for their lives. That seemed to be the deal.
But it had been the second part of her mom’s note that had prompted Bryce to see red.
Also, I volunteered you and Athalar for the temple-decorating committee, so send that mate of yours to cut down some branches and tie them together into a garland. The temple will expect you there around three to hang it up.
Randall walked Syrinx and gave him his breakfast. And his second breakfast.
You’re welcome.