RYAN. THE WITCHING HOUR.

Ryan went in to rouse Angie, passing Evan, who’d stopped in the hallway to presumably invite Gramyre in. Cali feigned sleep until Angie was up and they’d left the room. Then she shadowed behind them.

“Hey,” Evan said, eyes on the floor, as Ryan and Angie emerged back into the hallway. He glanced up at Angie for a moment, then swiftly back down at his feet. He and Chris both stood next the door, Chris looking around with curiosity.

Angie snapped awake at the sight of Evan. “VERMONT EVAN CADELL!” she cried, stalking toward him, an accusatory finger extended. Evan winced. Ryan noted a light of comprehension dawn in Chris’s eyes.

Angie continued with, “I should slap you so hard your eyeballs explode! Do you know how many big ass bags of litter I have to pick up in the park this weekend?” and, not giving him a chance to answer, finished with “Five!” actually jabbing him in the chest with her finger as she did so. He rocked back a step.

A pair of tiny trails of steam, or maybe smoke, snaked out of her close cropped red hair. Ryan, standing a few feet behind, watched it with fascination. That had never happened before. Evan’s eyes had grown wide—he’d seen it too. And Chris watched with the same pleasant interest he’d been regarding everything else. Ryan filed the incident away to return to later.

“Salt and silver!” Cali said from behind them. At the steam or maybe just Chris, Ryan would never know. Because he forgot to ask later.

Evan and Chris looked past Ryan and Angie, presumably at Cali. He and Angie both looked over their shoulders. Cali was staring at Chris, her mouth hanging open—after a moment, she realized they were all looking back, turned red, and centimetered out of sight.

“I’m sorry. Can I help?” Evan asked Angie, wincing.

“You’re absolutely helping,” Angie grumbled. “Make sure you bring a music player, though, since it’s in Bridal Trails.”

“Fuuuuck. Seriously?” Evan said.

“Seriously. Who’s stupid enough to litter in there, I have no idea,” Angie said, expression grim.

“What’s, uh. What’s Bridal Trails?” Chris asked.

“It’s a nearby nature reserve and park,” Ryan replied. “Lots of trails through it. A more accurate description, however, would be to call it a patch of wilderness within the walls which is the home of this ancient awakened bear. Or maybe bear spirit. It’s unclear. His name in Common is He Who Loves Love, but in my experience people usually just call him ‘That Fucking Bear.’ The city more or less had to leave the land untamed because it wasn’t worth fighting with him when they expanded out here.”

Chris frowned. “His… well, his real name isn’t particularly threatening. Sounds pretty nice, really. I assume he’s actually dangerous, based on his secondary title?”

“He can be,” Evan said.

“Listen, exposition’s my job,” Ryan said. This provoked a snort from Chris, which set Evan to laughing again, followed by Angie after a second. After a moment Evan and Angie were both giggling so much they had to latch onto each other to hold each other up.

Ryan ignored them. “Yeah. While the name is accurate, the problem is he doesn’t much care for anything else.”

Chris was watching Evan and Angie try to pull themselves together with a small smile. He glanced at Ryan and said, “Go on, I’m listening.”

“Basically he judges whether your love is real if you’re in his territory. Odd numbered groups of people are totally safe—unless they’re polyamorous I guess, but I haven’t read about a polyamorous group trying. Need to look that up later.

“Anyway, if the only people within eyesight of each other make up an even numbered group, he pairs you off, starting with the two people—” Ryan flipped up his index and middle fingers— “With the strongest emotional bond, and then the second strongest emotional bond—” He switched to his ring and pinky finger— “Between the remaining people, and so on.” He waved a hand.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Yeah,” Angie said, after finally getting a grip. She reached out and took Ryan’s hand, provoking a raised eyebrow from him. “Then he judges your emotions and actions, and if he finds you wanting in the love department, he fucking eats you. And he only wants romantic love. If you’re not in love with someone there, he’s going to try and kill you. The only people who are safe in even numbers are related—he doesn’t judge familial love.”

“Huh,” Chris said. “Good to know. Seems like this should be a public service announcement to people who move into town.”

“Well, this is all laid out on signs on every path into the park,” Ryan said. “And outside of the paths it’s fenced off. You’d have to be trying hard to blunder in without knowing about him.”

“Also everyone around here does what we just did and makes sure to tell newcomers to the area about it the first time Bridal Trails comes up,” Angie added, leaning against Ryan now.

“Also there’s this thing called the interwebs, like, do some research when you move somewhere,” Ryan added, grinning.

“Cool. Yeah, I getcha. I’ll tell my folks and sister,” Chris said, nodding. He paused. “But why’s it called Bridle Trails?”

“Bridal Trails,” Ryan corrected. “Like brides, not bridles. Because he blesses couples who can walk all the way through his territory without arousing his anger, who’s romantic love is… good enough… for him. No one really knows his criteria, but people who receive his blessings usually seem pretty happy with each other before they go in, and afterward they develop supernatural empathy with their partners and also tend to do well financially.”

“I see now.” Chris said, nodding. “You gamble that your love is true.”

“Not many people do it these days,” Evan said. “But there’s a few folks what get blessed every year, and a few what get ate.”

“I dig it,” Chris said with another nod. “I’ll help pay, too. That way you don’t have to go off on your own.”

They all focused on him. “That’s,” Angie said. “Uh. Really nice. You’re like a Light Bearer though. Seems like a dumb risk when we can just wander off on our own and be fine, probably. You surely have better things to do.”

Chris shrugged. “Many hands make light work. As much as anything I’m trying to ingratiate myself with you guys so Megan will like me.”

Ryan laughed out loud at that, one surprised “Ha!” which set Evan off laughing again. Ryan decided he needed to make sure Evan slept more, in general.

Angie smiled at Evan’s laughter, and said, “I, uh, I don’t know if that’s really necessary, but I appreciate the sentiment I guess. You seem okay, Chris Gramyre.”

“Thanks,” Chris said with a smile. “Also, about being a Light Bearer.” He lowered his voice a little. “I want to tell you something, but I’d rather it not get around too much.” He tilted his head in the direction of the entrance to the living room, where Cali was presumably lurking.

“Hmm,” Ryan said, a contemplative note in his voice. “Downstairs, then.”

He led the way, and they filed down the narrow stairs.

“The Grove was an old boarding house back in the twenties,” Ryan said as he led them down the stairs, “And was initially quite fancy. The area had recently been walled when it was built, and the city was undergoing expansion as lots of refugees from the Long War poured in. With so many people, there weren’t enough Light Bearers, so single Light Bearers began moving here from elsewhere as well, looking for a fresh start.

“The Grove was originally built to house lady Light Bearers until they could afford larger places or, failing that, get married, as back then it would have been a touch scandalous to have mixed gender housing. The Bakili matriarch lived here for a time.” Ryan grinned. Ever since they were exiled he found amusement in that fact, especially considering that right now it was just him and Evan’s family living there.

But it did mean the old place packed a lot of rooms into comparatively not a lot of space. The stairs were narrow, and there was an old cedar door at the bottom. Beyond that, Ryan had a little suite of rooms around a common area. The common area was stocked with comfortable old furniture grouped around a big TV, as well as a beat up but quite large pine table. The old hardwood floor was covered by a huge Turkish-style rug. The table was covered in papers, books, and two different laptops. At one end was Angie’s sketchbook, lying open to a sketch of Ryan at work.

Angie quickly walked over and flipped the sketchbook closed, whistling innocently. It was not very subtle.

“So why do you guys live here now?” Chris asked as he looked around. Each of the rooms around the common area was clearly meant to be a small bedroom.

“Well, I lived here first, then Evan’s family moved in—uh.” Ryan panicked.

Evan said, “After my father died.” Chris nodded, and Ryan felt relieved.

“I live here because I’m a ward of the Bounty Authority. So what’s up?” Ryan said, his hands stuffed into his pockets, a little smile on his face as he turned around after closing the door.

Chis looked like he wanted to ask about that, too, but after a moment, he shrugged. “Well. First, Evan filled me in a little on your past three years.”

“Damn it, I wanted to do that,” Ryan said.

“I still have many questions, so you’ll get a chance,” Chris replied, a touch bemused. “Just… not now…”