"And Nevaeh," I pointed out.
He grunted in disgust, but didn't deny it. "Bracken doesn't use this season. He can, but he's weak in it, so he avoids it. There's one more faeling who uses Winter, but I think that's it."
"So how do we check them?" I asked.
"We can go - " Aspen tried.
But Torian cut her off. "You cannot go outside until we find this thing! Aspen, you are too important for that! The moment you turn eighteen…"
"Is no one's business but mine!" Aspen snapped, finishing his unspoken warning. "Fuck, Tor, we've talked about this! I don't care about some big future plans for when I'm grown up. I don't care if you care. And this? It's just making me feel like a damned prisoner here!"
"Keir and I can handle the enchantments," I assured her. "We'll do it as fast as we can. You focus on growing some of those bubble plants for us, ok? You know, like thank-you gifts, since you still can't say the word."
She just stuck her tongue out at me. "I can so! I just don't like it."
"I happen to like it," I told the pair. "I mean, just so that's out there. But no, seriously. I can grab Keir and check any..." My words trailed off as I realized the bigger problem. "Shit. How will I know if I find a thing? I've never seen one. Can you glamour me what they looklike?"
"Sadly, no," Torian said. "I've never seen such things either. The Mad Queen kept me in her Palace like a fucking trophy!" He grumbled under his breath at the mere thought. "But Hawke knows. Wilder knows about the ones the Summer army put up in Avalon. The Valentinas wouldn't use that kind, though. They were too common to even be titled in the last uprising."
"Uh..." I looked over at Aspen. "Do I want to know?"
"Fae history," she explained. "Don't worry about it. But if you go out, I think you should take Hawke, not Keir."
"Take both," Torian suggested.
And that was how, two hours later, I ended up outside with both of them. Wilder had promised he'd keep an eye on Torian, supposedly. At least, that was what Hawke told me. And Jack? He'd taken off to mingle with the other crows.
"So, tell me about these things we're looking for?" I asked, enjoying the bright sun and chilly breeze.
Because February was slipping past quickly. The first grasses were starting to wake up, but they weren't quite growing yet. The world just had this brittle green shade to it, mixed in with all the yellows and browns. The sky, however, was the bluest I'd seen in far too long.
Fat and puffy clouds hung in the sky. The sun was intense, making my coat feel like it was too much, but I knew I'd regret taking it off, so I settled on wearing it open. Keir had on a jacket. Hawke had gone with a chocolate-brown hoodie that worked a little too well for him. When I caught Keir checking him out, I had to smother a giggle before I made things awkward.
"Hunt signs," Hawke said before pausing. "Well, that's the closest I can translate the term to. The literal term would be something like 'sighting assistance.'" He grunted, showing that wasn't important. "They're apparently often carved on trees or made from scraps and hung in them. When I was a kid, we used to see them all the time, but no one ever said what they did. Wilder and I talked last night, and yeah. I'm kinda glad no one told me."
"So look up?" I asked, gesturing to the tall trees around us.
Many were oaks. Some were pines and cedars. There were more, but I didn't have names for all the types. That was Aspen's thing, and I learned them as she talked about them. Sadly, we'd spent most of our time inside since I'd been here, due to the cool fall and cold winter. And yet, I now longed to know each and every type that grew on the Silver Oaks grounds.
"Could be buried in the leaves underneath too," Hawke admitted. "Our best course is to go to each place Torian marked, look around until wefigure out what enchantment he detected, and either disable it or mark it off the list."
I nodded, aware the pair were leading me out towards the same place where we'd celebrated Winter Solstice. "How do we disable them?" I asked.
"Burning is good," Hawke said.
"You do fire?" Keir asked.
Hawke chuckled. "I do a lot of things. You can also shield them, preventing the call. Rain? She could just touch it, because her shadows don't mix well with sidhe magic."
"Which means I get to touch a lot of things," I realized.
"Mhm," Keir said. "Isn't being the Morrigan glorious and so very amazing?"
I scoffed. "It got me outside on a gorgeous Sunday. I mean, I hate why, but I do like the company."
"She's talking about you," Hawke pointed out.
"Figured it was you," Keir said. "I mean, I heard there was a hot and heavy make-out session a while back."
