Belladonna

past few years — and blinked away the tears suddenly stinging her eyes.
    "Can I fix it?"
    "No."
    Some things can't be mended, Caitlin Marie.
    "Why did you choose that spot to dump the debris from the rest of the garden?" Glorianna asked.
    "It felt... bad," Caitlin said. "Trashy. Weedy. And... the other parts of the garden were weedy and overgrown, but I could still see some of what they had been. That spot..."
    "Not your fault then, Caitlin," Glorianna said. "It's only a guess, but if too much of the nature of Landscapers had been forgotten by Darling's descendants, then one of them didn't resonate with Raven's Hill and should have let it go. Dumping garbage over the part of the garden that provided the access to the village was a cruel thing to do because it fed the Dark currents and never allowed Raven's Hill to be the place it was meant to be." She sighed and brushed her hair away from her face. "Maybe a need that had no other way of expressing itself acted through you. Whatever the reason, and even though it wasn't done prudently, you did what should have been done a long time ago; you severed your family's connection to Raven's Hill and the villages connection to your garden."
    "But it won't have a Landscaper anymore," Caitlin said. "So won't more bad things happen?"
    "It doesn't have a Landscaper at the moment," Glorianna said. Then she smiled and added softly,
    "But it does have an anchor. Another will has been pushing against yours all these years, resisting the village's slow change into a dark landscape."
    A whistle made them look over to the spot where Michael, Lee, and Kayne waited. Lee cocked his head and raised a hand in an are you coming? gesture.
    "Enough," Glorianna said, lifting a hand to acknowledge that they were coming. "For now, let's find out what is here.
    We'll deal with what was on another day."
    Kayne wasn't much of a guide, Michael thought as they followed the lane that led to a house on a rise. For one thing, the man didn't know how to pace himself to a woman's walking speed. He'd push on ahead, leaving Caitlin and Glorianna trailing behind, and outside of tossing information any fool could figure out for himself by reading the shop signs, hadn't said anything useful about the village. When Michael started lagging behind again to give the women time to catch up, Kayne looked back and sighed.
    "So," Kayne said. "Should we dance around this or take the straight road?"
    "Meaning what?" Michael asked. But Lee chuckled, indicating that he understood the question.
    "Michael is Caitlin's brother," Lee said. "I'm Glorianna's brother. I'm not courting Caitlin."
    "I'm noticing there's a step missing," Kayne said with a gleeful sparkle in his eyes.
    "That's because Glorianna and the Magician here are dancing around the question," Lee replied.
    "Ah," Kayne said, looking back at the women. But it was clear — to Michael, anyway — that Kayne wasn't looking at Glorianna.
    "Caitlin Marie is only eighteen," Michael said darkly.
    "A blooming age for a women," Kayne replied, smiling.
    "Could be worse," Lee said in a singsong voice, "Could be Teaser."
    Wondering why he had ever wanted friends, Michael stopped walking and stubbornly waited for Glorianna and Caitlin to catch up while Lee and Kayne went on ahead.
    "Problem?" Glorianna asked.
    "Men are a pain in the ass," he grumbled.
    She smiled and patted his cheek. "Women have known that forever, but we love you anyway."
    Caitlin sputtered and laughed. "Why don't I—" She shook her head and took off. She was laughing too much to run well, but she caught up to Lee and Kayne.
    "He's practically licking his lips over her," Michael complained. "She can't be living here on her own when the first man who meets her gets that look in his eyes."
    "And what look might that be?" Glorianna asked sweetly.
    "You know the one. And if Aunt Brighid is going to be going her way and I'm going ..." Deciding that was best left unsaid since he didn't know where he was going, he added, "You know what I'm saying."
    Glorianna pursed her lips. A bad sign. "You're saying Caitlin is going to have all this unsupervised time, and despite being a grown, albeit young, woman living in a community that not only understands her connection to the land but also values it, she will become a flirtatious, blithering idiot just because a man with a nice smile and muscles has shown a little interest in her. Is that what you're saying?"
    "Maybe." He was pretty sure that wasn't what he was