Jon rocked against Teagan, driving them both upward until, shaking, they both tumbled off the edge to lie panting in each other’s arms. Teagan tried to find sanity again, but her brain felt padded in soft cotton—all fuzzy and content rather than sharp and focused.

  A beam of delicate sunlight crossed her foot. It was soft yet, still new with the breaking dawn, but morning meant consequences.

  Her parents would be so worried. Once their breath evened out again, she heard Jon snore gently.

  He’d fallen asleep. She pried his fingertips from her breast one at a time, careful not to wake him, but he continued to rest. Soon, she’d managed to disengage herself from his languid warmth entirely, and she reluctantly exited the bed. Grabbing her clothes, she ducked into the bathroom, hoping not to wake him.

  In the dim, early morning hours, she dressed silently in the bathroom. Her eyes might wander occasionally to the crack she’d left in the door. She could see him sleeping, his breathing even, his body sprawled naked in rest. Part of her was terrified he would wake up and catch her getting dressed before she could leave.

  The other part was terrified she’d pull it off and leave before he even woke up.

  She did pull it off, though, slipping out of the room with his even snores still punctuating the air. Darting down the hall, she used her wand to zap herself back home and into her room.

  If she hoped for a few moments to herself to decide what she would say to her parents, she’d selected the wrong room to transport to, because both of them stood in the space. They looked up when she appeared, her mother’s face easing into a relieved grin.

  “You’re safe,” her mother said, and guilt stabbed Teagan. She knew she worried them, and now she’d have to face the consequences.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. I stayed the night at the bed and breakfast with Jon,” Teagan admitted. She didn’t feel the need to lie about it.

  “That sounds lovely,” her mother said, dropping an absent pat on her arm as she headed to her studio yet again. “I’ll be in my office working, if anyone needs me.”

  A small sliver of disappointment shot through Teagan, but she was mostly used to her mother being like that. The flaw with artistic genius was it didn’t leave a lot of room for parenting. “Thanks, Mom,” was all Teagan said aloud, though.

  “You worried your mother,” her father said, a stern look creasing his brow. “Were you safe?”

  “I’m always safe, Dad,” Teagan said, dropping onto her bed with a thump. “That’s the problem.”

  He didn’t seem surprised by her words, but then again, he didn’t seem to be paying as much attention anymore, either. Instead, his focus clearly left with her mother. “You can go catch up to her, if you want,” Teagan offered. “I’m good. Home safe and all that.”

  “Thanks, kiddo,” he said and dropped a kiss on her head.

  Then, like every other moment of her life, Teagan settled back to relive her moments in Jon’s arms. If the rest of her life would just be the same monotony, at least now she had a decent memory to carry with her wherever she might go.

  Chapter Six

  Jon

  Jon awoke alone and rolled to face the wall. Part of him knew she’d leave—her safety, after all, was clearly a big priority. But they really seemed to share a special connection, and he hoped she would have wanted to explore it further. They could date—he was great at dating. Debonaire, charming, witty, he brought all the important stuff to the table.

  Too bad she apparently didn’t want him at the table. He walked around like a grumpy bear for a few days before his mother finally got sick of it and cornered him over breakfast. “What happened?”

  “What do you mean?” Jon asked, playing stupid.

  “You lost your job and place because you got turned into a toad,” his mother began.

  “Yeah, we established that,” Jon explained. “I whistled indoors, which is apparently Appalachian for a bad idea. She turned me into a toad, and I lost about a month of time. Because I was no call, no show, I also lost my job. Because I didn’t pay rent, I lost my apartment, but you were kind enough—”

  “I was here for all of that,” his mother said, waving a hand impatiently. “But you said you met a girl, and she helped you.”

  “Teagan? Yeah, I would probably still be a toad, if it wasn’t for her.” He told himself it wasn’t emotion clogging his throat. It didn’t matter—did it?—if she decided their night together was a single night adventure. She had her life, and she wasn’t likely to change it. He wanted to travel, to go new places and see new things…and she wanted to live at home with her parents.

  It clearly wasn’t meant to be.

  “With the girl,” his mother repeated. “The one you like.”

  If only life could be that simple, he thought. If he could just be with the people he liked because he liked them, and do the things he wanted to instead of being forced along life’s path like a log bobbing in the sea. “She went home,” was all he said aloud, though, despite the words feeling like a gross oversimplification.

  “She lives around here, right?” his mother asked. Jon shot her a look, surprised she wasn’t dropping the topic.

  “Yes, she does,” he replied.

  “Why haven’t you gone to her?”

  Jon snorted. “It isn’t that easy, Mom.”

  If it was that easy, I would’ve gone to her, he thought. But then he wondered if he would’ve. What mattered more, his imagined adventures or a person he felt a genuine connection with? He dug his fingers into his scalp, wishing he had the answers.

  “Okay, so explain to me what is holding you back,” she said. She used her fingertips to stroke the chin of her cockatiel familiar. “Because I’m really baffled here.”

  He opened his mouth, fully prepared to explain to her all of the reasons why he and Teagan just wouldn’t work out long term and why it wasn’t worth it to even make an attempt.

  But then he closed his mouth again. Did it matter if he had a thousand reasons if it was the only thing he actually wanted? If he explored things with Teagan, and it didn’t work out, there was nothing stopping him from having whatever adventures he wanted then. Moving on didn’t mean the adventures weren’t worth it to begin with, right? And in his heart, he believed the saying nothing ventured, nothing gained…so was he throwing away a chance at happiness because he was afraid to even give it a shot?

  Was he accusing her of being afraid while chickening out himself?

  He didn’t want to think about it anymore. If he was honest, the only thing he wanted to do was find Teagan. “I gotta go, Mom. I’ll see you later,” he said as he stood to leave, but his mother laughed, capturing his attention. “What’s so funny?”

  “You’re finally going after her, aren’t you?”

  He cocked a smile at her. She knew him so damn well. “Love you, wish me luck?”

  “Luck,” she replied, dropping a kiss on his brow as he headed for the door.

  But before he could reach the door, a knock sounded from outside. Tossing a glance back at his mother, Jon asked, “Were you expecting someone?”

  “Not in particular,” she replied, but the door blasted open without him touching the knob, slamming into the wall and nearly bouncing closed again before he caught the swinging wood.

  “Teagan?” Jon said, surprised at who stood on his front stoop.

  “I found you,” Teagan replied, taking a step toward him before halting herself midstep. “I—”

  “Why did you leave?” he asked, the question erupting from his lips harshly before he’d even decided what to say to her. “I woke up and you were gone.”

  “I figured it would be easier,” she answered with a half shrug. “Less awkward.”

  “Was it?” he asked, his tone sharper than he intended. Could he blame her, though? He recalled their first night together, when he’d attempted feigning sleep for the same reason.

  “Was it what?” Teagan asked, blinking her lovely eyes at him in confusion.

  “Was it easier for you? Because it’s been hell for me,” he admitted, reaching for her. The logic of just grabbing her escaped him, but she didn’t seem to mind his lack of manners, falling into his arms with a little whimper of joy.

  “No,” she answered, burying her nose in his neck as he hugged her close. “I shouldn’t have left.”

  “Agreed,” he said, dragging a kiss across her temple before taking her mouth.

  He thought they should probably talk things out. After all, the biggest problem which led to their being apart in the first place was lack of communication—and he still hadn’t told her he wanted her to stay, that he wanted time to get to know her, to date her. But instead of the words he wanted to say, instead of something charming meant to tempt her, instead of accusations because she left, and instead of telling her how much he’d missed her while they’d been apart, he just kissed her instead.

  When they finally came up for air, he stroked his hand down her face. “I was thinking,” he began.

  “Me too,” she agreed. Her nails bit into his shoulder and he shuddered out a pleasure-drenched breath.

  “Yeah, well you’ve been talking this whole time, so maybe you should spend some time listening for a change,” he began passionately.

  She giggled.

  He nipped her chin with his teeth. “What’s so funny?”

  “I was doing a lot of talking, but not a lot of reasoning. Do you remember the first question you asked me?” she asked.

  “Is this like one of those relationship tests?” he asked, dragging kisses up her cheek.

  “So this is the young lady?” his mother asked, reminding Jon of her presence. Heat flooded his cheeks as he turned to face her.

  “Yes,” he began. He figured he should explain to his mother, but he didn’t really want to let Teagan out of his arms long enough to talk.

  “Are you his mother?” Teagan said at the same time.

  “I am,” said his mother. “And I can’t begin to tell you how curious I’ve been about you.”

  “Do I meet approval?” Teagan asked, cocking her head.

  “I’ll let you know,” his mom replied, one brow arched and her eyes slitted.

  Teagan laughed and said, “I like her.”

  “We should go somewhere we can talk, be alone,” he began, shooting another glance at his mom.

  “I’ll go,” said his mother, standing from the dining room table with her coffee. “Nice to meet you, young lady.”

  “Nice to meet you, too,” Teagan answered, and his mother vanished into the back of the house. Jon had no qualms about guessing she lingered somewhere just out of sight so she could listen, but he couldn’t worry about that.

  Not then, not when he needed to convince Teagan to give him a chance.

  “Look, I don’t remember what my first question was right now, but I can tell you I have lots of other pressing questions we could address,” he said.

  Teagan shook her head, touching his cheek before walking toward the window. “When I was a little girl, I loved to read everything I could get my hands on. I watched films, read books—I was just fascinated with media. Once I got older, I realized it wasn’t the media that I loved, it was life. There’s so much in our world that I haven’t seen, but I honestly kind of thought it would be just that—things I’d never see, because I didn’t intend to change things. Not really. Bitch about them? Sure. Change them? No way in hell.”

  She turned to face him again, and his heart clenched when he saw the tears glittering in her lovely eyes. “Change is hard, you see. Staying the same is safe and easy.”

  “I was thinking about that,” he began again.

  She held up a hand to stop him. “The first question you ever asked me was who was stopping me from spreading my wings, if not myself.”

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “I—”

  Her fingertip touched his lips, and she pulled his face down and closer to her own. “It wasn’t a bad question, Jon.”

  He swallowed hard, the scent of her and feel of her in his arms too real and missed for him to care much about semantics. “You don’t have to spread your wings,” he said.

  “I want to,” she admitted. “But I’ve realized I was waiting for you. I do want to see all those things—everything, if I’m being honest. I want to see it all. I want to travel, meet people, go places, take risks…I want it all.”

  “You should have it,” he agreed.

  She shook her head, barreling onward. “But I want to see them with you. I want to go places with you and talk about the people we meet and the foods we try. I want to look at a gorgeous vista and then turn around to hear your thoughts on it. I don’t just want to have adventures; I want to have adventures with you.”

  “That’s handy,” he said. “Since you keep interrupting me before I can tell you that I want adventures with you. Or no adventures with you, since I have a feeling we’d keep ourselves busy right here in the middle of nowhere West Virginia quite happily. I think I could be happy anywhere with you, if I’m honest. Can we date?”

  “I’d like that,” Teagan agreed, and she kissed him.

  Epilogue

  Six months later…

  Some things never changed.

  Like, in the town of Assjacket, West Virginia, there’s a house with a magical playground in the back yard. In the center of the magical playground, there stands a castle—a treehouse castle, nestled high in the branches of an ancient oak tree. Mostly the birds and animals use the playhouse nowadays, but on this day, Teagan was home for a visit with her parents.

  Princess Teagan and her toadish companion Jon don’t spend much time there, not anymore, but they strode out the back door of her parent’s house in the afternoon sunshine carrying a box as they headed to the play structure.

  “You aren’t supposed to sing along with water nymphs,” Teagan explained, rolling her eyes. Her fiancé had a tendency to feel the need to be a part of whatever they went to see, even if at times his contributions weren’t needed. “I don’t care if your voice does harmonize beautifully with them.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve got to admit that was magical. The water sparkled with reflections of forgotten memories, whispered dreams, and secret laughter,” he defended. His eyes got the faraway look that she called his poet’s eyes. “I’ve never even imagined such a thing before.”

  They’d been traveling together and exploring their world and the people who lived in it for the past few months with the blessing of Teagan’s parents. It turned out that they were far more concerned with her going on her own than they were her going in the first place.

  When she sat them down and introduced them formally to Jon, she expected them to be annoyed at best, furious at worst. Instead, they sat down with her and had a very adult conversation about her life, her plans, and her goals. The highest priority of which, for Teagan, was exploration. She had a lot of things she wanted to see and things she wanted to do, and she intended to leave the next morning on her first trip.

  As her father explained, while she packed for the journey, “It was never that we didn’t trust you to take care of yourself. It was just that you should always have someone to share your adventures with, whether that be a friend or a partner.”

  Teagan liked to think that they spent their days doing just that. Whether they danced under the stars to music from a car radio or picked moonflowers with the city glittering with a thousand lights just down the hill, they had been traveling pretty constantly for most of the past six months. They made it to the west coast, exploring the Pacific Northwest for a month, then headed into the south to explore the deserts. From there, they went to the Grand Canyon and then to Colorado to Rocky Mountain National Park. Teagan, who’d spent the majority of her life at home, found she loved the way the very air tasted different in the different places, and next they intended to head to try to see some volcanoes.

  In between, Jon found a new job which he actually enjoyed—he was working at the local university tutoring between their trips and otherwise working with academics who enjoyed the same kind of research as him. Teagan also found work, surprising everyone when she took to photography. Her parents, who supported all of her dreams, built her former bedroom into a dark room so she’d have a space to work whenever they got back to Assjacket, but when they were traveling, her parents would sometimes meet them for dinner in an exotic location or join them for an evening stroll. Teagan thought what she’d want to take pictures of were the exotic locations and fantastical destinations, but when she picked up the camera, she found she was drawn to faces.

  Some of the candid shots she’d captured had been printed in a magazine already, shocking both Teagan and her parents. She was proud of her work, and proud of her goals moving forward.

  Which turned out to be more important to Teagan than she would’ve guessed when her only goal was to escape her parents.

  As they approached her play house, she glanced at him, loving the way the sunlight kissed his dark chestnut curls. “You know, I’ve realized something,” she said, reaching for his hand.

  Jon easily linked fingers with her, his thumb grazing across the engagement ring he’d placed there. “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know if it was ever actually my parents keeping me here,” she began as she climbed up the stairs to the top of her tower. “I think I was afraid to try anything, afraid of the risks, so I just took their words to heart.”

  “I figured,” he said. “I actually figured that out pretty quickly upon meeting you, if I’m being entirely honest. Your parents aren’t monsters, though they do worry about their little princess more than the average parents.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him before taking the box from his arms. “So this box contains some magical secret of the universe, and if we open it up, then we could be releasing some strange and unknown horror onto the world?”

 

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