It was an unseasonably dry winter’s day and Holly Burke sat on the verandah steps of her miner’s cottage on the fringes of Dunloe, Victoria.
Patches of sapphire-blue peeked between rain-heavy clouds, the air crisp and full of morning frost. Mist clung to the treetops in the distance as the last rays of sunrise glittered across the icy grass of the patchy lawn. The warble of a magpie carried across the stillness, the low drone of a car on the nearby road joining in.
She curled her fingers around the mug of instant coffee in her hands, staving off the chill on her exposed skin.
Man, this place is so damn beautiful, she thought. Especially now that the troublesome neighbours have moved out.
In the week since they’d faced the anomaly, the area around Dunloe was stabilising and life had returned with a vigour not seen in the region before.
The soil on Ed Holland’s farm had miraculously responded to ‘treatment’ and he’d planted his canola with great success. The mysterious blight that’d destroyed his potatoes had finally been defeated, with no sign it’d spread further.
The mutilated cattle was still an ongoing mystery. The official autopsy report had found nothing abnormal, thanks to Jin’s intervention. They couldn’t stop the rumours that’d sprung up about UFOs and strange lights, but it was better to leave some speculation out there. To completely alter the minds of the entire town and surrounding countryside would take a mammoth effort, one Patrick and Jin weren’t keen on enacting.
In the end, their plan had worked. Greyson was the key to everything. His mysterious elemental magic had saved them all—she wasn’t sure they would’ve been able to stop the corruption without it.
Spotting a lone hawk wheeling over the diggings, Holly smiled.
There were mysteries she’d never solve when it came to the anomaly, but knowing it was gone forever was more than enough for her. It was finally time to start living the peaceful country life she’d envisioned the day she’d first arrived.
The front door opened behind her, and Greyson appeared. “Aren’t you cold?”
“Not in the slightest,” she lied as he sat beside her. “I’m basking in the crisp, corruption-free atmosphere.”
Greyson grinned and rubbed his eyes.
She bumped her elbow against his arm. “Still tired?”
“You’d think I’d be bursting with energy after sleeping for three days straight,” he said with a yawn. “But my head still feels like it’s stuffed with cotton wool.”
“Must be a magic thing. I feel the same way. A couple of days, and you’ll be right as rain.”
Greyson looked out across the garden and breathed deeply. “It does feel different out here, doesn’t it?”
“It feels like it should’ve been all along,” she murmured. “Peaceful.”
They watched the last of the sunrise glitter across the frosty lawn.
“I’m curious…” Greyson murmured. “What are you going to do now that there isn’t a bad guy to fight?”
Holly checked the time on her phone. “Well, I have a meeting with Mayor MacIntosh this afternoon. We’re going to discuss my future plans for Samantha’s house.”
“Which are?”
“I’m not sure yet. I was thinking a community centre of some kind. You know, outreach programs for youth and mental health. There’s a burgeoning refugee community in Dunloe, too. I was hoping to arrange language classes and some other stuff.”
Greyson sighed. “That’s really awesome of you. Most people would’ve sold the place to the highest bidder.”
“Yeah, I think that’s why she left everything to me. It wasn’t about the magical artefacts or the Trine’s legacy, but how I felt about Dunloe. I think she felt the same.”
“What about Fiona?”
“She’s coming to pick me up this morning. We’re looking at potential properties for our joint business venture.”
Greyson raised his eyebrows. “This is the first I’m hearing about it. What business?”
“The perfect hustle for an earth witch.” She grinned wickedly. “Coming soon…the best garden centre in the Goldfields. I hear the plants are spectacular…some even say they’re magical.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Well, we all have our talents. Are Jin and Patrick going to stick around? I know Jin will be wherever you are…”
“He’s going to keep his job as the local detective for now,” Holly said. “There’ll come a time where we’ll have to figure out how to explain the whole ‘you haven’t aged a day over twenty-five’ thing, but that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we come to it. Patrick’s the same. He’ll stay on at the pub for now, but I think he’s got the urge to go on an adventure of his own.”
Greyson nodded. “He told me a little about what happened to him here, so I don’t blame him.”
Holly sipped at her coffee. Patrick had been through almost two hundred years of turmoil in this town. After reconciling all of that and what he’d experienced witnessing the death of his maker, John, and helping them fight the anomaly, it was past time he did something for himself. She was glad.
Holly glanced at Greyson. “What about you? Will you stay for a while or head home?”
“Patrick told me about this town he heard about in the outback. Apparently, it’s a place for supernaturals. Solace, it’s called.”
“The one in New South Wales?”
He nodded. “I had an experience I barely understand. I get what happened and why it had to be the way it was, but the why of everything…? That limbo world, multiple realities, why I can access them and no one else can…I don’t know. Maybe someone will know in this Solace place.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the bush.
Finally, Greyson said, “You do know that if I learn anything, I’ll let you know, right?”
“Of course.”
His smile faded. “I’ve also pulled the pin on the podcast.”
“Oh?”
“It doesn’t seem right anymore, knowing what I know.”
Holly nodded. “Well, aliens still might be a thing…not including interdimensional hybrids.”
Greyson laughed as Fiona’s silver Jeep turned into the driveway.
When the witch got out of the car, she threw her hands into the air. “You’re not ready yet?” she exclaimed. “And you’re still drinking that instant crap? I know what I’m getting you for Christmas.”
“Witches celebrate Christmas?” Greyson asked. “I thought you’d be all about Beltane and Samhain and stuff.”
“It’s called Yule,” Fiona declared with a cheeky roll of her eyes. “It’s a mid-winter thing, even though it’s summer.”
“You know, the Southern Hemisphere doesn’t even seem to exist to the Northern,” Greyson stated. “It’s the most irritating thing ever.”
Fiona snorted. “More irritating than accidentally making your showerhead explode?”
Holly chuckled as she went to lock the front door. Noticing Greyson’s packed bag in the hall, she narrowed her eyes and made sure the deadbolt clicked home. Fiona had already circled the hood of the Jeep, but Greyson lingered on the verandah steps.
“Okay, I’m ready.” She looked down at him. “Are you coming or what?”
He hesitated. “Um…I thought I might get a head start on that road trip.”
“How about you go tomorrow?” Holly worried her bottom lip. “I already locked your bag inside and I’m afraid I don’t have the energy to put the key back in the lock. Those old-fashioned deadlocks tend to stick.”
“Right…” Greyson shook his head and looked at the sky, then at the witches, then the Jeep. “The weather is unseasonably nice…”
“C’mon,” Fiona called, drumming her hands on the hood of her Jeep. “If there’s one thing a nursery needs, it’s water. And I heard you were something of a specialist.”
“C’mon,” Holly urged. “I know Jin wants to have a word with you before you leave.”
He curled his lip. “Is that a selling point?”
“Just get in the car,” Fiona said.
Holly lingered on the stairs as Greyson climbed in the back and took it all in—her friends, the home she’d built for herself, the love she felt for Jin, and the Legacy that ran through her veins… They’d lost a great deal but had gained many beautiful things.
Hope, love, peace, and a thousand and one amazing things to look forward to. That’s what they had before them now.
“Holly?” Fiona shouted, beeping the horn. “Are you coming or what?”
“Yeah!” she called, running down the stairs. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
The End.