Flowers and Powers (A Shifters & Sweets short)
Spoiler Warning! This short story takes place after Manticores & Macarons. Make sure you’ve read that book first!
by Zoe Chant
“Huh,” said Poppy, as she gazed at the little hand-carved wooden ornament of a kitten that sat on the shelf. “I’m pretty sure those weren’t there this morning.”
It wasn’t the fact that there was a wooden kitten on the shelf that had caught her attention. That she knew about, because she’d unpacked it and put it on the shelf this morning.
No, it was the fact that it had apparently – for some reason – sprouted two dainty yellow flowers and some tiny furled leaves from its head, in the space between its ears, that had her forehead furrowing in consternation.
She blinked slowly and deliberately, hoping that the action would reset whatever had clearly gone wrong with her eyes… but no, when she opened them again, the wooden kitten was still staring at her with its big, round eyes, flowers bobbing gently in the breeze that wafted in through the window.
It was extremely cute, she had to give it that. She just didn’t understand why it was doing that. If she’d ordered a batch of kitten ornaments with flowers growing from them to sell in her gift shop, it would be fine. But she hadn’t. She’d definitely ordered just regular, non-floral hand-carved kitten ornaments. And all the rest of the wooden kittens on the shelf were completely normal, with no bobbing, apparently real live flowers in sight.
I know the carver I ordered these from uses all-natural materials, but this is ridiculous!
A voice cut through her thoughts. “What weren’t there?”
Entranced as she was, she didn’t turn around as the footsteps of her mate, Max, approached from behind. In any case, it wasn’t necessary – she could practically hear the sound of his eyebrows shooting up his forehead as he caught sight of the figurine.
“Never mind,” he muttered. “I think I get it.”
Poppy tore her eyes away from the kitten for long enough to see Max take off his glasses, wipe them on the hem of his shirt, and then put them back on again. Clearly it didn’t help, if the face he pulled was anything to go by. Poppy could sympathize.
She’d seem some weird things since she’d moved here to Girdwood Springs, not least of which was Max’s capacity to turn into a manticore. Finding out that not only did fated mates exist, but that her mate was the hottest, kindest guy in the world, who also happened to be able to turn into a winged lion with a scorpion’s tail… well, that had been a surprise, to put it mildly.
But somehow it felt like this tiny kitten ornament, of all the things, was testing her ability to suspend her disbelief.
“Hmm. I wonder.” Max, at least, seemed to be recovering from his surprise more swiftly than Poppy was. She supposed that dealing with weird stuff was second nature to him.
“What is it?” Poppy asked, turning to look at him once more.
Max stroked his chin thoughtfully, staring at the kitten as if it held all the secrets to the universe.
“Unicorns,” he pronounced.
Poppy waited patiently, but apparently Max was satisfied with his explanation.
What does he mean, unicorns? she thought exasperatedly. I mean, I know that there are unicorn shifters in Girdwood Springs, but that still doesn’t explain a whole lot.
The owner of the local plant nursery, Gale, was a unicorn shifter. His daughter, Lily, was a half unicorn shifter, since her mom, Sylvie, was human.
Lily couldn’t shift yet – and might never be able to. Half shifters were unpredictable in terms of their powers and abilities, as Poppy well knew, given that Max was also a half shifter and hadn’t gained the ability to shift until recently.
Lily had taken a real shine to Max, perhaps sensing in him a kindred spirit, and Poppy knew that the feeling was mutual. Lily had happily babbled away to Max when the family had dropped into the gift store earlier today to make a delivery, grabbing him with her pudgy little hand and showing him a display of locally made soaps that he himself had assembled. Max had nodded seriously and said I see, I see, as Lily had shown him his own handiwork – in this case, a pyramid of rose oil soap bars, wrapped in pretty pink bows –which had apparently been enough to satisfy her.
Still, the existence of Gale and Lily didn’t do anything to bring clarity to Max’s grand declaration of Unicorns. If anything, it made it more confusing. What did they have to do with flowers sprouting from Poppy’s products?!
“You’ll have to be more specific than that,” Poppy said, poking Max in the ribs. “We don’t all have your magical shifter insight, you know.”
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Let me explain. Unicorns have the ability to make plants grow well. I mean, insanely well. Unnaturally well. You know that sign outside of Sylvie’s bakery?”
Poppy nodded. She knew the one he was talking about – it had flowers growing out of its wooden frame, even in the dead of winter. She’d always just assumed that it was an astonishingly good fake plant, but now, she was starting to see what Max was getting at.
“That’s definitely the work of a unicorn,” Max went on. “I didn’t pick it at first, because I wasn’t expecting Girdwood Springs to be a haven for shifters. But once I found out that Gale was a unicorn shifter, it all fell into place. They can make plants grow from almost any surface that you could find in nature.”
All things considered, this explanation wasn’t particularly shocking to Poppy – it seemed almost quaint, really, considering some of the powers that other shifters had. Max himself had inherited what were essentially mind control powers, which had been downright terrifying when she’d encountered them in their most uncontrolled, primal form.
The ability to grow lots of flowers seemed almost… cute.
Though she supposed it made sense, given that Gale’s nursery sold an astonishingly huge array of gorgeous plants that seemed to thrive in all conditions. Girdwood Springs itself was practically bursting with the most beautiful trees and flowers that Poppy had ever seen.
Well, now I guess I understand why! I thought it was just good soil!
The most surprising thing, Poppy thought, was the fact that she somehow hadn’t known any of this about Gale’s powers until now. But then again, she had met an awfully large number of shifters since she moved here, and she was still getting her head around everything. It stood to reason that some things had fallen through the gaps.
“What I don’t understand,” Max continued, looking thoughtfully at the kitten ornament, “is why this has happened now. Has Gale lost control of his powers? I can’t see him doing something like this deliberately.”
“Oh,” Poppy said, staring at the wooden kitten as its newly grown flowers swayed happily in the breeze. She was still stuck on this lost control of his powers thing. “Is that, uh, something that happens often?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s common,” Max reassured her – for a moment. “But it has been known to happen. Though I can’t see an experienced shifter like Gale not noticing something like that.”
“Well…” Poppy said frowning. “If it’s not Gale, then…”
She finally tore her eyes away from the kitten to look at Max again, and she knew that in this, as with everything else, they were in perfect accord.
Max nodded.
And then they both said together: “Lily.”
“DO you think Gale and Sylvie know her powers have started, uh, manifesting?” Poppy asked, as they rushed through the streets, her still shoving one arm into her cardigan – it was early fall, so while it wasn’t cold yet, there was definitely a distinct chill in the air.
“I don’t think so, otherwise I know they’d be keeping a bit of a closer eye on what she touches,” Max replied, making a face and hanging up his cellphone as his call to Gale went to voicemail. “Just because we know about all the shifters who live here doesn’t mean everybody else does.”
Poppy had to agree with that. Gale and Sylvie were some of the most attentive parents she’d ever seen. She couldn’t imagine they’d let Lily run rampant, touching anything and everything and having it burst into bloom. Little things they could probably get away with – like Sylvie’s shop sign – but she didn’t know what the regular townsfolk of Girdwood Springs would make of, well, say, the wooden pillars of Town Hall bursting suddenly into verdant life, as if they weren’t made of trees felled fifty years ago or more.
“Then we better find them quickly and let them know, before she touches anything else. She’s probably just playing – she doesn’t know hand-carved kitten ornaments aren’t supposed to have live flowers!”
It was true – Lily might be precocious for her age, but almost two was a bit young to explain things like that!
“If Gale and Sylvie are making their deliveries, then they must be headed for the diner next,” Max said as the two of them hurried along the sidewalk. Thankfully, the summer tourist season had wound down for fall and the winter season hadn’t yet wound up, so the streets were relatively quiet, and they could dash along them without having to do much ducking and weaving.
“You’re right – it’s always regular like that. Our delivery of cookies and fudge for the gift shop, then straight on to Eula’s diner to drop off their produce,” Poppy agreed.
Thankfully, the diner was just up Main Street – Gale and Sylvie could still be there!
Thinking about it and shaking her head, Poppy realized that maybe she could have put a little more thought into things and figured out Gale had to be doing something to his plants to make them grow like they did. How many essentially backyard gardens were capable of supplying a whole diner with all the tomatoes, fresh herbs, lemons, apples, chilies and who knew what else as it could possibly need?
Yeah, okay. I admit I didn’t think that through.
Poppy let out a sigh of relief as they reached the diner’s front doorway. A quick glance through the window showed it wasn’t too busy, the lunch rush over.
With any luck, Gale will just be unloading the boxes in the kitchen now!
The bell on the door jingled merrily as they entered, and Poppy was fully expecting to see the proprietress, Eula, come bustling out from the kitchen with a warm welcome, but instead, a looming, far more masculine form emerged, an apron stretched across his wide chest, a little while towel slung over one shoulder.
“Henry!” Poppy said in mild surprise. “I didn’t know you were working here today!”
Despite the fact she knew Henry and she knew he was a perfectly lovely guy, Poppy still had to get used to his intimidating hellhound aura – even in his human form, it still came through, even when he was smiling as he was now. Max had explained to her that that was just part and parcel of being a hellhound: people tended to be frightened by you, no matter how you actually acted. Knowing that he couldn’t help it, Poppy was always extra careful to be friendly to Henry – as nice a guy as he was, it pained him when people shied away from him.
“It’s just for now – Eula’s granddaughter Janey came down with a cold, so she asked if I could fill in this week while she stays home to cook, I guess, the world’s biggest pot of chicken noodle soup.”
Poppy nodded – though she couldn’t help but feel a little envious of Janey, even if she did have a cold. Eula’s cooking was literally to die for.
“Oh, I hope she gets better soon,” Poppy said. “But I have to ask – are Gale and Sylvie still here? Did they have Lily with them?”
Henry cocked his head. “I think they left about five minutes ago. Last I looked they were out back unloading boxes and chatting with Luna, and I think I heard them drive off while I was back inside cleaning up the kitchen after lunch. But let me check. Luna!”
He turned and called over his shoulder to his mate, Luna, who was a travel writer, but she was in town for now while she took a break – traveling and writing for a living might have seemed like a lifestyle to envy, and it was, but it was also long hours and a lot of flying and staying in cheap, fleabitten hotels. Poppy knew Luna appreciated every minute she could spend here in Girdwood Springs.
“Henry,” Luna said, the moment she appeared through the doors leading to the kitchen. “Do you know just what on earth –”
She cut herself off as she noticed Poppy and Max standing there, but then visibly relaxed once she realized it was them.
Huh, Poppy thought, exchanging a glance with Max. What’s going on here?
“Sorry,” Luna laughed, shaking her head. “I just found the weirdest thing in the kitchen. I think I know what it is, but…”
“It’s not a wooden spoon with leaves and flowers growing out of it, is it?” Max asked, his tone a little grim.
Luna blinked. “Okay, how exactly did you know that?”
A minute or two later, and they were all standing in the kitchen, looking down at the offending utensil where it lay on the counter.
“Yeah,” Henry said, giving the winding little vine, covered in tiny white flowers and bright green leaves, a poke with his finger. “That definitely wasn’t like that before. Or ever.”
“Unicorn powers,” Max said, nodding. “They strike again.”
“Wait, Gale did this?” Luna asked, frowning. “That doesn’t seem like him – I mean, I know he has a sense of humor, but –” She cut herself off again. “Oh my God, it’s Lily, isn’t it? But she wasn’t here in the kitchen. Sylvie kept a hold of her outside while Gale brought the deliveries in. They wouldn’t let her wander around in such a dangerous place, touching things.”
“I, uh, might have given it to her to hold for a moment,” Henry said, sounding a little sheepish. “I was using it to mix some pink frosting before I went out to say hello, and she kept doing this at it –” He made a motion like childish, grabbing hands “ – until Sylvie said I could let her have one lick.”
“Ohhhh, well, that would explain it,” Luna said, nodding.
“But I guess I didn’t know her unicorn powers had started to work.”
“I don’t think Gale and Sylvie know it either,” Max explained. “We just found something similar over at the gift shop – I’m certain they wouldn’t be letting her touch things and command them to burst into flower if they knew it was happening.”
“Ah, so you came over here to catch them before they left and warn them,” Luna said, grimacing a little. “You’re about ten minutes too late, I’m afraid – they had a lot of deliveries to make today, so they were pretty speedy about setting off again. I think they were off to Chloe and Ethan’s next.”
“Oh… for… vet-related vegetables?” Poppy asked, blinking.
Chloe was the local vet, and her mate, Ethan – who’d once been a high-flying corporate lawyer who just also happened to be a pegasus shifter – was the clinic’s receptionist.
“I think they just wanted to arrange to bring Brioche in for a check-up,” Luna said with a smile. “Not that he needs it – I’ve never seen a larger, fluffier, healthier cat.”
That was true, Poppy had to admit. Brioche was the largest and roundest orange tabby she’d ever laid eyes on. He put her own cat, Geri, into perspective – the only reason she’d ever come to Girdwood Springs in the first place was because Geri had jumped on her laptop keyboard and bought her plane tickets to some random location; if it had been Brioche who’d been doing the jumping, Poppy was pretty sure the laptop would have been completely crushed beneath his tread.
“Then it was probably only a quick drop-in,” Poppy said, a little crestfallen. “Do you think we can catch them?”
“Only one way to find out,” Max replied determinedly.
—
“You just missed them,” Ethan said, grimacing a little as Poppy and Max stood in front of his desk. “But I think they did leave a present behind.”
“Is it something growing flowers that shouldn’t be growing flowers?” Poppy wondered aloud. “I bet it’s something growing flowers that shouldn’t be growing flowers.”
“Got it in one,” Ethan said, as he held up a small vase that had been sitting on his desk, and which was filled with pretty blue daisies.
“Oh,” Poppy said, cocking her head. That didn’t seem so bad. Had Gale and Sylvie brought them to Ethan from their garden?
“They started sprouting from the corner of the desk a couple of minutes after they left,” Ethan said with a mild grimace. “I had to try picking them off as they grew before any of our patients could see them.”
As one, Max and Poppy glanced over their shoulders, but thankfully the vet waiting room was mostly empty right now – the only occupant was an elderly lady with an equally elderly cocker spaniel sitting on her lap.
“Don’t worry – Mrs. Schaffer has her hearing aid turned off just now. Ask me how I know,” Ethan said, the ghost of a smile passing across his face. He could come across as a pretty serious guy, Poppy knew, but it was more that his sense of humor was just very dry. “But I guess this is Gale’s idea of a joke.”
“Oh, is this about the flowers?” Chloe asked, as she rounded the corner that led to her examination rooms. In her hands, there was a small carrying cage, and inside that was a long-haired, silky-looking guinea pig, chewing happily on some lettuce. “Gotta admit, that did make me laugh – especially Ethan trying to pick them all before anyone could notice it.”
“Oh yes, very funny,” Ethan said, deadpan, as he placed the flower vase back down on his desk again. “Especially when they wouldn’t stop sprouting. Gale is hilarious.”
“I don’t think this was Gale’s doing,” Max explained, face serious.
“Not Gale? But who else could –” Chloe began, before her mouth dropped open. “Oh no – are you saying it was Lily? Her powers are out already?”
“That’s what we think,” Poppy told her. “But we haven’t been able to catch up to Gale and Sylvie to let them know their toddler has been leaving a trail of destruction… or, well… flowers… in her wake.”
“They only came by here briefly on their way to the preschool,” Ethan said. “They had a bunch of cupcakes to deliver for the new garden opening.”
“Then I guess we better get there as fast as we can,” Max said.
—
Poppy blinked. “Lily sure does move fast.”
She looked at the room full of pre-schoolers before her, who were happily drawing away with their colored pencils. Their, ah, enhanced colored pencils. The room was awash in the heady scent of jasmine, which sprung willy-nilly from the ends of what appeared to be every pencil in the entire school.
Max nodded. “Huh, yeah. I would never have guessed it to look at her. She’s kind of short, right? Are we sure Sylvie isn’t some kind of latent cheetah shifter or something like that?”
“Maybe they should look into her family tree,” Poppy laughed. “Lily must get it from somewhere!”
“Lily? Didn’t she head out already with her parents?”
Poppy turned in time to see Diana, one of the teachers here at Girdwood Springs Pre-School, standing up from where she’d been crouched by a desk, helping one of her students to draw an airplane.
Poppy couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, I’m sure she did, with our luck. But I just thought she must have had something to do with all this.”
At least she didn’t have to worry about explaining any of the this to Diana. Her mate, Calvin, was a wyvern shifter, and so she was perfectly aware of Gale’s – and it now seemed, Lily’s – powers.
“Oh, right,” Diana said, understanding spreading across her face. “This.”
Poppy was glad, at least, that everyone seemed to be catching on pretty quick – she wasn’t sure how many times she could repeat the same story… or, even worse, try to explain it to someone who didn’t know what shifters were.
Still, she wouldn’t have to keep repeating it if Lily and her parents would just stay in the same place for more than five minutes!
“She wanted to draw with all the colors,” Diana said a little sheepishly. “And, well, she’ll be attending here as a student soon enough, so who was I to say no?”
The children seemed pleased with their pencils, and Poppy couldn’t say she blamed them. The floral distraction didn’t seem to be keeping them from producing their works of art, though – if anything, it seemed to be encouraging them in their scribblings. Their intense levels of concentration were pretty adorable, Poppy had to admit.
“They’re just putting the finishing touches on the decorations for the new garden opening ceremony this afternoon,” Diana went on. “Though I might have to confiscate the pencils when all their parents turn up. I have no idea how I would be able to explain that.”
A movement outside the window caught Poppy’s eye, and she turned to see Diana’s mate, Calvin, stepping inside from the garden. He was wearing overalls and gardening gloves and a hat – clearly he’d been adding his own finishing touches outside.
He sidled over to the others, with a level of stealth that probably wasn’t necessary when the only other people here to observe him were three-year-olds. Though Poppy knew she shouldn’t underestimate them – little kids had ears like hawks.
“Uh…” he said under his breath. “When I built the flower beds, I thought the flowers would grow from the dirt inside the beds, not the beds themselves.”
Poppy sneaked a glance out the window – and yep, there were the wooden flower beds, with flowers bursting forth not only from the deep brown dirt, but from the actual beds as well.
“Maybe the kids would enjoy a little flower-picking activity,” Max muttered. “If they could be trusted to pull out the right flowers, anyway.”
Calvin’s face was pure confusion. “I feel like I’m out of the loop, here. What on earth is going on?”
“I’ll explain everything,” Diana said out the corner of her mouth, her face stretched into a big smile to keep the kids placated. She turned to face Poppy and Max. “But if you’re looking for Lily, I think you should head off ASAP – you only just missed her.”
Thanking Diana, the two of them hurried out of the preschool and onto the sidewalk. Looking up and down the street, Poppy saw the regular afternoon bustle of Girdwood Springs, but nothing to indicate which way Lily and her family might have gone. There were no mighty trees springing forth from the earth, no amazed gasps as golden fall leaves turned green once more, no trail of dainty little wildflowers to follow. Just people going about their day, the plant life unchanged from what it had been this morning.
“Where to now?” Poppy wondered.
“Maybe they went home?” Max said dubiously, even as he made another unsuccessful attempt to call Gale. “We could try heading there.”
“Maybe,” Poppy said, not entirely convinced, but unsure what would be a better option. Gale and Sylvie lived a little way off, but it was such a lovely day that a walk sounded nice – even if it was a brisk, slightly stressed walk. Hopefully they could catch up before Lily wreaked any more havoc in front of someone who didn’t know what shifters were. She was starting to think that maybe the good luck powers of the local dragon shifter, Caleb, were the only thing keeping Lily’s creations from being discovered by the wider public.
“Oh! It’s Max! And Poppy!”
Recovering from her slight startle at the sound of the loud, cheerful voice, Poppy turned to see the local witchslash-harmless-eccentric, Margot, and her permanently brooding chimera shifter mate, Levi, right behind her. In her arms, Margot was holding some sort of enormous, antique book that appeared to be growing a perfect rectangle of grass from its front cover.
Yep, Poppy thought. Definitely has to be some sort of dragon luck helping out here. Lily has so far managed to choose every person in town who wouldn’t be fazed by this kind of thing. I don’t think Margot would even notice if a UFO descended from the sky and pulled her up with a tractor beam.
“Lily visited your bookshop, did she?” Max said mildly.
Levi blinked, before understanding swept across his face. “She got to you too, then?”
“I think she left us a present,” Margot said, practically shoving the book at Max and Poppy.
Poppy looked at the book. It really did look beyond ancient, and she shuddered to think of the damage that had been done. She didn’t know much about how magic worked, but if it was a magical book – and, knowing Margot, it probably was – then it wouldn’t surprise her if the book was displeased about how it had been treated.
“I’m sorry about your book,” Poppy said awkwardly. “We were hoping to catch up with Lily before she could touch anything else, but she’s a slippery little eel.”
Margot’s large eyes widened. “Why would you be sorry? This is beyond my wildest dreams! I never would have thought that I would own a book that came with its own lawn on the cover. And the lemon that’s growing from the bookshelf smells lovely.”
Poppy wondered briefly if it was at all possible for a regular person to cultivate the levels of positivity that Margot seemed to naturally possess, before brushing the thought aside.
A new voice suddenly entered the fray. “Slow down, Kieran. Say that again.”
Poppy’s head whipped around, and she saw Natasha, the co-owner of the local B&B and mate to griffin shifter Kieran, as well as Kira, mate to the lucky dragon shifter, Caleb.
Natasha was talking urgently into her phone as she hurried along the sidewalk, Kira practically having to run to keep up with her.
“So you were taking a nap, and then when you woke up, you were covered in vines?” Natasha said as she passed, her voice calm and professional, even as a hint of disbelief teased at the edges. “And they’ve pinned you to the bed?”
Margot gasped as if scandalized, her hand coming up to cover her mouth, and Max muttered, “I guess the B&B is right before us in Sylvie’s bakery delivery schedule.”
“Poor Kieran,” Margot said sadly.
Lucky Kieran, Poppy almost replied, but she kept her mouth shut.
Natasha and Kira hopped into a car and sped off, apparently to rescue Kieran, and Poppy sighed. This was getting out of hand.
“Where to now?” she asked, tilting her head back and directing the question at the heavens. “If I were a toddler with godlike powers over the creation of plant life itself, where would I go?”
“To the bakery?” Margot said, as if the answer was obvious.
And, Poppy supposed, a toddler probably would like to go to the bakery, especially if her mom worked there. But that didn’t mean that Lily had gone there. For one thing, Gale and Sylvie were the ones deciding where to go, even if Lily did have the pair of them wrapped around her chubby little finger.
“Should we try their house?” Poppy continued, resisting the urge to rub at her face in frustration.
“I don’t know,” Max said, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “We could try their house. But we could also just go to the bakery.”
Poppy’s eyelid twitched in mild annoyance. Did everyone just want to go for cake? Not that she blamed them, given that it had been a trying afternoon and Sylvie’s cakes were incredible, but it was important that they caught up with Lily as quickly as they could.
“I think what they’re both trying and failing to say,” Levi said quietly, in a voice that was somehow both mild and somewhat irritated all at once, “is that all three of them are just walking into the bakery now.”
Poppy’s head whipped around for what felt like the hundredth time today – and, sure enough, in the distance she could just make out Gale, Sylvie, and Lily walking into Sylvie’s bakery. Well, Gale and Sylvie were walking, and Lily was being effortlessly carried around under Gale’s arm like a football. Poppy couldn’t see much from this distance, but the faint sound of Lily’s delighted laughter carried on the breeze.
“Thank you, Levi,” she said pointedly. Max grinned, and she shot him a dirty look, though without any real heat in it. She didn’t bother with Margot – Poppy knew that in her case, at least, she hadn’t meant to be unclear.
“We should leave you to it,” Levi said, and Margot nodded enthusiastically, clutching her grassy book to her chest.
“Go forth!” Margot exclaimed. To Levi, she added, “How exciting.”
“We’ll let you know how it goes,” Poppy promised, and she and Max took off up the street once more.
Could this be it? Could it be that we’ve finally captured our quarry – and, what’s more, it basically just sat down in our lap?
Poppy quickened her pace, practically moving at a run. She was not going to let Lily get away again.
Bursting through the door of the bakery, she realized too late that she was probably in no fit state to be seen – bedraggled and gasping for breath, her eyes wide and her face almost certainly bright red. Max, for his part, looked like he’d stepped straight out of a magazine, fresh as a daisy, and Poppy silently cursed him just a little. But not too much – she wasn’t going to complain about having a mate who looked like a male model after making a mad dash up the street, after all.
It was all that she could do to not bellow LILY! like she was in some kind of bad soap opera… but, she realized, she had no idea what she actually wanted to say. She’d been so caught up in the idea of getting to Lily before she disappeared again that she hadn’t thought about how she was going to break the news to Gale and Sylvie. Not that she thought they’d take it badly, of course, but it was still a lot to take in.
“Poppy! Max!” came Sylvie’s voice, and she turned around to see Sylvie’s beaming face. “What brings you here?”
I’ve come for your child, Poppy didn’t say.
“Uh…” Poppy did say.
“Why else would one come to a bakery?” Max said, his voice just a little too casual.
They fell into an awkward silence, before Sylvie smiled. “Well, you’ve come to the right place,” she said. “We do have cake.”
Sylvie had an air of expectancy about her, which Poppy couldn’t say she blamed her for. If they’d come here for cake, they definitely didn’t seem to have much of a clear idea about what to order, or even how to order it.
But how do we explain their toddler has been wreaking havoc all over town? This isn’t exactly the kind of conversation I’m used to having!
A tugging at her jeans broke her out of her reverie. “Poppy.”
Poppy looked down, to see Lily looking up at her with her big green eyes. In one hand she held Poppy’s jeans, and in the other…
Well, it was a poppy. An actual poppy, which appeared to be growing out of the ornate wooden handle of one of the bakery’s forks.
“Poppy,” Lily said again, more insistently this time.
Whoops. Guess we didn’t quite make it in time, after all.
“Thank you, Lily,” Poppy said, taking the fork gently from the little girl and inspecting the flower. “It’s lovely.”
She exchanged a glance with Max. Her own sentiments were reflected clearly on his face, and echoed through the mate bond that they shared: What now?
“Lily, what is that?” Sylvie asked as she approached, Gale following behind her from wherever he’d been in the back of the bakery. Her eyes widened as she saw the perfect red bloom growing from the fork in Poppy’s hands.
“Is this…?” she breathed – and then, Gale scooped Lily up in his arms, holding her tight.
“Did you do that?” he whispered, and Poppy marveled to see the slightest hint of tears in his eyes. “Did your powers come through already?”
“Oh, little girl,” Sylvie cried, wrapping her arms around her husband and her daughter. “Oh, sweetheart. I’m so proud of you.”
Did they really not notice all the… well, everything else? Poppy couldn’t help but wonder incredulously, but then, of course they couldn’t have. Gale and Sylvie weren’t the kind of people to let other people clean up their messes!
Perhaps seeing the look on her face, Max murmured, “Let’s not spoil their moment,” in her ear, and she nodded.
He was right – Sylvie and Gale didn’t need to know that Lily had been running amok all day, demonstrating her powers to all and sundry. As far as Poppy was concerned, this was the first time Lily had ever made anything grow.
“This calls for cake! We need to celebrate!” Sylvie said suddenly, her eyes shining. “Emily, could you get out the pumpkin pie? The whole thing. It’s on me. Anyone who comes into the store before we finish it gets a slice.”
Behind the counter, Sylvie’s assistant manager Emily dutifully pulled out the most enormous pumpkin pie Poppy had ever seen, its deep orange filling and perfect crust setting her mouth watering. The smell that wafted up from it was divine, and Poppy watched longingly as Sylvie carved it into generous slices, while Emily doused each slice in liberal amounts of whipped cream. Poppy wasn’t sure if Emily knew what they were celebrating – she had no idea if Emily even knew what a shifter was – but Poppy knew that nobody would say no to celebrating with good friends and good pie.
In the midst of it all, Lily toddled over toward them, and Poppy picked her up for a cuddle. She really was a good kid, and Poppy knew that whether or not she ever became able to shift, there would never be a dull moment while she was around.
Eventually Lily got wiggly and impatient, and Poppy let her down so that she could run back to her parents, flinging her arms around Sylvie’s leg and attaching herself like a limpet.
Smiling happily, Poppy picked up a plate of pie and took an enormous mouthful, before closing her eyes in bliss. Opening them once more, she looked up into Max’s face, and saw nothing but love and happiness there.
“All’s well that ends well,” she whispered, and he nodded, wrapping his arm around her waist.