Rogue Fae, A Starseed Universe Novella

On the Road

The wind whipped through Gwenn's hair. I'll wager it's overcast back home. She tipped her head back, so the sun danced upon her skin.

The last few weeks had been a whirlwind of surprises, starting with meeting Rena. Since then, the couple had road tripped around the Great Lakes region, stopping to stay and learn from various covens where they were welcome. Rena had even taken Gwenn to meet her uncle in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Hank charmed Gwenn with his American ways, and the homemade venison pasties he'd pushed on them to take for their journey. The pair was now making their way south, visiting small towns along the way where they had to walk with what felt like miles of space between them after weeks of physical closeness. Pretending they weren't together annoyed Rena, but Gwenn found it natural. People in her village would have responded similarly. They were somewhere outside of Nashville now, a city Gwenn had been dying to visit since she'd arrived in The States months before.

"What are you thinking about?" Rena asked, swiveling the convertible's wheel to take an exit with one hand and reaching out to take Gwenn's with the other. The spark persisted, and Gwenn felt tingles elsewhere now too.

"Home. My family. It's about time I call them again. Brigit should be back from London, and I'll want to confirm Mary's flight info once more before we drive North to get her."

"Want to swing by a convenience store to get a calling card before heading to the Nashville coven house?"

Gwenn nodded, "Maybe we could stop off somewhere and grab a pint too? Just the two of us before meeting a load of new witches?"

Rena's smile lit up her face. "You got it, babe."

They pulled into the nearest convenience store ten minutes later. The cashier was a sweet southern boy, whose eyebrows threatened to disappear into his cap when Rena asked if he knew where the nearest gay bar was.

"I—I don't know about the nearest one ma'am but I've heard of one once." The boy's face flushed as he looked from Rena to Gwenn and back to Rena, "It's called The Chute. I can give you a phone book if you need an address?"

"Yes please," Gwenn said, and the boy's eyebrows disappeared.

"You ain't from around here are you ma'am?" The boy asked as he handed Rena the phone book.

"Ireland. Came here to visit and now I'm doing a bit of traveling around."

She smiled at Rena, whose dark eyes lifted from the phone book and winked.

The boy sucked in a breath, "Excuse me but I was wonderin'. . . Are you two together?"

Gwenn bit back a bark of laughter and feeling naughty, pressed her lips firmly on Rena's mouth. "Aye, we are."

The boy about fell over.

"I found the address. Mind if I take one of these maps?" Rena asked her tone blunt, though Gwenn could tell she too was trying to keep from laughing at the boy's over the top reaction.

The cashier shook his head, eyes wide open.

"Thanks for your help," Gwenn said her grin wicked as she looped her arm through Rena's and sashayed out of the store.

"You are so bad!" Rena said as they hopped in the car. Her smile was wider than Gwenn had ever seen it.

"Oh please. I'm gifting the lad with a bit of culture. He'll tell all his friends and be the coolest kid in school. So you figured out where that pub is? After that show, I'm ready to let my hair down." Gwenn shook out her mane of brown waves and Rena whistled.