Chapter Four #2
My mouth pops open as I stare at him, shocked.
His eyes flick to mine, a look of pure challenge in them.
“I have to say, I’ve never even tried that flavor combination before, but something about it called to me this morning. Can’t say I’m disappointed either.”
His lips smack as he licks the tiny crumbs from his fingers. All while staring at me, waiting for what I’ll say next.
If I were a cartoon character, I’m pretty sure steam would pour out of my ears right now. What does he mean “something called to him”… he’s never even had cranberry and orange together, and for whatever divine reason he decided today, of all days, was the day to pick it up.
My hand shakes as I bring it up to point at him. “I ought to…”
“Perhaps we can start the committee meeting, dear,” Marnie interrupts.
My mouth snaps shut as I turn to look at her.
She’s beaming as if she knew exactly what was about to happen, and she’s delighted to intervene.
Marnie, the elder witch who does nothing but gossip in her free time, is not cowering in front of me like the other committee members.
No, instead she is smiling from ear to ear while her eyes twinkle.
Damn light witches and their ability to see fate.
She obviously has seen some version of this event happen already.
My hand falls, and I storm over to the only open spot available around the table. The seat next to Miles, the one person I don’t want to sit next to. Because fate is a mean bitch and now, I’ll also have to smell his scent mingling with my favorite baked good.
The chair scrapes across the floor as I pull it back and plop down into it.
Miles glances over as his lip hooks up in the corner.
Why is he loving this? I glare at him, daring him to say something.
My beautiful scone is sitting in front of him half-eaten.
I don’t even realize that I’m staring at it until he slides it over in front of me.
My eyes ping between the scone, now sitting in front of me, and him.
“You look as if you might murder me if you can’t have it. Plus, I love sharing my food with a beautiful girl like you.”
I can feel my face redden as my anger rises. Who does he think he is? First, he took my scone, and now he is offering it? Is he trying to flirt with me right now? Maybe we should have the doctor check this guy out.
“Who do you…”
Marnie clears her throat with a tiny ahem. “As adorable as it is to watch the blooming of your relationship, we do have a long list to go over. Especially if we want to ensure your twin, Elora, isn’t going to blow a gasket if we are behind.”
My hands slam down on the table as my body shudders. I beg your pardon, what does she mean blooming relationship? There’s no blooming relationship. But of course the poodle zeroed in on the one tiny, irrelevant detail.
“Twin?” Miles asks, looking from Marnie to me.
“Oh, yes, dear. Elora, the one that welcomed you and sent you on your way to…well…her twin, Bellamy. Didn’t she tell you she had a twin sister?”
“Fascinating. No, that wasn’t mentioned, and neither was her name. So, thank you for that.”
I glare between the two of them. They are chatting as if I’m not sitting right here. Of course, I didn’t give him my name. Why would I? I’m hoping that he doesn’t pass the admission into the pack.
Marnie beams as she stands up. “Alright everyone. Let’s get this meeting underway so we can move on with our days.
As you know each of us has a role to play even though two new people have been added.
We, as in myself and Elora, have already chosen their role for the Samhain festival.
Ivy Greenthorn is in charge of decorations. ”
The witch is in a tweed blazer with a ruffled undershirt and her hair is pinned up in a way that makes my head hurt just looking at it.
Her binder is full of color-coded tabs and she has matching highlighters laid out next to her.
She is definitely one of those people who would lose it if one of those goes missing.
Honestly, I want to hex them to change colors when she uses them.
Marnie moves on. “Next, we have Thatch Booker, who is the logistics lead, who will ensure that whatever ideas we come up with are actual possibilities and not some fantastical idea.” Thatch’s goggles move as his forehead creases.
The man is practically a grease can with the amount of grease staining his skin and robes. Does he even bathe?
Fern is giggling next to him as she takes a bite of her apple cinnamon muffin.
Marnie smiles at her warmly as she looks between the two of them.
If I had to take a stab in the dark I would say that Fern knows something that nobody else knows.
Especially with that weird, all-knowing twinkle in her eye.
“Of course, our lovely Fern is in charge of all the baked goods that will be there as well as the bake sale that she is hosting. We all look forward to the treats she will present, don’t we?” We all mumble a round of yeses. Clearly, I’m not the only one who would rather be anywhere but here today.
The last person at the table is Cas, or Casper if you don’t know him that well.
He’s always a ball of energy looking for a place to explode.
There are two topics you don’t want to mention around him unless you intend to spend the rest of your day listening to him go on and on.
One of them is anything music-related. I think he knows practically every song invented, the bands, the producers.
He is a well of knowledge when it comes to that.
The other is anything to do with the witch movies in the regular world.
It grinds his gears how the non-magical folk, or as he calls them, durps, portray us magical folk.
“Of course, Cas here will be our sound tech. Providing us with music throughout the day and into the night. He will be sure—” She glares at him for a moment,causing me to almost burst out laughing when his cheeks turn red and he ducks his head.
We all remember last year when the mics weren’t plugged in during the duration of the elders’ speech.
“—To check that the microphones are wired and ready for this year’s story, all right?
” She leans in closer to him as her eyes harden even more.
“Ye—yes,” he stutters out.
“Good,” she says before turning to look at both Miles and I.
Oh shit.
“That brings me to you two. Since you are a last-minute addition to the committee, we had to come up with something for you to do. With Miles being new to town, and you—well, being you—we needed something that would both give you a chance to show him how Samhain works, but also protect our citizens from—well, you.”
Miles nudges me with his elbow as he smirks at me.
“Damn Trouble, what kind of mischief do you get up to that has them worried about the town?”
I can feel my face warming as my anger rises. My dark magic sparks between my fingers, the purple light moving along my skin. As if she couldn’t be bothered with it, Marnie continues as if I’m not five seconds away from hexing her into the new year.
“You both will be in charge of the scavenger hunt for the younglings. Which means that you will have to come up with a list of ten or so items that they have to find around town, place the items around, create the sheet, print it off…You get the idea. How’s that sound?”
“Like a literal living nightmare,” I grumble.
“Like the best time,” Miles says at the same time.
“Good, I look forward to seeing what you two come up with. If there isn’t anything else that you two need then we will continue with the meeting?”
“I need an exit…”
“We’re good…”
Of course the golden boy is excited about a group project.
Why am I not surprised? I can already feel the excitement pouring off of him and trying to taint my soul with his positive light.
His aura is flashing between white, meaning he’s excited, to a light pink, which means flirtation.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to think of any possible way that I can fake a death, maybe come down with malaria?
He nudges me with his elbow again, a bright, blinding smile spread across his face.
“We should exchange numbers. That way we can plan this out together. I know you are busy with the hexing business and your Curios he smiles brighter. Why does it feel like he thinks I’m flirting?
“It sounds like the worst plausible idea besides listening to Cas tell me about a soundtrack to a movie an eon before my time.”
“Hey!” Cas pipes up.
“Sorry, Cas, you know how much I dread those conversations.”
“Yeah, most people do…” He tucks his head to hide from everyone looking at him.
Miles leans into my space, causing me to lean back. His lips lift in a soft smirk as if this is exactly how he thought it would go.
“Come on, Trouble, it won’t be that bad. Plus—” He lifts the scone I didn’t touch. “I’ll bring you more of these if you agree to it.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“What…Trouble?”
“Yes,” I hissed.
He leans a little closer, knowing I can’t lean any further back without falling out of the chair.
“Why? Does it bother you that I already have a nickname for you?”
I shove my chair back, standing up and brushing off my dress. His smirk only deepens as his eyes move up my body. Lifting until they lock with mine.
“If you must know, it’s weird. Why nickname someone you don’t even know?”
“I’ll tell you my secret if you tell me yours.”
Scoffing, I turn to walk out of the room.
Just as I was about to shut the door, I tossed over my shoulder that I didn’t have a secret, and he replied, "Oh but you do."
The audacity of this man to think that he knows me already. This is one of the worst days of my life. It started off with a bang, and now it’s going swimmingly with this dog, who thinks he is going to be my new pet. Ugh.
I’m storming down the street, determined to make it back to my house in one piece without another incident, when I hear the stupid crows caw above me.
“It’s a shame that she can’t be nicer,” the one on the right says.
Squawk.
“Yeah, the new wolf sure seems like a nice guy, and she’ll probably scare him off before the ink can dry on his acceptance letter,” the one on the left says where they are perched along a stone wall lining the sidewalk towards my home.
I stop in front of them, my fist coming to rest on my hip as I listen to them gossip about me, in front of me.
“You done?”
They both jump and ruffle their feathers with their beaks open. As if they didn’t know I was standing right here the entire time.
“Bellamy!” they both exclaim. Literally like someone who’s been caught doing something. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that they are birds. They mimic human behavior so well that often you forget that these are still birds.
“How nice to see you out so early on a Saturday of all things,” the one on the right says as it hops closer to me. I’m sure they have names, but they are all black with nothing to really distinguish them. Plus, there’s at least fifty birds here.
“I’m sure it is,” I say with all the mock enthusiasm I can muster.
“What brings you out this early? Surely it’s not a boy is it?” If birds had eyebrows I imagine it would be lifting one right now.
“Let’s not pretend you weren’t spying on the committee meeting and that you aren’t fully aware that I didn’t volunteer to be part of this.”
The one on the right fluffs out his feathers. He tried to make himself look bigger by lifting them, even though I was the one who caught them gossiping about me.
“We would never stoop so low as to sit outside important city meetings to find out what is happening in this town. That’s something the rats would do, not us crows.
” It even throws in a snooty high beak hold as if it really is trying to convince me they are so far above that.
It’s cute; don’t tell them I think so, though. I’ll never get a break from them then.
I lean in closer to them, holding my hands behind my back. They don’t see the purple magic sparking against my skin.
“Sure,” I say before I pop them with a chicken hex. The words spill from me faster than they can track. See how much they like it when they can’t fly around for the day.
The two crows let out sharp squawks of protest right before puffing into flustered, feathered hens.
“Buh-BAWWK!” one of them shrieked, as if personally offended by the transformation.
The other followed it up with a panicked, “Bok bok bok-BAWK!” that echoed off the stone wall.
Nyx shimmers into existence beside me. The smell of cheap cologne and microwave burritos fills the air. He snorts when he sees the chickens panicking as they squawk and run in circles. “Very dignified.”
I can’t help but plug my nose to avoid the distinct smell wafting off of Nyx.
“Were you in a dream of a frat house?”
He shakes his fox head. “Dream date, actually. I’ll give it to him. He tried his best. Little too much alcohol to calm his nerves. Didin’t quite work out how he thought it would.”
“Ah, poor guy for sure.”
“Do I want to know why there’s two chickens screaming in circles?” He tosses his head towards them.
I shrug my shoulders. “Two of the crows were talking about me when I walked up on them. Serves them right for being nosey.”
He walks with me back to the house. “Fair enough. What else are we going to do for today since we are awake so early?”
“Try to figure out if faking my death or coming down with the black plague are viable options for getting out of this Samhain committee stuff.”