Lacey rested her chin on her arm and sighed, “I don’t understand any of it, all I know is, something’s up.”
“Something’s always up, Lacey… now, get off my bed, I’m tired.” I pulled at the covers and Lacey rolled obediently onto the floor where she sat cross-legged, staring around the apartment.
“Are we going to do something witchy for the solstice?” Lacey asked eagerly. “That’s coming up, isn’t it? Can I make a wreath for the door? Or some garlands to hang around? What about May Day? Can we have a bonfire in the park? Just a little one?” She pressed her hands together innocently, her eyes wide, “Pleeeeeeease?”
I groaned. If I’d been under the impression that Lacey’s spoopy tendencies would fade after ridding her of the goddess’ presence, I was sorely mistaken. She was just as bubby as ever, and even more obsessed with witchcraft and everything magic related than before. We’d taken the train to Jersey and made a bonfire on the beach for Winter Solstice, and I’d gotten her drunk on mulled wine for Yule, which had been a terrible mistake and Bishop had lectured me for the better part of an hour on what happened to Laudans when they drank alcohol instead of blood.
“Maybe. We’ll see what’s going on when May rolls around.”
“We’re not going to burn any animals like they did in that Wicker Man movie, right?” Lacey pouted with concern.
“No! No, oh my goddess. When have you ever heard me talk about sacrificing any animals?”
“Okay. I just wanted to check.”
Lacey got up from the floor and went to the living room that was now her bedroom and opened the window that led to the fire escape. “You go to sleep,” she said. “I’m going to sit up and watch the moon set.”
Lacey kissed her fingers and wiggled them at me as I rolled over. Sleep was usually easier said than done, but with Suki wrapped around my head, and the flickering candle burning on my bedside table; it wasn’t as far away as I’d thought it might be.
“Ophelia, I know I ask you this every six months,” David began. His hands were behind his back, and I knew he held a new apron and the manager’s nametag in them. “But I’m gonna ask you again.” He wiggled his eyebrows meaningfully and I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the counter.
“David, I give you the same answer every six months, and I’m gonna do it again. The thought of wearing a nametag makes me sick, and I already do so much around here that a title won’t make any difference. I’ve told you for months that I want the least amount of responsibility…” I knew he’d stopped listening as soon as I started talking, but I had to finish anyway.
“You’re our best employee…”
“You mean the one who’s been here the longest? Yeah, I know.” That wasn’t hard, coffee shops staffed by students weren’t known for having as low employee turnover. We were lucky to keep anyone more than a few months. Especially when the students who majored in Christmas Dropout realized they weren’t cut out for student life. The last six months had been rough on Haven, but I didn’t need David unloading more problems on me than I was ready to give a shit about.
“Come on, you’re almost a manager anyway, and Candace and I thought you might want a little more responsibility…” David’s words trailed off and I glared at him. I knew what he had been about to say.
“If you’re going to go with the ‘at your age’ argument, you can shove it,” I snapped. So I was a little sensitive about the whole age thing, you would be too if you didn’t quite remember when your birthday was because you’d had so many.
David held up his hands in defense, revealing that he did, indeed, have the apron and nametag at the ready. “Fine, fine, I’ll break the bad news to Candace, she’ll be heartbroken that you turned us down.”
Oh sure, lay on the guilt. “I turn you down every time, David, she should be getting used to it by now,” I said with a smile. I really did like them, and I really did like working at Haven… but maybe it was time to move on.
The past six months had been eye-opening for me, and I was starting to feel like I’d wasted a huge chunk of my lives.
“Well, it’s just been really tough since Lacey’s been gone, y’know?” David said, and I heaved a sigh. Here we go again. He’d taken Lacey’s departure harder than I’d expected, but I wasn’t going to tell Lacey that. The last thing she needed was another reminder of the life that had been taken away from her.
“Do you hear from her at all?” he asked hopefully.
Hoo boy. Yes, David, she lives in my apartment and sleeps all day and works at a vampire bar downtown… anything else? Oh yeah, and she’s immortal now, and it’s all my fault.
“Gosh, David… she went to visit her mom in Florida, and I haven’t really heard from her much. I guess she’s doing fine… do you want me to say something to her?” Maybe that would do it.
“Florida? I thought she went to California to visit Rachel’s parents…”
Oh, shit. I’d forgotten about that.
“It’s been a while, I can’t remember, maybe she said California?” ughhhh dumb, dumb, dumb. It was just easier to keep my mouth shut and pretend I didn’t know anything. I was old enough to know better, but I just couldn’t seem to remember that fact.
“Hmm. I can’t quite remember either,” David said. He didn’t seem convinced, but I didn’t really care. I hated answering questions like this. I’d done very well for myself not being involved in anyone else’s drama… this is what happened when you made friends. Drama.
“Are you going to decorate for Easter?” David asked suddenly, and I stared at him.
“Are you kidding me?”
“Noooo… I’m just pretty sure there’s a box of stuff somewhere that Lacey used to decorate last year. She hid chocolate eggs and everything,” David said a little sadly.
Oh, man. Did he really expect me to fill the effervescent hole left by Lacey’s absence? No way.
I groaned and pulled the mop bucket out from under the sink. “I need to close up; you get out of here with your seasonal requests. I feel like I just cleaned up all the tears and vomit from Valentine’s Day…”
David laughed, “We’ll cure you of that bad mood eventually.” He wiggled the nametag at me again. “Think about it, Ophelia… I’ll tell Candace you’re thinking about it…”
“Whatever!” I shouted in reply as he retreated to the back of the store. “And I’m not hiding any goddamn chocolate eggs!”
The metal door that led to the alleyway slammed shut and I pulled the mop bucket into the sink. Last year I’d found chocolate eggs for months after Easter had come and gone, Lacey’s holiday excitement was the bane of my existence. Although I couldn’t decide if her new interest in pagan holidays was better or worse than the secular ones that were shoved down our collective throats every year.
* * *
I sent my closing partner home early, and the girl was more than happy to leave all the clean up to me. It wasn’t a big deal, and I preferred being alone when it came time to close the shop. David’s rule about working in pairs had been important when the Blood Outlaws were roaming the streets looking for ways to fuck with me, but now that they were gone, it was hardly necessary. I wasn’t going to tell David that, and it made the other girls feel a little safer when they were working late at night. No harm, no foul.
I was in the middle of mopping the floor when I felt that magnetic tug on my spine again. I tried to shake it off, and then saw something out of the corner of my eye. A shadowy figure standing at the window, peering through the glass.
I dropped the mop just as the witchmark on the back of my thigh started to itch. Holy shit, she came.
It had started raining a few hours ago, and the young woman who stood with her face pressed up against the plate glass window was soaked straight through. I rushed to the door yanked it open.
“Maia! Get in here, you looked like a drowned rat,” I said, beckoning for her to come in. The girl paused, as though she was regretting her decision to come here, but after a m
oment, she ran past me and into the café, sliding on the wet tiles.
“Shit! Be careful!” I shouted, but it was too late and Maia skidded to the floor with a thud.
She sat there for a moment; legs splayed, and then laughed, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “I was always good at making an entrance,” she said, picking herself up off the floor with a groan.
“I’ll say. First you crash the door at Spiral and now this. You’ve definitely got a knack for it.”
Maia smiled crookedly at me, and I pulled down some chairs from a nearby table.
“Do you want something warm to drink? Hot chocolate or something?”
“Drop like three shots of espresso in it and you’ve got a deal,” Maia replied, peeling off her soaking jacket and looking around the café. “Cute place... do you own it?”
I laughed shortly as I walked around the bar to fill her coffee order. “No way... too much responsibility. I’m just a coffee wench.”
Maia raised her eyebrows, “Really? Aren’t you too old to be... I mean... that’s not what I meant...” her cheeks reddened again and I laughed, which made her blush even harder.
“It’s fine, I get it all the time. I just don’t really give a shit. David pays me enough to cover my rent and food for Suki and I, and that’s all I need. It’s not a big deal. I like coffee, and I like people watching, and I get both here.”
“Suki? You’ve got a girlfriend... why did you ask me to meet you?” Maia looked at me carefully, reaching for her jacket.
“Oh, goddess... No, no, Suki is my cat,” I replied in a rush. Great, she thought you asked her here for a date. It’s definitely time to work on those social skills. I shook my head ruefully. “I asked you to meet me because I wanted to get to know you... I know it sounds weird, and believe me, I’m totally surprised that you came at all.” That was definitely the truth. If anyone had asked me to meet them after a weird night in an underground club, I’d probably tell them to go fuck themselves up a tree.
I finished off Maia’s loaded mocha with a little dash of magic, and grabbed a clean towel from under the counter.
Maia took the coffee and the towel and sat down at the table. She stared into the cup, for a moment, watching the liquid swirl for a few heartbeats, and then she grabbed two packets of sugar and dumped them in, smiling wickedly as I flinched.
“I like it sweet,” she said simply, dusting off her fingers. I folded my arms over my chest and stared at her.
“So, why did you come? I was worried that we’d gotten off on the wrong foot,” I said. Maia shrugged.
“I dunno,” she replied, her eyes focused on the empty packet of sugar that she had begun to fold into some sort of origami shape. “When you were standing on the platform across from me... before the train came. I felt something, something I couldn’t explain away,” she said, as her eyes flicked up to meet mine. “I think it had something to do with you, and I wanted to know the answer.”
Fair enough. I watched her folding the paper over and over onto itself, creasing it with her thumbnail and folding it again.
“Tell me about yourself, Maia... why are you in New York? Do your parents know you’re here?” She could be a runaway, I wanted to know as much as possible before I asked the questions that were burning in my mind.
The girl shrugged, “I’m from Seattle, lived there my whole life. It was time to do something different,” she paused for a moment, as though weighing what she wanted to say next, “I was tired of nothing happening the way I wanted it to. I was tired of someone else being in control of my life.”
“Does your family know where you are?” I hated asking that question.
“My family is dead,” she replied flatly.
Well, shit.
“Mine too, it sucks, and I’m sorry...” I didn’t know what else to say.
“It’s fine,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “My mother died when I was young... house fire. I didn’t know my father.”
“A house fire? That’s horrible,” I said quietly.
“I have bad luck with fire,” she said, pushing the origami boat she’d made out of the sugar packet around the table in front of her.
“I’m kind of the same way... it kind of follows me, y’know?”
Maia’s eyes met mine, her expression unreadable, “Yeah... I know how that goes. The last house I was living in burned down too.”
I sat up a little straighter, “That’s a lot of houses burning down in a short amount of time.” It seemed like everyone had a story about someone they knew who had been in a house fire, but to have not one, but two happen in a short span of time... that was suspicious.
“I know. I’m not a big fan,” she said, taking another drink of her coffee. “This is really great,” she pointed at the cup, “What did you put in here? Magic?”
I blinked at her for a second, and then smiled, she obviously didn’t mean it literally... that would be ridiculous.
“I said I was a coffee wench, not a coffee witch,” I replied. Liar. I was totally a coffee witch.
Maia nodded and started folding the other empty sugar packet, “Anyway, coming to New York was just fate... I had some money saved up, and I aged out of foster care. I think my social worker was just happy to see me gone. She was nice enough, but she didn’t really have time for me.”
“That’s a rough way to grow up, I’m sorry, Maia.”
The girl shrugged, her focus on the packet, “It’s not a big deal. I’ve been working and making money for a few years now, I’m used to looking after myself. Coming here just seemed like a good idea at the time.” She looked up at me and smiled, “Thanks again for getting me backstage last night, I’ll remember that forever.”
“It’s really no big deal, but you’re welcome,” I said. Mentioning that I was dating Eli might be a little much, and the last thing I wanted to deal with was a frantic M.A.D. fan.
Maia leaned back in her chair and unfolded the towel, her hair was still wet, and as she began to rub the towel over it I noticed something on her arm, just above her elbow on the pale flesh of her bicep. I’d thought it was a tattoo at first, but it was too pale to be a tattoo. A crescent moon, just like the one on my thigh.
Witchmark.
“What did you say?” Maia asked, her confusion evident in her voice. I hadn’t said anything… at least, I didn’t think I had.
“Nothing,” I said hastily.
I felt my magic surge forward, pulsing in my veins, and I struggled to keep from crying out. That would explain the magnet tug on my spine when I was near her, and why she had flinched on the subway platform last night.
My fingers itched and I gave in, reaching out with my magic to see if I could make her react the same way again. Maia wasn’t paying attention to me; she was preoccupied with messily drying her hair and talking a mile a minute about New York.
“How long have you lived here? I feel like I’ve been in this city my whole life, y’know? Does that ever happen, can you like, go to a place and feel like you belong there... like you’ve always supposed to have been there? It’s weird but I feel really comfortable here, I don’t even mind the smell, do you know what that smell is— OW!”
Maia dropped the towel, her hair a tangled half-dry mess hanging over her face. Her right hand slapped over her left arm, right over the witchmark. She looked at me accusingly. “What the fuck! Ow!”
I stood up from the table quickly, knocking my chair backwards as I did so. It landed on the tiles with a crash that made Maia jump. “What the fuck is going on? I’m getting out of here!”
Maia grabbed for her jacket, knocking her coffee across the table and over the floor. She ran for the door, throwing a heated glare over her shoulder at me as she pushed it open and sprinted out into the street.
Shit. I hate running.
Chapter 8 ~ Maia
I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but all I knew was that I had to get out of there. The woman with the red hair, shit, she was doing this to me.
Somehow. It sounded stupid, but I knew it was true.
I ran headlong down the street, not caring where I was headed, just that I was getting away from that coffee shop, and whatever that woman had put in my drink. I was fuzzy, lightheaded, and my left arm burned. A headache throbbed behind my eyes and I wasn’t sure if I was going to throw up or cry. Both options sucked.
“Maia!”
Shit. There was a crowd of people ahead, commuters heading home after a long day behind a desk. Perfect. I knew how to get lost in crowds.
“Maia! Wait!”
I looked over my shoulder and smiled at the frustration on the woman’s face, I’d be gone before she even had a chance to catch sight of me again.
I plunged into the crowd, pushing and elbowing my way through. I’d done it countless of times in Seattle, gotten on trains I wasn’t supposed to be on, avoiding transit cops like it was my full time job. I was a pro.
Witchmark.
What the hell did that mean anyway? She said she hadn’t said anything, but I knew what I heard, and I’d definitely heard that. I just didn’t know what it meant.
“Hey!” Someone’s hand clamped down on the back of my jacket, tugging at the collar sharply. I twisted away, trying to get deeper into the crowd. The heavy hand released me and I stumbled forward. I tripped over my own feet, and crashed against something solid. I looked up to see a craggy face with a chin full of dark stubble. A thick scar split one of the man’s eyebrows, and he glowered down at me.
“Where do you think you’re going, bruja?” he growled, grabbing my face by the chin with a large meaty paw.
“Let go of me!” I spat, trying desperately to get away, but he held me like a kitten, and I dangled in his grip, the toes of my boots scraping the concrete as he lifted me.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, his voice low and threatening. I looked around frantically, wondering why no one was doing anything to help me.
“Fuck you!” I hissed, kicking at him helplessly, my foot connecting with nothing but empty air.
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