“Oh sure, the one time I insist on leaving an event early, and you find a body without me!” Nova grumbled.
“I didn’t find a body on purpose, Nova,” I cried. “And trust me, you’re welcome to the trauma if you’d like it.”
“Whatever,” Nova said, tossing her hair. “So, then what happened?”
Wearily, I went through the rest of the night’s events. My head was pounding.
“You have the Vesper grimoire? Like…theVesper grimoire?!” Nova gasped, turning to gape at me.
“Road! Eyes on the road!” I shouted.
But Nova was pulling over to the shoulder and throwing the car into park.
“What is she doing?!” came Jess’ echoing voice from the back of the car. “We don’t have time for this shit!”
“Seriously!? No wonder my mother looked so frazzled when she got home. No wonder she wouldn’t talk to me. Holyshit!”
I was surprised to see that Nova, who was almost pathologically unbothered by just about everything, was white as a sheet. Her hands, which were clutching the steering wheel, were shaking a little.
“Nova, can we like… deal with this later? We’re kind of in a hurry here,” I said.
“Why aren’t you freaking out about it?” Nova asked, incredulous.
“Because I never heard of it until a woman handed it to me, and now that woman is literally haunting me from the back of this car! Nova, please!”
“Right. Yeah, we can…” Nova ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. “Wait, why doesn’t she just wait until the morning? We can call over there and explain. I mean, it’s not like people won’t believe us. I’m sure this isn’t even the weirdest thing they’ve dealt with, dealing with so many covens over the decades.”
“I know, but Jess was adamant. She says she has some kind of… code of secrecy or something. She says people can’t know what she is.”
“And what exactly is she, did she say that? I mean, you’re risking serious trouble to help her.”
“She said she’d explain it all when she’s in her body again.”
“And you took her word for it?” Nova asked, her voice dripping with disbelief.
“Yeah, I guess I did.”
“What’s to stop her from going back on her word? I mean, seriously Wren, you barely know this woman. Why do you trust her?”
“Because Asteria told me to,” I said quietly. “She came to me. She told me Jess was coming. And she told me to trust her.”
Nova pressed her lips together, considering. Then she nodded once, grudgingly. “Okay, fine. And you say the ghost is in the car right now?” Nova’s eyes darted from the road into the mirror, searching.
“Can you keep your eyes on the road please?” I asked, a little shrilly. “Yes, she’s here, and actually she’s not a ghost. At least, I don’t think she is. Like I said, I still don’t know exactly what’s going on.”
“I can’t believe you’re asking me to help commit felony breaking and entering, and you don’t know exactly what’s going on,” Nova hissed through gritted teeth.
“Hey, you asked me to break into a prison a few months ago, and I agreed!” I shot back. “It’s your turn.”
Nova continued to grumble under her breath as we drove into the center of town toward Bea’s house. Jess’ nervous energy emanating from the back seat was so powerful, it made the air in the car heavy and cold.
“Can you try to calm down?” I muttered over my shoulder. “It’s starting to feel like a walk-in freezer in here.”
“Yeah, well, my body is currently in anactualwalk-in freezer, so maybe cool it with the judgmental tone,” Jess shot back.
I pressed my lips together and suppressed a shiver. Touche, not-ghost.
Nova rolled to a stop in front of Bea’s house, and I saw the curtains twitch. A moment later, Eva and Zale came tiptoeing out the door and down the steps to the car.
