“Yup! I’ll get my actual score next week, but she said she didn’t want to leave me in suspense.”
“Wow, this is so awesome,” I said. “We’ll have to celebrate!”
“My thoughts exactly!” Zale said. “Are you free tonight?”
My face fell. “No. I have lessons with Xiomara.”
“Can’t you just sk—” Zale began.
“No,” Eva and I said at the same time.
“It’s okay,” Eva said. “Let’s wait for Friday night.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I don’t want to delay the celebration.”
“It won’t be a celebration if you’re not there,” Eva insisted. “It’s only one more night. And anyway, my family will probably want to celebrate tonight, which means it will be hard to get away.”
“Okay,” I said, brightening. Weathering my lessons with Xiomara would be easier if I had a night out with my friends to look forward to. “What do you want to do?”
Zale and Eva traded a knowing look. “It’ll be a new moon on Friday,” Zale said.
“It sure will,” Eva said, a smile spreading slowly and mischievouslyover her face. “The moon that ushers in Samhain. Let’s introduce Wren to a Sedgwick Cove tradition, shall we?”
I looked back and forth between the two of them, starting to feel nervous. “What tradition?”
But Eva shook her head. “You’ll see. Don’t want to spoil the surprise. See you tonight at my house?”
They both stood up and headed for the stairs.
“What tradition?” I repeated.
But neither of them answered, still just grinning like a pair of cheshire cats.
“WHAT TRADITION?!”
“See you later, Wren!” Zale called over his shoulder as they took off down the street, cackling now.
I shook my head. I squeezed back into the shop, determined to ask Persi what Zale and Eva had been talking about, but instead was overpowered by an incredibly strong smell. Coughing, I slapped my hand over my nose and mouth, and looked around for the source of the sudden olfactory assault. Finally, I spotted Persi. She was bent low, cleaning up a pile of shattered glass with a prop broom with one hand, while pressing her scarf over her nose and mouth with the other. A pair of teenagers dressed as anime characters stood beside her, apologizing profusely and looking miserable.
“We were just trying to get it in a video,” one of the girls was babbling.
“Well, maybe if you learned to experience the world with your own eyes instead of through your phone screen, these things wouldn’t happen,” Persi snapped. “Everyone out! We need to air the place out! No, not you two, you come to the register, please. You’ll have to pay for that.”
The two girls shuffled miserably against the milling crowd, which was now moving steadily toward the door amidst coughing and retching sounds.
“What is it? Incense? Perfume?” one man gasped.
“If it’s perfume, it’s the worst one I’ve ever smelled,” a woman replied.
“It’s a potion, and if you don’t all clear out, you’ll all start breaking outin pimples!” Persi shouted over the crowd. That made everyone push harder for the door. “Don’t panic, just get some fresh air!”
Persi spotted me, snapped her fingers and pointed to the cash register. I elbowed my way to it with many mumbled apologies and pardons to the exiting patrons. Persi placed one of the shards of glass on the counter—the label for the contents was still attached to it, so I was able to key in the right item.
“This isn’t a spell to cause breakouts,” I whispered to her. “It’s just patchouli oil.”
“I know, but I had to say something to get them all out of here,” Persi replied under her breath. “It reeks in here. We’re going to have to open the windows and mop it up, and then wash it all down with bleach.”
“And by ‘we’ I assume you mean me,” I grumbled.
