Her attention was pulled from her wandering thoughts at the caw-caw sound of Portia and when she looked up she saw the bird had planted herself on one of the low-hanging branches and was looking at her. She smiled.
"What's up, girl?"
When the black head swiveled to the right, she followed its eyes and froze.
She was standing on the sidewalk across from the police station, and there across the street underneath one of the antique street lamps stood the tall figure of Astra Harding speaking with hands gesturing, the most animated Tilly had seen the woman. But it was the figure she was animatedly talking to that made her pause.
Theo stood, hands on his hips listening and nodding his head as she talked.
And then, to her absolute horror, Astra with her dark hair falling down her back instead of in its severe bun, closed the distance between them and pulled the chief to her for a kiss.
Tilly covered her mouth as she gasped.
She waited for him to push her away, but he didn't. No. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him, and kissed her back.
Tilly felt sick.
She was watching what she imagined she and Theo had looked like not too long ago.
And he was here doing the same thing with...with this evil woman.
She was going to throw up.
She doubled over, bracing her hand on an oak tree as she sucked in breath.
Portia started cawing loudly, the sound shrill and echoing, making her jump and look across the street to see that Theo and Astra were no longer embracing, wrapped up in a passionate kiss, and instead were staring at her.
Fear trickled through her.
And then anger.
A blazing anger. She couldn't think past her absolute rage. It felt like fire was licking her fingertips and the edges of her brain, like fire burning parchment.
Without second-guessing herself she stood up straight and stomped across the street to where Astra stood, her face holding a look of cunning pleasure and Theo watched her with a curious look on his face.
He looked curious. Not ashamed, not scared.
He must have been playing her for a fool this entire time.
"Hello Miss Nguyen," Astra purred. She looked like the cat who ate the canary.
Tilly glared at her. "Leave," she ordered.
And she felt a thrill. Tilly Nguyen did not order people about. She did not demand. She had written the code of who she was around the fear of being too much.
And then others had deepened it by making her fear she was not enough.
Women have had to contort themselves to fit between being too much and not being enough. No wonder doctors found them out of their minds throughout history. Witches, really, are just women who have found the courage and created alchemy by stepping out of that impossible space and simply becoming. The world wants them contained between those impossible iron bars.
The world is far safer that way.
"Leave," she said again, her voice low and dangerous and later she would praise herself for her calm and for her brazenness.
Astra watched her for a moment, then finally said, "Fine. You'll think about what I said?" she called to Theo over her shoulder as she walked away in that practiced way she walked.
Theo didn't respond but kept his eyes trained on Tilly. She could feel him trying to read her.
Once Astra was well out of earshot she looked up at the chief.
