“Thank you,” she said grudgingly. “Theyarenice.”
“I picked them from over my neighbor’s fence with my secateur spell,” Dorian said, pride evident in his voice. “He is a renowned grower of dahlias. These are prize-winning flowers… well, they would have been, had I not spirited them away for you.”
That’s sweet…Luna thought, before everything he’d said caught up with her.Wait, what?!
Sally-Anne’s hesitant smile softened into something much more natural. “They’re… they’re lovely.”
Luna looked up at Henry’s face, to see a flabbergasted expression that she was sure was mirrored in her own.
“Perhaps I should apologize,” said Dorian thoughtfully. “I suppose that I am not entirely blameless in this matter.”
Luna couldn’t help but laugh under her breath, exchanging an incredulous glance with Henry. She could tell he was thinking exactly the same thing she was:Geeze, you think?
“I suppose I could have… been more honest myself,” Sally-Anne muttered, lowering her eyes. “I just… didn’t think you’d keep talking to me if you saw the real me. And… I really liked you. Your profile made me laugh. And… and when I saw the list of spells you can perform and how dedicated you were to your magical studies… I just… didn’t want to risk blowing things. But I guess it wasn’t right of me to pretend to be someone else.”
“I, too, was impressed by your profile,” Dorian said. “I must confess… I barely looked at your photo gallery. In fact, I do not think I looked at it at all. Such things are unimportant to me – I care only for craft, for resolve. For the seeking of magical knowledge. The thing I remember from reading your profile was your passion for your work, for the striving to become a better witch. That was why I responded to you – not becauseof anything so trivial as a photographical image. What can a photograph tell me of your soul?”
Luna blinked. She could feel her lip twisting as once again, she looked up at Henry. “So you mean… all of that was essentially for nothing? They didn’t evencarewhat the other looked like?”
“Seems like it,” Henry said, sounding as bemused as he looked. “I guess that’s… kind of heartwarming, in its own way? Maybe?”
Luna thought she probably deserved to be able to reserve judgment on that score. These peoplehadalmost ruined both her and Henry’s lives, after all!
But having said that… I guess all this ridiculousness brought us together in a way as well. Sort of.
Luna wanted to shake her head to clear it – she coulddefinitelyfeel a headache coming on. Right now, she just wanted all of this to beover.
“Your own magical skills are pretty impressive,” Sally-Anne said shyly, looking up at Dorian from beneath her eyelashes. “And your teleportation spell was amazing. I didn’t know that anyone knew those spells anymore – they’re pretty rare. Do you think I might be able to learn how to do that?”
Drawing himself up to his full, spindly height, Dorian preened. “Under the tutelage of a prodigy such as myself, it is theoretically possible that you might someday be able to master such an art.”
Luna would have been extremely cranky if someone spoke to her that way, but Sally-Anne merely batted her eyelashes, looking slightly awed. “Oh – you mean you’d teach me yourself?”
“Indeed… if you prove an apt pupil,” Dorian said, and, as Luna watched, his face started once again to turn a bright tomato-red. He was clearly trying to cover up his flustered statewith bluster – though honestly, perhaps it was just that ‘bluster’ was his default setting.
“And I must admit,” he continued, “I have longed to be able to forecast the mysteries of the future. But I have never been able to unlock those secrets. Perhaps… perhaps, therefore, an exchange might be of interest to you?”
“You mean, you teach me yours and I’ll teach you mine?” Sally-Anne asked, her eyes going wide.
“Precisely!” Dorian beamed. “I would be most delighted to study under you, if you would have me.”
Oh my God! That is definitely enough!
But before Luna could open her mouth to ask them to please kindly take this elsewhere, Dorian bowed with an exaggerated flourish.
“My lady, would you do me the honor of wandering the festival and sampling its plebian delights with me?”
Sally-Anne smiled, wide and genuine. “Nothing would make me happier.”
The two of them linked arms and strolled out of the diner without even a word or a backward glance, leaving the door swinging in their wake.
Luna turned slowly toward Henry, taking in his stunned expression. She was pretty sure she didn’t look much better, her mouth hanging open to the point where her jaw was surely dragging on the ground.
After a long silence, Henry finally spoke.
“Did we do a good thing today, or a bad thing?”
Luna shook her head. “I honestly do not know.”
