Then itched to get out her new book and look up “seemly.”
“Unwitchlike,” she imagined it saying, before she shook herself, and turned back to Nancy. Bright-as-a-button Nancy, peering at her curiously through those little round glasses of hers. Like she knew something had happened. Like it was possible that Cassie wasn’t the only one with witch senses and signals.
And that idea only grew as she watched Nancy fly into action.
There was something familiar about it—the flurry of activity. The way she bustled around, brewing coffee in a big old brass machine behind the counter. Then stopping when she remembered she hadn’t asked if Cassie actually wanted one. Before flying backto stir and pour and forget where she’d put the milk, once Cassie said she’d love one.
And all the while she chattered away, in the same absentminded yet somehow completely focused manner.So how has your life out there in the big city been?was one question.Is Seattle as cool as it seems?was another. Then just as Cassie tried to swallow a mouthful of a frankly delicious latte, Nancy said, “You look fabulous, by the way, like you’re glowing.”
And when it did the coffee almost came back up.
She coughed and spluttered and shot a long, suspicious look at Nancy. But Nancy’s back was turned, intent as she was on finishing the pouring of her own coffee. And by the time Nancy took a seat opposite Cassie, there was no way to tell if Nancy had really seen anything.
All Cassie had to go on was that one word: glowing.
Which could have meant that Nancy was just being nice about her skin care routine. Or kind about how happy Cassie seemed. But she couldn’t deny it might have meant something more. Andespeciallywhen the books right next to her were doing that very thing. She could see them all out of the corner of her eye, just blazing away brightly. Glowing, just like she did.
Plus most of them written by an author she now knew well.
Annie Taylor Watts.
Creator of possibly sentient guidebooks.
Just right there an inch from them both.
So of course she had to saysomething. It felt like Nancy had introduced Cassie to her boyfriend, and her boyfriend had turned out to very visibly be Slenderman. She couldn’t just ignore weirdness like that, any more than she had been able to ignore Hannigan’s hand on her bike.
But the thing was—she simply didn’t know how to go about it. She couldn’t just segue from the weather in Seattle to a topic like that. It felt too jarring, too almost rude. As if she were breaching some supernatural etiquette, of the sort that she didn’t understand. Apparently, you were supposed to do something like a courtly bow. Or maybe you had to perform the secret handshake.
And until you did, people pretended to be oblivious.
After all, Nancy wasn’t saying anything about it.
She was now on to the food in some city Cassie no longer cared about. Seattle had great sushi it seemed. But it was so far from Maine, and she hated flying, and, oh by the way, had Cassie heard? This great new eatery had opened up on the outskirts of tow—and oh god, oh no, she just couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“I see you’ve got some supernatural books there,” Cassie blurted out.
And knew it was a mistake, immediately.
Partly because it sounded absolutely ridiculous, once she heard it aloud.
But mostly because of what it did to Nancy’s face.
Her whole expression simply dropped, the moment Cassie spoke. Like someone had cut the strings that held up every muscle. More than that, in fact. The light seemed to disappear from her eyes, too. And she didn’t answer the question Cassie had asked. She just kept staring, silently, blankly, in a way that made Cassie think of what Seth had said, and which the book had elaborated on:humans can’t see supernatural things.
And here was the proof, right in the slightly creepy flesh. Nancy, unable to even accept the presence of certain books on her own bookstore shelf. Dead to the world, until Cassie changed the subject.
“So how have you been, Nance?” she asked, more cheerily than she had ever asked anything in her life. And to her relief, Nancy immediately snapped back to normal. All the animation rushed back into her face; the flat look disappeared from her eyes.
And she answered as if continuing a perfectly normal conversation. “Probably not as good as you clearly have been, you sly thing. Come on, tell me honestly. Have you been rekindling any old flames since you got back in town?” she asked.
Then she dropped a wink, in a way that made Cassie’s stomach lurch.
Seth is not an old flame. That isn’t a thing, she had the strongest urge to say.
Despite the fact that Nancy hadn’t mentioned Seth at all. And why would she? To her, Seth was still the guy who had humiliated her in front of the whole school. They were enemies, as far as Nancy knew. She didn’t know about the deal. The apologies. The fact that they’d grown so close that things were getting kind of weird.
And anyway, why was she even focusing on this?
