“It was from Ayden.”
“Double awww,” she said, and I just laughed, proceeding to tell her everything about my meeting with Queen Solana and what had gone on in my interrogation. By the time the end of lunchtime came around, Eden and I were back to being besties and I was grateful. I didn’t want to do four years at The Academy with no friends. But I’d meant what I said—if I started getting mad and setting fires, I would leave just like my mother did. But I wouldn’t come back.
* * *
I wishedEden goodbye after school and then walked briskly to my shift at Avis’s. I’d gotten into a nice routine of working there. I dusted all the shelves and bottles which took about forty-five minutes, then I mopped the floors for the fallen dust and restocked for the next hour or so. I was home by dinner and working off my debt. It felt good to be of use to the woman who had been nothing but kind to me.
“Hey, Avis!” I called when I walked in and didn’t see her attending to anyone.
“Hello, Fallon.” She gave me a bright smile from behind the register. “How was school?”
I shrugged. “Fine.”
It was the same thing I said every time, because school was fine.
She nodded and then her face became a bit more serious, and reaching out, she patted the glass counter as if beckoning me closer. I stepped up to the other side of it and looked at her expectantly.
“Were you at The Academy party when the Nightlings attacked last night?” Her voice was low even though we were alone.
Of course she had heard, it was the first Nightling attack in decades. I’m sure it was the talk of the town.
I swallowed hard and nodded.
She sighed. “I was scared when I had heard that two students died, but then I learned their names and that it wasn’t you. Of course I am still sad for the students, but…”
I patted her hand. “I know what you mean. Thanks for caring.” I hadn’t told her yet who my birth mother was and she’d never asked my last name. I didn’t want her to treat me differently, I liked one person not knowing I was the spawn of evil. But I knew I eventually had to tell her.
Avis was literally the sweetest person I had ever met. More than my dad or any other good person in my life. She just exuded this gentle love and gave it to anyone no matter how they treated her. People came in the shop often, making a small payment on a larger bill or asking for a free tincture for a sick loved one they promised to pay for later. They were mostly all Westies, a clientele she didn’t need to tend to, but did.
“Can I ask you something personal?” I looked up at her.
She nodded. “Of course, dear.”
“Why do you help so many Westies, so many poor people? You don’t have to, in fact I’m pretty certain that none of the other apothecary shops on the East Side do.”
She gave me a sad smile. “BecauseWesties”—she emphasized the word with disdain—“are people too, and my father raised me to treat everyone with the same respect and dignity, no matter their station.”
It was an incredibly honorable thing to say and then to turn around and actually live by that motto, it gave me a lot of respect for her.
“Did you know it’s against Gilded City law for an East Side fae to open an apothecary shop on the West Side?” she mused.
I didn’t know that I only knew that we had no apothecary shop there and just one clinic, which was always swamped and might as well be run by magicless, according to Mable. The healers there meant well but weren’t powerful enough to save anyone in dire straits. It’s why everyone came to Avis’s shop.
“I didn’t.” Why would they keep the poor from healing? Especially if they were willing to pay.
Her lips pursed. “I’ve been applying for years.”
My mouth popped open at that. Avis opening an apothecary shop on the West Side? That would be wonderful. She would make all of the products at a discount, no doubt.
“That would be amazing.”
“Yes, well…in another lifetime, maybe.”
A sadness crossed over her features, and I didn’t want to upset her, so I changed the subject.
“Well, these bottles won’t dust themselves.” I winked at her and then grabbed my feather duster, stepping up onto the ladder that reached the highest point.
We set about our routine then, soft fae music playing on the record player in the background while Avis ground herbs and whispered incantations over things with a glowing, buttery light emanating from her palms, before putting it all into jars. Sometimes she breathed on them, sometimes purple mist would glow from her hands. I knew there was more to her magic than she had originally explained, and it was exciting to watch her make her healing remedies.
