I clear my throat. “Gonna tell me what’s going on?”
“Lost my job. Date was a bust. Saw my mother. Pipes in my bathroom burst and flooded the entire upstairs. Car broke down, though that one I don’t really care about. Oh, and I got scammed out of a bunch of money. So, not much.” She lists everything off so flippantly, I wonder if she’s making half of it up. I know she’s not, though. Percy is honest to a fault.
“Why’s it always you?” I mutter.
She shrugs, closing her eyes again. “Karma hates me. Look into my future and destiny will show you doom and gloom. Fate has it out for me. My ancestors must have been bad witches or some shit. I know they cursed a random dude who ended up being important. Maybe that’s the reason I’m being punished in this life.”
“So dramatic.” My eyes dart to the closet, then back to Percy. “You want advice, to vent, or silence?”
“Advice because I know you’redyingto give me some.” She softens her words with a slight smile.
“Positively perishing over here. Okay, get a new job. Put a hex on the date, then stop dating. Stop going to see your mother. She’s toxic personified, and you’re better off keeping her at a distance. Hire a plumber.” I hold up my hand when she makes a sound of protest. “No, you’re not capable of fixing it yourself. Your car isn’t broken down. It needs a new battery, which I told you two weeks ago. And how much money are we talking?”
Her nose wrinkles. “I’m not hexing someone. That seems messy.”
“Out of everything I said,that’swhat you latch onto? Seriously, Percy. Everything is fixable until it’s not.”
“It was five hundred,” she mumbles as she picks at the fluff on my pillow.
“What was the scam?”
She rolls her eyes, and I know this’ll probably be the last answer I get out of her. “A golf cart. It was a great price, said it was an estate sale, thenpoof, he ghosted me. Do you think ghosts are real? I mean, witches are real.Obviously. But do you think there are like, ghosts and werewolves and vampires, too?”
“I think it’s more likely bigfoot is real rather than vampires.”
She shoots upright, wide eyes finding mine. “Have I shown you my cryptid folder? I’ve been researching them, and I swear some of these stories aren’t just stories. They’re eyewitness accounts. Can you imagine going camping and suddenly you find bigfoot bumbling around? Honestly, sounds like a dream.”
“A dream? To go camping? You’re not exactly…outdoorsy.”
“I can learn.”
“To camp?” I snort, and she bursts out laughing.
She wipes her eyes of nonexistent tears and sighs. “You’re right. There’s no way I’m running away to live in the woods. I’d take a nice, wounded werewolf, though. Or a demon.”
If she was paying attention, she’d be able to read my face like a book. Thankfully, she’s too busy giggling to herself. I clear my throat, forcing my breathing to even out.
“You definitely don’t want to meet a demon.”
“You’re probably right.I’m going to take a shower. Then we can talk about your latest victim.”
She pushes off the couch, and I groan. She shoots me a cheeky grin, then flounces off down the hallway, her shawl billowing behind her. I’ve borrowed that one before when I ran a seance. Not that we were truly communicating with the dead, but they didn’t need to know that. They weren’t very nice, so I had no problem taking their money.
It’s the ones who are truly seeking solace I turn away. Except for the neighbor who brings me groceries. In exchange, I whip up a simple tonic to make her life easier. It’s a good exchange and helps my credibility among the townspeople. Have to havea couple wins or people get suspicious. I doubt they really think I’m a witch, though.
I flop onto the vacated couch, and my eyes flutter shut. I need sleep. I won’t get any with Percy hanging around or my mind refusing to cooperate. I peek at the closet and bite my lip. After a few minutes, I can’t take it anymore and I push to my feet. Percy’s singing echoes over the noise from the shower, and my stomach flips.
If Dimitri is hiding in the closet, I’m going to have to explain to my best friend why I’m hanging out with a demon.
“No, I’m not hanging out with him. He just shows up. And he’s not in the closet.” I suck in a deep breath, then turn the knob and rip open the door.
Nothing jumps out and there’s no billowing purple smoke. Just a bunch of candles, a defunct cauldron, and some winter things I don’t need anymore. Half of it is my sister’s shit. I just don’t have the heart to go through any of it. Or the things in her bedroom. I took over the guest room and left hers exactly as it was when she disappeared. It’s a relic of a moment in time. I can’t bear to mess with it until I know what happened to her.
A soft glow floats in the deep corner, and I lean in to get a better look.
“Searching for something?”
I jump back straight into Percy, then spin around. “What the fuck. Why the hell would you do that?”
