Page 45 of The Blue Moon Café & 24-Hour Occult Emporium

“No, but she has you, doesn’t she?” Simon replied. “She’s the sun, and you’re an idiotic little flower, following her every move with your thoughts and eyes. She distracts you from your purpose. From your magical responsibilities. You’re a sorceress. Or you could be, if you stopped trying so hard to belong to the human world.”

Simon’s words resonated in the dark, quiet parts of herself.

“Do you know why Michail was sent to us?” Simon continued. “Why, despite his humanesque appearance, he needed to be sent to safety as soon as possible?”

Talula shook her head.

“The trophy hunting company has escalated,” Simon explained. “A selkie was supposed to meet your mother yesterday. She was the last to see a pod of kelpies before they were taken by the hunters.”

Suddenly, Sara’s tension during yesterday’s astral projection made more sense. Growing up, Sara had taken Talula to visit the selkies’ shores in the warmer months. The sly, sleek-eyed beings had shown a tiny Talula how to dive silently into the sea, to catch and cook quick-scuttling crabs, to hold her breath for a whole minute under water. Talula didn’t have cousins or aunts, but the selkies felt as close to extended family as anything.

Talula swallowed, her pulse thick with fear. “What happened?”

“The selkie never showed up to the meeting place.” Simon let out a long breath. “Your mother followed her trail, back to the cove where she’d been hiding. She found tranquilizer darts. The same kind were left near the griffin’s nest and the goldhorn’s grazing grounds.”

Shaking, Talula asked, “Who was the selkie?”

Simon peered at her somberly. “Mhairi.”

“No.” Talula let out a strangled sound. When Talula was a child, she’d scampered after Mhairi like a duckling, imitating everything the beautiful young seal woman did. Mhairi was playful and patient. She’d splash around with Talula in the sunlit waves and let her doze on her soft seal cloak at dusk. But now, Mhairi was missing. Or so, so much worse.

“I’m sorry,” Simon said gently, watching tears stream down Talula’s cheeks. “But you see what’s at stake? Why it’s so important that you eliminate all distractions? Including Dahlia.”

Why did it feel like Simon was asking her to cut out a part of her heart with a jagged knife?

“I can’t ban her from the café,” Talula said numbly.

“You can certainly make her feel less welcome.”

The thought of giving Dahlia the cold shoulder made Talula feel sick.

“From now on, you’ll devote every waking moment to mastering your magic. If I get a whiff of human distraction, I will have to let the Council know you’re unfit to serve the Volta, and you’ll be removed from the Blue Moon until you’re worthy of it. For the good of our community. Is that understood?”

Talula stared her mentor down, her jaw aching from clenching. She wanted to scream with grief, to stamp her feet and demand he get his fluffy ass out of her house. The house shook its walls in agreement, the protective amulets that hung from the rafters clanging out in fury.

But Talula thought of Mhairi. She thought of Michail and how close he’d been to stepping into a volcano. Because of her. That couldn’t happen again.

She had to be better. She had to be.

Sorrow shifted into self-loathing. Talula stared at her hands, clenched into fists in her lap. “I understand.”

“Good.” Simon hopped off the ottoman. “Get some sleep. We’ll start with the elements again tomorrow.”

“What if your by-the-book method still doesn’t work?” Talula asked, her voice acid despite the tears in her eyes. “What if being half human means I can’t learn magic the way you’re teaching me?”

Simon’s voice was tired. “Then maybe there was never any hope for you in the first place.”

12

Talula woke after a fitful sleep, her thoughts and dreams strained by Mhairi’s fate and Simon’s ultimatum. Monday’s lackluster training session weighed on them both, adding further heft to the prior night’s conversation. When Talula opened the café, dread grew in the pit of her gut. She watched the door, waiting for Dahlia’s imminent entrance.

Simon stared at her contemptuously. “I hope you’re not getting distracted, pupil.”

Talula glared at him. But before she could reply, Dahlia charged into the café with an armful of brand-new binders and papers. “Hi! I’m back and I have an announcement!”

“What?” Talula asked warily.

“I’m going to help you defeat those anti-Samhain assholes.” Dahlia’s grin had the bloodthirsty ferocity of a war-hungry dictator. “I know it’s been hard with the community acting like a bunch of assholes, but I have some ideas, plus research that shows how important Samhain is to Pine Hollow.”