The Association

by A. K. Caggiano

  Ivy snapped the notebook shut and sucked her teeth. To be fair, he did know more about this than her. “Fine. Just let me know tonight.”

  “I thought you were going out tonight?”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “I am.” Then she frowned. “Why?”

  “Just thought I’d have the house to myself for a little get together.” He shrugged.

  Ivy went to roll her eyes, then she hesitated. When she offered him money for utilities earlier in the week, he had laughed and told her she’d been doing so much cooking and cleaning he should be paying her to stay there, but maybe he was getting sick of her already. Or at least sick of her enchilada casserole. “Oh, well, I mean, I’ll be gone for a little while.” She couldn’t bring herself to promise him all night.

  “It’s cool.” He gave her a dopey grin, no thought behind it discernible. “Just when you come home—”

  “I know. Be quiet.”

  “Actually, I was going to say make some noise, so I know.”

  She squinted, unsure if he were joking.

  “Ya know.” Oakley pushed himself up onto his toes. “Don’t want to get caught in the act or anything.”

  Ivy shook her head, not even allowing the image to start to form. “Ew.” She turned on her heel and headed back for the clubhouse, him laughing behind her.

  “There’s leftovers in the fridge,” she called back. “A whole half a casserole.” When he stopped laughing, she looked over her shoulder. His eyes had gone wide, and he was smiling. That, at least, was a relief. “And don’t forget about the flowers.”

  Chapter 24

  “Anything but Enrico’s,” Ivy had told Hunter, and he’d picked out a place that was perhaps its exact opposite. The retro diner was all chrome and bright red from the outside, shaped like a bullet with a flashy neon sign advertising burgers and fries. They found themselves sitting across from one another in a vinyl booth up against the front window. One road off from Main Street in Ogden Bluffs, the sidewalk was still busy, people in bulky sweaters passing by with their dogs and small packages in tow. Classic rock played on a jukebox in the corner, and the waitstaff wore 50s-styled rockets on the back of their shirts. It was, in a word, cute, and Ivy told him so at least three times. She tended to repeat herself when nervous. Conversely, Hunter had managed to not trip, bump his head, or knock a single thing down on their walk from the car into the restaurant. It seemed his clumsy streak was over, and just in time.

  Ivy immediately started asking him questions about his work when they sat. He told her he couriered for his parents’ business, wrapping packages and taking them to the post office. He also managed all the online order requests—apparently charmed folk had their own place on the Internet inaccessible to regular old humans. A sort of enchanted web.

  “My mother loves to make things up on the fly, and my father has really perfected some recipes that he guards with his life. I need more time to measure out ingredients and try different methods,” he explained. “I don’t have the exact intuition either of my parents do.”

  “It just sounds like you’re careful.” She shrugged. “Are you working on anything new right now?”

  Hunter’s eyes, a deep blue, glistened as he told her about a serpent repellent made from cockatrice saliva. She cringed a little at the ingredients, but he was so absorbed in the explanation, he didn’t seem to notice. “I don’t know when it will really be useful, but it doesn’t hurt to have on hand, and most makers don’t have access to such a domesticated bird. Well, I guess neither do we right now.” He looked up wistfully at the ceiling.

  “Rufus was letting you borrow from his flock?”

  “Yeah.” His shoulders drooped a little. “He was actually pretty nice to me despite how much he and my father hated each other.”

  Ivy cocked her head, waiting for him to go on, his voice tinged with melancholy.

  “Anyway, what about your family?”

  She stuttered a little, focusing mostly on Oakley, and told him they weren’t ever really into “the whole magic thing.” She chose her words carefully, and it seemed to come across as typical when she told him her parents kept everything “pretty hush hush.”

  “Wanted you to have a normal life, huh?” He sighed. “Sounds nice.”

  “Hey,”—she quickly changed the subject—“I’m halfway through Deyvan Duras!”

  “Really? That was fast!”

  “I’m pretty excited to see how it ends.” That, at least, wasn’t a lie.

  “Haven’t you already—”

  She caught herself. “Read it? Sort of. It’s been a long time, and I just totally forgot. Like all the stuff with the bear?”

  “Oh, the part where it turns into a dude?” He grabbed the edge of the table.

  “Yes! I thought Sylvia was totally done for!”

  “But then—”

  Ivy held up her hands. “That’s where I stopped!”

  Hunter’s eyes went wide. “You’re going to love what comes next. Or hate it. Let me know.”

  Their food came, and they talked about other books they’d read, many that crossed between their worlds, it turned out. Hunter admitted to enjoying the occasional romance-heavy story, which she could gather from Deyvan’s exploits, and she realized her own interest in horror was broader than typical. He shivered when she told him he had to watch Alien.

  “I’m just not good with blood and gore.”

  “Oh, it’s not that bad,” she said, dipping a fry in ketchup and holding it up between them. “Though this sorta looks like that one scene.” She tilted her head and popped it into her mouth. “But you’ve been living in the same neighborhood as…you know…for how long? I’d think you’d get used to the idea at least.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t need to drink ketchup to live.” He chuckled, pointing his own fry at her. “Not that I mind that the others do, just to be clear. Hexed or not, I think there’s room for all of us provided no one’s getting hurt.”

  Well, caveat broken, she thought.

  “Not everybody seems to be in agreement about that, especially some of the people running for president.” She realized a moment too soon that his father was included in that group.

  But Hunter wasn’t fazed. “People stick together, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, I just sort of wish that, you know,”—he lowered his voice—“As a warlock, I could go on a date with a sylvan, and not have it be such a big deal.”

  “Oh, it is a big deal,” she said to him, dropping her voice to match his. “So don’t mess it up.” After holding his gaze in terror for a long moment, she cracked a smile, and the two laughed. “But I didn’t realize it actually is a big deal, to be honest.”

  “Well, it depends on who you ask, and if you ask me, I think it’s great.”

  After their food had been cleared away and their waiter gave them a second dirty look for not ordering dessert, they left the diner and stepped into the chilly night air. Ivy glanced up at the sky, cloudless and moonless, the streets lit by charming yellow globes running up and down the sidewalk. Most of the shops were closed, but the front patios of restaurants were alive with music and patrons. Ivy asked if Hunter spent a lot of time in Ogden Bluffs, and he told her he’d grown up there.

  “My parents moved into Avalon Estates a few years before I was born, so if I have a hometown, this is it.”

  “If?” Wind swept down the street, catching her hair and making her thankful she’d opted for jeans and boots after all.

  “Well, I didn’t spend that much time here. The town’s small, but it has just about everything you need, and we fit in pretty seamlessly. I mean, Pauline’s bakery has never had any problems.”

  The shop, which Ivy recognized from her very first drive through town, was closed, but it fit in with the others surrounding it. Ivy started to salivate a little when they passed by, a tray of brownies in the window. If she were a local, she reckoned she wouldn’t care how enchanted the food was as long as she had access to it. And if she didn’t
know? Even better.

  “Hey, that’s one too, right?” She pointed out the holistic shop next door where the owner dressed in a rainbow kaftan was just flipping the sign from open to closed.

  Hunter chuckled. “No, the owner’s just—” He stopped himself and squinted up at the sky. “Ya know, I bet she had an experience once, and is just looking for answers. Would probably totally flip if she knew what was right up the road.”

  Oh, he had no idea. “So none of them know, huh?”

  “Nope.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “We keep to ourselves mostly and integrate where we have to. Mrs. Kegborn, one of the dwarves, actually works at the school.”

  “Really?” The sidewalk curved around, and they crossed the street toward an open area where some vendors were set up down a wide alley lined with white twinkle lights.

  “Teaches shop,” he said. “Lucky too. She sort of fixes things up for the kids in the community when stuff goes wrong. Helped me at least a couple times.”

  “You went to normal—er, public school?”

  Hunter pursed his lips. “You look cold. Are you cold? I’m cold.”

  Ivy glanced down at her boots and chunky sweater then back up at him not shivering in the slightest. From over his shoulder, she could see down the lit alley and a little food cart amongst the other vendors. “If you’re cold, I’ll buy you a hot chocolate, and then you can tell me all about how much trouble you got yourself into as a sixteen-year-old boy with telekinesis.”

  Before he could say no, she hurried over to the cart, and when he had the drink in hand, he looked like he knew he had to go on, but still hesitated. “I didn’t get into any fun trouble, trust me.”

  “Oh, no?” With that jaw and those eyes, the only kind of trouble she could imagine Hunter in was extremely fun. She gave him a nudge. “I just don’t believe that.”

  “Honestly, it kind of sucked. I was this tall at thirteen but like fifty pounds skinnier, acne, and twice as clumsy on my bad days. I’ve always had this ability to move things without touching them, but I couldn’t really control it yet. Weird things happened around me enough to make me into the weirdo.”

  Ivy’s image of Hunter in her mind suddenly shifted into a lanky, awkward teen, hunched over much like how he was now as they continued on down the alley. She liked this version of him even better. “I should have known,” she said quietly. “High school is hell for everybody, even if you do have magic. Carrie was right.”

  He snorted. “Oh, nah, I never wanted to kill anybody, but I didn’t exactly have a lot of friends. It’s tough when you can barely spend any time with them outside of school. And definitely never overnight.”

  “There weren’t any other kids from Avalon Estates going to Ogden Bluffs back then?” She fidgeted with the edges of her cup. “Like maybe Safiya or, like, Evan Vlcek?”

  “There were a few. Safiya wasn’t around back then.” He took a sip. “And Evan was, well, Evan.”

  She didn’t have to even try and imagine that. “Oh, yeah, I bet he was a dick in school.”

  Hunter nearly spat out his hot chocolate.

  She laughed at the face he was making. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “No, no.” He wiped at his chin, a smirk growing on his face. “That’s a pretty accurate description, but it’s been almost a decade. We’re both over it. I mean, he acts like it never happened, and I don’t really like to remember. So, your turn. Tell me about Ivy League before the ivy league.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Have you been talking to Oakley?”

  “Only, like, every other time I go for a run.” She felt her face scrunch up, and he laughed. “Don’t worry, he only has nice things to say except that you snore apparently.”

  She gasped. “Liar.”

  “I don’t know, he was pretty convincing. Said you look like this.” He dropped his head back and stuck out his tongue, wholly unattractive.

  “Oh, keep going and you’ll never actually find out.” She eyed him playfully, taking another drink.

  “I—oh.” He covered the look on his face with his cup. “I mean, he said you’re basically an angel at all times.”

  “Uh huh, that’s what I thought.”

  They kept walking, Ivy barely feeling her hands go cold until they were completely numb. Of course Hunter noticed her rubbing them together, then checked the time, and with a heavy sigh told her it was really late, and they should go back. She agreed begrudgingly.

  Hunter drove her back to 210 Ironwood Place, and she nearly slapped herself when she grabbed her bag from the backseat and remembered the sachet inside, filled this time, Safiya had explained, with the ability to break the jinx. Or she was pretty sure that it would work, and if not it only had a very small chance of blowing up. Ivy wouldn’t be getting inside his condo tonight, but she wasn’t exactly upset; she’d just need to find another opportunity later.

  “Thank you.” She turned to him in the passenger’s seat. “I had a really good time.”

  “Yeah, me too.” The shadows inside the car were exceptionally dark, Oakley hadn’t left a single light on out front, and the moon was completely gone, but she could still see how blue his eyes were. “Hey, um, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

  Ivy’s heart sped up. “Okay?”

  “You know that party thing that Evan is having?”

  “Oh, you mean the ‘celebration of life?’” Ivy deflated a little. The Vlcek inheritor was throwing a party at his dead uncle’s house, everyone in the neighborhood had been invited, and the invitations were pretty clear that it was to be a celebration and not a memorial. She was not looking forward to being in the same house as all the board members yet again, especially with this time being strictly off record. “What about it?”

  “Are you going?”

  “I think I have to,” she sighed.

  In the dark he cracked a smile. “You don’t sound excited.”

  “Oh, no,” she said, devoid of any emotion. “I am super-duper pumped.”

  “I just thought, uh,”—he scratched his head—“maybe you two were…friends? Oakley said you hung out once and—”

  “Oh, god, no!” Ivy threw her hands up. “That was a work thing.”

  “Oh, okay.” Hunter nodded, glancing out the front window then back to her. “Well, I’m going too, so I guess I’ll see you there tomorrow night?”

  She bit her lip and nodded back. They stared at each other for a long moment, his blue eyes unblinking, and then she panicked. “Okay, see you tomorrow then!” And with one swift movement, Ivy swept herself out of the car and up to the front door.

  Chapter 25

  In the short time that he had been in possession of it, Evan Vlcek had somehow changed almost everything about Rufus’s house. The young man moved in right after the funeral, and though he’d not yet started renovations, the overstuffed leather seating had been swapped out for low-backed, sleek pieces in a shining black, the framed family portraits replaced with raw-edged, abstract works, and even the dishware had been updated to all-white, square settings.

  Ivy walked in with Oakley, an odd chill coming over her even as they were surrounded by the warmth of the many bodies inside. She shouldn’t be here, none of them should be, but Rufus was already past forgotten: he was erased, and in his own home.

  Lycans didn’t mourn for long, that’s what Safiya had told her, but that didn’t explain the presence of the rest of them. What did explain it was the intrigue in seeing a dead man’s house, the place where he was found, she heard some of them whisper, and, she guessed, all the free food.

  Massive buffet tables lined the front room, music blaring from every corner of the place. Evan treated the party like a campaign, moving swiftly through the crowd and lingering just long enough. He was the center of attention while telling part of a story then swept off with a laugh as he moved on to be orbited by yet another group. He was popular, doubtless, and his charm didn’t seem to rub too many people the wrong way, bu
t then those people didn’t suspect him of murder.

  Oakley was instantly distracted by the food, a good thing as he missed Alastair Proctor snapping from across the room so that a slice of pizza made its way unaided to the warlock. Stranger than the hovering food was seeing Alastair fold over the slice and take a bite crust first. Mae was beside him and caught Ivy’s eye then made a beeline for her. Ivy straightened, freezing under the woman’s gaze.

  “Hello, dear,” she said, waving enthusiastically as she came up to the buffet table luckily planted between them. “Been busy, hmm?”

  Ivy wasn’t sure what that meant. “Yes? There’s a lot to do before the society comes at the end of the month and there’s the election and the cockat—”

  “Right.” The little blonde woman cut her off. “So, Hunter tells me you’re interested in the hand-carved Romani trunk.”

  Ivy stared at her a moment, then realized she must have been talking about the blue box. “Yes! It’s just so pretty.” She swallowed. “I mean, I’d never seen anything like it before until I saw it in Hunter’s living room. For the first time. Ever.” She hoped she sold that little lie.

  “Well, it’s one of a kind.” Mae arched a brow, her face hardening. “So I wouldn’t waste your time looking for another.” The woman turned then, crossing the room to rejoin her husband.

  “That was weird.” Of course Oakley had noticed that.

  The two made their way into the larger sitting room at the back of the house. With drinks in hand, guests had draped themselves on the furniture, sitting on squared off couch arms in little clusters. Their conversations were quieter, the music here toned down, until someone said something humorous. Tharman and Bryony were laughing raucously with a few dwarves and some taller folk in front of the fireplace, and Ivy recognized some of the sirens from Mrs. Jiang’s choir practice mingling with a couple of boys who looked like they could be Evan’s cousins. Safiya was there too, pulling herself away from Mrs. Jiang and an elderly woman who’d taken up court in the only remaining set of original chairs. She threw arms over both of them, pushing them out of the room and into the kitchen. “Guys!” she said louder than either expected. “It’s a reunion.”