by Sarina Dorie
Maddy grinned at me, and Gertrude nudged her. Maddy averted her gaze. I prayed they hadn’t been gossiping about me.
If only I’d been able to find Thatch, he could have performed a mind-wipe spell on the entire school. I knew he could do it too. Though, I suspected our new principal wouldn’t approve.
“Good evening, Clarissa.” Gertrude waved a hand at the door behind her. “If you would just step into my office for a moment.”
“Is this about some art books?” Please, please, please let it be about books, I silently begged.
Gertrude ushered me into the little office. She inserted a key into the brick wall across from her desk. A door materialized and creaked open. “This way, please. I have a surprise for you in my room.”
“Oh, boy,” I said. Dread built in me. “Maybe now isn’t a good time. I have an appointment . . . with Vega. She’s expecting me.”
“Is she? Well, we’d better not make her wait.” Gertrude said, her voice high and sweet. She stepped through the door.
I backed up a step.
She grabbed my arm. “Hurry along. It would be a shame to use my voice to make you accompany me for such a small task.” She pulled me through the doorway.
Already I was on guard, but the threat of her using siren magic against me made me more so. I visualized the red ball of energy inside me growing with strength and intensity. I tried to imagine happy thoughts and pleasant sensations rushing through me: the taste of Thatch’s mouth, his hand brushing across my naked flesh, and the desire he caused in me with a smile and a quirk of his eyebrow.
Electricity pulsed inside me, far enough under the skin I didn’t glow, but close enough at hand that I could use it if I needed to. I was ready to fight Fae or jealous ex-girlfriends if I needed to.
Gertrude crossed the short passage to her room and stopped at the door. She was trying hard not to smile. “Close your eyes.”
“No. I’m good.”
She poked me in the ribs with her wand. “Clarissa, you’re such a party pooper.”
I squirmed as far back as she would allow. “Every time I’m alone with you in this room you blackmail me or seduce me or try to kill me.”
She lifted a finger in protest. “I’ve never tried to kill you. Not in this room anyway.”
She tapped her wand against the door, and it popped open. Female voices within hushed. We weren’t alone.
Please don’t be the Raven Queen and her emissaries, I prayed.
So far, my prayers had gone unanswered today.
There wasn’t time to use my awareness to sense what danger lay within the siren librarian’s lair. I yanked myself out of Gertrude’s grip and turned back to return to her office. She kicked out a foot, making me trip. Being the Amazon woman she was, it wasn’t difficult for her to use my momentum against me to turn me around and shove me inside her room.
Josie turned from a table of snacks, grinning. Vega sat in Gertrude’s easy chair by the fire, resembling a queen on her throne. Words scrolled across the surface of the chair like the screen of an endless document. From the macabre words shifting underneath her, it looked like it was an Edgar Allen Poe poem.
Grandmother Bluehorse, Jackie Frost, and Coach Kutchi sat in wooden chairs that had been brought in from the library. They huddled together, looking like three old crones. Mrs. Keahi prepared tea at the kitchenette. Genevieve Hopkins, our new foreign language teacher stood at the fireplace, resembling the uncomfortable introvert I always felt like at parties.
I halted, taking in the group of women around me.
Gertrude Periwinkle hugged me around the shoulders. “Surprise!”
“Um,” I said, not knowing what I’d walked into. It looked like a coven of witches.
“Happy wedding shower!” Josie shoved a plate of brownies and cookies into my hands.
“Wow, this is . . . not what I expected. In a good way.” Mostly.
This meant even more people knew about the engagement. Not that Thatch and I would have been able to keep it a secret now that the students knew.
Resigned to enjoy myself, I lifted one of the brownies. It looked like one of my fairy godmother’s earthquake cake brownies. The toasted coconut and pecans were gooey and crunchy to perfection. It was a chocolate orgasm waiting to happen.
I bit in and moaned. Someone had stolen Mom’s recipe. The decadence and perfection of the brownie made me more relaxed and complacent than a siren’s song.
Vega strolled over to the bathroom door. “The surprises aren’t over yet.”
Josie started, “Guess who we brought for—”
Gertrude shushed her. “You’re going to ruin it!”
Vega’s hand rested on the knob. “Are you going to guess what surprise we’ve brought you?”
“A male stripper?” I asked around a bite of chocolate heaven.
Grandmother Bluehorse chuckled. “Really? A male exotic dancer?”
Vega scowled. “Damn it! I should have thought of that.”
The door opened, and there stood Abigail Lawrence. My fairy godmother wore a green dress that contrasted with her long red hair and made her look like an elf that belonged to this world. She grinned and opened her arms to me.
“Mom!” I said. I shoved my plate at Gertrude and threw my arms around her.
“Congratulations,” she said. “I can’t believe my baby has grown-up already.”
“They grow like weeds,” Vega said. “And this one is just as prickly.”
She was one to talk!
Josie, Vega, and Gertrude coordinated wedding shower bingo and other games, bickering like old ladies and fighting over me as though I were something worth fighting over. I could tell Vega thought she was in charge, ordering the librarian around in her own room, but from the way Gertrude ignored her instructions, I couldn’t tell who had actually organized the party.
Nurse Hilda came in late, bringing a plate full of chocolate-covered eyeballs. I didn’t ask what kind of creature the eyeballs came from. Even Vega wasn’t willing to try one.
Most of the evening consisted of eating culinary delights my mom had brought and talking. My coworkers gave me presents for starting a house like dish towels, sets of cutlery, and vases. My mom gave me a beautifully framed mirror that had belonged to my father’s mother. Evita Lupi, whom I had always thought despised me, came in late, giving me a big hug and congratulating me. Her smile was fake, but the set of watercolor paints she gave me was nice.
“Perhaps you’ll paint a portrait of my husband and me someday,” she said with a wink.
“You wish,” Vega muttered.
“So what are you going to do about a dress? Have you picked one out yet? Or is it too soon?” Mom asked.
“It’s never too soon to go shopping,” Vega said from the table of food she eyed warily. I doubted any of it was vegan, fat-free, or a hundred percent organic.
“I want something fluffy, with puff sleeves, and lace and pearls around the collar like your wedding dress,” I said. Most people made fun of their parents’ fashion choices from the eighties, but my fairy godmother had rocked it, reminding me of a fairy princess.
My parents had looked so happy in their wedding photos, both of them young and smiling. They’d been so in love.
“I still have my dress, you know,” Mom said. “You can try it on and see if it suits you.”
I couldn’t wait to try it on! I was certain we’d have to take it in and hem it, but I was fine with that.
“Have you booked a venue?” Coach Kutchi asked.
Jackie Frost leaned in. “Have you thought about who you might get to do flower arrangements?”
Another one of the hens clucked at me. “There’s a nice pastry shop in Lachlan Falls that makes wedding cakes. Have you contacted them yet?”
“Um. . . .” I said, starting to feel overwhelmed.
Mom patted my shoulder. “There’s no rush. You have plenty of time.”
It was str
ange sitting around with this group of women I worked with, but rarely socialized with. I listened to them give me advice about being married and complied when they asked me to show off my engagement ring.
I had always assumed these women hated me. Or at least resented me for being related to the former teacher and headmistress, Alouette Loraline. Then again, they’d worked with Thatch for years. They must have come to respect him to some degree. Even so, they had thrown him under the bus when they thought he had used sex magic and pain magic on me. I didn’t know whether that said something about their quickness to jump on the rumor bandwagon against a colleague or that they had been quicker to defend me than I would have expected.
“Are you and Mr. Thatch going to live somewhere off campus, dear?” Grandmother Bluehorse asked me. “Or is the principal going to allow you to live somewhere on campus?”
Evita crossed her arms, sitting down on the arm of the chair Vega had claimed. “Why would the principal make an exception for her? He wouldn’t allow my husband and me to live together on school grounds.”
Vega shoved Evita off the armrest.
I wiped my suddenly clammy palms on my skirt. “We haven’t gotten that far into planning. I guess it would be safer if we could live on campus, but it doesn’t sound like we’ll be allowed.” There were so many things to plan, so many details we hadn’t yet discussed.
Mom hugged me around the shoulder. “Surely the principal will change his mind. He seems like a reasonable man.” She paused, thinking it over. “You should bring him some brownies when you go ask him.”
Maybe her kitchen magic would make him complacent enough to change the rules, but I doubted it.
Grandmother Bluehorse patted my hand. “My husband and I used to have a little cottage we shared out past the greenhouses. It’s too big for me by myself, and too far for me to walk these days, but it used to be nice for the privacy.”
Evita lifted what appeared to be one of the chocolate-covered eyeballs from her plate. “I believe Silas and I will be returning to that cabin after Mr. Khaba reinstates the rule that married couples are allowed to be housed on campus.” She bit into the eyeball, her eyes going wide. She rushed off to the bathroom.
Vega smiled slyly. “As long as I get the tower like I deserve, I’ll be happy.”
I couldn’t help wondering if Vega had slipped the eyeball onto Evita’s plate.
“Aren’t you going to be living somewhere else?” I asked. “Like with Elric?”
“We’ll see. I haven’t decided if I’m willing to commute. Maybe I’ll only live in the Faerie Realm on weekends.” She placed her hand on her knee, the rock on her engagement ring catching the light. The diamond had so many carats, it could have been mistaken for a root vegetable. Like everything else that came with Vega, it was as large as her ego and just as sparkly.
The ring didn’t look like something that had been melted and pulverized with magic.
It dawned on me no one had thrown her a party. She considered me her best friend, but I had never thought about asking her if she wanted one or what kind of food she liked. I didn’t relish the idea of throwing her a party because she would complain and tell me how I was doing it wrong. But I could see it was my duty to do this for her in return.
Vega smiled at me, her lips curling upward but not reaching her eyes. I wondered if everything was all right with her and Elric. Or perhaps it was me and my lack of being an adequate only friend.
Josie spoke animatedly to my mom about bridesmaid dresses while Gertrude prepped papers on her dresser for the next party game.
Vega left her throne to stalk closer to Josie. “If anyone is going to be in charge of picking out bridesmaid dresses, it would be me. It’s the job of the maid of honor, and I’m not going to be seen in some hobo-chic dress you pick out.”
“Okay, first of all, it is not the maid of honor’s job to pick out dresses,” I started. “Second of all—”
“Fine. It’s your special day, Clarissa,” Vega said. “You can be a control freak about it if you want to and decide what everyone is going to wear.”
Josie interrupted before I could go on. “And I’m going to be the maid of honor.”
Vega snorted. “No, you aren’t. Clarissa already agreed I would be the maid of honor.”
Josie stood. “No, she said I was.”
They both looked to me. Why did they both have to put me in this position? I’d only been engaged a day and already they were at each other’s throats.
“I didn’t tell either of you that you were going to be my maid of honor.” Though, if I were going to choose, it would have been Josie. Only, I felt bad about Vega making me her maid of honor and not throwing her a shower. I felt obliged to do something nice for her.
“The dresses are going to be pink,” I said, hoping that would frighten Vega off.
Vega said through clenched teeth. “Perfect. My favorite.”
Hardly.
“And there will be puff sleeves and fluffy skirts. Long fluffy skirts,” I said. “My maid of honor has to wear the prettiest, pinkest, longest dress. The dress won’t be much good for dancing in.”
“Of course it wouldn’t. Fortunately, I plan on changing before the reception,” Vega said.
“Puff sleeves and pink. Are you talking about the bridesmaid dresses? That sounds lovely.” Gertrude joined us again, passing out sheets of blank paper. “I am so excited. I asked Felix if I could be your maid of honor, and he said he’d talk to you about it.”
What? Was this a joke they’d all decided to play on me? No one was laughing. My fairy godmother watched the exchange nervously.
“I can’t have a maid of honor. I’m eloping, remember?” I said.
Vega crossed her arms, eyes narrowing. “No. You promised me you weren’t going to elope.”
“I didn’t promise anyone anything!” I threw up my hands in disgust, nearly knocking over my plate.
“You promised to marry Felix Thatch,” Josie said unhelpfully.
“There was mistake number one,” Vega said.
“Oh, I have an idea,” Mom said. “Instead of having one maid of honor, you can just have three.”
There was no way I wanted Thatch’s ex-girlfriend, Gertrude, as a maid of honor. It would be awkward and weird. Worse than Vega.
“No, that isn’t how it works,” Vega said. “There’s only one maid of honor. The rest are bridesmaids.”
“That’s right. There’s only one.” Josie glared at Vega. “Usually someone really special to the bride. Her best friend.”
Whatever Mom usually put into her brownies, she hadn’t put enough of it in to make anyone happy and complacent.
Genevieve inched toward the door. “I’m beat. See you tomorrow. That was a great party.”
“Who is going to be your maid of honor?” Gertrude asked.
There was nothing more dangerous than being in a room full of trained witches directing their hostility at me.
I looked into the eyes of my friends, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings. I had already tried to use the excuse that no one was going to be the maid of honor, but that still hadn’t satisfied them. I gazed at the expectant faces. Grandmother Bluehorse, Coach Kutchi, and Jackie Frost watched from the corner. Nurse Hilda and Evita Lupi leaned in with the voyeuristic interest of sports fanatics.
Coach Kutchi whispered to Jackie.
I caught the tail end of what Jackie said. “. . . doesn’t bring good tidings for what’s to come at the wedding.”
Agh! Just what I needed to hear at the moment. With the rumors that were surely spreading around the school like wildfire, Thatch’s concerns about Fae, and the possible risk of Derrick showing up and doing something horrible, this was the last thing I needed to hear.
It was a silly, insensitive comment that I would normally have just ignored. Jackie wasn’t in the habit of showing me how much she adored me. But the sentiment that this was a bad omen represented every fear i
n my heart, that this wedding and marriage was doomed before it had even begun.
Tears filled my eyes. I felt like I was about to explode—and not in a magical way.
My fairy godmother circled an arm around my shoulder. “You don’t need to decide this right now. It’s a lot of pressure getting these details for the wedding underway.”
Vega opened her mouth, but Mom put up a hand. “Not another word. Back off and give Clarissa some time.”
Vega pursed her lips, but she didn’t argue.
My fairy godmother always recognized what I needed. That’s when I knew. It struck me I should have thought of it earlier.
“I don’t want a maid of honor. I want a matron of honor.” I squeezed Mom’s hand. “You’ve been there for me my entire life. You raised me, even though I wasn’t yours and you suspected whose child I was. You loved me and tried to protect me, even when I made it difficult for you. How could I not ask you to be my matron of honor? Would you be willing?” Willing to save me from my friends and frenemies so I didn’t have to hurt anyone’s feelings.
Mom’s eyes filled with tears. She placed a hand on her heart. “That is so sweet. Of course I will be your matron of honor!”
“Your mom? That’s touching,” Gertrude said. “You should have told me sooner.”
Josie hugged my mom. “Clarissa is so lucky she’s had you in her life. It makes sense she would ask you.”
Vega rolled her eyes. “I suppose Clarissa could do worse. I can only hope she’ll remember she needs bridesmaids.”
“Yep, I’ll remember.” The wedding party had doubled. Thatch was just going to have to tolerate it.
Mom squeezed me to her. She whispered into my ear, “Good save.”
I would have liked to bask in the glory of my triumph. Yet when I went to the refreshment table and selected another brownie, I froze. There, nestled among the cookies, was an origami crane, the paper as red as blood.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Delightful Distractions
I desperately needed to speak with Thatch, but the sign on the dungeon door said he’d gone recruiting. I waited until morning, but the doors remained locked. I used my key, but the rooms were all empty. I had lunch duty, so I couldn’t speak with him then. I went down during my prep, but he was in the middle of teaching. He waved at me and smiled at least.