by Lily Luchesi
On their way to the building where the furniture was manufactured, several fat droplets hit the dusty windshield of the company pickup truck and she leaned her head out to see dark clouds rolling in. Scoffing, she pulled her head back in and shook it.
“Dammit. Looks like we’re about to miss a half-day’s work,” she muttered. Jorge didn’t look any more excited than Perry felt, but they drove to the building and pulled the truck inside so the wood wouldn’t get any wetter than it already was. By that time, rain was pouring from the sky and Perry was ready to get the deal over with.
It was still raining when she headed back home on foot, cursing her desire to keep things simple as she always did when the weather was severe. She was almost home when she saw the woman leaning on a dumpster in the alley. At first she thought the woman was drunk so she almost walked past her, but when Perry caught a glimpse of her face she gasped.
“Miss! What happened?” Perry ran over to her, holding her umbrella over her head. “Do you need help?”
“I’m fine,” the woman said, her voice thick around a split and swollen lip. Her eye was swollen as well, and from experience Perry could tell that she had a broken cheekbone. Blood trickled from one nostril and she could see blood running down the woman’s neck as well.
“Like hell you are,” Perry said. “Someone beat the hell out of you. I’m taking you to a hospital.” She put her arm around the injured woman’s waist and she wobbled on her feet. “Can you walk?”
“I’m fine,” she repeated. “I can’t go to the hospital.”
“You have to. At the very least, you have head trauma.” Perry turned the woman’s head and confirmed that there was blood running out of her ear. “Damn, someone really worked you over.” The woman jerked away from her and nearly fell over. She grabbed the dumpster for support and Perry closed her eyes, begging for strength.
“Thank you for your concern, but please leave me alone.” The still-unnamed woman was using the dumpster to pull herself along and for an agonizing moment Perry was reminded of the night Karin had died.
“I can’t just leave you alone,” Perry said, standing in front of her. “Are you trying to add pneumonia to everything else? You can’t even walk, your balance is shot to hell.” The woman stared at her defiantly and she sighed. “What about my apartment? Will you at least let me try and clean you up, give you a dry place to sit?”
“Why, so you can call the cops on me?”
“Fine,” Perry said, throwing up her hands. “I give up, lady. I’m trying to help you because you look like someone used you for a punching bag but you clearly would rather die in this alley, so have fun. I’m going inside.”
Regretting her attempt to help someone for the first time in months, Perry walked away irritably, hoping the woman wouldn’t really die. It would leave a bad taste in her mouth, especially so close to the holidays. She hadn’t gotten to the end of the block when the woman called out to her, her voice stronger than Perry expected.
“Please help me.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Perry muttered as she walked back to the alley. She gave her an appraising look before turning around and kneeling down. “Hop on. It’s going to be easier than trying to support you up two flights of stairs.”
“Are you sure?” In spite of her question, the woman came staggering toward her and Perry nodded. “I’m not light.”
“I work construction.” She said it as if this answered everything, not mentioning the part about being a witch. The woman dropped onto Perry’s back and for a moment Perry wondered if she had passed out. She scooped her foundling up and discovered she was awake when she held out a hand for the umbrella. “Thanks. I was just going to come back for it.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem,” Perry said, looking over her shoulder at the woman. “Just remember, if anyone asks, you’re drunk and took a header down the stairs. I don’t want some other Good Samaritan thinking that I beat the shit out of you.” She felt the woman nod, then smiled. “What’s your name, anyway?”
“Melisse,” the woman said, her voice tired and thick. “My name’s Melisse.”
Three
“Thanks for letting me shower,” Melisse said, drying her dark red hair as she came out of the bathroom. “I appreciate it.”
“If you don’t think I’m going to assault you, you can stay the night. I’ll even take the couch.” Perry patted the back of the couch with a smile. “How is your balance?”
“Better. I think I can call a car and make it back to my apartment.” As Melisse got closer, Perry could see that her face was still as bad as it had been before the shower, only without her blood marring it. “I also appreciate you letting me use your clothes.”
“They’re actually my older sister’s. She---” Perry paused and looked away. The wound was still too fresh to talk about Karin’s death. “She used to live here with me.”
“Well, thank her for me.” Melisse did indeed seem to be better on her feet than she had been when Perry carried her up the stairs, and Perry thought her head injury must have just happened.
“I will. If you’ll promise me you’ll go to the hospital tonight or tomorrow. I really am worried about you. Something to drink?” Not waiting for an answer, Perry got up and went to the kitchen while Melisse sat on the couch.
“Just some water would be nice, unless you have seltzer.” She smiled and Perry held up a finger.
“I actually might have some. My sister was crazy about it, so I started drinking it too.” It was a half-truth this time; Karin had loved seltzer so after she died Perry had tried to drink it but couldn’t. She leaned into the refrigerator and found a can of raspberry seltzer at the back of the refrigerator. “How’s raspberry sound?”
“Oh, sounds great. My throat is so dry right now.” Even Melisse’s voice sounded better, less drunk than it had been. Perry wondered if maybe she hadn’t hit her head as hard as she thought.
“Here you go.” Perry handed her the seltzer and sat down with her own sports drink. She opened it with a sigh of relief that the day was over and drank half of it. “Everything has been completely weird today.”
“I’m sorry,” Melisse said. “I’m sure I didn’t make things any less weird.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Perry took a long drink and sighed with relief. “You sure you don’t want to stay? I promise I’ll be a lady.”
“Number one, I have a dog at home that needs to go outside. He’s probably crossing his legs as we speak, poor baby. And number two, ladies are incredibly boring.” She said this with a wink of her swollen eye that made it much less attractive than it could have been.
“Okay, just promise me you’ll be more careful.” Perry pulled a leg underneath her and turned to Melisse. “So what happened, anyway? Someone beat you up pretty bad.”
“It was, ah,” Melisse opened her mouth, then closed it.
“It’s okay,” Perry said, reaching over to take her hand. “You can trust me. I really don’t even have any friends to tell.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just kind of embarrassing.” The parts of Melisse’s face that weren’t bruised were bright red and Perry smiled in what she hoped was an understanding way. “It was actually my sister that did it.”
“Your sister?”
“Yeah. I don’t really want to talk much more about it, if you don’t mind. I hope you’ll understand now why I don’t want to report it, though.” Melisse looked away and Perry squeezed her hands.
“I totally understand.” It was true, she did. If Karin had ever gotten mad enough at her to hit her, Perry didn’t know if she’d want to tell anyone either. “Here, use my phone. I’ve got both ridesharing apps on there and a taxi one too.” Unsurprisingly, Melisse looked like she was going to argue but Perry put a hand up. “Nope. Not up for debate, unless you want me to walk you home to wherever you live.”
“All right, you win.” Melisse held out her hand and Perry gave her the phone. “Thanks.”<
br />
While Melisse used the app, Perry got up to throw the drink containers away. She paused to look at her aquarium for a moment, watching the plants move in the current. A school of fish came to the front curiously and she smiled. It really was relaxing.
“There, my ride will be here in five minutes.” Her eyes widened as if she just realized something, and she looked down at her clothes. “Oh, crap, I’m still wearing your sister’s clothes!”
“Don’t worry, you can bring them back to me later. After all, you know where I live.” Perry tossed the drinks and followed Melisse to the door. “I’ll walk you down. Just in case you get dizzy on the way.” They walked together down the stairs and waited inside the door while the rain continued to pour. Perry took off her sweatshirt and handed it to Melisse. “Here. Use that to protect your head from the rain.”
“Thanks. I’ll bring it back with the rest of the clothes.” Headlights bathed the front of the building and Melisse opened the door. “Where do you work?”
“I work for Pullman Construction, but my job site is over on Avondale.” Perry nodded up the stairs. “Just drop by whenever you can. I’m usually home after seven.” The car outside gave a single short beep and she pointed at it. “Better get out there before they leave.”
“Yeah.” Melisse smiled a lopsided smile due to her injuries and ran out the door with Perry’s hoodie over her head.
Perry watched until the car was gone, then went back upstairs and dropped onto her couch. She was going to worry about the girl until she saw her again, hoping she got home safely. Perry wondered when that would be. All she could do was hope for the best and trust that Melisse knew what she was doing. She kicked her legs out on the couch and closed her eyes. Maybe she would come home and find Melisse waiting for her.
That would be nice, Perry thought. Super nice.
Four
The next day Perry was toting a sack of concrete through the job site when she heard someone whistle at her. She looked over her shoulder to see the foreman waving at her. Perry waved back and dropped the sack onto a pile near the mixer, then went to see what he wanted.
“What’s going on? Another problem with the measurements?”
“You have a visitor,” Rick said with a smile. “A pretty one. Told her to wait in the trailer where it’s cooler.” His smile grew wider. “Where do you lesbos meet each other? I can’t find a girl that cute any of the places I go.”
“Red hair?” Rick nodded. “I met this one by accident. Can I take my lunch early?”
“Sure thing. Wouldn’t want to get in the way of young love.” He slapped Perry on the back. “Hell, take a long lunch. She’s real pretty.”
“Thanks.” Perry took off her work gloves and tucked them into the back pocket of her jeans and started for the trailer where the administrative work took place, then paused and looked at Rick. “Hey, how did you know I was a lesbian?”
“You kidding? I’ve never known a woman who worked construction that wasn’t.” Laughing, he went out to the yard while Perry shook her head and sighed. She went to the trailer and pulled the door open, wishing she didn’t have to work this job.
Melisse was waiting on the couch reading an architectural magazine when Perry walked in, and she looked up, smiling brightly. Perry was shocked by the sight of her. Not only was she dressed completely differently in jeans and a flowy, flowery summer top, the side of her face was completely free of the bruises and cuts that had been there the night before.
“Perry, hi!” Melisse jumped up and tossed the magazine onto the table. “I’m glad I found you.” She handed Perry a reusable shopping bag with Karin’s clothes in it. “There you go. I washed them and everything.”
“Your face,” Perry said without so much as a hello. “What happened? I mean, how is everything healed already?”
“Um,” Melisse said, shifting her eyes to the magazine and back. “Can we talk about it somewhere else? It’s kind of private. And weird. A little weird.”
“Sure. I got permission for a long lunch. Where do you want to go?” Perry looked down at herself. She was wearing a white t-shirt and dusty jeans with work boots and smelled like sweat and pine shavings. “Not anyplace too nice. I’m a mess.”
“I don’t know, I think you look pretty good.” Melisse said it in a flirty tone that made Perry’s cheeks burn. She couldn’t remember the last time someone told her she looked good, especially when it came to her wearing work clothes.
“Thanks,” she replied awkwardly. “You have a car? I don’t.”
“Yeah, I have one. And I have a place in mind for us to eat. It’s pretty quiet and my sister and I are regulars there so they give me privacy,” Melisse said, leading Perry back out into the sun. “I think you’ll like it.” She pointed to a candy-blue Jeep parked on the side of the street.
“Nice.” They walked down to the Jeep and climbed into it, Perry using the grab handle to pull herself up. She noticed that Melisse did the same thing. She wondered why she would have a car she couldn’t quite get into, then decided it didn’t matter.
“Let’s get out of here. I’ve got a lot to tell you and I don’t know how much of it you’ll believe.” Melisse threw the truck into gear and backed out into the street.
They didn’t drive far from the job site before they arrived at a small café that looked more like a coffee bar than a restaurant. A sign above the awning announced that this was the Three Sisters Café and there was something about it that made Perry feel at peace, even before they went in.
When they stepped inside, Perry grinned. The café was hung with paper streamers in orange and black, with Halloween decorations everywhere she saw. It was almost as if they were celebrating it the same way Perry and her family did, as a holy day instead of just a candy festival.
Once they were seated at a table in the corner, Melisse took her handbag off her shoulder and sat it between herself and the wall. It was so much like what Karin used to do that it almost brought tears to her eyes.
“You see why I couldn’t go to the hospital,” Melisse said without preamble. “I was already healing last night at your house.”
“I thought I saw your injuries getting better,” Perry said. “How? What are you?” She realized after she said it how rude it sounded and cleared her throat. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“It’s okay. It’s only natural.” A waitress stopped beside them and gave them glasses of water. “Thank you, Lisa. Can I get my usual?”
“Sure thing. What about you, miss?” The waitress turned her attention to Perry, who blinked at her, then looked at Melisse.
“What’s your usual?”
“Chicken club with hot mustard. It’s really good, especially if you get it with their peach tea.” She looked up at Lisa. “Why don’t you get us two of the clubs, one with regular mustard, and two peach teas?” It sounded fantastic and when Melisse looked at her she nodded. “Perfect.”
“I’ll get right on it.” Lisa disappeared and Melisse leaned across the table.
“Okay, we can talk now.” She took a deep breath. “My sister and I are twins, and we share a bond that’s, well, it’s deeper than normal twins.” Melisse paused, struggling for words, then started again. “She’s a witch. She’s a witch and I’m a shapeshifter.”
“You’re a weapon?” Perry’s eyes widened. “That explains everything!” She grinned. “I’m a witch too. So you don’t have to go through all the explanations.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I’ve never had to explain it to a human before, but you were so nice I figured I would try.” With a smile, Melisse sat back. “So then you know about the twin thing. That means you know about Hagspawn too.”
“Intimately,” Perry said. She picked up her napkin and started tearing pieces off it. It would be easy to tell her about Karin but she didn’t want her, this pretty girl who was sitting across from her, to pity her or give her sympathy just yet.
“That’s what happened to me.” Melisse sighed and took a drink of he
r water before continuing. “My sister and I were hunting it like usual and it got the drop on us. It was weird though, the thing didn’t attack me itself.”
“You said your sister attacked you,” Perry said.
“That’s right. The thing was crazed, it looked like it was blind. Instead of attacking us, it wrapped its tail around my sister’s neck and she screamed. I was in my weapon form and it was like I was being torn apart. I ripped myself out of her hand and shifted back to human, and when I did, she started attacking me. It’s as if she was possessed by the Hagspawn.” Melisse shook her head. “I guess she was.”
“I’ve never heard of a Hagspawn possessing a witch before. That’s new.” Perry sighed and rubbed her temples. “Maybe because it was blind?”
“Perhaps.” There was a small vase of black roses on the table and Melisse stroked its petals. “I’m so glad you understand, Perry.” She reached across the table and took Perry’s hand, and a spark ran up her arm.
“Yeah, I do.” The words were pressing against Perry’s throat, straining to get out, but she forced them back. “So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. It’s not like I can do anything without her.” Her bright smile was replaced by a sad one and Perry felt every bit of it in her soul. “Our parents are dead too, so this is going to be a really depressing Halloween.”
“If you want, you can spend it with me,” Perry said without thinking. “I wasn’t planning on celebrating this year but if I have someone else to hang around with, it could be okay.”
“Did you lose someone too?” Melisse looked sympathetic and Perry nodded. “I’m sorry. But I would love to spend Halloween with you.” She laced her fingers through Perry’s and the spark flew up her arm again.