by Smith, Skye
"What about your stuff?"
"Leave it. I don't want it anymore. It all smells like rat shit."
So did Angelica. She was filthy. Maya hailed the first taxi she saw and took her to her motel for a long hot shower and a clean bed.
"What about Beatrice and Fiona?" asked Maya as she pushed Angelica back into the shower for another go at shampooing her hair.
"Different. They weren't in the coven. I was, like, a junior member. They've been sitting at home waiting for the cops to knock. I got an answer to that text I sent in the taxi. They are on their way here."
"That may not please the management."
"Fuck management," said Angelica expressing the traditional Brit working class attitude to the class that groveled to the ruling elite.
"What, fuck him, not likely," Maya shuddered. "He was fat and farty-looking." They both had a good laugh. They needed it. Once Angelica started laughing, the wave of relief hit her and she got almost giddy.
Eventually, once she had her breath back, Angelica said, "I kept reading the papers, like. I was so scared. They rounded up the entire coven for questioning, but let most of them go afterwards. Those two that stayed with the Magus are staring at hard time, maybe life, for kidnapping. They still refuse to talk about the mothers. Everyone thinks that the Magus killed them. Fuck, I had no idea, honest."
"I believe you, but millions wouldn't." Maya handed her a towel for her hair and then a towel for her body. "Best never to talk of it, like, to anyone. You were never a junior member. You were never there at the house. What about the rest of the coven? Any word?"
"Only from the newspapers. I think the sisterhood is in deep shock. The twisted ones admitted to killing male dogs, like with a knife through the heart, as a sacrifice to the horned one. Explains all the missing poodles lately. Big mistake for them to pick on dogs. In this country, being cruel to dogs carries major time. You can be cruel to your kids but not to your dogs."
Maya looked at the Goth to see if she was serious. Sacrificing dogs? What kind of offering is that? Or was it just the mean spirited revenge of cat lovers?
"Where's my clothes?" Angelica said, looking for the mound of grimy grunge she had left on the floor.
"I threw them in the trash bin in the parking lot. What was in your pockets is on the bedside table. Here, wear the hotel bathrobe for now. First thing in the morning I will go buy you some new clothes."
Angelica was too tired to argue. She crawled between the clean, fresh sheets and curled into the comforter. Maya opened the hall door a crack so that when Beatrice and Fiona came, they would not need to knock. It was a good thing, because Angelica was gently snoring within a minute.
She heard the girls coming while they were still at the other end of the hallway. Quickly she grabbed her purse and the key, and went out the door, which locked behind her. Beatrice ran into her arms, whereas Fiona was more reserved and walked into her embrace.
"Angie texted that you were here. She said we don't have to be invisible anymore."
"Shhh." hissed Maya and then continued in a whisper. "We are of no interest to the police or the investigation. Any info they had on us has been shredded."
"Like, even Angie?" queried Fiona in a whisper.
"Even Angelica."
Beatrice's face went white, which looked very odd, and she whispered, "Oh, I was so frightened. I sat in my room and skipped class and my parents were furious with me because I refused to tell them anything."
"Me too," said Fiona, "except that, like, I live in residence so it was my roommates that were furious."
"Well, you still mustn't say anything. You know nothing about anything, ever."
"Well, that's the truth. It was Angie who was hanging around the twisted sisters. You know, the Goth version of witches. Why are we whispering?" asked Beatrice.
"Angelica is asleep in my room. I had to scrub her clean. She won't be eating with us, but I left her my Honey Nut Oatios, in case she wakes up hungry. Come on. Let's go for some food. I'm starved."
"Food, at this hour? That means either pub food, or ridiculously expensive restaurants."
"Pub then," Maya chose, because she would probably have to pay. "Is there, like, an all night Wal-Mart on the way. I promised Angelica some new clothes."
"Yeah, but it closes soon so we'd better go shopping first," said Beatrice. "Come on, my car's out front."
The big box store had a store-front on the high street of a village just off the freeway. Unlike California, where the store building would be in the center of acres and acres of parking lot, this store actually fronted onto the sidewalk of the high street like every other shop on the street, and was only two shops wide, which meant the entrance only. The store widened behind all the other shops and the parking lot was on the little street behind the shopping precinct.
California should take note, Maya thought, for this meant that you could still walk up and down main-street like a village, rather than having to drive across acres of parking lot to go from store to store.
The only dress that Maya liked in the whole store was a bright pink and turquoise flowered sundress. Everything else was sweats or jeans or dark colors. I mean, really, who would wear dark colors in summer. She figured out Angelica's size and bought one.
"Are you insane? Angelica will never wear that," laughed Beatrice. "Angelica in pink and looking feminine? Duck everyone. Worlds are about to collide."
"She'll need shoes to match. Do you know her size?" replied Maya as she walked the harshly-lit aisles looking for the shoe section. A pair of see-through plastic high heel sling backs with flashing lights in the heals leaped of the shelf and into her arms. The flashing lights were like what they put on kiddies' runners, the ones that blink when the kiddies run around.
Beatrice and Fiona couldn't look at each other without breaking out in giggles. While Maya was in the checkout line - queue, she corrected herself - they both slipped back to the shoe department to try the same shoes on.
Maya smiled. All was good with her new friends. They were getting over their recent paranoia by doing what any woman would do. Go shopping.
THE END OF Maya's Aura - The Charred Coven
Maya's adventures in England continue in The Crystal Witch.
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MAYA'S AURA - The Charred Coven by Skye Smith