Page 5 of SIN Bone Deep

“Yeah right,” her lip curled as I started up the stairs and past her.

“Look,” I paused with one hand holding open the door. “You’re late to ninety percent of your shifts, and I bet you were late to open this morning. Lay off. This is my third time being late. Just because you’re in a hurry to run off with someone else’s husband, doesn’t mean you can give me shit.”

“Fuck you, Elenyx Vossen,” Kristine snarled. “If you dare - ”

“You’ll do what?” I arched an eyebrow. “What the fuck do you think you can do to me, Kristine I’m Fucking Someone Else’s Husband Sawyer. Shut the fuck up, and finish taking out the trash by walking yourself over to that fucking car and getting the hell out of here.” I let the door swing closed between us.

I threw myself into the shift, moving through the monotony of filling orders, taking money, and wiping counters. Towards the end of my shift, a group entered. They were in their late teens and early twenties. Some I recognized from the local High School, but others I suspected were from the Academy – early arrivals for the new year or those who had stayed throughout the holidays. They were shiny with wealth and privilege, confident and loud with it.

They took over a corner of the room, intimidating away the patrons who had already been there. I hurried over to wipe the table and saw Nova amongst them. She avoided meeting my eyes, though I knew that she had seen me. The clothing she wore was not how she normally dressed, and some items I had never seen before. Her hair was styled differently, and her makeup… She was Nova, but also not.

I withdrew behind the counter, very aware that she did not want me to highlight the fact that we were related. She was trying to transcend being a Vossen and fit in with the obnoxious rich students and acknowledging me would ruin that for her.

I understood, in a way. There were times that I wished to escape the stares and suspicions of the townspeople and simply fit in. But, as they got up and left, with Nova amongst them, a feeling of cold foreboding raised the hair on the back of my neck. This was not good, and it would not end well.

THREE

When you have and hold a need, harken not to other’s greed

– The Wiccan Rede

The aunts were in the kitchen when I arrived home. A spell was well underway. I identified the scents of lavender, peppermint, rosemary, and the familiar smoke of sage – a spell for cleansing and protection. Aunt Callista leaned over the cauldron, stirring as she sprinkled powder over its surface, whilst Fennel held open a spell book upon the palm of her hand, and held her other hand out, fingers splayed, whilst she chanted.

I skirted the edge of the kitchen not wanting to interfere and headed upstairs.

As I approached my room, I passed the bathroom that I shared with my sister. The door was ajar, music spilling out, and I paused on the threshold. Nova leaned into the mirror applying false eyelashes. The dress she wore was one we had outgrown several years before. She had retrieved it from the chest in the attic and made it over, lowering the neckline and removing the white collar that had been there. The velvet strained over her breasts and the skirt barely covered her arse revealing the lacey tops of her stockings and the suspender straps that held them up.

She wasn’t alone in the room. There were the shades of others going about their own preparations, caught in ghost form at the cusp of departing on the evening out that ended them. Great Aunt Jacinta who had died at twenty-two when a jilted lover found out that she was seeing another man. A teenager whose name I did not know, in a long lacey white dress, her hair fluffed and piled high in the Gibson Girl style…

Nova caught my eyes in the mirror, her expression shifting to one of guilt. “Nyx…”

“I’m just…” I gestured towards my room. “I was just heading to my room. I’m reading up on invocations and…” And grim reapers.

“Okay,” she straightened slowly, pushing up from the palm braced on the vanity’s surface. “I… Ah, I am going out… The aunts…” Her smile was wry. Whilst the aunts would not prevent her from going out, they would have something to say about how she was dressed. It was provocative, and being provocative was dangerous for a young Vossen woman. Leave that for when you’re older, Aunt Callista would tell her. “About the coffee shop…” She started.

“It’s cool,” I told her. So, uncool… I grimaced. No wonder she did not want to include me in her socializing. “It’s fine. Really, Nova.” I stepped away, intending to leave her to it but she called out my name, stalling me.

“Nyx,” she paused in front of me and straightened the collar of my shirt before giving up. “We could… you know…” Her eyes met mine on a fine balance of confidence and insecurity. “Do something with your hair and makeup? If you wanted to, I mean…”

I was taken aback by her offer of a make-over. My shrug was one-shouldered and awkward. “Yeah… Okay. Thanks,” I said. There had been a time when we had been inseparable, but something had happened during the school year. I had been busy working every spare moment at the coffee shop and Nova had seemed to never be home at the same time as I was… I wanted to recapture a moment of the intimacy that had been lost.

Her face lit. Perhaps she too missed our closeness. “Just wait, Nyx. You’ll be a heartstopper, trust me.”

For the next few minutes, I stood with my eyes mostly closed whilst she wielded her brushes across the surface of my face and fiddled with my hair. “Done!” She declared triumphantly at last, and I considered my reflection in a mirror.

I couldn’t see any significant difference to my normal make-up, but if she thought that she had made a difference in my appearance, I wasn’t going to argue that fact with her. “Great,” I smiled through my teeth. “Thank you.”

“You should come with me,” she said, and I saw that the suggestion was impulsive and not planned from her surprise at her own words. “I guess…” She was flustered. “If you want to. A bunch of us are meeting at the beach for a bonfire.”

“Okay.” It would be a good opportunity to make friends at the Academy. If I got accepted, knowing someone who already went there would make those first few days easier. “That would be great. Thanks, Nova.”

“Change your clothes,” she was regretting her offer as she reviewed the shirt and shorts that I had worn to work.

“Of course,” I tried not to sound sarcastic for fear that she would change her mind. “I’ll be right back.” I hurried to my room and dug hastily into my closet, trying to find something that Nova would not be able to criticize. The dress I pulled out was a long-sleeved and mid-thigh black lace which had been bought for my high school graduation. Nova had shopped with me for it, so I figured that she had already approved it.

I pulled it on and switched my joggers for a simple pair of black ballet flats. We would be on the sand, and I expected to take them off. As I stepped out in the hall, Nova met me. She had a bag slung over her shoulder.

She paused to evaluate me. “You look good,” she decided, before leading the way down the front stairs, one hand on the bag, holding its contents still. We eased the front door closed behind us, picking up pace as we entered the gardens, threading our way through the meandering garden paths to where a staircase led down to the beach below.

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