Page 54 of Switching Graves

With raised brows and pursed lips, she peers into each of our eyes, waiting for us to agree.

Slowly, we each nod and once she’s satisfied with our response, within one blink, her entire face shifts back into the friendly smile she had before. Reaching her arm around me, she plucks a dark, emerald green gown from the rack and holds it up to my chest.

“I think this is the one,” she chirps, then waves me toward the dressing area as if nothing happened.

“That was . . . ”

“Absolutely insane,” Beatrix finishes for Ava once we’re far enough from the store to talk safely. Each of us hit the sidewalk at double speed the moment we were free.

“I didn’t care what you picked. You could have bought a potato sack, and I would have said it looked great, so long as we got out of there,” Jonah jokes, swinging the bag with my gown over his shoulder.

He had surprised me and grabbed it up the moment she tied the knot at the bottom—unwilling to waste a single second.

We almost bought the green gown that she suggested, but Ava found a black one that fit me way better. It was slightly more expensive. Now that I’m away from the craziness of Miss Kay, I’m mentally tallying what I’ll have to go without this month to still send Poppy half of her allowance.

“Same,” Ava agrees, then looks over toward me with an apologetic expression. “The one you picked looks amazing,” she assures, her brows tipped up toward her hairline.

“She’s not usually like that, is she?” Jonah asks.

“Not at all.” Ava shakes her head in disbelief. “How did she change her face so quickly? It was creepy.”

“I thought she was going to rip our skin off and sew it into Poppy’s dress if we didn’t agree with her to stay away.” The idea of a short old lady coming after Jonah makes me want to laugh.

“I don’t think she was lying,” Beatrix interjects, earning incredulous glances from all of us. She shrugs, a lot less affected by whatever just possessed that woman, then amends, “She said they aren’t allowed to tell us that stuff. I believe her. The people in this town are so closed off, I bet they could have a serial killer living among them and they could never warn us. Seems like she was risking a lot with what she did.”

“Who is going to stop her? Besides, the school wouldn’t seriously hire a murderer to teach Psychology 101. That’s just a funny joke people like to make,” Ava argues.

“Wouldn’t psychology be the perfect discipline for a psychopath, though? He would know all the ins and outs of psychological manipulation,” Beatrix points out, echoing my thoughts from before.

“Now, you sound like Poppy,” Ava grumbles. My mouth pops open at the accusation.

Jonah chuckles. “Poppy is a psych major. It checks out.”

“Are we really entertaining this?” Ava practically shrieks.

“I don’t know. I need coffee after that experience.”

“I need a shot of something stronger than espresso.” Jonah sighs.

29

Sonny

Jonah doesn’t get his way.

Ava leads us a couple blocks away, to a cute coffee shop that has clearly seen better days. They have a full menu of cheap homemade meals and copious amounts of espresso options, so we ordered food and stayed for lunch.

After stuffing our bellies and boxing our leftovers, we started back toward the park, where we could get a taxi back to campus.

“Ooh! Matilda’s is open,” Beatrix squeals, grabbing my shoulders to redirect me across the street.

Jonah rolls his eyes and groans. “Now, we won’t make it back for another two hours.”

“Shut up,” Beatrix bites back. “I know exactly what I need.”

Ava and Jonah share a skeptical look, but follow closely as we approach a store with an array of wind chimes hanging from different sized hooks, singing in the wind. The paned windows are cloudy and blocked with tall shelving pushed against them, offering little to no insight as to what could be inside. Beatrixcracks open the wooden door labeledMatilda’s Parlor of Curiositiesand gestures for me to go first.

Fruity incense burns my nose the moment I step into the crowded store. Beatrix rushes in past me and makes a beeline for a rack off to the left while Jonah and Ava hang by my side in the entryway.

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