Page 6 of Nix and Tell

I hurry over to one of the cabinets, fumble for the key, and retrieve a small bracelet. “For you.”

“What is it?” She looks at it, not taking it from me right away.

“Onyx. It’s good for protection.”

“Protection?” Her eyebrows raise and I can tell that she’s amused. “What do I need protecting from, Violet?”

There’s a gruffness in her voice that has my fingers all trembly, and I fumble the bracelet, catching it just before it hits the ground. I’m on my knees, glad that I caught it, but when I look up at her, Chlo’s staring intently at me. I’ve never seen her from this angle before, and it makes me want to sink back onto my heels and lure her into doing whatever she likes with me.

Neither of us say anything for a long moment, and then her hand reaches down towards me.

I take it, and allow her to pull me up to standing again.

“Like I need protecting from anything else.”

“It’s just–” I stumble over my words, because if I’m perfectly honest,Idon’t know what she needs protecting from. I just know that she needs protection. I think of that shadow on the bridge, but it’s a shadow at night. Nothing untoward about that at all. “It’s just in case.”

She doesn’t dismiss it out of hand, her face curious. As she picks it up, she runs the beads through her fingers, much the same way I do when I’m stimming, and I realise that she’slearning the beads. Feeling each one individually, until she’s completed the circuit, and slips it onto her wrist.

“Thank you,” Chlo says, and when she leaves the shop, I sigh in relief. I just feel better knowing that she hassomethingon her. Something that’ll ward off any bad vibes that may accost her on the short walk home.

5

Chlo

Idon’t know what it is was that Violet was sensing, but I clearly needed the onyx beads encircling my wrist, because instead of turning right, I turn left and head onto the bridge. And when Trisantona steps out of the shadow of the church, I find myself more than grateful for them.

“There you are, my child.”

Ah.

Usually, I’m able to avoid the Goddess–she doesn’t usually come out during the day, and I’m not usually on the bridge late at night–but just my luck that she’s bored this evening.

At least, that’s what I assume. Who the fuck knows why Trisantona does anything.

I might not be a practicing follower, but like all the nixes connected to the River Arun, disobeying her feels…uncomfortable. She hasn’t given me an order yet, couched in a request, but I know one is coming.

“Won’t you come into my temple?”

There it is. A question that isn’t really a question. I incline my head and follow her back into the abandoned church that she’s taken for her own.

I don’t know if I remember it ever being used for its original purpose–the people of Wyrten Bridge aren’t exactly the good Christian types–but we were all content with it being the kind of building that made tourists go “ahhhh” and snap photos. None of us expected it to be turned into a temple.

A flick of her wrist and I hear the locks turn by themselves, before the doors creak open. Inside is nothing like any church I’ve ever visited.

The walls are completely overgrown with starwort, doing surprisingly well for a plant that usually only flourishes when partly submerged, and it makes me wonder about how much of the church is usually filled with the heartbeat of the river when us nixes aren’t inside.

The columns are covered in murals; languid brush strokes that dance up and up, and I realise that Hazel has been working here at lot more than usual. One of the Goddess’ acolytes, worshipping Trisantona through her art, in return for protection.

Protection.

My hand slides down to the bracelet Violet gave me and I’m taken aback when Trisantona whirls around, her eyes going straight to it.

“A present? From your beau?”

“From my… no, no. This is just from V–” I cut off, unsure whether I really want to tell the Goddess Violet’s name.

“From whom?” Her interest feels like pressure, and I find myself complete frozen, caught between fight and flight. “Clodagh,answer me.”

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