Page 10 of Nix and Tell

What has she done?

What has sheagreed?

I open my mouth to shout and the door opens, Violet stepping deftly out and letting the door shut behind her.

“No need to shout Chlo, I’m right here.”

She doesn’t look different, doesn’t look like she’s sold her soul or promised terrible things or… or… If I’m perfectly honest, I don’t know what she could possibly have said to get Trisantona to lift her compulsion; don’t know what a mortal could offer. But whatever it is, it’s big.

She looks thoughtful, blonde hair tucked neatly behind her ears, and not a strand out of place. To anyone else, Violet looks completely composed, but I know better. Her fingers are fluttering by her side—very slightly, but it’s enough to betray emotion.

Hazel is torn as she stands, looking between Violet and the door, until Vi smiles at her, a smile that is entirely too wide. “It’s okay, Hazel.Sheis waiting for you.” There’s something infused in that word that wasn’t there before, a power of sorts and it throws me off-kilter.

Hazel just bobs her head, smiles apologetically at Violet, and slips into the church behind us.

“Vi?”

“Let’s just… Let’s go to Spellbound, okay?” Her tone is bright too, the way it is when she’s dealing with customers, and it’s as if a wall has been erected between us. My stomach clenches and my mouth dries. It’s not until this moment that I realise quite how much I’ve come to rely on the relative stability of ourfriendship—of all of our friendships in the Riverside Shops—and this formal version of Violet, this ‘on’ version is freaking me out just a little bit.

The walk back to her shop couldn’t be more different from the walk the night before. Neither of us are talking, and Violet still has that strange, fixed smile on her face as she greets passers-by.

When we walk into the shop, I open my mouth to speak, but she places her finger on my lips, silencing me in more ways than one. Even when she removes it, turning the shop’s sign to ‘Closed’ and flitting about the room, I can still feel the imprint of her there, against my lips.

“Violet?”

“Wait.” Her voice is short to the point of curtness, and I don’t know what’s happening, don’t know what’s going on with her. But I wait.

I’d wait forever for her.

8

Violet

I’ve never felt quite so frenetic before.

Usually, when I’m doing rituals, I’m methodical. Each step done precisely, with an element of calm that I simply can’t feel right now. But today? Today I am throwing every kind of protection spell at the entrance to my shop that I can possibly remember.

Salt. Crystals. Charms and enchantments, and scribbling Trisantona’s name on a piece of paper and shoving it in a box in my freezer. I don’t want to curse her—I’m not a foolish as to think anything I could do would work against a centuries old goddess—but I don’t want herhere.

This ismyspace.

She doesn’t get to be here.

She doesn’t get to listen in here.

She doesn’t get to interfere here.

“Vi?” Chlo is looking more worried now. I don’t think she’s ever seen me frenetic before, and I try to reassure her.

“Just another minute!” I flash the grin that I usually reserve for customers, and she recoils enough for me to stutter to a stop. “What?”

“That’s your other people face,” she says. “You never aim your other people face at me.” She’s right, and I can feel the tension of holding that smile in face all through my jawline. It’s rigid.

I feel rigid.

“I’m… I don’t think I can drop it yet,” I say, the words coming more slowly that I’d expected. “If I drop it, I’ll have to stop, and I need to finish all of this first.”

“Okay,” she nods, her usually meticulous curls bobbing.

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