Page 7 of Never Nix Up

“Hazel, look at me.” I kneel on the edge of the booth bench, and wait for her to look up. She’s hiding behind a curtain of pink wavy curls, and it feels like an age before she lifts her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. That wasn’t okay.”

Whatever rage had fuelled her before has gone now, and she looks completely drained. “I couldn’t tell you. We’re not supposed to tell humans about us, andshe…” Her voice trails away before her face sets. “There’s a goddess. The Goddess of the River Arun, and I kind of sort of work with her. And I can’t hide anything from her.”

I can feel Chlo and Violet freeze at that, and Vi slides into the booth opposite Hazel. “You can’t?”

She shakes her head. “And she’s pushy, Finn, really pushy. If she knew how much I like you then she’d…”

“She’d what?” I ask with a laugh. “I don’t work for her.”

Chlo clears her throat. “It’s complicated.”

“No it’s not,” says Vi, tartly. “She tried to make Chlo have sex with me, to do sex magic so that she could gain all the energy. And I wasn’t having that.”

Hazel cracks a smile for the first time since the truth’s come out. “I still can’t believe you spoke to her like that.”

“Someone had to.” There’s something very territorial about the way that Vi kisses Chlo, and I find myself smiling.

“She’d want to us to get together,” explained Hazel. “She draws energy from me already, so I doubt she’d need sex magic, but it’s dangerous.”

“You did just kiss me,” I point out, resolutely ignoring Vi’s squeak of delight.

“Yes, and I shouldn’t have.” Hazel looks determined again, and not in a way that I like. There’s a stubbornness there that suggests that she might not be kissing me again any time soon, and that’s not something that I like the sound of. “The Goddess’s protection covers me, but unless she’ll extend it to you, then you’d be in danger.”

“In danger? From who, if not this goddess?”

“From my family.”

7

Hazel

This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

This wasn’t supposed to happen at all.

But as much as I’m frustrated by Vi taking things into her own hands, there is also something nice about finally speaking out loud the fears that I’ve had for so long. About being able to talk to my friends.

“I think you’d best tell me all about it,” says Finn, and sits back down onto the booth bench next to me. Chlo and Vi take position on the bench opposite, and they’re all staring at me.

I can’t remember the last time I had so many people look at me so intensely.

No. I can.

“My family don’t speak to me.”

“Because you’re gay?” Finn asks.

Chlo barks a laugh at that. “Nah, nixes don’t really care about gender. They only care about who you’re fucking if they’re mortal.” Vi squeezes her hand, and the two of them smile gently at each other.

“Your parents don’t seem to mind,” points out Finn, and that’s true. Vi and Chlo go for lunch with Chlo’s parents on a Sunday.

“Chlo’s parents aren’t mine.” My voice sounds harsh, and Chlo winces a little.

“Yeah, mine are of the hippy-focus-on-looking-after-the-river variety of nixes. Many nixes… aren’t.”

Finn’s brow is furrowed, like she’s concentrating super hard. “So if they’re not hippies, they’re…?”

“Murderous. Most people have heard of our Scottish cousins: kelpies.”

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