Page 59 of Jacinth

She grinned and sat herself cross-legged at my feet.

“Proceed,” she announced, waving her hand as though I had been waiting for her.

Right. Next, I had to light the candles. I fished the lighter from my pocket and leaned toward the first wick. A snapping sound scared the shit out of me, and I glared at Harley as I sucked on my singed thumb. She was blowing bubblegum.

I ground my teeth and turned back to the spell preparation.

Harley blew a bubble just as I lit every. Single. Candle.

By the time I began mixing the herbs that needed to be sprinkled during the casting, I was shaking with rage.

Here I was, making the ultimate sacrifice for the woman I loved without asking acknowledgement or thanks, and I was stuck with an infuriating spirit who had attached herself to me like a leech and made me want to tear my hair out at every turn.

“Hey, um... can we go get ice cream after this? It’s kinda boring here.”

“We are not going for ice cream or anything else. There is noafter this.”

Just then, something occurred to me.

“Do you even know what my name is?”

Harley narrowed her eyes, as though I had asked her the meaning of life, and her answer would mean a passing grade.

She scrunched her face this way and that, and when I was ready to give up on the conversation and return to more important things—read: self-sacrifice—she announced, “I think you look like a Fluffy.”

.....

I truly had nothing. How the fuck she thought my name would be a stereotypical pet moniker, I had no idea.

Let it go.

I turned toward the herbs I hoped I had combined properly and prepared to sprinkle them when Harley added.

“It’s not like you know my name, so I guess fair is fair.”

“I guess I just always assumed you were going by Harley. You know, because of the getup and all.”

She shook her head, like she was disappointed in my response.

“Not my name, Fluffy. Not even close.”

I would not respond. I would not respond.

“Seriously, though, what is this spell we’re doing here? I should know, being your indispensable witchy aide and all.”

Maybe she would shut the hell up if I just told her.

“Jacinth, your friend, is not safe at the moment. She can’t up and disappear like you can—would love to hear how you do that, by the way—and this bad dude who has been kidnapping all the local spirits is gunning for her. If she’s alive, she’s safe. So I’m going to bring her back. We don’t want to piss off the Fates doing it, so I’m going to swap my thread for hers.”

“You... want to kill yourself to avoid upsetting some broads and hope they’ll let her live long enough to get rid of the threat. Is that right?”

I shook my head. I didn’t have to explain myself to her. Didn’t get the chance, though, as she kept talking.

“Have you seen how many news articles there are on parents that jump into dangerous water to save their kids who fell in? They save the kid and drown themselves? Or they both drown? The answer is not to screw up your own life to save hers.”

I didn’t have to listen to this.

“My life was screwed up a long time ago. If me being gone gives her and my brothers their happily ever after? I’m doing it.”

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