Page 3 of A Winding Wave of Magic
“Okay, but then he started asking me other questions. Like, what did I study, where did I live, stuff that started to get a little too personal. I said the Irish modernists and the rest was none of his business. Then he wondered if I was at BC too, and did I knowyou,and when I turned to ask him what his deal was, I swear, it was like the whole room froze for two or three seconds.”
I looked up from where I was tugging on my boots by the door. Suddenly, it felt like ice had been poured down the back of my shirt. “What do you mean, the whole room froze?”
Aja shrugged. “Like, the band stopped playing, and the people stopped dancing, and I swear to God, Cass, I thought half the crowd was watching to see what I would say. Then everyone started dancing again. I looked at the guy to tell him off, but he was gone.” She flopped back onto the couch. “I don’t know…maybe I imagined the whole thing. Nick and I did have mushroom tea before we went.”
By this point, I was tugging on my parka, trying to pretend I wasn’t spooked. Aja wasn’t fae, but they had obviously surrounded her last night. That in and of itself wasn’t a surprise, since she frequented events that attracted a lot of fae creatures. Not seers like me. There weren’t many of us to begin with, and I assumed everyone was like me and generally avoided crowds like the plague. Shifters and sirens, though, loved a good party.
Still, why a strange fae would be looking for me was the real mystery. Almost as mysterious as the ability to freeze an entire crowd for any amount of time—something I had never heard of anyone doing. We weren’t supposed to call attention to ourselves. Discovery meant death. Even I, as estranged as I was from the fae community, knew that.
“Cass?”
“Hmm?” I shook myself out of my thoughts.
“I said, who do you think it was?”
I paused, then crossed the room to do something unusual: remove my glove to touch my roommate. A pat on the shoulder would seem comforting to her, but as she thought about it, I might be able to See the episode as it happened last night. It was always a risk—my clairvoyance was unpredictable at best. Some days I could See people’s thoughts like orderly lines on a ticker tape or their memories like scenes in a movie. Other days were particularly bad. All manner of thoughts and emotions, spanning centuries descended just from bumping into a particularly popular lamp post.
I wasreallytired of Boston.
I prayed today would be a good day as my hand made contact. So far, the apartment had kept reasonably quiet this morning, so maybe my touch would cooperate.
A picture opened up in my mind’s eye—Aja was trying to remember what she’d seen. Her memory, however, wasn’t very clear. The dark lighting of the club obscured the man’s face along with the other people she had mentioned. She was trying to see beyond her boyfriend’s attempts to kiss her, and there wasn’t much more she could glean beyond that, even when the room froze behind him. Her confusion colored the rest like a toddler’s scrawl of crayon on a white wall.
I pulled my hand back before the vision grew more chaotic, as I knew it would if I pressed my luck. “It was probably just an old student or something. You need to stop drinking the stuff Nick makes you.”
Aja nodded and yawned. “You’re probably right. Um, Cass?”
I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and went for the door. “What’s up?”
“Are you going to leave your hair like that?”
I turned to check my reflection in the mirror next to the front door. My face looked fine if still marked with a few creasesfrom my pillow. Pale white skin and bright blue eyes looked back at me. A little too piercing, as always, with darker circles than normal underneath. My nose, overly long and sharp, pinked at the end to match my lips, which were just a littletoored. Everything was just a little too much—the physical hallmark of being fae.
My hair, though, was a different story: an unruly black mantle with a mind of its own that was entirely too witchy for my taste. I had cut it off several times, but it always grew back at an alarming rate until reaching its preferred length of just below my shoulder blades. Today, it also suffered from the turmoil of my dreams, with some of the shorter waves bent awkwardly from behind my ears like the winding headdress of a bighorn sheep.
So much for finger-combing it into submission. What I wouldn’t give to be a sorceress right about now and be able to change my whole appearance with a brief spell.
“I see your point.” I hurriedly tamed the mass into a thick braided tail down my back. Still witchy, but at least it was neat—er. “That’ll have to do.”
Aja pointed to the ground. “You forgot your glove?—”
“Don’t touch that!” I sprang across the room and fairly pounced on the offending article, which was lying innocently on the table behind the couch.
My roommate sat up again and tucked her chin over her knees. “Sorry. I forgot. No touching your things, right?”
I felt a bit sheepish myself as I pulled on the last of my protection. “No,I’msorry. I know I’m a touchy pain in the ass.”
“You’re quirky. There’s a difference. Plus you always make me tea in the morning, and you leave the best leftovers in the fridge. That mac and cheese last week. Holy cow.”
I smiled, wishing I could give her a real hug. Wishing something so simple wouldn’t ruin my entire day. And hers.
“Don’t you have to go?”
I started. “Yes. I do.”
“Good luck!”
But I didn’t answer. I was already sprinting out the door.
