Page 28 of The Lone Wolf Café
I’m going to blow my cover…
Thankfully, Adrian’s surprise was quickly replaced with a chuckle. “You must be from a community without an alchemist, aren’t you?”
I nodded, swallowing deeply. I barely knew what an alchemist was, but I needed to play along so Adrian would continue to believe I was a witch.
“Shame,” Adrian sighed. “I swear alchemists are getting rarer. Anyway, for us witches here in Wisteria Grove, I make a potion that instantly cleans clothes. Old family recipe — dates back to when clothing had to be handmade and materials were limited. Just spray it on your clothes and they’ll look, feel, and smell as if they were hand-scrubbed in the cleanest creek water.”
“Wow,” I remarked, genuinely amazed at what witches were capable of. “That’s incredible.”
“It’smagical,” Adrian chuckled, plopping a spray bottle of clear, slightly sparkly liquid into my arms. “Here. Friends and family discount for today — I know it’s tough to start over in a new town.”
“Wow, thank you! That’s too kind.”
My face lit up, even as my heart plummeted. The townsfolk being so welcoming and generous only made more guilt boil in my blood.
Just accept it.I shoved my anxiety down, refusing to let Adrian see anything other than a grateful smile on my face.After all, witches may see werewolves as monsters, but we’re both magical beings. Wisteria Grove really isn’t that different from Hollenboro.
As I silently fretted within the safe confines of my head, Adrian cheerfully led me through the rest of the aisles. In addition to the clothes-cleaning potion, he plucked various tonics, herbs, and tools off the shelves and handed them to me until my arms were bursting with goods. He was a chatty person, rambling on and on about the town as he worked. But it did allow me to pick up on some interesting details of Wisteria Grove.
It was a very small community of about a hundred witches, most of which were women. Many of them held jobs within thetown, though some traveled to other magical communities to offer their services. Every witch was born with and developed their own innate ability. Rowena was an herbalist by trade, but her power was chloromancy. Adrian was an alchemist. Juniper was a crystal witch. They all channeled their powers through different means, whether it be plants, potions, or even the raw elements of nature. And kitchen witches, the type of witch I was currently pretending to be, channeled their abilities through food.
I gulped, remembering my fake anti-anxiety pastries from the day before.
“So where have you been staying, Nellie?” Adrian asked as he led me up to the front counter.
“It’sNettie,” I corrected politely. “And, um, I’m living in the abandoned cottage next to Rowena’s place.”
Adrian’s dark, hairy eyebrows shot up. “You’re kidding? That’s quite the renovation project. Well, I can get you fixed up with a few things here, but you’ll need to stop by Mason’s carpentry shop for the rest. I’m sure there’s plenty of loose floorboards, and the roof probably needs replacing…”
“Oh, that’s okay,” I blurted out, panic rising in my throat. “I’m not planning on being here long.”
I cringed. On one hand, I didn’t want the residents of Wisteria Grove to think I was here to stay. Right now, all I needed was a roof over my head and a floor that wasn’t covered in dust. Renovating an entire cottage was completely out of the question. Not that I even had the money for it.
But I knew the longer I stayed here, the harder it would be to leave. It had only been a few days, but I could already feel my roots sinking into this place. I loved having a job, money, and a place of my own – as dilapidated as it may have been. I wasn’t yet off exploring the world like I’d dreamed about, but for the first time in my life, I was independent. Self-sufficient. Free.
But I was still a fraud; a werewolf pretending to be a witch. And staying in Wisteria Grove was dependent on me being able to maintain that lie.
Adrian seemed disappointed, but he didn’t say anything as he rang up my purchases and stuffed them into paper bags. I wondered if they got new residents often. Like Hollenboro, Wisteria Grove was tiny and isolated, and I knew how monotonous life could be surrounded by the same few dozen faces every day. A new kitchen witch was probably an exciting change for the town.
I hugged the paper bags close to my chest as I left the shop, the wind suddenly feeling far chillier than before. I looked up, and through the lacey canopy of fall trees, I saw bits of a very grey, clouded over-sky.I guess the sunlight is gone for now.
I didn’t know much about money, but I was pleasantly surprised when I peeked inside one of the bags and realized I still had a lot left over.
Which is a good thing,I thought as my stomach rumbled.Because I need food.
Wisteria Grocerwas the largest building in town, and by extension the largest building I’d ever seen. My eyes practically popped out of my head as I stepped inside and realized just how much food was crammed onto the shelves. They had everything – from fresh produce and dairy to grains, meats, and even an entire section full of desserts.
Back on Hollenboro, we didn’t have a grocery store. We grew what we could in our gardens, hunted what we could dredge up in fishing nets or catch in our wolf forms, and bartered with each other for everything else. I’d only ever heard grocery stores mentioned in books about the human world. Part of me thought they were a myth.
I grabbed a wicker basket from a rack at the front of the store and wandered awestruck toward the produce stands. I gentlyplucked a tomato from a neatly organized display and inspected its smooth, blemish-free surface. According to the sign on the display, they were two dollars per pound.
It can’t possibly be this easy,I gingerly placed the tomato in my wicker basket.Where does all of this food come from anyway?
As I browsed the shelves, I decided not to dwell on it. Instead, I focused on shoving as much delicious-looking food into my basket as possible. Not only did all the foods I recognized look better in this store than they did on Hollenboro, but there were so many foods Ididn’trecognize. Cereal. Granola bars. Potato chips. Even several rows of chocolate bars, which made me drool like a hungry puppy. I could count on one hand the few times I’d been able to have chocolate on Hollenboro.
I checked the bills in my pocket, totaling them up twice just to make sure my shaky math skills were correct, and sneakily plopped a single chocolate bar into my basket.
Just past the chocolate bars was the coffee and tea section, and while there were dozens of boxes of pre-bagged tea – which I assumed paled in comparison to Rowena’s blends – the shelf labeled “coffee” was empty. There were even a few stray coffee beans scattered on the empty shelf, as if they’d run out recently. I picked up a single bean, scoffed, and flicked it back onto the shelf.
