Page 48 of Grim Tidings

So, so much.

“I should go,” I tell him. “Thank you for taking me to the boat ramp.”

“Sure,” he says, but he seems distracted.

“Come find me when you’re ready for the next thing.”

“Yeah,” he says. “I’ll come find you.” He smiles, and his incisor flashes, catching at the corner of his lip. It makes me think of the way it caught at my bottom lip. When he kissed me like he was trying to prove a point.

I need to get out of this truck.

I place his borrowed shirt on the stretch of empty seat between us, then shift my legs, easing out. It’s colder without Gabriel’s car vents pointed directly at my face, and I fight the urge to shiver.

I shouldn’t feel the cold at all, but maybe my jump in the lake rattled something free.

Gabriel is watching me, still stretched obscenely across the cab of his truck, one arm propped on the open door. “You okay?”

I nod. “Going to see if I can find another pumpkin. Since you smashed my old one.”

“I didn’t—” He stops. Sighs. “Pumpkin carving wasn’t on your list.”

“It seems festive. I think I’d like to try my hand at a jack-o’-lantern. Maybe I’ll bring it over to the bar. You can put it in the window.”

Gabriel smiles at that. Reluctant and a little bewildered, like he’s doing his best not to.

“Gonna carve it to look like your face? Scare all my customers away?”

A laugh cracks out of me. “Yeah, maybe I will.”

I pick a smaller, lopsided pumpkin with a stem that’s curved like a handle on my walk home, carefully sidestepping any obstacles to avoid another catastrophe. It was the last pumpkin left at the grocery and I don’t think I can emotionally withstand losing it.

“There,” I say, smiling when I see Tater Tot’s head pop up in the window, interested. “We made it.”

“Why are you talking to a pumpkin?”

For the second time today, the pumpkin goes flying. I watch as it sails in a graceful arc through the air, before landing at the bottom step with a thunk. Seeds spill out of the brand-new crack at the top. I sigh.

Aelia materializes at my side, her blond hair pulled into a neat ponytail. “No need to throw things.” She laughs.

“Where did you even come from?”

Aelia peers up at the town house, studying it with an inquisitive little frown.

“Where do any of us come from?” Aelia answers, her voice airy.

Great. Not only is she here without explanation or warning, she’s in an introspective mood.

I guess I should be grateful she’s not wearing her robe. Just a very subtle, sequin-covered knee-length dress with rainbow socks pulled to her knees and bright blue mermaid shoes that light up every time she moves.

“How did you find me?” I ask.

“I followed your magic.” She finally stops looking at the house and turns to me instead. “You’re being sloppy.”

I decide to play dumb. “What do you mean?”

She scoffs. “And you’re a shit liar.” She reaches up and presses her thumb between my eyebrows. “This little line right here. Your face gives you away every time. You’ll need to fix that before anyone else comes to investigate.”

I slap her hand away. “Why are you here, Aelia?”