At exactly 4:00 p.m. Callie walked in The Green Fairy, determined not to sit at home and wait for Kheelan or Annwynn to show up with their dubious offers of protection.
“You look awful,” Glenna said in greeting.
Skye didn’t trust herself to even look at Glenna, afraid her contempt would be written plainly on her face. She would make sure Glenna didn’t go down in the basement to set out anymore fairy traps. Easy enough to handle for tonight. Samhain was tomorrow. She could do her thing for the good fairies and life could go back to normal.
Normal. Back to being ditzy, pitiful un-witchy Skye with no magic and no boyfriend. Unless the fairies didn’t help her get rid of the ridiculous wings. Then she’d just be Freaky Skye. And what would happen to Kheelan? Even if he wanted to stay here in Tuscaloosa with her, he was at the mercy of the fairies as to where he lived and what he could do.
She put her pocketbook in Claribel’s office, stashed her cell phone in her pocket, and made her way to the coffee shop. She patted the phone. She’d called Kheelan over an hour ago and left him a message to call her about the pixie case. No word from him yet.
“Rosemary.” Kyle sidled up next to her.
“You think I need some rosemary tea?” she asked. Skye noted his brown hair, slightly shorter and curlier than Kheelan’s and his nervous hands always plucking or touching or drumming. No tattoo. She wondered who had come out on the better end of this fairy deal – Kyle or Kheelan.
“Energy.” Kyle nodded and pointed to her eyes. “Sleepy.”
“Okay, I’ll get some rosemary tea but I’m going to need my Diet Coke too.”
Kyle didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence before he turned around. Impulsively, she touched his arm. “Are you happy, Kyle?”
Startled, he faced her directly. She glimpsed his confusion before he shifted his eyes to the ceiling. “Yeah.”
She wasn’t sure he understood the question. He answered everything ‘yeah’ when he didn’t understand what was being asked.
“Do you like picture books?”
“Yeah.”
“Is your name Thomas?”
“Yeah.” He cocked his head to the side as if he heard an invisible, distant melody.
Skye stopped her pointless interrogation and let him walk away. If Kyle was returned to the fairy realm – would he be able to talk to the fairies? Could he be one of them again?
She poured the tea, added some stevia and took a sip. It really was refreshing, not as much as her diet soda, but every little bit of strength she could get after last night, she’d take. Maybe tomorrow night she could ask the Fae about accepting Kyle back in their world.
Or maybe not. He could get entrapped there and be worse off than he was right now. She rubbed a hand over her face. Too confusing.
Skye made her way back to the retail area, helping customers and restocking shelves. She ignored Glenna, perched on a chair by the cash register as usual. The shadows deepened in the store, and when Skye looked out the window, the blood moon was full in the encroaching darkness, the stars strewn like rare red diamonds.
There were more customers than usual tonight. People came in looking for something spooky for Halloween, black cat figurines, séance books and spell kits. A gaggle of giggling girls approached Skye and after much elbow poking, a petite brunette, dressed all in black was made spokeswoman.
“Do you have any Ouija Boards?”
Skye stifled a sigh. “This way.” She led them to the right shelf. “Have you ever used one before?” she asked.
Two of them shook their heads ‘no’ while the tallest one shrugged and answered. “A couple of times. It gave nonsense answers. I got nothing out of it, but Molly and Amber thought it would be fun at our Halloween party.”
Skye handed them the box, torn between making a sale and cautioning the girls. “It’s really not a toy. Be careful, okay? Light some candles for protection and if anything unusual happens, be sure to send it away before you put the board up.”
“Oooh…spooky,” one of them mocked.
“What do you mean by ‘send it away’?” asked the Molly girl. She twirled a blonde curl and shuffled her feet.
“Some say the board calls Spirits; others say it’s your subconscious directing the answers. Either way, it can be a bit creepy,” she explained.
Molly rubbed her arms. “I don’t know Amber, maybe we shouldn’t.”
“You’re such a wuss.” Amber took the box from Skye. “We’ll take some black and orange candles too so we can like, set the mood, ya know?”