Page 17 of Nightmares and Numerology

“Excuse the spell out of me for caring so much about you,” Wanda responded with a frown.

“Well, thanks for that, Wanda,” Poppy said as she then turned to face me. “Hi, Lydia.”

I greeted her in kind as Wanda waved away our words as if they were the buzzing of insect wings. “You need someone to stop you from doing stupid things, Poppy. Don’t carry that much again, or I’m going to hex you.”

The smile won, spreading across Poppy’s face like the break of dawn. She and Wanda were clearly very close, even if Wanda was as prickly as a cactus.

“Other than concern for my safety, what brings you in today? You’re not out of Love’s Goddess Oil again, are you? I know that underwear line has been selling a lot lately.”

Wanda set her burden aside and seized me again, dragging me forward. A second later, I was nearly nose-to-nose with a breathless Poppy. The color had begun to drain from her cheeks,and her smile was a little brittle when she turned it on me. “I’m not here for myself, actually.”

“Oh?” Poppy asked as she turned her attention to me.

But before I could say anything, Wanda was already saying it for me. “Lydia is having an unusual magical reaction that appears to be fire related.”

And that was basically the gist of it. Granted, Wanda had only witnessed this strange ability in the last ten minutes or so, but my relationship with fire had been pretty interesting lately—something I probably did need to get to the bottom of.

“Oh?”

I shrugged. “I mean, I guess that’s what you could call it.”

Wanda nodded. “I’d think if anyone can help her figure out what’s going on, it’s you. You’re the only gypsy I know with experience in dark and light magic.”

Poppy cast me a nervous glance. Her swallow was audible, but she didn’t immediately speak.

“Please,” I whispered. “I... I was going to come sometime today. I need help. If you want to help me, that is.”

Poppy’s eyes softened, making lines fan out around them, a roadmap of much happier expressions. I had a good feeling about her, and my gut rarely led me wrong.

“Alright. Step into the back. I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter Eight

Lydia

Once Wanda had departed, claiming she had business that was taking her elsewhere, I followed Poppy into her back room, which felt barely larger than a postage stamp compared to the spacious area I reserved for inventory.

Still, she kept it neat, with potion bottles and ingredients organized and out of the way. The place was suspiciously clean, except for a pile of colored pencils and assorted markers in one corner. She caught me looking at the mess and flushed an adorable shade of pink.

“Sorry about that. Finn and Ouire have been working on art lessons. Some of the magic lessons he’s learning might require basic sketching. He doesn’t have to be Van Gogh or anything, but apparently, art has magic in it, too.”

“Makes sense,” I said, leaning against the wall instead of taking the undersized chair in the corner. “I’ve always thought there was something magical about art.”

She looked up at me. “Oh?”

I nodded. “I tried to go to art school when I was younger, but I gave up halfway through and switched my major. Being forced to learn a certain way wasn’t for me. I wanted to keep enjoying the process of creating, you know?”

Except I hadn’t. I’d met Rodney and settled down. I’d stopped doing anything that made me happy for fear he’d mock it or otherwise steal my joy.

Poppy cast a cautious glance up at me through her lashes. She reminded me a little of a small, blonde doll. She had dimples, for Pete’s sake. I’d never met someone whose insides matched their outward appearance so perfectly. She was bright, shining from the soul outward. I felt grimy in comparison, covered as I was by the evidence of Indigo’s sins.

“Really?”

I nodded. “It’s been years, but I might be able to help your son with the very basic stuff if you or he want me to.”

“Oh,” she started and seemed taken aback.

“I get it; we’re related, but that doesn’t make us family,” I offered. “I have plenty of relatives I only see once or twice a decade when there’s a reunion. That’s actually how I ended up with Indigo. I mean, I met her briefly, the accident happened, and then...”

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