Page 62 of A Lesson in Deceit
Riley
I’d woken up Friday morning, realizing River hadn’t texted me back after I sent him a casual checking in message. He was quieter than usual about his plans, but I never really pushed when it came to him. He didn’t try to ever force me to tell him things when I didn’t want to, so I took the hint and decided not to push my luck.
He could handle himself and whatever it was that he was doing. I decided to pull out the book I had been reading—a retelling of one of my favorite stories from when I was a kid—when Corrin came through our door, letting it slam on the other side of the wall.
“Well hello to you too,” I said, slightly used to her antics, letting out a small laugh and focusing back on my book.
She hustled over to me, taking my book from my hands. I lifted my hands, confused. “Uncalled for, but I’m listening.” The fact that I’d lost my place had my blood boiling.
“Do you have plans tonight?” Corrin asked, tapping her nails on my novel.
“Yes, getting lost in a world that isn’t this one.”
“It will have to wait, if you want to get closer to figuring shit out,” she huffed, dragging me off my bed.
I slapped her hands away. “What are you talking about?”
Corrin turned around and strolled over to our closet. “I found a witch who can see into the past.”
I nearly flew over to her, tugging her shoulders so she would look at me. “And we didn’t think of this before, because…?”
“It’s very fucking weird to go around and ask strangers at your university if they have seer magic. I might have asked Mateo to keep an eye and ear out if one just happened to come into the bar.” Corrin tugged a few options off the rack and threw them at me. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them any details. Mateo is a great listener though, their temper could use some work, but maybe that’s just a possessive thing they need to work on.”
“I thought only wolf shifters went to a wolf shifter bar?”
My roommate pulled a jacket out, putting it on. “It’s owned by shifters, but it’s open to everyone. It’s all about respect. If you don’t show it to them, then well they might just go full wolf and eat you.” Her tone was casual, while I thought that entire sentence over in my head.
I took a top and skinny jeans from the pile of clothes I was holding and went to the bathroom. “What makes you think she is going to want to help us?”
“She graduated from a university that houses the coven mine can’t stand, apparently. If she has any chance of making an ass of mine then she will.”
I poked my head out of the bathroom giving her a skeptical look. She was on her bed now, kicking her legs back and forth. “What? Mateo is a great bartender. Solid listener, like I said.”
“You mean eavesdropper.”
She mumbledwhatever, while I pulled a claw clip out of my bag of hair accessories. I took a few of my braids from each side and pulled them to the back. I held the clip and secured them, then made sure there were no fly away hairs out of place that I would have to use gel to secure.
When I looked at myself in the mirror, a light bulb went off and I flinched. “I can’t go.”
“And why not?”
“My best friend since forever is coming down tonight and I promised I would see her.” I would also see her this weekend at River’s party, but this was our chance to be alone and spend time just us. I started to make my way back over to my bed, prepared to sit this one out and hope that Corrin came back with good news.
“Okay, then bring her.”
I stopped, slowly looking over at her. “To the bar? She doesn’t know what we’re trying to do about any of this. It’s going to be really hard to try to have a conversation with a memory witch and not mention some key details.”
Corrin tapped her chin. “Hmm, you know how you fix that?”
I tapped my foot on the ground, waiting.
“You tell her. Shocking, I know.”
At this moment, my hair clip felt tight and a raging headache was barreling its way through. “She’ll think I’m insane for doing this in the first place.”
Corrin chuckled. “I mean, it is just a little bit wild to transfer schools just to find the truth. It’s also really fucking cool. And the fact that you still maintain good grades is like superhero level impressive.”
“Not everyone is as overwhelmingly accepting as you.”
