Page 61 of Curses & Cold Brew
“Yes, but you don’t need to. You know I love seeing you happy.” I pulled her tight to my side to avoid a group of passing teens. “I also love seeingyou. And I know I’ll be getting plenty more of that when Harlow moves in.”
“Really?” She sounded surprised, but we both knew Harlow’s move was long overdue. There was only so long the human could live in Willow’s kitchen-stock-room-slash-guest-bedroom. And while I knew Jordyn wasn’t ready for the conversation, I had a feeling a certain demon was determined that I’d never leave her bedroom again. Drawers had been cleared, favorite snacks acquired. Logically, I knew it was far too soon for any sane couple to be moving in together, but where was the sanity between witches and demons?
“So you’re willing to share the bathroom with one more person?” Jordyn asked incredulously.
“If she promises to help cook every once in a while, I don’t mind at all.”
“Deal.”
We passed the Stars and Stones booth to find Citrine directing customers toward the people helping bag orders. At first glance, I could only see my little sister, Sabine, and her girlfriend, Gwen, who’d returned from the big city this morning for the festival, but then a tall figure stood to their full height. There was only one person who could claim such a towering stature: Dean.
“Is that the new Midnight Market clerk?” Jordyn murmured, leading us closer.
The monster looked up and waved in greeting. “Iris, right?”
“Hello again, Dean.” I gave an awkward half wave then turned to Citrine. “Well, you have quite the gaggle of helpers this year.”
Jordyn subtly toed me with her boot, already knowing my matchmaking plans before they had even hatched.
Citrine’s gaze pinged from me to Dean, her cheeks flushing.
“I’m just here for fun.” Dean’s chest puffed up like the giant green Boy Scout he was. “Randy should be riding through soon, too. We have a big production to put on, you know.”
Jordyn balked. “Oh yeah, we know.”
The new performance had been thrown together within a couple of hours. It would be a shoddy production, but having a headless horseman in town was enough to send all the tourists into fits of applause. The trial run yesterday had people raving, which was probably why the festival was hosting its biggest crowd in decades.
“He’s going to kidnap Citrine,” Dean whispered conspiratorially to us.
Citrine’s face turned beet red. “It’s just for fun,” she clarified as if it needed to be.
“Who wouldn’t want to be kidnapped by Randy?” I asked, and Jordyn kicked me again. “Ouch.”
“Well, we can’t wait to see it!” Jordyn said, steering me away. “Have fun, all.”
We linked arms and we made our way toward the vampires’ game booth, where they were playing bloody beer pong.
Not their tidiest idea, but they were certainly drawing a crowd.
There, we found Harlow, who was splattered with red food coloring—I hoped. Avery stood close by, handing her sticky red ping-pong ball every time one hit the rim of a cup and bounced off.
“This is harder with thick liquid,” Harlow protested. “It changes the spin on the ball.”
“That’s the point,” Agnes griped. “If it were easy, then everyone would win a stuffed headless animal.”
“All of them are handmade,” Avery added. She pointed to the knitted animals hanging above our heads—bats, cats, a raccoon even—all of them without heads.
“We had to make it hard or we’d be out before the ghoulish choir even sang.”
Harlow aimed her last ball, her tongue sticking out in concentration. She launched it, but the throw was too hard and the ball went flying over the last cup. But right before it hit the ground, I gave it a little flick of my magic and guided it into one of the cups with the gelatinous mixture.
“Cheating witches,” Agnes grumbled but handed Harlow a headless black moth with red and grey markings. “You better tell people where you got this.”
Harlow laughed and handed the stuffed animal to Jordyn. “For you, my love.”
“Aww, be still my heart.” Jordyn hugged it tight and gave Harlow a sweet kiss before we continued on through the festival.
I was enjoying every bit of the magic, both real and orchestrated, but despite promising myself that I wouldn’t, my eyes kept searching the darkened corners of the fair for someone, wondering if she was breaking her own promises and searching for me too.
