Page 21 of Skyblossom
I paused. “You also like climbing into weird trees for ingredients?”
“Icky. No. They’re full of bugs.” She sighed, slumping over the table. “You can keep a secret and also pretend like this conversation never happened, right?”
“I don’t even notice it’s happening right now. I’m suddenly deaf and blind.”
“Okay, good.” She took a long sip of her drink before she said, “I told you she hasn’t been lucky in love.”
I relaxed back in my chair. “Oh, you want a girlfriend and you feel like it’ll go better for you if your vision for her comes true.”
“Oh my god, that’s literally so rude and completely unfounded.” She huffed and puffed and folded her arms, looking away, and she said quietly and awkwardly, “You don’t think it would go better for me if my vision for her came true, do you?”
I laughed. “You seem like a lovely person… I’m sure you’d be able to find someone regardless of how it goes with her.”
She pouted into her coffee. “I think I’m cursed. Every time I have a date that seems like it’s going to go okay, something terrible happens.”
“I mean, dating is just hard…”
“The last girl I went out with had someone put a stealth enchantment on her jacket so she blew up the table mid-conversation. She didn’t want to talk to me after that.”
“Oh, um… that’s not a normal part of dating being hard, yeah, no.”
“The last one before that had some secret demonic contracts that activated weirdly in the middle of a game of darts and her arm was possessed beyond her control and she started throwing demonic-magic darts at people. I still have a scar from that one!”
“Saints. Do they progressively get worse as you go back?”
She pouted. “The last one before that was fine, she just chewed really loudly with her mouth open.”
“Okay, I mean, yeah, I think I’d take the demonic explosions over that.”
“I just think I’m, like, destined never to find love,” she groaned, slumping over the table. “People with a lot of natural divination power usually have weird fate around them! I’m worried I have some terrible anti-love curse. So I feel like maybe if I’ve foreseen true love for Summer, then I’ve finally overcome the curse of dying love, you know? Whereas if she goes and falls for somebodyelseand her true love doesn’t happen after my vision, it’s like, oh, no, I really am an evil black hole of evil black magic where love goes to die, and I’ll die alone and unloved.”
“I feel like maybe you just, um… got unlucky.” That said, her specific experiences didn’t sound like everyday bad luck. And she was right that heirs to strong magic power were usually surrounded by weird magic effects. “I’m sure you’ll find someone. It just usually takes a while to find the right person.”
Usually. Sometimes you asked a flower for one and they dropped out of the sky and onto your table. But I wasn’t saying that part, and not just because that was when the door opened and my heart jumped at the sight of Summer coming into the room with a bouquet of magic flowers, stopping with an awkward, anxious smile at Lumi’s back. Lumi didn’t seem to notice, not even as Rosie came into the archive behind Summer, also making a face at me sitting together with Lumi.
“I’m sure it’ll work,” Lumi said. “I’m sure she’s going to find her true love, and thenI’llfind my true love, and then we’ll all be happy together with our true loves.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Um… what do you think your true love would be like?” I asked, trying to buy time and keep her from looking at Summer bringing a bouquet into the room, and I failed instantly. Lumi lit up.
“Okay, I can tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anybody. And only if nobody’s listening.” She checked back overher shoulder, and she choked on her coffee at the sight of Summer and Rosie, standing up and stamping her foot. “What—Summer! What do you think you’re doing creeping around with a bouquet? Who are you giving that to?”
“Hi, Lumi,” Summer said, beaming brilliantly. She didn’t seem too concerned. Lumi flushed.
“Oh my gosh, you’re ignoring the question. Are you seducing ladies when I have my back turned? Are you giving Cadence cute romantic flower bouquets?”
Poor girl just wanted a girl givinghercute romantic flower bouquets. I understood… I couldn’t believe I had someone like Summer showing up with flowers she knew I liked, and not even for a specific reason, just because she knew I liked them. I helped out. “She’s practicing,” I said. “I’ve been helping her pick out good romantic magic bouquets so she can sweep her true love off her feet once the time comes!”
“Yeah, that’s exactly it,” Summer said, beaming as she swept over to me and handed me the bouquet, a secretive smile on her face. “How am I doing, teacher?”
She was doing perfectly. And I was going to miss her so much once this had to end and she went to be with her true love instead. I took it tenderly. “It’s perfect,” I said. “The colors balance perfectly and the magic balances perfectly. She’d love itsomuch.”
Rosie practically swooned, eyes shining. Lumi bought it wholesale, beaming. “Oh, you’re rehearsing!” she said. “Oh, good. I was so worried. Maybe you’re not too bad, Cadence.”
I pulled my gaze off Summer’s perfect sparkling blue eyes to look at Lumi. “Thanks, Lumi,” I said. “I mean… I appreciate your friendship too.”
Lumi clasped her hands at her waist, swaying a little. “Me too. Sorry we got off to a rocky start. I was just worriedyou wanted to have nonstop wild sex with Summer all across campus.”
“Ah, well…” I put on the best smile I could. Weird how she was so perceptive, for someone who wasn’t perceptive at all. “Nothing to worry about there,” I said.
