Page 52 of Pixie Problems
I laughed and buried my head against his chest in embarrassment.
Star elves! Seriously!
Chapter15
Dice
Ahuman named C.S. Lewis once said, “I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.” I saw this in action as the weeks passed, and Rhys walked around like a living shadow. He spent as much time as possible with Draven, but because he didn’t want to worry Mia, he waited until she fell asleep before continuing his counseling sessions with the master vampire.
I was just thankful he was going. I knew things always had to get worse before they could get better. It was simply one of the laws of nature. But I didn’t like to see his zombified eyes whenever he and I were together. It was like all the light had been drained out of them. The gold dust in his purple peepers no longer danced in time with his active magic, and he perpetually looked like someone had drowned his favorite puppy.
To put it plainly, it sucked. I was not a fan. But as much as I wanted the snarky, seductive, flirty and fun Rhys back, I refrained from saying anything that even hinted at that. Healing took time. Eventually he’d tell me what he was getting counseling for. Until then, I gave him the consideration and space he needed, when he needed it. And I tried to be there for him when he didn’t.
Like now, for instance. My grandparents were on their way to Moonhaven this very moment, and I was beyond excited to see them again. It was also Halloween, and I’d dragged the whole gang, which included Rhys, my two bodyguards, plus Lucky and Nick to my apothecary shop, and I threw a Halloween party and made it my grand opening at the same time. Finn couldn’t get away from work, citing the crazies of Moonhaven Cove giving him fits every Halloween, which wasvalid,and Draven and Mia were keeping close to home because of the insane paranormal that kept trying to kill them. They felt safer there, and I didn’t blame them.
I’d finally gotten in all the herbs I’d ordered from a special supplier in Ireland that I’d used previously, and she had beenthrilledI was opening my own apothecary. They were the best quality you could get on the market, and Fiona knew her herbs so well that she was like a walking and breathing plant encyclopedia.
She traveled the world, sourcing them with her own two hands. Some of them were impossible to get on your own, but she had connections that had connections who had connections. In short, it was like Fiona was part of the plant mafia, and I always made sure she left our conversations a happy camper because I didn’t want to get iced by her colleagues.
So, I had my plants, and my bottles and extracts, all my shop doodads that were important for me to weigh, measure, count, splice, grind, etc. I had a brand new cash register that accepted payment from smart phones as well as cash, debit and credit cards, and I had a safe in the back that already held two cash drawer change-outs because we’d been slammed today.
Being slammed on your first day of business was agoodthing. I wasn’t complaining other than to say that I felt like I could literally melt like goo onto my floor and stay there for about a hundred years. Naut was back with me, happy to be by my side once again, even though he’d had to leave his best friend, Ben the vet, behind. After Ben had patched Naut up, he’d wanted to keep him for observation, just to make sure he had no other issues, and replace the fluids that Naut had lost in the fight. Naut had been all sad and pouty for the first couple days I’d gotten him back, but he was apparently ready to be over missing his friend, because he was walking gingerly around, sniffing hands and knees with his tongue out and his ears perked. I smiled at him when I had a lull. “Naut, you’re a good wolf. Don’t bite anyone.”
The witch who’d been letting him sniff her hand and who had been looking at him with googly eyes pulled her hand away at my words, and Naut gave me the kind of look a parent gives a child who’s misbehaving. I laughed at him. “I’m the one with two legs, you’re the one with four, therefore I win,” I told him.
Nick, who was trying to mitigate any Lucky disasters, but doing so very casually so she wouldn’t notice, laughed. “I don’t think he agrees with you.”
Lucky, who was stripping the leaves and flowers from my valerian plants, and putting them in separate glass containers, flinched at Nick’s deep voice, and knocked the extra glass containers off the cutting table. Glass shattered all around her, and I swear she looked like she was going to cry. Like this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I turned to find Rhys with my eyes—he was on Dice guard duty today along with my other two bodyguards—and he nodded, moving to the cash register to take over my spot so I could help Lucky.
Nick moved over to Lucky with a broom and picked her up and put her down a few feet away so she wouldn’t get glass shards that stabbed through her tennies and puncture her feet. Sheeepedwhen he picked her up and blushed adorably. Nicky wasn’t paying attention. He was sweeping up all the glass and removing it from every nook and cranny the good old-fashioned way—with a broom.
I noticed Nick didn’t use his genie magic a lot. I didn’t know why, and I hadn’t been alone with him recently to be able to ask, but it was very curious. Most genies I knew used their magic left and right, flaunting it, in fact. Nick didn’t do that. He tended to do most things the hard way. The mortal way. And I was dying to find out why.
I hooked my arm through Lucky’s and we went outside the front of the shop where several tables were set up with every conceivable Halloween goody that a person at a party/grand opening could ask for. There were candy and caramel apples, pumpkin and cream cheese danishes, pumpkin shaped cookies, little chocolate cauldrons that smoked and bubbled when you bit into them, fizzing drinks that changed your skin color the color of the drink, chocolate cake shaped like a witch, little black cat hazelnut croissants, and about a ton more. The tables looked like they would buckle any moment under the strain, even though a few hundred people stood around them, chatting with each other and nibbling on the tasty offerings.
The police were also here in force. But not because I was still being harassed and stalked—even though we hadn’t seen any evidence of that the past few weeks—but because there were so many people at the grand opening that it was creating such a flow problem for the street that Finn had had them block it off at both ends and create detour signs to keep traffic moving. It was like our own little block party, and I was here for it.
Halloween music was playing, even though I could see no speakers—Nick’s doing—and the night was clear and cold and beautiful. It wasn’t often a full moon on Halloween, but this was our year for it, because a beautiful full moon hung above us, with a million stars in the sky.
I wove around people, trying to find a quiet space for Lucky and I to talk, but, alas, it wasn’t possible, because the herb witch, Lucinda Hetterol, whom I had told Draven months ago to get tested right away for pancreatic cancer, interrupted us trying to sneak away.
She was maybe in her forties and had flaming red hair and deep blue eyes. “Dice, hi,” she said, shaking my hand. “It’s so nice to meet you.” Her face was wreathed in a kind smile. “I haven’t had the chance yet to thank you for letting me know to go in and get checked. I never would have suspected, and my oncologist told me that if it had gone unchecked and untreated any longer, it would have been a lot more difficult to beat. But we beat it!” Her eyes were both shining in triumph and tearing up at the same time. She suddenly swamped me with a full-on hug, and I patted her back, trying not to be awkward. Okay, we were hugging now, I guess. I gave Luckysave meeyes, but she only giggled silently. She knew how hopeless I was with this stuff. This was why I wanted to take emotional intelligence classes!
All of these paranormals around me were constantly flooded with excess emotions, and it overflowed all over me. If I didn’t care about them so much, it would be both alarming and irritating. As it was, I kept patting Lucinda’s back as she sniffled for another moment or two, then pulled back, dabbing at her eyes with a black lacy handkerchief. She cupped my cheek like I was an adorable two year old, smiled, and left, flagging down another council member.
I yanked Lucky with me as we turned the corner into the alley where it was quiet and demanded, “Why are all of you so emotional? Is there something in the water here?”
I mean, I was sweating in chilly forty degree weather. This emotional support stuff wasstressful.
Lucky laughed. “Nope, we just have a lot of heart.”
I wiped my forehead and drew in a deep breath. “I never know what to do in those situations.” I leaned against the cool concrete wall behind me and folded my arms. “I love helping people, but I don’t like praise. I’m just doing my job as a physician.”
Lucky leaned against the wall too. She was beautiful tonight in a hot pink body-con dress with a lacy white cardigan sweater keeping her warm, and hot pink heels on her feet. Her blonde, wavy hair was down tonight, and her makeup, as always, looked amazing.
Meanwhile, I was dressed tonight as a human piñata, with multi colored tassels that went from my neck in layers all the way down to my tennies. I even had a hood with tassels on it. I’d mistakenly thought it was a funny costume idea for Halloween, but it turns out a costume is not funny at all if no one can guess what you are. And the pity in Rhys’ eyes had been demoralizing. Note to self, next Halloween find a sexy costume. Funny costumes are terrible for your self esteem.
The streetlamps from the main street to our right cast a low glow over the alleyway. Enough for me to see the unhappy look on my friend’s face and to see her turn away from my too insightful gaze. I sighed and hooked an arm through hers, leaning my head on her shoulder.
