Free covencraft 04 - dry spells by margarita gakis Page A

stared at her for a moment and all Jade could feel was incredulity flowing off Lily. Jade squirmed a bit in her seat.
    “Well, for one, I just got back from… where ever I was.” She pursed her lips. “We should probably think up a term for that.”
    “The Wherever?”
    Lily shrugged. “That works for me. Okay, so I just got back from the Wherever. I’m trying to figure out what I missed and now this whole magic thing.” She waggled her fingers, making a ball of mist appear and then disappear in front of her. “And possibly trying to figure out if this is all fake and we’re trapped in an insane asylum, making all this up to escape the horrible reality. Could be, right?”
    It was Jade’s turn to shrug. Yeah, in the realm of possibilities, stark-raving mad was always on the table. Sad to say, but true.
    “So, that’s reason number one.” Lily held up one finger and then flipped up a second one. “Two, I barely know the guy. Sure, he’s hot and I’d tap that, no question. He’s got great eyes and really nice ass, but I don’t know him from Adam.”
    “I know him,” Jade said. If she knew someone then so did Lily. Lily could access Jade’s thoughts whenever she wanted to.
    “Well, that brings me to point three. You like him.” She looked at Jade significantly.
    Jade leaned back in her chair a bit. “Sure I like him. He’s been… nice. Mostly.”
    Lily raised her eyebrows.
    “What? He has been!”
    Lily stared, crossing her arms over her chest. “You can’t lie to me. I know when you do.”
    Jade’s chest constricted, like she was under a vice and someone turned the screw too tight. “I’m not lying. I don’t… I mean, maybe I do, but I can’t…”
    Lily sat back down at the table. “I know you don’t feel things like me. You never have. And then when-“
    “Stop,” Jade said again, bringing the conversation to an abrupt halt again. Lily always wanted to talk about the thing they never talked about. The moment in time locked in a small corner of Jade’s mind, never to be let out. Jade was determined it would stay there.
    Lily held up her hands in surrender. “Not talking about it won’t make it go away.”
    “Well, talking about it sure as hell won’t either.”
    “How would you know if you’ve never tried?”
    “I don’t need to try things to know they’ll be a bust. Interpretive dance. Live poetry readings. Getting gut-shot. These are all things I don’t need to try to know I’ll hate.”
    Lily exhaled sharply through her nose, shaking her head slightly. “Fine. You’re not ready to talk about it yet.”
    “No. Not yet. Ever. Just… Let it die.” Jade scratched at her forehead. “Jesus, it would almost be nice to get a migraine about now so I could shut this down.” At that, Jade sensed a sort of wall come down in Lily’s mind, around the topic-which-would-never-be-named. But also… around Paris. Jade mentally scratched at the wall for all of two seconds, but didn’t want to push, afraid of what she might find.
    “He cares about you,” Lily offered.
    “He cares about everyone in the Coven. That’s his job. He’s the Coven Leader. I’m pretty sure it’s in the job description.”
    “Yeah. But he cares about you differently.”
    Jade wanted to ask, ‘you think?’ but couldn’t force the words out. It felt so childish and insecure to say them out loud. It was such a huge feeling in her chest - the idea that Paris might like her - like a large balloon filled with too much air, so close to popping. It was the first time she’d had the sensation in her life and she didn’t know what to do with it. She knew she was attractive and she assumed people had desired her before. But she felt like she knew Paris. And she felt like he knew her, or at least, knew about Lily: a secret she’d never been able to tell anyone. He’d helped her. He hadn’t run screaming. He’d stuck around. That meant something. But Jade couldn’t think about that now. She had bigger