“So, you kind of like me, huh?” I say, and Myles laughs.
“Yeah, maybe just a little,” he quips.
I open my mouth to reply when Wyatt runs into the blacksmith's.
“Your mum sent me. She heard lover boys’ declaration. And she has more than a couple of questions, ones that I can’t, and refuse to answer,” he says, glowering at Myles. “Sorry, but Andi needs to come with me. Now.”
I smile apologetically, pecking his cheek and backing out the door with Wyatt. Myles shouts as I turn my back to him, “I don’t regret a thing.”
Rolling my eyes, I run to catch up with Wyatt.
“On a scale of one to ten, how mad is she?” I ask, already knowing what the answer is. I could see it on her face as she watched Myles broadcasting his love.
Wyatt shrugs, dragging his hand through his sandy blonde hair. “Dunno, maybe like a hundred.”
“Crap, I forgot the bread. I’ll be right back.”
“You forget I know your tricks, Miss Kohan… I already got the bread.” He waves it at my face, laughing.
I groan and walk apathetically beside him.A few people stare at me as I near Mum’s stall, and I point my eyes to the ground to avoid eye contact. Anger radiates from her before I even arrive at the stall. The tension is thick, the silence uneasy.
She doesn’t look my way once, as she emotionlessly serves customers. I follow her lead. Letting her calm down is probably the best way to deal with this. Or run, that might be easier.
By late afternoon, I’m beginning to think Mum will never speak to me again, when she turns to me, eyes bulging.
“Do you have something to tell me, Andi?” She looks at me tight lipped.
“I guess you know it all now, I have been dating Myles for a few months,” I answer.
“Months. Months, and you never thought to mention this? When were you ever going to let me in on your little secret?”
“It’s not that I wasn’t going to tell you, I just didn’t know how. Since Dad died, you work so much, and we don’t have a lot of time for important discussions.” Her face softens as she takes my hands in hers and squeezes her thumb into my palm. “You love him?”
“I do,” I say, unable to hide my smile.
She pulls me in for a hug. “He will come for supper this week.”
“Do we have a choice?” I ask with a half-smile.
Mum pats me on the cheek and walks away. Didn’t think so, better tell Myles the bad news.
The hairs on my arms stand on end before I reach the blacksmiths, the wind carries my name, whispering in my ear.An old woman watches me from the other side of the fountain. I carefully tread towards her, following her flapping cloak, but as I near, she is gone.
Shaking my head, I turn to walk away, wondering if these nightmares are making me more anxious than usual. Scraping my nail against my fingertip, my heart jumps out of my chest as I crash into the old woman in front of me. Her sickly-sweet perfume consumes my senses, like she sprayed half a bottle to cover the musty smell underneath.
“There’s that pretty necklace again.” Something about her is familiar, but I can’t place it. Not until she stares directly into my eyes with a strange, dark haze gathering around her, that I remember where I’ve seen her before.
That night at the solstice festival, the old woman scaring children with stories of giants and mini—whatever it was called.The old woman takes a step towards me, and the backs of my knees press hard against the fountain. The atmosphere around her is different, her hair unruly and matted, wearing a cloak that’s ripped and foul, smelling like curdled milk.
Like death.
“May I?” she says, reaching for my necklace. Her wrinkly, vein-covered hand scoops the necklace from my chest, eyeing it eagerly as she thumbs the gemstones.“I haven’t seen it in so long. Then there you were, wearing it right in front of me.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
She ignores my question.“Do you know where this necklace came from?”
“I told you before, my dad gave it to me.” I pull my necklace back and try to sidestep away from her, but she closes in on me again.
