Page 139 of Love at First Fright

Brad frowned, studying my face with something that might have been concern, but more likely, definitely wasn’t. Eventually, he nodded. “Fair enough. Sorry she decided to take it all out on you.”

Before he started talking shit about how much better he would have handled being flung against a tree, I turned away to stumble back towards the manor, each step feeling even wobblier than the last.

“Charlie.” Bat’s voice, small and uncertain. “Do you need a break from me too?”

I paused. Quite frankly, I needed a break from my entire life. “I… just need to sit down for a bit. Somewhere quiet.”

Bat bit his lip, conflicted, but he kept following as I forced myself up the manor’s enormous staircase. My legs were jelly by the time I reached the upper-floor corridor where we’d discovered that single bar of mobile signal.

I needed a tiny sliver of normalcy right now. A.k.a. civilisation.

Gingerly, I lowered myself to the wooden floor. Everything ached—my ribs, my back, my head where it had struck the tree. Bat settled nearby, careful not to touch me. Probably his idea of giving me space.

I opened my phone and scrolled through my contacts, hovering over “Mum” before zooming past. I’d neglected calling her for weeks, and couldn’t cope with her mothering right now.

I tapped on my chat with Emily.

Emily

Lily says it’s a toenail. A giant’s toenail specifically.

Second guess - dinosaur claw.

She’s very confident about the dinosaur claw btw. Says you found a fossil.

My thumb hit the call button before I could think better of it.

She’d probably panic. I hadn’t actually called her in years, only messaged. The phone rang and rang. Made sense, she was probably treating patients. It was the middle of a workday, after all. Then—

“Charlie?!”

“Hey, Emily.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… sorry if you’re working.”

“I just happen to be on a very short break. What’s up? What’s wrong? Is your stomach still bothering you?”

Bat tilted his head in confusion.

Right. I’d lied about missing her celebration dinner last week, claimed stomach problems when really I’d been too broke to afford the train. And the food. And the service charge.

“No, no, it’s um… much better. I just wanted to, um… check in.” I just got attacked by a murderous not-witch and almost died, so I needed to hear your voice.

“Have you started your new job this week?” she said brightly. “You said on our chat you got some sort of delivery gig?”

Ah. Another little white lie.

Bat raised his eyebrows at me.

“Oh yeah… it’s going well. Usual boring delivery job crap. Hopefully I’ll find something better soon. Anyway, how’s Lily? Did she get that leading part in her school play?”

“No,” Emily replied, laughing. “I think her teacher hates her. Apparently Lily constantly raising her hand to answer every single question is ‘attention seeking behaviour.’”

I laughed, the sound unclenching something inside me, my muscles finally starting to relax. “Now, who does that remind me of?”

“I have no idea!” Emily said, mock-innocently.