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“Did you talk to Dani—”
“No, of course not.” Red cut her off. “I’m sorry, babe. I’ve just had a weird morning, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Promise you’ll be careful?”
“Promise,” Violet agreed, grabbing her friend’s hand from the edge of the driver’s seat, and squeezing it.
Physical affection wasn’t something she gave before the Bluff, not like this, not with anyone but Lila. Red had changed that, changed so much about her, reminded her what it was like to have a real friend.
Red swallowed hard. “Promise you’re coming back? It would break Mikel’s—”
“Red, I’m coming back. I’m not going to leave you guys in the shit, and I know it’s not safe for me to randomly disappear. I just have to do this, okay, and by tonight, I’ll be back. I swear.”
Red parked and killed the engine. She set the van keys and a piece of paper in Violet’s hand. “This is my number, Mikel’s, Dani’s, and Tim’s. They’ll read you the riot act, but then you’ll get your phone. Text me and let me know what’s going on when you can?”
“Definitely.”
Red pulled her into a hug. “I’ll be at Dani’s shop. She has a huge wedding order and is going kinda crazy, so I figured I can stay busy and help out. Two birds one stone.”
“Sounds good.” They left the van on their different sides before meeting again in front.
“Be careful?” Red asked, one last time.
“Yes, for sure. See you tonight.”
With one last, long look they parted; then, Violet headed down Main Street. There was an odd freedom to walking alone, keys to a vehicle in her hands, and it struck her that it was something she hadn’t done since she arrived. Hopefully, that would all change soon.
She paused at the steps to the Town Hall to finish her coffee. A million memories rose up to greet her there, from the first night and Jason’s cruel smile when they ascended those steps to the balcony three stories above with Mikel’s hands on her.
Her empty cup hit the bottom of the trash can. She took one last look at the street and headed inside.
THE BLUFF’S TOWNHall was the DMV on steroids. It was easy to walk up to the front desk and ask to take the test to get on the leave list. After a short time in the waiting room spent trying not to remember the last time she was dragged through there, Violet was led back to a smaller room down one of the long corridors in the guts of the building.
“Ms. Davis.” She was barely alone for a minute before the door opened and an older man strode confidently into the room to join her. “Please have a seat.” He sat down across the desk from her and tapped something into the computer before him. “I believe you’re here to take the test and get on the leave list, is that correct?”
Violet straightened in her seat. So far, all this seemed innocuous, as easy as Red had said it would be, yet part of her continued to wait for the other shoe to drop.
“That’s right.”
“And I see that you have control of your lupus ocularis.”
It took her a beat to realize he meant her eyes. “Yes.”
“Uncloak them, please.”
She thought of Magnus, Kane, the explosion, of Lila missing her, and felt the change that would make her eyes gold ringed.
“And cloak them, please.”
Mikel, soft in the mornings, sweet when she’d been quick tempered, kind to Mrs. Bard all those years.
“Very good.” He was a severe looking man with pointy features and sharp eyes. Violet watched him type something into the computer. “And you understand, Ms. Davis, that when leaving the Bluff, you may not reveal the nature of our life here to anyone outside the town boundary?”
Violet nodded.
“I’ll need verbal confirmation please.”
“Yes.”
“You’re aware that you as a mated citizen are not permitted to bring an outsider into town for any purpose, and such an action will result in severe punishment and the likely destruction of said outsider?”
