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GIRLFRIENDS AND CAKE
When Bethany cleaned her apartment the next morning before work, one of the mint-green bunny apparitions scooting its fluffy face and tummy over her kitchen countertops turned black.
That was weird. Her apparitions got dusty and retained crumbs in their fur, but they didn’tturnblack.
She picked it up, shaking it out over her sink, and tossed it onto her shoulder, where it clung and snuffled her ear.
The black substance on her fingertips that dusted her sink was as soft and smooth as baby powder.
Soot.
She squinted at her fingers, looking at the edges of the black smears.
And gray ash.
That was weird. There shouldn’t be a dusting of ash and soot on her kitchen counters. She hadn’t burned any candles or sage in her kitchen in weeks. Not since Ember’s little demon-summoning mishap just before Christmas, when she’d overshot summoning a fire elemental to dance around Bethany’s fake fireplace as a faux-Yule log.
She sniffed her fingertips, and the smoky scents of burning wood and fabric filled her nose.
Yep, this fine, dark powder was definitely soot and ash.
And one of her oven mitts had been missing all morning.
Later, when Bethany breezed through her front door at noon, Willow already was munching on a salad and drinking a potion that smelled like strawberries and vomit from a thermal mug. It didn’t look like the Parisian Potions course had gone so well. “So, who’s the mystery guy?”
“I didn’t say anything about a mystery guy,” Bethany said, unwrapping her submarine sandwich.
Ember and Willow both performed a dramatic turn to stare at the two gigantic bouquets of scarlet roses on her kitchen table.
Willow asked, “Bought those expensive bouquets for yourself, did you?”
A tiny air elemental whirlwind traipsed across Bethany’s floor, scattering lint, clearly Ember’s editorial comment about the solidity of Bethany’s denials.
Oh, Bethany wished Ember wouldn’t do that. Spellcasting for the three of them was too risky to roll the dice on a joke. She might have produced a tornado that whisked them all off to Oz.
Ember asked, “New bracelet?”
Dangit.Bethany tucked her arm behind herself.
Willow said, “Come on. Let’s see it.”
Bethany relented and held up her arm for their inspection. A shaft of sunlight caught the bracelet, and the silvery metal glowed.
“Oh, wow,” Ember said, scooting forward. “That’s not silver. That’s platinum.”
Trust the dang elemental witch to be able to detect precious metals. Bethany muttered, “Yeah, that’s what the Tiffany’s box said.”
When she looked up, both of them were staring at her.
Ember said, “So, it’s serious.”
“We’ve only known each other a few weeks,” Bethany said. “Last night was our first real date.”
Willow pointed at the flowers. “Only one date?”
“One bouquet last night,” Bethany admitted, “and another one this morning.”
“You dirty, dirty witch,” Ember said, scooting forward and setting her orange chicken aside. “I’m going to need all the details. Where did you meet him?”
