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“I try to treat everyone equally,” she said. “But honestly, I’ve never met one…that I know of. But I think that’s what has people riled up. The sense that it could beanyoneand that humanity has been…infiltrated. Ugh. I don’t even know why we’re talking about this.”
That response didn’t offer as much insight into her thoughts as he’d hoped, but it would likely seem strange to persist. He wanted to say something about HAPI—Humans Against Paranormal Influence—and see how she reacted. Chapters had sprung up allover, and a former local politician had been yelling online about it for several years. Now others were joining Dan Rutherford, and Eli hated to see the movement gain traction.
“Let’s go see if they need help,” she said.
Before he could respond, she jaywalked across the street and was animatedly offering her services. At least, he assumed so, as he couldn’t hear Iris from this distance. When he caught up to her, a woman with sun-streaked curls was saying, “I really appreciate the offer, but we’re good. I’m only doing this because Clem is afraid it’ll make things worse if we cast spells on Main Street, so to speak.”
The brunette woman sighed. “Gavin is reviewing the security footage now. Soon we’ll know who did this, okay? There’s no reason to—”
“I’dloveto see you fix the sign with a spell,” Iris said, wide-eyed.
“We’re not giving demonstrations,” said the second witch, as the first one studied the sign with a measuring look.
“Danica, I’m so sorry this happened again.” Now someone else joined the convo, a slim, dark-eyed person in a hoodie.
“Rowan! Good to see you again. Do you have something for us to fix?”
Rowan raised a small paper bag. “My old iPod. I started feeling nostalgic, and I want to check out what I was listening to in middle school if you can get it working.”
“Of course we can.” The friendly witch turned to them with a warm smile. “Thanks for offering to help. St. Claire is great, mostly, but no place is perfect.”
The other three headed for the door to the shop while Irisglanced at Eli with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to delay us.”
“It’s fine. You were trying to do a good deed.”
She laughed. “Yeah, that didn’t pan out.”
They often don’t.
Iris went on, “But at least now I can say I’ve met some witches. They seemed nice, right? Well, Danica more than… What was the other one’s name?”
“Clem,” Eli said.
The two retraced their steps and got in the truck. While Eli brooded, Iris filled the silence with ideas, projects, things she wanted to try for the house if they wouldn’t cost a fortune. He only had to nod, put in a quiet opinion here and there, and it was perfect. Maybe he wouldn’t be this happy listening to someone else, but her voicesoothedhim, as if there were deeply woven magical notes. Honestly, the woman could convince him to do almost anything.
Possibly I ought to be worried about that.
He was deeply curious to see her with a hawk’s eyes because in that form, he could discern more, and he wondered what those extra color spectra would reveal. In some worldviews, they’d say he could perceive her aura as a hawk, but for Eli it was much simpler. Different people radiated energy in unique ways, and he wished to know as much about Iris as he could.
How would she react? If I told her.
Taking a breath as he turned down the road leading to their house, he decided to risk it. Otherwise, there might be issues down the line. “I’m not sure how to bridge this topic, so I’ll just be direct because I think you should know. I’m…not like other people.”
Iris laughed. “Neither am I. That’s how I ended up with a purple house, few friends, no job, and hardly any money.”
Despite the nerves making his palms sweat, he laughed. “Okay, fair. But I mean more than that. You know how we were talking about witches before?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“I sympathize…because I’m a shifter. Red-tailed hawk. So I might leave my window open sometimes if I’m out flying. I hope that’s okay. I won’t do it often when it gets cold,” he added quickly.
Iris stared at him. “That is thecoolestthing I’ve ever heard.”
“It…is?” He drove past Susan Calhoun, raking leaves in her front yard. Their neighbor stared hard at the truck and scowled at her pile of leaves. The woman already seemed far too invested in what Iris did with her own home. Eli suspected that the wordbusybodydidn’t do the woman justice.
“Definitely. But I’m glad you gave me a heads-up because if I noticed your window wide open, I might’ve shut it, and then you’d be pants-less in the yard without keys.”
Eli chuckled, appreciating that she understood without him needing to elaborate. “I’ve been in that situation before. Less than ideal.”
