Behind me, a dog yipped, streaking from beneath a table and overturning a basket; apples rolled in all directions. The dog chased a black-and-white cat who leapt through a second display. Shop keepers shouted, shooed, chasing the culprits as the melee bobbled over into a side aisle. It was too hard to tell who knocked over boxes and sent the rafter lights juddering.
The nymph laughed at my hand pressed against my throat. “You startle easily.”
“Too much caffeine.”
“Maybe you should try what that boy was selling.” She angled her head in the direction he’d disappeared. “Even you out when Caerwen isn’t around.”
“Do other nymphs live here?”
“River nymphs live in the Claw.”
“No more nixies?”
The nymph smiled tightly. “Not in centuries.” She gestured with her hand. “I’ve kept you from your purpose.”
I hadn’t intended to insult her, but she’d taken some offense. The heated air had grown uncomfortable. I pulled open my coat, checked to see if the drawing was still stuffed in my pocket. The crowd flowed and jostled, people pressing in, bumping like twigs in the stream. I was caught in the flow of bodies, jamming together, then breaking free.
Ahead of me was the witch’s booth. Her counter held a collection of bowls, baskets, and baubles meant to draw the eye. Makeshift walls held up the open rafters where sprigs of drying rosemary dangled beside pale garlic bulb ropes—was it a pointed mockery of vampires? Or just for show?
Burning sage stung my nose. The scent came from smoke, drifting in gray ribbons from glowing smudge sticks. The smoke reminded me of tendrils… seeking serpents. I made my hands relax. Ignored the need to back away.
The witch sat in a battered folding camp chair, one leg crossing the other, both hidden beneath a long flowy skirt in shades of red. Her blouse was black, showcasing the necklace around her throat made of knobby, whitish… bones? Her gaze sliced across the distance between us; unease riffled along my spine.
Silence fell. The woman was old enough for wrinkles and age spots, but her dark auburn hair was luxuriant and thick, long enough to pool at her waist. Her uncanny stillness reminded me of the Gemini Witches on their thrones. Her voice was unsettling. “You need something, girl?”
Jumbled in a woven basket were the wooden figurines I’d admired, and Angel had warned against. Beside them, crystals in a brass bowl caught shards of light.
The woman bent her fingers; she wore silver rings with tiny bells that jingled faintly.
“Maybe you want to know your fortune,” she offered. “What man will you marry, or when will wealth knock on your door. Most wolves are curious. Pry into everything. But you, girl… you aren’t like most wolves.”
I forced myself closer to her cluttered counter. Touched the wooden edge with my fingertips, needing to hold on while my pulse jerked. “I’m not wolf.”
“You think I don’t know that?” A knowing smile as the woman’s fingernails clicked against the chair arms. “I know what you are. Why your one-eyed friend knocked your hand away.”
The woman gestured toward the crude stick figures wrapped with red thread. “Don’t be so casual with those, girl. They’re powerful talismans against the Bone Woman. And she isn’t one you want to see when you have no wolf.”
“Why?” I dared ask.
“She’ll rip you apart, looking for wolf bones.”
I remained focused on the witch. “What other spells do you offer?”
“You want to kill someone? Or make him fall in love with you?” The witch picked up a smudge stick and blew on the glowing tip until smoke drifted in my direction. “Maybe it’s a woman you’re in love with. Whatever you like. I don’t judge. I see omens in the coffee grounds and tea leaves. I could trick you out of coins—but why bother when you don’t really believe?”
My hands twitched. “I believe you might know something.”
“That’s a risky belief, girl.”
“How much coin would it cost me?”
She laughed, a sound like clacking bones in the dark. “A gold coin, dropped in a collection box banded in iron.”
I shuddered, realizing she’d just introduced herself as someone I shouldn’t trust, one of the Gemini Witches.
“Where’s the rest of your coven?” I asked softly.
“Scattered. Nothing to go back to now.”
