He did look like a rock star. And so did his dad and brothers. All long, skinny arms and legs, long hair, and that look in their eyes that said, “I’m a sexy musician.” Evidently effortless hotness was a goblin thing.
Ollie grinned at her. “Hey, Tess. Hey, Jack. Glad to see you’re okay after the New Year’s Eve craziness. This is my girlfriend, Prism.”
I ignored the comment about New Year’s Eve, as I’d had to do over and over since January second. I also silently vowed to hide in my bedroom on holidays from now on, after the Thanksgiving debacle and then New Year’s.
Prism looked exactly like what you’d expect from her name. She was maybe five six and delicately built, and she wore a dress that seemed to be made of nothing but floating translucent handkerchiefs. She had long, pale blond hair, glowing copper-colored skin, and sparkling hazel eyes, and she dazzled us with one of the best smiles I’d ever seen.
“Hi. It’s nice to meet you,” she said shyly.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I said, blinking my eyes in bemusement from the power of that smile. Prism was a force of nature. Her delicate beauty had me wondering if she had Fae in her family tree, but of course, I’d never ask. I glanced over and caught Jack looking at her with a dumbfounded expression that mirrored the one I knew must be on my face, and I grinned.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “Nice to meet you, Prism.”
Ollie beamed, and Prism beamed, and for a moment we all stood around, beaming, and being beamed at, but then her gaze landed on the crystal ball and her eyes lit up like Shelley’s at a funnel cake stand.
“Ooh! It’s beautiful! The quartz is just perfect! And so clear, not even a minor flaw,” she said, almost crooning, her nose inches away from the ball’s shiny surface.
“Are you a …” I did not know how to finish that sentence. A psychic? A medium? A Fae princess? A con artist?
Ollie, oblivious to my hesitation, nodded, the pride radiating off him. “Yes, she is. My Prism is a Wiccan, and she works with crystals and auras.”
Because of course she did. She probably sang folk songs, too. I tried not to wince.
“Oh, Ollie, I’m just a beginner,” she said, touching his arm but not taking her eyes off the crystal ball. “But Tess, this is remarkable. Is it activated?”
“Huh?”
She finally, almost reluctantly, straightened and moved away from the ball. “Is it activated? Has it been used to foretell the future and cleansed after each use?”
Jack tilted his head. “You mean like with Windex?”
I grinned at him. “Not like with Windex. You are an odd man.”
Ollie and Prism looked puzzled, so I pointed at Jack. “The man likes to wash dishes. By hand, even though I have a dishwasher. And I even caught him washing the windows in the kitchen one day.”
“Wow,” Ollie said, clearly fighting a grin.
But Prism only bestowed a gently benevolent smile on Jack. “It’s so much better to live in serenity, isn’t it?”
“Um…” He smiled back, clearly caught in Prism’s … prism. I heroically refrained from rolling my eyes.
“To answer your question, I don’t know if it has been activated, but it certainly works,” I told them, caught between flinching at the memory and rolling my eyes at Jack.
“What does it do, Tess?” Ollie put the plant I finally realized he was carrying on my counter to free his hands and reached out to touch the top of the ball. “Hey! It’s warm!”
Oh, no.
First things first, though. I pointed at the small pot. “Why are you carrying a zucchini plant around with you? Is it take your cucurbit to work with you?”
Jack looked at me. “Your what?”
“Cucurbitaceae,” I loftily informed him. “The gourd family.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Hey. I read, and I know things.”
Ollie laughed. “Yes. My squash and cantaloupe are in the car.”
