Then Pippa shrugged. "It's not my place to tell her what I am. Her mate will tell her. It's his place."
Mate. I didn't like the sound of that. "Who is this guy?"
Pippa smiled again and tugged at the ends of her two braids. "I have no idea, but she'll meet him. I feel it in my blood. So does she. She feels the promise of him through me. It calms her when she's near me."
I'd seen it in Emily. If Pippa went away, the old Emily would be back within a week. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. The new Emily seemed stronger, but if I had learned anything through my ordeal with the vampires it was that if something was being kept hidden, it wasn't a good thing.
I wasn't a good thing.
Ugh. The guilt flared inside of me again. Lies and secrecy. Both words weren't good and my life was all about them now.
"You know what? Nevermind. We can go for a milkshake instead."
Pippa frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. That'd be better." I was kicking myself as I went back to my room.
Emily had already changed for the night out. She was dressed in a shimmering white shirt over gray slacks. She looked good, very good. But she smiled and waved towards my desk chair. "You didn't tell me about Brown. She should come with us."
My eyes popped wide when I saw the witch at my desk with a book in her hands. She smiled politely and stood. "Hi, Davy. Remember me from the library? I've thought a lot about that day and decided that you'd been sent to me for some answers. I can give you those answers." Then she extended the book to me. "You can read as much about werewolves as you want. It's not my place to stand in your way."
What?!
Emily gushed, "She's a witch! Can you imagine that? We know our own witch."
Oh. Not good.
Then my roommate murmured, "I didn't know you liked werewolves?"
"What?!" Pippa squeaked from the open doorway.
"Pippa, this is Davy's friend, Brown. She's a witch."
Brown smiled and lifted the book again. "And I brought this for Davy. She wanted to learn about werewolves."
"She did?" Then Pippa seemed to regroup. "You're a witch?"
Brown lifted her shoulders and preened. "I'm a new witch. I don't have much power, but I can feel it. It runs in my family and I know, I just do, that someday I'm going to be a great witch. I know it."
"Oh."
While the wolf was at a loss for words, I stepped in. "That's wonderful, Brown. You'll be a great wol—witch. You'll be a great witch."
"I'm going to be sick," Pippa whimpered behind me.
Brown's chest puffed up and her cheeks got red. "Thanks, Davy. That means a lot and you barely know me too, not like that vampire that was watching us until I left. I saw him, you know. I felt him, I should say. He was a hottie. I didn't know you knew any vampires."
"Oh my—" Pippa crashed to the floor behind me.
"Vampire?" Emily questioned.
I checked behind me and Pippa gave me a weak wave. One of her shoulders was propped against the wall. "I'm okay."
"Did you say vampires?"
Brown turned to Emily and nodded. "You couldn't guess how many go to this college. They're everywhere. Well, they were everywhere, but I didn't notice them much for awhile. Now they seem to be everywhere again. I don't know what's going on. My family doesn't practice witchcraft enough to be considered a threat or an asset by the vampire world. I think that's a good thing. How about you? Do you know any vampires?"
Emily bristled. "There are no such things as vampires."