“Fuck, I hate this,” she complained, rolling onto her side. “You totally can.”
“I can’t,” he grumbled back. “Gran is on her way back from Aunt Flora’s. Get in the shower.”
With that, he left.
And if she used all of the hot water in the tank, well, who could blame her.
Withnorealpathin mind, Violet started walking into town, the path was one she knew well, even after all this time. Some things were so deeply embedded in her mind, it would be impossible to rip them out.
Like the taste of Nan’s fresh peanut butter chocolate cookies, straight from the oven, little bits of chocolate burning her fingertips. Like the sight of the small waterfall that always appeared in early Spring, when snow was melting deep in the woods. Like the sound of the wind blowing through the summer grasses, whistling and singing and playing a tune that only the wind knew. Like the scent of her mother’s workspace, multiple pots bubbling with various concoctions, and plenty of herbs drying along the wall.
Like the memory of Henrik touching her, bare skin to bare skin, before they even understood what was really happening to them. She could still remember the strength in his fingertips, and the way he didn’t seem to want to let go. She would always treasure the memories of him touching her without fear and without shame. Memories of when they didn’t have to hide their affection for one another.
Violet blinked and realized she was already in town. The walk should have taken her at least ten minutes, if not longer. What had... how... but—
Had she completely zoned out for the entire walk, or was the town and the area around it shrinking further?
Questions, questions, always questions.
Without Henrik beside her, and no one else in sight, Violet took a moment to simply... take it in. To take in the town.
So much was...gone.
And it was more than the missing row of houses, the ones that had all burned down. There was a lack of cars and people. Businesses were closed. The ones that were open looked tired and worn. Everything was beyond dated.
Even the gas station looked like it couldn’t fill a car for anything.
How was the town even still alive?
Right, necessity, because everyone had been trapped inside, but...
At least a few of the spells that were important had remained. The ones that allowed for things like maintenance on the powergrid, gasoline, food supplies...
But none of it made sense. People could only leave if they had a reason to come back? She couldn’t even think of some sort of boundary spell that would work like that. What kind of magic had her mother been involved in? What had she been messing with? Did the coven know everything she had done?
There was only one way to get to the bottom of this, to get to the bottom of any of this, and that was to call her mother...
Which was the last thing Violet wanted to do.
Call her mother... or go and talk to the one person Violet knew she should, but didn’t want to.
Maybe she could waste a little time by stopping in at the clinic. Apparently, Scarlett claimed to keep outside world business hours, but was known to be in the clinic basically any time Mardoc was in the bakery, unless she was also in the bakery. A glance in the front windows told her that there was no redhead inside, so... across the street she would go.
She should probably apologize for the day before... and for Gran. While she didn’t have the full picture of what had happened with Ms. May, she did know that Henrik’s grandmother blamed Scarlett for Ms. May dying, which was... Ansa would come around in time. May Baxter was a tiny woman in stature, but in spirit, she was one of the big ones. If she had chosen not to shift, there was nothing anyone could have done, particularly someone new to the town.
In truth, it sounded like Scarlett had done everything she could to both prepare Mardoc for what was coming, and to help May through it...
Yes, an apology to Scarlett, and then a better introduction. She wouldn’t mind seeing the changes to the clinic, seeing it warmed up a little. And maybe, they could walk through the back together...
Which would then lead to her mother’s house, which was exactly where she didn’t want to go.
Maybe she would go knock on Ariana’s door instead, and walk with her up to the Reeve Farm. They could go visit their soulmates, Violet could see the changes to the property and the house, and it would be... nice. Polite. Social.
All things Violet was not, but, it was time to put on her big girl panties and make friends with the humans in town.
There was no telling how long she would be there, after all.
If Sam were there, she would probably give her a good shove and tell her to quit being stupid and go be a bad bitch, but...