The Whimsy Witch Who Wasn't - Donna Augustine Page 0,31
He wouldn’t be so protective otherwise.”
“Protective?” I doubted my ears, but I could think of another word that sounded closer to what was actually going on with him. Dickish, yeah, that I could get my head around.
“Oh yeah. Definitely. He gave firm orders that you weren’t to be given anything dangerous to do unless he approves. He’s never cared what assignments Belinda does. It’s driving her crazy.”
“She realizes he’s keeping me here as a type of jail, a forced labor situation, right? He might be protective, but it’s the way someone protects their property. It’s not like he likes me.” I’d had sweaters I treated better than he treated me.
“That doesn’t count. He doesn’t really like anyone,” Zab said, walking the last few steps and pulling open the door to the Sweet Shop.
That was the last of the talk about Hawk. I’d always had a sweet tooth, and it was as if the motherland was welcoming me home. There were sugar sculptures everywhere. The walls were lined with candy wells, and in the center, there was a fountain of chocolate. This place almost made the abduction, the factory, Belinda, pretty much all of it okay.
“Amazing, right?”
“Beyond,” I said reverently.
I’d just finished my hot cocoa and it was time to get on with things. The list wasn’t getting any shorter, and I needed at least a few things before I went to the factory. Now it was time to figure out where I had to go for these things. I walked to the busier part of town, where the roads opened up into a square of sorts, and glanced at the shop names.
Stationery and Sundries was ahead on my left-hand side. I glanced at the list again. There was some sort of paper listed. Stationery, paper. Seemed like a good bet.
I walked into the store that was reminiscent of some of the larger chain stores I was familiar with, or would be with a dark and haunted makeover. Still, there were different stacks of pens, feathers, and papers all about the place.
An old man, with a hunch in his back and eyes nearly black, walked around the shelving. “May I help you?”
“Yes, thank you. Do you carry newsflash papers?”
“Of course.” Instead of pointing to them, as I’d hoped. He walked across the store, each step seeming long and drawn out. I slowly followed behind him.
“I haven’t seen you around before. Would you happen to be that new pop-up over at Hawk’s? The new Whimsy witch?” It had only been a few days. News really spread fast here.
When I was handed this chore, I hadn’t been prepared for questions, especially ones that would put me on the spot to make stuff up. And if he was going to ask me questions the entire time it took him to get the newsflash papers, he might know my life story before I got out of here.
Hawk had said he didn’t want attention drawn to me. Now what?
“Yes, I’m her. Just another Whimsy witch, doing odds and ends for him. You know, cleaning, errands. I can’t seem to do much more.”
He stopped, looked over his shoulder, and lowered his bushy brows.
“Never met a Whimsy witch so okay with her position in life before,” he said, then nodded and continued his trek across the store.
I’d said too much. He was already suspicious.
Wings flapped, and a large bird with a cat body landed on my shoulder. It settled in, wrapping its body around my neck and licking my jaw with its rough tongue.
“That’d be Sebastian. Seems to have taken to you,” the old man said, as he finally picked up a pack of papers.
“Nice…cat,” I said, not liking the way the old man was eyeing us up. Something wasn’t right. I’d already messed up again and didn’t know how.
“He’s a Losso. Comes from the Valcan forests in the Unsettled Lands. Sebastian doesn’t like that many people. Does your magic lean toward creatures, then?”
I smiled and shook my head. “No. My magic is too weak to do that.” I didn’t know what magical aptitudes I had, but I was certain that I wouldn’t be considered a specialist of any of them.
He hummed and then cleared his throat as he walked back with the papers and placed them in a bag for me. He kept looking up at Sebastian licking me as he did. This wasn’t a good thing. Don’t draw attention to yourself. That was the only rule I had, and I was afraid I was breaking it.