Green - a werewolf story

16. A Favor

"Absolutely not!" Vanessa replied when Maria had related the whole story.

"Come on, Vanessa. Don't be like that."

"I'm not going to go behind Letitia's back."

"It's not going behind her back," Maria said exasperatedly. "It's a surprise. You know she loves surprises."

This was true. While Vanessa preferred to know what lay ahead and not be caught unawares, her best friend enjoyed a bit of mystery. Perhaps it had something to do with a psychic mother, perhaps it was simply that Letitia tended to get pleasant surprises. Vanessa? The surprises she got tended more towards the morbid and painful.

"I don't like going into places like that," Vanessa tried.

"You like our shop just fine."

"That's because I like you," Vanessa said.

"But you didn't know that the first time you set foot in it," Maria pointed out.

"I was desperate," Vanessa muttered. And she had been. Sixteen and all on her own for a year. Finding Trinkets and Charms had saved her life, there was no doubt about that.

"I know, honey," Maria said, her voice turning kind. "My point is that you don't know if something is bad until you've tried it."

"I can have a reasonably good suspicion," Vanessa grumbled.

"And I'm not asking you to go live there, I just want you to go buy this tiny thing for me," Maria continued.

"What will Letitia say about you going to someone else for magical things?" Vanessa asked in a last ditch attempt to get out of doing this.

"I'm hoping she'll say 'thank you, I've wanted one of these for years, but I've been too busy thinking about others to take the time to buy one. How thoughtful of you' or something along those lines."

Beside her, Green raised a hand to his mouth to keep from laughing. Vanessa sighed. She would have preferred to have had his conversation in private, but it wouldn't matter if she left the car and walked off. All he'd have to do is open the door and he'd hear every word. Werewolf hearing was a bi...

"If you don't want to do it, I'll have to ask someone else," Maria said when she didn't reply. "Terin absolutely refuses to mail it to me. Something about the postal service being messy enough as it is without adding magic to it."

"Who's Terin?" Vanessa asked.

"He's the guy who owns the shop."

"I hate warlocks," Vanessa said.

"You hate everyone," Green muttered. She glared at him, but he just raised his eyebrows. Fine, he had a point.

"He's not a warlock," Maria said. "He's a faun."

Green groaned, but Vanessa had not met any fauns before so for once she didn't have a preconceived opinion. It was kind of a refreshing experience for her.

"Those are half goat, right?" she asks, thinking back to the books she'd read about ancient Greek mythology.

"Yes, only don't tell him that to his face. They don't like to think of themselves as part something, but better than everything and Terin can be quite prickly."

"They're all full of themselves," Green said.

"Kind of like you, then," Vanessa told him, but he just rolled his eyes at her.

She had to conclude that he was getting used to her barbs to the point where he didn't take them seriously anymore. That was probably a good thing for their continued journey together, but not so good for her plan to push him away.