They pulled apart at last, and Alice traced one finger over her own lips. They felt slightly tingly, "that was nice. You taste like chocolate."
Altair chuckled, trailing one finger over her wrist, "you do too. But then, you always taste good."
Alice glanced down as he traced one finger over the metal links of her charm bracelet, "it's funny ," she said, "how I can wear something all the time and know so little about it. Why aunt Ruby gave it to me, how she knew I would need it. What the stupid moon means..." She frowned, "I wish I'd asked aunt Ruby's friend more questions, you know, the one in Prague with the jewelry shop..." she tried to remember the woman's name.
"She wasn't much help anyways," Altair fingered one of the charms, rubbing the silver heart between his fingers, "very vague, seemed to like her riddles too much."
A sudden thought occurred to her, "say, what happened to that weird money bracelet you got there? Where did it go?"
Altair shrugged, "I got rid of it ages ago. You hated that thing."
She stared at him for a moment, mouth open slightly, "I...you got rid of it? For me? Just because I didn't like it?"
Altair laced his fingers with hers, "I got rid of it because you didn't like it. You thought it made me...greedy or something. I didn't want you thinking I was all greedy or something," he reached out and ran one hand over her hair, "I have everything I want anyways, I don't need money."
She leaned forward and kissed him firmly on the lips, "you make me ridiculously happy, you know that?"
He grinned, that easy charming grin she'd fallen so hard for.
"You throw away money making jewelry," she grinned back, "rescue me from evil magicians..."
He laughed, "That was hardly me, darlin' I think he could have smooshed me on the sidewalk, that one," Altair grumbled, "me being a reg and all..."
Alice rolled her eyes, "You're not a reg, Altair. You're still sour he called you that, huh?"
"He thought I was," he grunted, "hell, I might as well be, for all the good I am with all these monsters chasing after you."
Alice frowned, noticing that he suddenly wouldn't meet her eyes, staring down at his shoes, his long blonde hair obscuring his face. The thought occurred to her suddenly, that Altair probably felt helpless all the time. When Ambrose had been after her, he had no magic to help, and he couldn't hope to defend her from Athena. And he'd been helpless against Ekile. How long had he been feeling inadequate? She squeezed his hand fiercely, "Altair, there are plenty of things you protect me from. Remember that werewolf who was coming on to me last week? You kicked his hairy butt out onto the sidewalk. That was awesome."
Altair snorted, "yeah, but you could have just turned him into a newt if you'd wanted to. And the best I can do is see the magic, I can't even touch it. When Sarah....when she did the spell on me, I could feel it happening. I could even see it. I just couldn't fight it...or do anything at all about it." The frustration was plain on his face, "what happens when that nut case goddess finally catches up with us? Or maybe she already knows where we are and she's just biding her time. What if she decides she wants to come for you? I won't be able to do a damn thing about it..." He ran his fingers through his hair, and Alice reached out and caught one of his hands, holding it between her own, "We'll deal with it if it happens," she forced a shaky smile, to try to show him she wasn't afraid, "We've already finished off one god, we'll just do it again. You know you helped with the Ambrose thing, right? We all got rid of him together, we'll just...repeat the same thing. Team work."
"Right," Altair grimaced, " maybe I can dig up another ancient artifact or something. I'll have a look around."
"Maybe we should move on," Alice murmured, "maybe we should skip town again, until we can come up with a way to fight another god." She found herself absent-mindedly running her index finger over the twist of bone on her necklace, over the inky surface that the Goddess Styx had touched. Would she really come if she called? Would the goddess go so far as to interfere with another of her kind? Would she protect her from Athena if she came?
Altair was watching her, "it won't work. What you're thinking..."
She glanced at him sharply, "what do you mean? She won't try to stop another Goddess?"
He nodded, "I studied up on the Goddess Styx after she showed up. She's only allowed to take someone who has sworn on her river, or on her. I don't think she'll go so far as to physically fight another god just because she said she'll grant you a favor. Gods hold grudges against one another for that sort of thing for ages....well, for forever."
Alice let the necklace fall back against her skin, "right, that makes sense. It was too much to hope for anyways. Guess I'm on my own with this one."
Altair placed his hand on top of hers, "never alone, Alice."
"I know that," she smiled up at him, "I know you'll always be there. But..." she pulled her coat tighter around her, "I think we should move on tomorrow night. Maybe someplace warmer."
Altair leaned down and nibbled her neck playfully, "I hear the beaches in the Dominican are nice. I hear you look nice in a bikini."
Alice tried to stifle a giggle, "Where'd you hear that from?"
"Sources unknown."
The last day in Jasper was a Saturday morning, and it was extremely busy. Alice found herself giving spell advice to a number of young witches, trying to keep a group of enthusiastic ghosts from walking through the other customers and rescuing Maya from an overly friendly young wizard who kept writing his phone number in the air with his wand and mouthing "call me" at her.
She leaned back against the desk with a tired sigh. There was a temporary lull in the insanity, with only one customer in the back of the shop looking at the head-warming hats. Maya's voice from behind her jerked her out of the stupor she was falling into,
"That was really strange."
She turned to see Maya twisting her the bottom of her red sweater in both hands, forehead creased with worry, "I didn't like that."
Alice smiled at her, trying to look reassuring. Sometimes she forgot that the girl was still wary of men, especially those with aggressive tendencies. Ambrose had made a lasting impression. "Well, it's a good thing Gabriel has a day off today, he probably would have tried to fight that guy."
A faint smile curled the corner of Maya's mouth. She looked like she was imagining Gabriel in shining armor. Then she looked up and smiled as the customer came over and slid the head-warming hat across the desk, "will that be all for you?"
Alice pushed off the desk, letting Maya ring the woman through the till, wandering back through the shop. She was thinking, absently, that she should probably run a feather duster over the glass potion bottles again, when a flash of movement out the window caught her eye. There was a woman across the street, in a black button up jacket, her long brown hair obscuring part of her face, tendrils of it whipping around her neck as the wind it around her.
The woman was as still as a statue, and she was staring right at the shop. Almost, Alice thought uneasily, like she was staring straight at her. She's looking at me. She has to be.
Almost trancelike, Alice walked to the window, eyes fastened on the stranger across the street. The wind was blowing so hard outside that chunks of ice flicked into the glass in front of her, making faint ticking sounds. On the street, the bottom of the woman's coat flapped around her knees, and her hair blew back from her face. Alice was instantly reminded of the couple at the hot chocolate stand, of the silver moon necklace the woman had worn. This was the same woman.
There was no way it was a coincidence. The woman was watching the shop. This time I get answers. She straightened her shoulders and pushed the door open. The frigid wind nearly took her breath away, sending goose bumps shooting up both arms. She had to wait for a car to pass by, wheels crunching on the snow, but she kept an eye on the woman across the street. She didn't move the entire time, apparently not bothered by the wind, dark eyes fixed on Alice.
"Who are you?" Alice crossed the road, stepping carefully over the packed snow. She approached the woman cautiously, "what do you want?"
For a moment, the only sound was the howling of the wind, high pitched and almost primal sounding. The woman took a step closer and Alice braced herself for whatever she was going to do. The woman didn't look like a witch. She didn't have any magic around her. In fact, there were no threads at all nearby, and the thought made her feel nervous and jumpy.
The woman spoke, raising her voice over the wind, "Hello Alice."
Alice just stared at her, curling her hands into fists, nails biting into her palms.
The woman smiled. She was older than Alice, maybe her mother's age, with straight brown hair and dark eyes, her voce was low for a woman, carrying well over the moan of the wind, "Where is your knife?"
Alice gaped at her, trying to find words, "I...do you...how do you know about that? Did you send the knife to me? Are you in the photo with my aunt?" She took a step forward impulsively, "did you know my Aunt Ruby?"
The woman only stared at her impassively, and Alice gritted her teeth, suddenly growing frustrated, "why won't you say anything? Don't just stand there and look all creepy and mysterious! Who are you and what do you want?"
"The knife is important," the woman said firmly, "you must carry it on your person at all times. She's coming for you."
"Who? Athena?" Alice stepped closer, fighting the impulse to grab the woman by the collar of her black coat and give her a hard shake, "what do you know about it? What do you know about the knife."
Silently, the woman pulled back one side of her coat, revealing the same half moon necklace that Alice had seen her wearing the other day, "we are the order. We do not exist."
"You seem to be existing right now," Alice snapped, "you're standing here being all cryptic and stuff." The cold was biting at her through her sweater and blowing chunks of ice onto the back of her neck, "what does the knife do."
"She's coming, I don't exist," the woman was ticking off fingers, like she was reciting a list, "you never saw me, keep the knife on you at all times."
"Right, you said that already," Alice growled, "who is the we that doesn't exist? Was aunt Ruby...one of you?"
After another moment of silence the woman nodded.
Alice felt a surge of excitement, "you're some sort of secret order or something? Aunt Ruby was a part of you? "
The woman's only answer was to glance up and down the street, her moments jerky and nervous, "keep the knife on you," she said, "she comes. We can do no more for you."
"Who are you?" Alice yelled, her eyes were beginning to water from the icy wind, or possibly from frustration and anger. She wasn't sure.
"She's coming," the woman muttered, and suddenly she was moving, coat flapping around her legs. Her voice was suddenly sharp with panic, "she's coming!"
"Who?" Alice looked down the street, but all she could see were shoppers hurrying into stores to get out of the cold. There was nobody who looked especially menacing. She turned back, "there's nobody...." And trailed off abruptly, "there."
The woman was gone.