"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.
"We've agreed on a price that I will wire him the moment you get your hands on the item."
"What is this item, anyway?" Vanessa asked.
"I told you, it's an antique charm that will help her channel her magic."
"What's wrong with what she's currently channeling?"
"Nothing," Maria said patiently. "But this will make her work easier and if she spends less time with spell work, she can spend more time with me. I won't deny that I have purely selfish motives for getting her this."
"Has she been working too hard again?" Vanessa asked, suddenly worried. "The fainting spells haven't come back, have they?"
"No, nothing like that. Well, not yet. But I'm worried about her. You know how she is, always pushing herself as far as she can go and with the wedding plans it's..."
"Wedding plans?" Vanessa interrupted. "I thought you were about to celebrate your engagement!"
"We are, but we want to get married as soon as possible and even if it's six months away... You wouldn't believe the amount of work it takes to organize a wedding. It's nearly enough to make me consider calling it off."
"I don't believe that for a second," Vanessa said. "You've been trying to get Letitia to marry you for years."
"That's true, I suppose. I wouldn't have been nearly so determined if I'd known the extent of energy that would have to be devoted to choosing things like catering and flowers."
"Can't they just magic it up?" Green asked and I waved at him to keep his voice down.
"I heard that!" Maria said. "Only someone who doesn't have an inkling into how magic works would suggest that. It takes way more energy to create something with magic rather than buying it."
"I know, I told you he's annoying," Vanessa said.
"I'm not an..."
"Anyway, I don't know if I will have time to go shopping," Vanessa said. "But if you text me the address and the details I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, thank you!" Maria exclaimed. "I knew I could count on you."
"I said I'll see what I can do," Vanessa repeated.
"And you can bring your hot, but annoying boyfriend to the engagement party. I'll send you the details for that too."
"He's not my..."
"Bye now! Talk soon! Love you!" Maria said and hung up before Vanessa could decline the invitation. Typical.
"So are we going to get this stuff for her?" Green asked while Vanessa stared down at her now silent phone and wondered how Maria always managed to manipulate phone conversations.
"I don't mind going into the shop for you if you're scared of..."
"I'm not scared!" Vanessa interrupted. "But thank you for offering," she added grudgingly.
"Wow, was that a polite response? Who are you and what have you done with Vanessa?"
She shoved at him, but he just laughed.
"Stop it," she said, but to her great annoyance she was grinning.
"Honestly, though," Green said. "What do you want to do?"
Vanessa bit her lip as she considered her options, but where Maria and Letitia were concerned she didn't really have options. They had been there for her when no one else had. Right now they were the closest thing to family she had. Closer than most of her actual family had ever been. They didn't often ask her for favors so when they did...
"We'll get it for her," Vanessa said.
"Alright," Green said and Vanessa couldn't help liking how easily he agreed with what she wanted to do. None of the other werewolves she'd interacted with, especially not those in a pack, had ever given over control to her without a fight. It was refreshing and if she thought to much about she might be tempted to
"But we're finding somewhere to stay first and I need a nap before I go out and interact with new magical creatures."
"Nothing new about fauns," Green said, grinning. "They're ancient Greek."
"Ha. Ha. Ha."
***
It was surprisingly easy to walk around in San Francisco. Vanessa and Green left the car parked at the hotel Green had found and Vanessa approved and began sightseeing on foot.
"I maintain that you're being ridiculous," Green said, continuing the argument that had started the minute they were shown their room, paused while they slept for an hour, and set off as they were getting ready to go out.
"I don't care what you think about me."
"As if a tiny bedside table would make any difference," Green went on.
"It seems to be making a big difference to you or you wouldn't be going on about it," Vanessa said.
Green frowned at her. "Like you didn't have the best night's sleep ever last night."
"I did and an hour ago I had the best nap ever. In my own bed."
"It's unnatural to sleep in separate beds," Green grumbled.
"There are those who would say that the mere existence of werewolves was unnatural," Vanessa said. "Never mind the mating-weirdness."
"It's not weird, it's magic."
Vanessa rolled her eyes. It was impossible not to. Green sounded like an eight year old who'd been denied his favorite toy.
"If the bedside table bothers you so much you can get a separate room."
"That is the opposite of what..."
"Then stop moaning!" Vanessa snapped. "And take a picture of me over here," she said and handed over her phone."
Green glared at her, but took her phone and obediently shot a few pictures of her.
"Since you got to pick the room, I should get to pick the restaurant," he said as he handed her back her phone.
"Sure," Vanessa said, confident that she could eat anything.
"Do you want to go straight to that shop or..."
"No," Vanessa said, "let's do some sightseeing first. I'm not ready to meet a half-goat and be polite about it just yet."