I couldn't quite remember the last time I had taken the talisman out of its box to shine it up and look at it and pretend that I didn't have a million ideas to tell it stored away in the back of my mind. But as convenient as it was to let it snowball my problems into even bigger ones, it had to stay in its box under my bed.
It had done its job. I couldn't ask for much more from an inanimate (but probably living) object. It had given me exactly what I needed over its short life in my back pocket, and it was a humane ending to its long life as a Bachmann family heirloom.
I was the only person it could get a hold of, and if I wasn't crazy, I'd end up a Bachmann eventually. I sure as hell wasn't a Hughes anyway.
"Lindsay?" I heard a voice call from inside the front door. Dominic. "Why are you home? Aren't you supposed to be at work right now?"
I technically was, but I was no rookie when it came to faking a nasty cough to get out of something I didn't want to do. "I might have tuberculosis today. If I die, I want you to take the talisman and bury it with me. It's the only way to end its curse."
Dominic laughed. "You sure sound like it. And Butterfly believed you?"
"I'm very convincing."
I could practically hear him roll his eyes at me when he opened up the bedroom door. "So why are you sick today? Are you taking one of those made-up mental health days?"
"Mental health days are important," I said.
"Mental health isn't real."
"Yours definitely isn't." I paused for a moment. He was the most mentally ill person I knew, but I was the one who had plans to be with him for the rest of my life, so what did that say about me?
I went back to looking at the box. Opposites attracted each other, so that meant that I was the pinnacle of mental well-being.
Besides, I wasn't taking a mental health day. I wouldn't have to lie to Butterfly about something like that since she wanted to have the healthiest employees in the universe. Instead, I was taking a day to catch up with old friends, which I hadn't done since Dominic left me for his education.
It was fine, though. I liked being lonely. There was comfort in the familiar.
There were only two people I cared enough to see from my brief stint at college before I left on my own accord. Jack and I hung out at least once a month, usually because he bothered me with texts until I agreed to meet him somewhere to watch his new band. It wasn't Things We Found, but Harvey sucked, so his new band was much better.
It had been a little while longer since I had seen Sierra since we weren't roommates anymore. It wasn't that we didn't care about each other, though. She had school in Tillamook and I had work in Sherwood, but it made my decision for which old friend I wanted to catch up with a little easier.
Well, the talisman was my first choice, but I had to be rational.
"I'm not actually taking a mental health day. I invited Sierra to come over since she only had one class in the morning," I said.
Dominic stuck his tongue out. "Her?"
"What's wrong with Sierra?"
"Nothing." That was a lie. But I let him keep talking. "It's just that I drove all this way and now she's gonna be here."
"Well, I didn't invite you, so—" I trailed off.
"I'm always invited," he said. "I don't know why you can't hang out with Sierra and Jack at the same time, though."
I blinked a couple of times. "Yes, you do."
"Can't they get over themselves?"
"That's easier said than done. I'd kill my first boyfriend if I ever saw him again, and I'm not even joking."
"What did he do to you?"
"He said Carly Rae Jepsen was hot right in front of me," I said.
"That's pretty minor, and he's not wrong."
"Fourteen-year-old Lindsay was even crazier than twenty-one-year-old Lindsay, believe it or not."
"Well, good thing we didn't meet then. I don't think we would have been able to overcome that," Dominic said.
I smiled. "I don't know. I feel like navigating unknown magic is a lot more challenging than teenage insecurity."
He shrugged. "Maybe. I guess we'll never know."
Before I could agree, my phone buzzed with a notification. Sierra?
Sierra!
Hey! I have a really big group project and today is the only day we can all meet up to get it done. Can we reschedule for next week?
"Oh." I stared at my phone for a moment longer. What about the coffee we were going to get? And what about "Usually I'm the one to cancel plans. This kind of sucks."
"She wants to reschedule, though, right?" Dominic said.
I nodded. "But what if that never happens? Then we'll just be old college roommates who aren't complicated best friends."
"I think that's how most college relationships end. Once someone leaves, it's like there's no point anymore."
Another text came in. Why don't you come and visit me this weekend? You can meet my new roommate Lindsay. She's not nearly as pretty as you, and she's way less cool about sharing our stuff.
I didn't recall ever being cool with sharing, especially a first name with this girl, but I could live with it if it meant I got to spend a little time with Sierra.
Maybe I wasn't cut out for school, but I had a lot of fun there. I met a few good people—and many more questionable ones—but it was all worth a bucket of money that I didn't have flushed right down the toilet.
Friendships forged in the fire of magic didn't wither away. Someone was going to have to kill me to get rid of my annoying ass.
I took one last glance at the box. That was not a challenge, talisman.