Every time I stopped by Elle's cafe, Pumpkin Spice, the wooden vines carved on the backs of the chairs had grown a little. Today, delicately carved blossoms had sprouted on some of the vine. They seemed to sway gently, though it could have been a trick of the light. Elle said I could expect to see full-grown pumpkins soon, which she hoped to pry off, enchant, and sell at the Portland Saturday Market as charms.
The butterscotch walls seemed warmer today, too, lit by new filigree-shaded lamps jutting out of the walls between tables. The brown couches along the right side of the room had been replaced with giant burnt orange cushions surrounding low tables. The room still smelled like a spice cupboard, but there was an extra something here, too—the faint almost-scent of a well-cast enchantment.
I glanced over the tops of my glasses. The lenses shielded me from seeing magic everywhere, which was a rare and somewhat inconvenient faerie gift. Above the glass, the room shifted to life, with warm gold sparkles floating down from the filigree lamps and soft orange curls rising from mugs with the steam. The living wooden leaves on the backs of the chairs rustled in a nonexistent breeze.
But the people stood out more than the charms: Everyone here was a Glimmer. Glittering nebulas surrounded the faeries. A cluster of wizards chatted at a table set into the front bay windows as constellations slowly spun around their heads. A witch's dragon familiar, translucent like smoke, curled up around her neck and nuzzled her ear beneath her shocking blue hair. The water sprite she was talking to sat in a mist that gave off a faint rainbow if I tilted my head just right. Around the door, a pulsing gold light kept the Humdrums out and drew the Glimmers in.
It was a brilliant business move.
Elle waved at me from her spot behind the counter. Her skin glowed, even when I looked through my glasses. Success had her flushed with radiance.
"Caramel macchiato," she said as soon as I reached the counter. She'd developed an uncanny ability to figure out exactly what people were craving. It was just one of her many blossoming witch gifts. Elle's dad was a Humdrum, but her mom had been an earth witch. Elle had inherited a whole slew of abilities, including a certain savvy about anything—including coffee beans—that had started in the ground. She handed an orange ceramic mug to me. The Pumpkin Spice logo was emblazoned on the front, the pumpkin vines entwined around the name shifting in the light.
"No charge," she said brightly. She'd forgiven me completely for meddling in her life all spring; I had a feeling Kyle, her best-friend-turned-boyfriend, had something to do with it. He was behind the counter, too, shaking his hips to the pulsing beat of a faerie alt band coming out of the radio while he replaced flavored syrups on a wooden rack. I dropped a couple copper coins into the tip jar and took my coffee to a table.
I set the small blue folder on the table. My magic wand was wedged in my hair, holding the curls back in a twist. I touched the wand's handle and the folder sprang back to its full size with a papery rustle.
Client Name: Lily Pacifica, Princess of the North Pacific Ocean, Twelfth Daughter of King Neptune Pacifica
Age: 19
Occupation: Princess
Hiring client: Lily Pacifica
Case summary: Lily Pacifica has fallen in love with a human male, a Humdrum named Evan Costner (see enclosed personal details). She wishes to become human, which would enable their relationship to deepen. She is the twelfth daughter of the King Neptune Pacifica, king of the North Pacific Ocean, and his consort wife, Queen Muriel.
I wished mer-kings would stop calling themselves Neptune. The king of the North Pacific was named King Neptune, and so was the king of the South Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and so were most of their oldest sons. The King of the North Atlantic was named Bob. I wanted to send him a thank-you note.
Lily's father is opposed to inter-species transformations and has hopes of Lily marrying an influential merman within the kingdom and/or pursuing a career relevant to her primary interest area of sculpture. King Neptune and Queen Muriel are aware of Lily's decision to contract a Wishes Fulfilled godparent, but have expressed strong hopes that the assigned Godmother (i.e., Junior Godmother Olivia Feye) will be able to redirect Lily's wish to a more productive venue.
Objective: Grant Lily Pacifica's wish, or a wish of equal or greater subjective value.
Recommendations: Redirect Princess Pacifica's aspirations toward a wish more in harmony with her probable future happiness. All parties are aware a Little Mermaid Archetype is likely present; the King and Queen prefer to avoid the risks inherent in such an Archetype. Godmother is expressly prohibited from pursuing a Suicide Conundrum, as permitted per Oracle's Agreement, Section 3, Clause 3.8.
Relevant Archetype (subject to change at Godparent's discretion): Little Mermaid
I could see why Lorinda had assigned this case to me. My track record for coloring inside the lines wasn't exactly stellar. If anyone could ruin a love affair so badly that it would change Lily Pacifica's mind about this human, it was me.
The photo of Lily had been taken at night. Her skin glowed gunmetal blue in the moonlight. I could make out the banks of the Willamette River behind her. Lorinda had told me that Lily, like many other mermaids living along the coast, often travelled up the river to take in the sights.
"This Evan person is a photographer," Lorinda had said. "He was taking pictures of the skyline and the Willamette. She swam over to say hello, foolish girl, and fell head-over-tail for him."
No one had mentioned whether he'd fallen in love with her, too. If her looks were any indication, it was a definite possibility. Her skin shone like someone had dipped it in mother-of-pearl, her red hair cascaded over her bare shoulders like fire in the night, and her eyes had a fierce joy you only ever saw in mermaids, or maybe nyads who didn't leave their rivers much.
As for why Lily thought this relationship was worth leaving her kingdom over, I couldn't say. I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea of leaving the mysterious freedom of the water for some guy.
But then, I wasn't a mermaid, and mermaids weren't known for being the most sensible Glimmers around.
At least this sea princess seemed to like Humdrums, or at least one of them. Imogen had always accused me of having a "thing" for Humdrums, and maybe that would help Lily and I connect.
The only other Glim I'd met who seemed to understand the value of the Hums had been the last person I expected. The look on Queen Amani's face when she'd told me we had to protect them made me think this was personal.
"This kind of thing is completely unacceptable," she'd said when we'd met beneath the bridge. Her jaw had twitched. "Any Glimmer who fails to remember our reliance on the Humdrums is a Glimmer who is going to have a whole lot of regrets, and fast. We're a minority in this world. We'd do well to remember it." I'd never seen her look so angry. Granted, I'd only met her twice before. But under the bridge, her eyes had flashed in a way that made me remember the anger of the Faerie Queen could stop the rain from falling.
Perhaps that was why she'd asked me to be her heir. Perhaps it was hard to find someone who respected the Humdrums as more than a necessary evil. And I did respect them. Magic didn't smooth their paths, but they'd built enormous cities and created great works of art anyway through sheer willpower and hard work. It always amazed me how few Glimmers took the time to be impressed. Maybe Queen Amani had chosen me because I was one of the few who did.
Not that I was chosen. I'd refused the offer, and it was past time I stopped thinking about it.
I pulled out my phone. A couple taps brought up the JinxNet in a browser. Glimmering websites weren't exactly on the internet. But the electrical impulses that made the internet possible weren't much different from the energetic impulses that made magic work, and the two systems played so nicely together that some clever magicians had figured out how to lace magic and code together back in the late eighties. It took only a moment of searching to pull up a page on hybrid-to-human transformations.
Less than a minute of reading, and it was clear I had logistics on my side. Turning a half-human into a full human was a headache of a process, and unless we got a transformation specialist or really brilliant witch to cut us a hell of a deal, it would probably cost more than Lily could pay without her parents' help. Money was always plenty motivating. Redirecting her to a different wish should be easy.
My phone vibrated. A text notification rolled up on the top of the screen. I barely registered Lucas' name before my finger swapped the JinxNet out for the message, my hand acting on its own behalf before my mind had time to catch up.
Lucas: So… That went well.
Wondering if I'd missed the first half of our conversation, I replied with a quick What? His reply was almost instant, like he'd typed it before I even responded.
Lucas: Aubrie just dumped me.
The pieces refused to connect in my head for a moment, as though the facts were having to drag themselves through syrup to meet. When they did—with the words Lucas, dumped, single, Lucas single! sprinting through my mind—I sucked sharply on the inside of my cheek.
"Do not overreact," I ordered myself out loud. I forced my finger to take its time across the screen.
Olivia: Are you okay?
I hit Send, and the selfish part of myself started mentally doing cartwheels.
Lucas Flynn was single.
It wasn't like he was the only guy on earth I'd ever been interested in. But he was the only guy I'd been interested in lately, and we already had something going for us in the friendship department. His being impossibly attractive was the cherry on top.
But attractiveness had to come second, I reminded myself. Coming first was the fact that he was my friend, and he'd just been dumped, and that sucked.
Probably that sucked. I'd never been dumped. I'd never been in anything serious enough that its end would count as an actual breakup.
My phone buzzed and I jumped, even though I'd been expecting it.
Lucas: I don't know.
My fingers flew over the screen.
Olivia: Do you want to go do something?
Lucas: Not really. I just wanted you to know in case I'm not around much lately.
I bit the inside of my check. I could be patient.
Olivia: For sure. Take care of yourself, k?
Lucas: I will. Thanks. :)
Olivia: Let me know if I can do anything. :)
He didn't reply. But I couldn't focus on my case for another five minutes, and my heart kept skipping beats the rest of the day.