Crystal banged on my door a good ten minutes before she gave up and it was another ten before I relaxed, slumping down in relief. Forget the fact there were two locks on the door, I stayed slouched there good half hour before Tulip wandered in. Her hair was mussed and she held a refill pad covered in her scrawl in one hand and a carrot in the other.
"Hey I was wondering did you put this in my room?" she asked, holding the carrot up as she made herself comfy on the couch. Stiffly unfolding my cramped knees I unsteadily got to my feet. When I failed to respond and just went to the kitchen she sighed. "Would you shorten your legs already? You are like the sexy Giraffe of this unstoppable duo and me the turnip."
"What?" I said turning around to her. Tulip grinned, pleased with herself.
"I have broken down the defense walls of the starship! Oh, starships were meant to…"
"You continue that damn song I shave your eyebrows!"
Tulip tossed her carrot on the floor. "Oh mon amie, my eyebrows are a defining asset. I have," she ticked off on her fingers. "No great height or gorgeous mane of sunshine so leave the goods on my face."
"Whatever," I said pulling out my phone. I sent Cam, Sherry and Lucian a quick text to see how they were and dumped my phone on the counter as I hunted for something to classify as lunch. I found a few dry packets of noodles and took them down to cook. "Want a pack of noodles?" I called over my shoulder as I dug around for a saucepan.
"Sure, last thing I ate was some American chocolate bar that tasted like muck in a wrapper a few hours ago."
"Since when did you get so poetic?" I muttered under my breath. Our kitchen was a mess with Tulip. No doubt she had been up late studying and decided to root through the kitchen at 3:13 in the morning for a snack. I know. I heard every saucepan crash and bang from this cabinet at that God forsaken hour. I stretched an arm to the back and managed to pluck out my favourite saucepan.
As everything was set cooking I heard Tulip "Oooh!" at something I doubted was coursework. Leaning on the back on the sofa, I had a look over her shoulder at the glossy fashion spread for Halloween. I snorted. I would be happily buying my extremely flammable costume in the discount aisle.
"Who would pay $110 dollars for bejewelled cat ears?" I said stunned. The rest of the models outfit consisted of a sleek black body suit and knee high leather boots. $130 and $475. Ah here.
"But they are gorgeous!" Tulip crooned, petting the model. "And look a vampire! We need to go costume shopping."
"Well I am not spending that Tools!" I whined. I came around and dumped myself in the seat beside her after throwing her work on the coffee table.
"Nah, we can go somewhere cheaper. And if we get them now we can show them to Sherry and the guys when we go back home." Since we had the thirteenth and fourteenth of October off, a Monday and Tuesday, Tulip and I had decided to skip Friday's classes and fly home Thursday night. When we suggested it to them to fly home too, Lucian surprised us by already having tickets booked. Sherry and Cam were more than up for missing a few days but no one was surprised by that.
"Only a little over a week 'til then. You sure that is enough to find everything?"
"Not alone. We can go shopping with Crystal Thursday." Tulip flicked the page and began admiring what I think was hooker witch in ridiculously expensive lace up thigh high boots. "Bewitched" was in cursive scrawl under the picture. I tsked. Talk about un-creative.
Chewing my lip, I thought about what Crystal had just seen. I figured I could avoid her until Thursday and hopefully she would let things drop. "Yeah sure, why Thursday though?"
"I have something due Wednesday," she said tilting her head to the mess of notes in her refill. "Two thousand words."
"Oh you need to finish it?"
She gave me a sweet, nearly patronizing smile. "I need to start it." She snuggled into the sofa and tucked in her legs as she stuck her nose in the magazine. "Might want to check those noodles."
I swore and leapt up to check the noodles as Tulip relaxed. To be honest, she could have relaxed in a bath of gravel.
I managed to avoid Crystal, only once having to literally run straight back into the apartment. Other than that, our paths did not cross until Thursday afternoon when we met down by the doors to our building. We stood awkwardly in silence until Tulip managed to flag down a cab.
"Everything ok with us?" Crystal breathed once we were buckled in. She had her eyes focused on Tulip who had shotgun in order to direct the driver to a large vintage store she had found.
"Yeah sure." I replied as quietly, playing with my belt. Thankfully, she let me stir silently with my thoughts for the rest of the trip to the store. Tulip paid the fare as a treat and hurried us out to hunt for it. Directing us with her phone to the store, we ended up on a pedestrian only street which was a little un-nerving. I very consciously stayed to the side, my heart thick in my throat. The buildings here loomed high on either side and it felt as though they longed to fall in and swallow the street in. So I was relieved when Tulip let out a delighted squeal and pushed open an aged, gold painted door.
The door was only the start. Everything suggested warmth, the olden days and class. Usually a shops appearance was a book cover to me; I judged it solely on that. I would have taken in its smeared glass, scratched window frames and slightly flaking paint as a precursor to the standard of quality I would receive on stepping in. To be frank, I would not have even glanced in here without Tulip. But this store was breathtaking. Rails of rich coats, swing dresses and cabinets of different accessories were scattered around the store floor on a plush red carpet that seemed to span for miles. The musty smell mixed with some… I took a deep sniff… Rose oils only added to the charm. I was instantly besotted with it.
"This is beautiful," Crystal gasped, trailing a hand longingly along a row of long skirts. It unleashed a slight scent of mustiness but it did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm. Tulip was practically jumping around, pulling up various dresses and pieces to admire them.
"I need to find something that screams 'the fifties'," Tulip declared as she flung a few different things over her arm.
"I just want Victorian. Willow, come look with me," Crystal said. She had already started walking to the back of the store. Knowing I was probably going to get a worse questioning than anyone who had ever gone before the Spanish Inquisition, I followed behind her morosely. "I want corsets, big skirts and peasant blouses. What are you going as anyway?"
I hid my surprise and let my eyes wander over the nearby rails. I spotted a rail of white dresses. "Corpse bride." I said immediately as Crystal groaned. Back to back we hunted, occasionally hearing Tulip squeal or flutter by. While Tulip was a perfectly normal size, the mountain in her arms dwarfed her entirely. I was sorely tempted to take a picture of the spectacle. It looked blimming hilarious.
Crystal seemed to catch where I was looking and snorted. "Tulip is definitely one of a kind."
"Oh yeah," I agreed as I studied a rather low cut dress. Not corpse bride but I decided to hold onto it. "As high as a kite on life and-" A loud smash disrupted the mellow quiet of the store. Crystal and I jumped. Surprisingly, Tulip was not to fault. Some customer had been leaning on a rail beside her but it had collapsed under their weight. Crystal gawped as Tulip perused the rail beside it as if the loud smash had made no sound at all.
"And as hard to scare as Victor?" she said. From what I gathered, kittens would cower in his mere presence.
"Yep," I said absentmindedly. "But the odd time she gets scared over the stupidest things. She and her dog both crowd together during thunder storms and the like." I snorted. "Took a pic once. Priceless."
Crystal snickered and we both started walking in the general direction of the dressing rooms to the far right. "Did you ever pull that stunt with the lights you did when we were in Cheltenham? Anna still probably thinks it was ghosts!" and Crystal cracked up. Poor Anna. I eventually explained my little trick to Crystal but since Anna was simply a human friend of ours who boarded on our floor, who knows what she thought.
"No, never thought to," I mused as I pulled open the thick purple curtain to the dressing room. I hung up the several white and cream dresses on the rail inside before pulling the curtain closed. I could hear the click of metal as Crystal did this in another dressing room. "I highly doubt it would scare her."
Crystal scoffed. "It scared me. But I suppose the wind and rain rattling everything probably helped none. Ooh, this looks nice." I heard the sweep of the curtains. I quickly tugged on the low cut white dress and went out to join her. I highly doubted the Victorian era had ever seen such a beautiful, golden number. It looked extremely tight around the torso and the low rounded neckline had a delicate line of creamy ruffles as did the ends of the long sleeves. It poofed out at the waist to create a truly magnificent number in total. We marvelled it in the mirror and it took a minute to look at my own appearance. Aside from being floor length, it had the every bit of the power of Marilyn Monroe's most infamous dress.
I noticed Crystal admiring it as well. We both looked striking in different ways, our heights and somewhat mad hair adding to it. "I would say we are both finished," I murmured.
"Indeed," Crystal said, appraising how her dress moved as she looked at it carefully in the floor length mirror. Only that I was watching her did I see her eyes glint as they looked out towards the main floor. "But I do decree you scare our friend. Promptly. That is an order Lady Willow." She said, sticking her nose up in the air. She attempted to keep her regal air but her lips pressing tightly together gave it away entirely.
"If her majesty insists." I replied cordially. Feeling for the current in the lighting, I caught and disrupted it. The lights flickered near Tulip. She looked up frowning. I then began disrupting the lights in an irregular fashion, knocking one off here and flickering another there. The range of different lighting fixtures helped and I plunged the store into a state of darkness for two seconds. I could see Tulip start at this as the alcove she had been in went completely black, no light from the store front able to reach it. I let the lights back on to see one of the staff scurry through an employee only door, discreetly placed beside the dressing rooms. She paused momentarily when the lights came on again but continued on when one flickered above her head.
"Tulip is so confused," Crystal whispered. Tulips brow had furrowed a little as she picked up a necklace from a dressing table display. The mirror on it could use with a wipe I thought before snapping back to business. I continued flickering lights before the grand finale. Tulip, along with a few other customers, was looking a little nervous.
I suddenly brightened every light, burning them far beyond the subdued glow they gave out usually before concentrating hard on a lighting fixture mere inches from Tulip. In an instant the lighting fixture shattered, seeming to explode from within. Shards blasted outwards and Tulip shrieked, dropping her clothes and ducking down. I deflected any bits quickly away from her using my telekinesis with practiced skill. Ok I might have done it to Rydian and Clarke once or twice. Or seven. To tame them. Brothers needed it once in a while.
Crystal and I had to help each other back to our dressing rooms as the poor staff helped calm the patrons. "Oh God I feel so bad." I said and snorted eliciting a roar of laughter from Crystal. This continued as we undressed and emerged ready to pay.
"Hmm," Crystal said as we went to the till. "Not me. She ate the last of the banoffi pie in my fridge last week."
I snorted but we finally sobered up as we queued behind a few people who seemed eager to leave with their goods. Crystal chewed her lip as she looked out the store front. "You going to explain you and Will?"
"Nothing happened," I snapped and instantly regretted it. "We just do not… Work well near each other." I finished awkwardly. Dropping it, we stood in silence. Just as the portly lady in front of Crystal went to pay, her phone rang. Shifting her cumbersome dress, she pulled out her phone and spoke quietly. Probably Xav. After half a minute she hung up. She turned to me.
"Tarryn, Uriel's soulfinder, called. The Benedict's did it again. They found the leader of one of those drug rings in Boston."
"And?"
"It is Savant run. But by hundreds if not thousands."
Author person to annoy you,
I think I should probably give some idea as to when I will update. How about whenever I update until further notice it will be on a Monday or a Friday? I cannot say when I will update but just when I do, it will be one of those days. :)
Hint for the next chapter... Well there is a new character introduced so you would really want to stay tuned! :D
Btw. PLEASE point out typos to me in reviews. Just re-uploaded this chapter as I spotted one.