Page 11 of Everything She Does Is Magic

Anya says nothing. She doesn’t even turn around to acknowledge my words.

“What thehellwas that?” Grace asks the second the bell above the door is done chiming.

“I wish I knew,” I tell her, watching Anya stalk down Fableview Boulevard and following her movements until she’s no longer visible.

25 Days Until Halloween

6

Anya

I don’t take other people’s feelings into consideration. That’s what my so-called best friend Julia once told me. It was the kind of gut punch cruelty that part of me knew she said just to hurt my feelings. But another part of me felt the hard kernel of truth within it, the kind that gets caught in your mind the way popcorn gets stuck in teeth. Instead of finding some way to remove it, I’ve grown around it, absorbing this belief as a part of my personality. I don’t think about other people enough. I am not sensitive to what they need from me. If anyone is ever going to like me, I have to change this about myself.

So if I hope for Darcy Keller to enjoy my presence enough to let me learn the ways of being mortal through being around her, I need to figure out what she wants from me. Which is to attend this committee meeting.

Slipping into the back row of the only conference room at Fableview’s city hall, I scan the crowd. There are a few people dressed up even for this—an old man with a long beard, wearinga wizard robe. Or maybe heisa wizard. Tough to say in a town like this. Not that Darcy would think twice about it. She’d assume he was performing.

There are two middle-aged women dressed as matching bumblebees. Another woman done up as a medieval wench.

For a moment, I panic, wondering if the sensitive thing to do would’ve been to dress up too. But I don’t own anything other than black clothes. I could’ve gotten some cat ears, I guess. Darcy would have probably seen that as an insulting lack of effort.

When she steps up to the podium, I’m relieved to see she’s in the same outfit she had on at school—a short blue dress with daisies on it. She has two small clips on either side of her head, leaving her bangs to frame her face while pulling the longer pieces out of the way so her blond ringlets can do their waterfall cascade thing down her back.

She takes the time to look at each member of the committee and smile. When she gets to me, I can’t help but look away, sure that my crush is tattooed on my face. I stare down at my phone, pretending my lock screen shows me something far more interesting than Darcy Keller.

“I know you were expecting my parents, but they’re busy with preparations for this weekend, so they’ve asked me to run today’s meeting. Please forgive me if I get anything wrong,” shesays.

She looks happy up there. But she’s always been good in front of a crowd. It would be rarer to see her look upset. Is this the first task of her future role? A warm-up commitment from her parents to prepare her for taking over?

“Before we get started, we have a new committee member inthe audience. I know she won’t want too much fanfare, so let’s just say a very quick welcome to Anya.” Darcy gestures to me, and everyone begins applauding.

This committee is made up of people of all ages. There are a handful of our classmates, including Grace Manalo, who gives me the same glare she gave me at the art shop. She even puts two fingers to her eyes and then points them at mine, mouthing,I’m watching you.That doesn’t bother me much. It’s gotten easy to tolerate people disliking me.

But being welcoming? I don’t know what to do with that. I try my best to fix my face into something less scowl-like for the applauding crowd.

“Okay. That’s enough,” Darcy says. “I don’t want to overwhelm her. Thank you for being here, Anya.”

My throat’s too dry to respond. My hand won’t lift to wave either. She has somehow managed to find the exact amount of attention I can handle without shriveling into dust, and still, I can’t move.

“All right. On to the first order of business,” she continues. “The costume parade barriers.”

This gets varied reactions from the committee. Some whoops and, to my surprise, even a groan.

“I know, I know,” Darcy says. “My parents and I just want to be extra sure thatno oneneeds new barriers for the sidewalks. We don’t want to have a repeat of what happened last year.”

It’s the wizard gentleman who is displeased. He lets out another sound—a throaty scoff this time—as he says, “I didn’t realize my ropes were broken until that morning.”

Darcy gives him a smile so inviting in return that it’s almostsinister how good she is at letting his obvious rudeness bounce right off her. “Exactly. Which is why we’re asking that everyone go home and check their supplies tonight.”

He scoffs again, mumbling, “Ridiculous,” and tossing his hands up.

I’m still stuck on twenty seconds ago when I didn’t acknowledge Darcy’s welcoming. My hand shoots up before my mind can third-guess the action.

“Oh,” Darcy says, eyebrows lifted in what is hopefully delighted shock. “Anya, yes.”

“I was wondering…what the costume parade is, exactly,”Isay.

“Sorry for not explaining.”