Page 57 of Tears of Ink

We enter what’s going to be the glass studio and with no time to waste, I pick up the clear plastic packets of silica sand. I give them both a mask to put over their faces and Elijah chuckles.

“Why do I feel like I’m a surgeon about to enter theatre?”

“This is more fun.” I grin back at him from under my mask. “At least there’s no chance of you harming anyone here.”

“True.”

Both him and Tabitha lean over and watch as I tip the sand into a crucible. “This is where I messed up yesterday. I added too much calcium oxide.” I put in the calcium and some sodium carbonate.

Then I pick up the jar of cobalt oxide and tip it in with a heavy hand. I know the colour of blue I’m aiming for; it’s right in front of me. “So, you can add different chemicals to change the colour,” I explain. My eyes meet Elijah’s. “Then you melt it on the kiln and hey presto. Then we shape the glass and put it in the kiln to harden.”

Hey presto, I’ve made a mess… let’s hope not.

Elijah pulls off his mask and glares at his watch. “We haven’t got long. Actually, about fifteen minutes.”

I swallow hard as my stomach twists. I can do this.

“Maybe we should have started with pottery?” He offers me a wry smile.

“Nah, if we want people to come back, we need to go in big.”

He slides his hands into his jeans and the room seems to shrink. Tabitha may as well not be here.

“You still haven’t told me what you are going to do with the glass.” He wiggles his eyebrows. He knows exactly what happened to distract me from giving him a full explanation. Tabitha’s head swizzles between us.

“Well then, I guess you will be waiting.”

He chuckles and turns for the door. “I’m going to go and wait for the new arrivals. You ready?”

“No.” I shake my head. “No, I’m not ready for this.”

He hesitates, his eyes sliding to where his sister is standing innocently watching us. Hesitation ripples through the air, but then he gives me a small smile. “It’s going to be fun.”

I turn back and watch the sand start to dissolve. I think Elijah and I have a different idea of what’s fun.

I’m almost shaking when he returns half an hour later with a group of six teens. I’ve been letting Tabitha mix the liquid because I’m genuinely worried I’m going to knock it over and burn the hell out of us all with my shaking hands.

“Here she is.” Elijah’s smile lights onto my face and I don’t know what’s making me shake more. Them or his direct appraisal.

“Hi.” I give them a small wave; somehow making my fingers stop trembling through the sheer power of will alone.

Elijah doesn’t look nervous at all. His body is relaxed as he gestures them all into the studio. He’s grinning and smiling, putting everyone at their ease. “So, this is Faith, and she’s an enormously talented artist.”

God, my cheeks scorch red.

“I don’t know about that.”

Sort it out Faith. I don’t want to waste this opportunity. I have no idea what my future holds right now. I dig down deep and then turn my smile onto our students for the first day.

“Hey,” I start again. “I wasn’t always an artist, or a student at university.” This isn’t the time to add that I’m no longer a student at university. My gaze sweeps across the crowd.

“What do you mean?” One bright eyed blonde asks. She reminds me of Meg, but I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Well, before went to uni, I worked in a tattoo shop in Brighton.”

All of their eyes widen. One of the guys—he’s bigger than the others, his stare bold—sweeps his gaze along my arms. “You’ve got a lot of ink,” he says.

I meet his stare. “I sure do.”