Chapter 31: Whim & Whisper
WINTER TERM - January 19th
It was snowing again when we left for the Marblebrooks' cottage - Aisling had decided to tag along and I figured Kelyn probably wouldn't mind. We would be making witch balls. Witch's balls? Her familiar trotted a few paces ahead of us, paws crunching through the snow. I could see her sometimes in flashes. A furred gray critter with folded black wings bobbing its head as it ran.
"Whim." Aisling tested the name. It was certainly an improvement over Noodle the Second. She turned back to me next. "Ripley Hodges is obsessed with her. It's terribly annoying. You better not let him make a habit out of crashing breakfast."
"Like how you didn't let Aries join us for lunch last term?"
Aisling groaned. "That's not even a little bit similar. Ripley is a creep who collects dead things in his room. Aries is a goofy idiot who came with a delightful golden-furred best friend. And besides, you and him are pretty attached at the hip these days. Don't think Noodle didn't mention that he saw you in Aries's room. Again. Can you please just admit that you're in love with him or whatever so we can all move on?"
There was an awkward beat. I wasn't quite stunned, but close. "I really didn't want you to have to learn about that through Noodle," I said. She was my best friend. It wasn't fair to her to have to hear about my life secondhand. "Sorry, Aisling. And my living out of Aries's room is only temporary. You've seen his room, right? It's a mess." But that wasn't the point.
So, I said, "Me and Aries, we're together or something... I should have told you."
Aisling snickered. "That sounds confident. Aries is still probably over the moon. Noodle and I have been calling you his boyfriend for months now behind your back. Aries gets all flustered but Noodle tells him we're manifesting."
What...? I shouldn't have been surprised. Aisling was half distracted, arm out to let Whim crawl up to perch upon her shoulder.
"We did manifest it, right?" she asked.
I rolled my eyes. "I'll talk to him about it. Eventually." Aries hadn't brought it up and I was happy just to let things stay as they were. It wasn't worth complicating things.