Chapter 42: The Monster that Kisses You First
WINTER TERM - February 2nd (Continued)
I thought Aries’s room was bad. It was still bad, but Aisling’s wasn’t terribly better. Her room overlooked the greenhouses, and she’d clearly started her own above the covered radiator under the window with a row of little potted plants. I tried to touch one- a yellowing leaf.
“Don’t,” she warned. “All poisonous.”
I drew my hand away quickly.
She invited me over to work on the witch ball, Aries came too. No one asked why Ripley was there. He sat at the foot of Aisling’s bed- which had notably been made, huddled in a threadbare cardigan as though trying not to take up too much space. He looked a bit more disheveled, the blue streaks in his hair fading.
Whim was half visible - a strange shadow climbing up a mostly folded pile of laundry.
“Rip, you mind grabbing her?” Aisling asked. “Yinuo keeps accusing me of stealing her bras.” She glanced at me next. “Whim likes to chew on the padding. Haven’t had the heart to break it to her that I’ve had to toss them out.”
I heard Whim’s wet cat yowl as Ripley plucked up something invisible and wrestled it into his shirt with a half laugh. Aisling had already found bottles and twine from various places around the room, but now was looking for something that might work as beads.
“You said it’s called a witch ball?” Ripley asked.
“Sort of a home security charm against witches,” I said. We didn’t really need to go into it.
“So, you know a lot of witches then?” I get that he was just trying to make conversation. It was still the wrong one. He was half-wrestling Whim between his arms on the bed.
“One bad one was more than enough,” I said. “But Aisling said you might be summoning a familiar.”