Under the Darkest Skies

Chapter 4

"Mint chocolate," Seth announced, holding out a swirl covered in green sparkles. "Because I love you. If this isn't proof, I don't know what is."

Becky blushed and smiled all at once, and she wasn't sure which made her happier: seeing Seth looking healthy and comfortable, or knowing he had got her mint chocolate anything when he hated the flavour combination so much. "I'll kiss you now," she replied, hurrying over to their table, "so you don't have to taste it."

"Ha, Rollins, you're done for the rest of the night," Rhea laughed, leaning back in her chair. Her swirl was, predictably, shades of purple and grey, while Liv's looked like a liquid rainbow. When Liv wasn't looking, Rhea dipped her spoon in the witch's swirl and took a scoop.

Seth raised an eyebrow. "I don't hate it that much." He kissed Becky again before lifting his own swirl. "These are pretty good."

"What flavour did you get?" Becky started to angle her spoon at his swirl cup, but he moved it out of the way, so she used a finger instead. The swirls always tasted different from person to person, but she definitely got notes of chocolate and coffee. "Yum. Not bad."

"Definitely better than mint chocolate," Seth replied, taking another spoonful before pulling out a chair for Becky. "But it's weird, because it sits heavy on the tongue, but it's like...." He gestured vaguely, waiting for Becky to sit down. "Like foam or something."

"Really? Let me try it again." This time Becky stole his spoon and dipped it in his swirl, dark and rich. "Nope," she declared, licking the spoon clean and handing it back to him. "Nice and creamy for me."

Rhea nudged Liv with her shoulder. "Aren't they cute?"

Becky plucked a few sparkles off her swirl and flicked them at Rhea. "Give it time. You'll be cute too."

"She already is cute," Liv beamed, reaching over and grasping Rhea's chin. "Look at that face!"

Seth looked over at Becky and grinned. "We found someone worse than us. I don't know if I should be impressed or terrified."

Rhea stuck out her tongue. "Both. I like it when people are afraid of me." She set down her swirl and grabbed a bag from the back of her chair. "We did a little bit of shopping without you," she said. "Hope you don't mind. I got this for Priest. Think he'll like it?" She put a necklace with a flint arrowhead on the table and slid it across to Becky.

"That's nice." Becky was careful not to touch the edges when she lifted the pendant. "It'll look great on him. Does it do anything?" The Fathoms was primarily a magical market, but many vendors also sold non-magical variants so customers could buy things for human friends or even have decoys.

"Strength and focus," Liv answered, shovelling the last of her rainbow swirl into her mouth. "How was your shift?"

"Really good, actually." Becky slid the arrowhead pendant back to Rhea and started eating her mint chocolate swirl. "I had the cutest little witch girl near the end. Sort of reminded me of you," she added with a grin. "Curious and precocious. And a banshee I knew was there too, so it was nice to catch up."

Liv caught her gaze. "Yeah, I was going to say you looked invigorated."

There was a hidden question there and Becky gave her a subtle nod. She didn't want to worry Seth and she wasn't sure how much supernatural business Rhea was supposed to be privy to, so she didn't want to say too much with the humans there. "It was like having a power nap," Becky replied. "Not quite as good as this swirl, though. It's been ages since I had one." Then she scooted her chair closer to Seth's and tapped his forearm. "Any problem with your tattoo?"

Seth shook his head as he held his arm out for Becky's inspection. She didn't have any tattoos of her own, though Bartholomew had offered many times, but even she could tell the difference between the older parts and the refreshed ones. "Nope. Bartholomew said it looked good, so he redid the lettering this time. He said you could keep an eye on it."