The Oracle was certainly aesthetically appealing, with its displays of brightly coloured books, rows of candles and incense, racks of linen and embroidery heavy dresses, and an enormous cabinet full of crystals. But it didn’t inspire Maxwell with tremendous confidence in whoever ran the place. He didn’t know much about magic, but he was sure that this wasn’t the real deal.
Still, he didn’t say anything to Chloe as she followed him inside.
“Hello?” Chloe said to the empty shop. Maxwell curled his lip as he inspected a ceramic statue of a Celtic Goddess with a “Made in China” sticker clearly visible on the bottom.
There was a rustling of the beaded curtain at the back, and a young woman appeared. Wearing purple leggings and a t-shirt that proclaimed that she was a ‘BASIC WITCH’ in rhinestones, she didn’t look any more inspiring than the shop. Maxwell really hoped she wasn’t Tilly.
“Hi!” the young woman said. “Chloe and Maxwell, right? Jesse texted me that he’s running late, but he should be here soon.”
“Thank you for seeing us,” Chloe said politely. “At such short notice.”
“I’m very grateful,” Maxwell said, turning on the full force of his charming smile. He might not think much of Tilly, but it didn’t hurt to try to get her on his good side.
“Oh, that’s what I do,” Tilly said, shrugging. Her long blonde hair was streaked with pink, purple, and blue, and she had a few glittery bangles around her wrist. Tilly looked more ready for a rave than a curse-breaking. She half-closed her eyes, looking at the two of them. “Yikes, that’s a curse for sure,” she grimaced.
“You can see it?” Chloe sounded alarmed, as though the curse might be visible to every passer-by.
“Sort of,” Tilly explained. “I have to focus the right way, but I can see the lines of power. And I hate to say it, but yours is really easy to see. It’s strong, whatever it is.”
And that wasn’t good news, Maxwell thought. He had hoped that the witch who had done this had been a novice and that whatever she had done would be easy to break.
“What is it?” Chloe asked, looking anxious, her arms hugged around herself tightly. “What’s it going to do to me?”
“I’ll need to run a few tests to be sure,” Tilly said. “Right now, I can tell it’s a vengeance hex, but I’m not sure which one.”
“Vengeance?” Chloe’s voice rose in alarm. “Someone did this deliberately?”
“Oh yeah.” Tilly sounded like she thought that was obvious. “Cursed your vampire buddy here, and then it spread to you. Nasty.”
Shit. Maxwell couldn’t even pretend to look surprised.
“Did you know?” Chloe turned on him, her anxiety replaced by very reasonable anger. “That you were cursed?”
“Well, I—” Maxwell began. “Yes. And no. I knew I had been cursed—”
“You told me you had no idea how it happened!” Chloe’s voice rose in anger, and Maxwell couldn’t help but think it made her look even more attractive, two points of colour high in her cheeks and her eyes narrowed behind inky dark lashes.
“I didn’t know it would spread to anyone else!” Maxwell said quickly, and that was the truth. “Really, I had no idea. I came to Crowley Lake to find a way to break it, but I never thought the curse could hurt anyone else. Especially not a complete stranger. If I had known, I would have taken precautions. I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”
Chloe’s face softened slightly, but she still looked pissed off. Understandably. “I asked you if you knew what had happened,” she said, her voice more level. “And you said no.”
“I was—” Maxwell looked away.
“Ashamed? Embarrassed?” Tilly cut in. “I get that. A lot of my clients are. They don’t want to admit they’ve got something nasty. Kind of like a sexually transmitted disease.” Maxwell thought that analogy was extremely unhelpful.
“I didn’t know it could be transferred!” Maxwell repeated. “I had no idea!”
“You should have told me,” Chloe said to him. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t know it could be spread to me. But you should have told me.”
“I should have,” Maxwell was ashamed. “But it was complicated, and I…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”
“It’s okay,” Chloe said, although she didn’t look like it was okay.
“Yikes,” Tilly interrupted. “Well, if you guys are ready, we can get started with the diagnostics.”
“Diagnostics?” Chloe asked.
“Nothing painful,” Tilly assured her. “Just some tests, so I know what we’re dealing with.”
“I’m so sorry,” Maxwell said again, seeing the alarm on Chloe’s face. “I didn’t know.”
Chloe opened her mouth, but at that moment, the door tinkled once more. The tall form of Jesse appeared, dressed in faded jeans slung low on his hips and, despite the freezing wind, flip-flops. Maxwell had been disturbed to discover that Australians called them “thongs”.
“Hi guys!” he said with a cheery wave. “What did I miss?”
Maxwell felt his stomach twist. When Chloe told him that Maxwell had lied, Jesse would go full over-protective big brother on him. And he deserved it. But right now, he needed Jesse’s cooperation.
“Nothing,” Chloe said quickly. “Tilly was just about to start the diagnostics. Which sounds terrifying.”
Jesse laughed. “Nah, don’t worry,” he said. “It won’t be painful. In fact, she probably won’t even need to touch you.”
“Probably not,” Tilly agreed. “If you guys want to come with me?” She pulled apart the bead curtain, and Maxwell felt a rush of relief. Chloe hadn’t outed his lie to her brother. He had no idea why she had covered for him, but he was insanely grateful. Once this was all over, he owed Chloe a present. A large present.
The back of The Oracle was considerably less aesthetically appealing than the front. There was a ratty-looking sofa, a few metal chairs with torn seats, and shelves stuffed with boxes of stock. It also reeked of weed so strongly that Maxwell was genuinely concerned he might get a contact high. Not that something to take the edge off his anxiety would be entirely unwelcome right now.