Lily Halloway's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

A week later Lily came back to Mama's Magical Drinks. The floating sign glowed above the door. She wanted to thank the barkeep for the clear head that drink had given her. Mama La Croix stood behind the counter, wiping a glass with a gloved hand. Her white mask turned when Lily's wings brushed the doorframe. "You came back," Mama said. "Sit, honey." Lily sat. She told her about Clayton, about the fence he never stopped talking about. Mama listened and set down the glass. "So you know what you don't want," she said. "That's half the road." She leaned close. "Let me help. I know men. I match good ones to good ones." Lily's wings settled a little. "You'd do that?" "I already have one in mind." Mama pulled out a sleek new phone and tapped the screen. "Darrel Bray. Everyone calls him Fetch. My old apprentice. Retired groundskeeper." She paused. "But I'll be honest, sugar. Fetch is lazy. He wants a soft chair and a quiet life. I worry about that boy." "No," Lily said. "I don't want someone I have to carry." Mama nodded and put the phone away. She studied Lily for a long moment. "Then tell me. What feels like home to you?" Lily opened her mouth. Nothing came. She thought of her desk, of the boy who touched her wing and went quiet. She thought of soft mornings. But she couldn't put words to it. "I don't know," she said. "I just want to be seen. All of me." Mama tilted her head. "That's not much to hand me, baby." She waited. Lily stayed silent. So Mama guessed. "A dreamer, then. Someone gentle. I'll find you a poet." But that wasn't right, and Lily's face showed it. Mama tried again. "A steady one. A worker." Wrong too. Each guess landed soft and missed. Lily felt the search slipping away from her, the way it always did when she couldn't name the thing herself. Mama set both gloved hands flat on the counter. She went quiet, then quieter. "I keep guessing because you won't say." Her voice dropped to the low, final tone she used when a subject was done. "There's already a name in your eyes, honey. I've known it since you walked in." Lily's stomach tightened. "Whose?" "Martin Gourd." Mama let it sit. "He was my apprentice too. I know that revenant better than most. And I know your face when I say his name." She was right, and Lily hated that she was. Her wings pressed flat against her back. "He's my ex," Lily said. "That's over." "Is it?" Mama picked her glass back up. The subject was closed. "Go see Martin. Then guess from the doorway all you like." Lily walked out with no match and no denial that held. She had come for one closed door. She left with an old one cracked open.