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“You damn well know I’m always in trouble, Puck,” Nik responded, giving the boy a clap on the back. These two were clearly friends. So, Nik did have friends in town after all, just none that Tess or I had ever seen before.

“Ain’t that the truth,” he responded with a wink. “Now where are my manners. The name’s Puck, darling. You must be Diana,” he said, holding his hand out to shake mine. I took it tentatively, giving it a shake. I was so confused. How didheknow my name? My eyes slid to Nik, whose expression gave nothing away. Had they been talking about me?

“Yup, that’s me,” I responded slowly. “Do you go to school with us?” I asked. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“No, love. I’m home-schooled. But I’m looking to transfer in for the end of my senior year. Trying to convince my parents I need to make more friends and add some extracurriculars to my resume, and all that.” Another newcomer in only a few days. The last person our age that was new to town was…well, me. And that was almost four years ago.

“I see,” I said with a smile. He also had the faint sign of tattoos peeking out beneath his jacket at his wrists. His eyes were green, these weren’t the blue eyes from the mountain landing.

“Are you coming to Elixir tonight?” he asked with genuine interest, glancing between me and Nik. Had he known Nik was going to invite me?

“Sorry, I’ve got other plans,” I replied. “I actually thought Nik was lying about having any friends to go with at all.”

Puck slapped his knee as he laughed. “Oh, I like you already.”

“Ha-Ha, hilarious,” Nik responded as he pulled out his chair and stood. “We better get going, Puck.”

“But I just got here,” he responded, putting on an over-the-top pout. Nik simply blinked back at him in response.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Diana,” Puck said, giving my arm a nudge across the table. Had they been together before Nik came into the bakery? Or was Nik expecting to meet him here? Nik grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, Puck following him. He stopped with one hand on the knob before turning back.

“Let me know if you change your mind, firecracker,” he said with a smirk. He and Puck disappeared down the street, leaving the doorbells ringing in their wake. He never did get a cupcake.

After finishing my biology chapter, I headed back home to make some dinner for me and Tess. I figured she would be starving after her shift, and it gave me even more to do to keep myself busy and take my mind off everything. Cooking was another creative outlet for me, and I loved losing myself in the process.

Not long after I fired up the stove, I heard the front door open, and the click of Tess’ heeled boots in the foyer. Her dad must have been able to pick her up early. She came bursting into the kitchen with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

“I think I managed to bring all the essentials,” she said as she heaved the bag onto the kitchen table and started taking out each item, one by one.

“Candles, check. Feathers, check. Lighter, check. It really is too bad we don’t have a magic spell book, but thank God for google, am I right?” She laughed, throwing herself down into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

“Well, I hope you’re hungry because I can’t cast any spells on an empty stomach.” I laughed from the stove, giving the pot of pasta a stir.

“Always,” she replied, kicking her feet up on the chair opposite from her. “So, how do we do this, anyway? You’re the one who’s seen all the witchy movies and stuff.”

“You think I know?” I scoffed, “I was hoping you would have some ideas, seeing as this entire thing wasyouridea to begin with.”

“I am as in the dark as you are,” she replied.

“I have convinced myself I am losing my mind entirely and that this whole thing is one big dream that I am about to wake up from at any moment.” I moved the pasta to the strainer and gave the sauce still simmering on the stove another stir.

“If you are losing your mind, then I am losing my mind too. And statistically, I just don’t see that happening,” she pointed out.

I gave her an exasperated look over the sink as I plated our pasta and sauce, making my way over to the table and setting the plates down. Tess kicked her feet off the chair with a sigh so I could sit down across from her.

“Your cooking is so good itmightbe enough to make me forget about all this craziness,” she said around a mouth full of food. “You know how much I love fresh basil.”

“No amount of pasta can make me forget about everything that’s happened this week,” I replied.

“Yeah…you’re probably right,” she conceded. “Want to hear the details I got about Mrs. Madden at work?” she asked.

“Obviously. I knew you were holding out on me,” I accused as I brought another fork-full of pasta to my mouth.

“Mrs. Madden is ok, she only has some superficial wounds that needed stitching. She is back home and resting. She will return to the coffee shop next week.”

“And the wolf?” I asked.

“She claims it was a big black wolf, big as a horse, with round blue eyes. Sound about right?” Soundsexactlyright. This had to be the same wolf we had seen at the mountain landing, unless there were multiple blue-eyed, black, giant, wolves running around Silver Oaks.