“Keep your cold, dead hands to yourself!” Jesse’s voice rose. “What the hell did you think you were doing, touching her when you had a curse like that?”
“He didn’t know,” Chloe interrupted. “He didn’t know about it, okay?”
Maxwell felt a surge of gratitude. Chloe was covering for him. He didn’t deserve it, not one bit.
“And if he was feeling, uh—” Chloe looked at her feet. “Desire. Well, that’s hardly a crime? Tell me that you wouldn’t have set off a curse like this with those two Norwegian tourists. You gave them a hell of a lot more than a handshake.”
Jesse paused and gave his sister a reluctant smile. “That’s fair,” he said after a moment. “But you’re my sister, and so—”
“So it totally freaks you out to hear about anyone desiring me,” Chloe said, her cheeks still flushed. “But it’s not a big deal. I mean, it could totally have gone the other way. He’s pretty easy on the eyes, and I’m only human, so—” Chloe seemed to realise what she was saying and covered her mouth quickly. “What I meant is, um, we’re all adults, and these things happen, and you can’t really help if you find someone attractive so—”
“How do we break the curse, anyway?” Maxwell said, not wanting to let himself think about what Chloe had said. How very flattering, he thought. She certainly didn’t seem annoyed that he had been looking at her with lustful desire in his heart. “That’s the most important thing here, really.”
“That’s the tricky part,” Tilly said, screwing up her mouth. “It can be done with a ritual. But it will take me a while to break down what ingredients you need, all of the elements. It will be a ton of research, and—”
“I’d be glad to pay you for your time. Whatever your rate is, I’ll triple it so you can work faster,” Maxwell said. He didn’t want Chloe to get poisonous spines on her face. Nor himself, for that matter. Even he couldn’t pull off a look that fierce.
“That’s very kind,” Tilly said. “But there’s only so fast I can do this. Look, I’ll make it my priority, but it will take some time. And you two will have to get the ingredients. There’s a whole thing; they’ve got to be harvested by the curse bearers.”
“What kind of ingredients?” Maxwell asked. He had a sudden image of himself and Chloe picking oozing mushrooms in a forest. He hated mushrooms.
“Herbs, probably,” Tilly shrugged. “Maybe some other stuff. We’ll work it out.”
“Work it out before the New Moon, though, right?” Chloe looked nervous, touching her cheek as though checking for poisonous spines.
“Yes, I think so,” Tilly said, and Maxwell didn’t find that very heartening. “I mean, there’s no reason why not. We’ve got…” Tilly consulted a calendar. “Twenty-four days. Huh, that’s not long before my birthday. If everything goes well, you’ll be curse-free and ready to party!”
“And if things don’t go well?” Chloe looked uncertain. “What then?”
“Try not to think about that,” Tilly said. “Really, it’s an unusual hex, but it’s not the worst one I’ve ever encountered. Worst case scenario, you might need to lay low while we wait for the next New Moon.”
“With poisonous spines on my face?!” Chloe was alarmed. “The Small Business Awards are next month! I can’t go with spines all over my face!”
“There’s no reason you’d have to,” Tilly said, shrugging like this wasn’t very important. “We’ll get it sorted before the hex activates. No worries.”
Australians said “no worries” a lot, Maxwell noticed. But it didn’t do much to dispel his increasingly large number of worries.
“If Tilly thinks it will be okay, it will be,” Jesse said. “You’ll be fine, Chloe. You’ll be Central West Small Businessperson of the Year. Spine free.” He looked at Maxwell. “And him too. Although he could probably benefit from a few spines.”
“Thanks,” Maxwell said drily. “I appreciate it.”
“I’ll call you when I work out the first ingredient,” Tilly said. “Until then, sit tight and try not to worry too much.”
“Try not to worry too much,” Chloe repeated. “Sure. I’ll do that.” Her sarcasm was evident.
“It’ll be fine,” Jesse said, giving her a one-armed hug. “Come on, let’s go for a drink. Calm you down a bit.”
And that reminded Maxwell of his drinking problem, as you might call it. “I’ll see you around, then, Chloe?”
“See you soon,” she said and let her brother guide her out of the beaded curtains.
“Something else you wanted to say?” Tilly asked, looking at him with her mouth quirked. “Like maybe who did this to you? You know, don’t you?”
“I do,” Maxwell admitted. “I was seeing this witch. It was all very casual, and I thought she knew that. But she wanted more from me than I could give her, and when I said I wasn’t looking for anything serious…” He waved a hand. “Poisonous spines, apparently.”
“Yikes,” Tilly raised her eyebrows. “I can see why you didn’t want to tell Chloe the whole story.”
“It’s embarrassing, yes.”
“You care what she thinks of you,” Tilly gave him a shrewd look. “You don’t want her to think you’re some playboy heartbreaker.”
“I guess not,” Maxwell said. “I mean, I don’t want to get a reputation here.”
“It’s your reputation, right,” Tilly sounded like she didn’t quite believe him.
“There was one other thing,” Maxwell went on. “I thought you might be able to point me in the direction of someone around here who can supply me with the good stuff.”
“You mean human blood?” Tilly was blunt; he had to give her that. “Oh, for sure. Sean supplies all the vamps around here. He’s got a whole ethical blood supply system. Nice guy.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” Maxwell said. “Can I grab his details?”
“For sure,” Tilly pulled her phone from her pocket. “He’ll be happy I sent another customer his way.”
Maxwell saved the number Tilly showed him into his phone, glad to have sorted out that particular problem. The curse was another matter.
“You really think we’ll get this thing sorted by the New Moon?” Maxwell asked. “I mean, I don’t want poisonous spines on my face, but it’s not such a big deal for me. I can just stay holed up inside. But Chloe…well, it would be worse for her.”
Tilly smiled. “Aww, it’s cute that you’re all concerned. Not just fixing her with your lustful desires, huh? You’d be adorable together!”
“It’s nothing like that,” Maxwell wanted to set the record straight. “I don’t date. And especially not humans. And she’s not my type, even if she is attractive. She just seems like a good person, and it wouldn’t be fair for her to suffer. Especially not because of me.”