Chapter 42 - A Little Pushy
Standing at the truck, Morrigan once again found herself staring out over the graveyard. She felt tired, the idea of leaving again felt exhausting. She stared at the angel statue, lost in the sea of headstones, and followed its line of sight to the crypt where her body had been left. If she were not able to stay at Emma’s house, she figured she could go lay down in the crypt instead.
“Morrigan? You coming?” Emma asked from the passenger seat.
Morrigan shook herself out of a daze, realizing she’d just been standing there with the door open. “Yeah, I’m coming,” she said and finally climbed in. She couldn’t make sense of the thought, but she was thinking, staying in the graveyard might have been better after all. It is where she’d always been safe before, so why would that be different now?
Emma guided her to a shopping plaza in town. After parking, Morrigan took a cautious look around, still wondering if she was going to be confronted by Death at some point or some other kind of agent of fate. It had now been five days since any names appeared on her list. She wondered what that meant. Could she really be getting a free pass after abandoning her role without a word? She doubted it.
“So, I think something with a gem on it would be best,” Emma said as they walked into a jewelry shop. “Any particular gems you like?”
“Haven’t really thought about it,” said Morrigan, slipping on the face mask and putting up her hood. Back in school, when she was still alive and wearing a different kind of mask, she had contemplated how to go about obtaining jewelry to further her disguise. She never quite came up with a way of pulling it off, however. That kind of stuff was usually expensive, and though she had a credit card, the limit wasn’t very high. It was maxed out now and useless to her.
She followed Emma over to a case with dozens of rings on display. Some were simple bands, most had diamonds, but another section had colored gems. Emeralds, sapphires, rubies, amethyst. Her eye was drawn to the amethyst, its deep purple felt right. When Morrigan looked closer at the price tags on them, she realized she could not possibly let Emma buy one of these for her.
“So, different gems or metals are better for different kinds of magic,” Emma said. “Hilda never got specific before, though.”
“Emma, this is a bad idea.”
“Huh? But we came all the way here.”
“Yeah, but I can’t ask you to buy something like this for me.”
“You didn’t ask, I offered,” she winked.
“Either way. I’m not exactly comfortable with this. You’d be spending your parent’s money, right?”
“Well… yeah, but unless you suck it up and go back to Atomyst’s shop, we don’t have much of a choice.”
“Then I can’t accept this, especially if it’s with money that isn’t yours.”
“But if we don’t get your glamor working I can’t bring you over. My parents won’t let me just whisk you up to my room without at least saying hi. You’ve gotten good enough while your scythe is out for a quick meet and greet, but you can’t come in looking like the actual Grim Reaper.”
“Well, maybe we’ll have to forget that plan.”
“Morrigan, no. I’m not going to let you just sleep on the streets.”
“I do appreciate it, but we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”
“Well, we’ll figure it out. Look, how about we go back to Atomyst’s shop and you can wait outside while I—”
“No,” Morrigan said, cutting her off. She noticed a clerk coming towards them and quickly turned away and walked out the door before they got sucked into any sales pitches. Emma huffed as though she was about to complain, but gave it up and followed her out of the store.
“Morrigan,” Emma said, jogging to catch up. “I’m just trying to help. I’m sorry if I came off a little pushy.”
“No, don’t worry. It’s just not going to work. We’ll have to forget that plan.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll just have to figure something else out. Let's go back to the truck. I’ll take you home.”
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“No, I’m not okay with that,” Emma insisted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find somewhere.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring.”
Morrigan sighed, looking up at the dark blue, almost purple sky. “Emma, thanks for everything. You don’t know how much you already helped me.
Emma exhaled. “Okay, now you sound like you’re planning on ditching me. Why don’t we go get some food while we think about what to do tonight?”
“Emma…”
“You haven’t eaten since this morning when I brought you that sandwich. If you ditch me tonight, I at least want to see you eat something first!”
“Emma, it’s fine. I’m not hungry,” Morrigan said, and almost as if on cue, her stomach gave an audible growl. Morrigan then had to return Emma’s smug expression with a dry glare.
“Soooo—how about Chinese?” Emma said.
Morrigan exhaled, rubbing the corners of her eyes. For just a second, she thought about turning and making a run for it.
***
They got dinner at Panda Direct, Emma picking Morrigan for more details about her road trip as they ate. Morrigan admitted to sleeping in the car most nights, which worked Emma up into a lecture until Morrigan explained how she broke into a hotel room at least one of those nights.
“Wait, back up,” Emma said. “Skeleton key?”
“Oh yeah… probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. But, it’s a magic artifact that’ll unlock any door.”
“Can it start a car?”
“I never tried, but maybe.”
“Can I see it?”
Morrigan wrapped a bite of noodles in her chopsticks. “No, Death made a big deal out of how I have to be careful with it.”
“I won’t touch,” Emma winked. “I just want to see!”
“I can’t.”
“It can’t be more secret than your scythe, now can it?”
“I have no idea, but I’m not showing you the key. Sorry.”
“Fine, fine, no harm in asking.” Emma grinned as she stabbed her fork through a piece of chicken.
“Anyway, it’s late. I should give you a ride back home now.”
“Hmmmm…” Emma forked up the last bits of her food, then placed it in her mouth as she thoughtfully looked towards the ceiling. “How about you and me just get a hotel?”
“What?”
“Yeah, you can use your skeleton key thing, right? Don’t worry, I’ll turn around. Or, look for a house that’s for sale and seems to be empty. We won’t be hurting anyone.”
“You realize what you’re asking me, right?”
“Do you realize what you’re asking me?” Emma said. “I’m supposed to just accept that you are basically homeless and sleeping who knows where? Not to mention you already proved you’re terrible at taking care of yourself, and you have no money.” She pointed her fork at Morrigan. “No way, I’m sticking with you until you get better with your glamor technique, then you are moving in with me until you find something a little more stable. Got it?”
Morrigan sighed, frustrated. “You know, you actually are starting to get a little pushy.”
“Hey, you’re the one who called me for help. Remember?”
“Yeah, but. I just needed someone to talk to, to feel some kind of normalcy. I wasn’t expecting all of this.”
“All of what?”
Morrigan growled and rubbed her temples. “I don’t know! I just feel like you feel sorry for me, so you are going out of your way. That’d be like me taking advantage of you. So thanks, you helped a lot, but I need to go on my own now.”
Emma stared at her, folding her arms. “Know what I think? I think the second you ditch me I’m never going to see you again.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yeah, it is. You’ve always been flaky. You always disappear and nobody can get a hold of you.”
“That’s because I never had a working phone.”
“You could connect your phone to wifi and get on the internet. There are always ways, but no, you just push people away and don’t let anyone get close. I get it, kind of, but I don’t want you to do that to me!”
“I’m not!” Morrigan snapped, standing up, her chair scraping and causing a few heads to turn her way. She grabbed a napkin and acted as if she was cleaning herself. “Heh, spilled some food,” she chuckled, trying to get the heads to turn away, which they did.
Emma raised an eyebrow at her, arms still folded. “Damn, you lie so naturally…”
“Maybe it’s because I always had to,” Morrigan spat between her teeth.
Emma’s expression softened. “But if you keep doing it, you really will end up being alone.”
Still standing, Morrigan scooted the chair back under the table. “Maybe it’s for the better. After all, I’m not even human anymore.” With that, she turned and walked away. “Thanks for dinner.”
Emma exhaled. “Morrigan, wait!”
Morrigan walked out to the truck, but Emma was right behind her. Emma went right for the passenger door and swung it open. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
Morrigan glared at her. “I’ll take you home, and we can meet up tomorrow. Is that good enough for you?”
“No. I don’t trust you not to come back, and I’ll worry you’re not taking care of yourself. Let’s get a cheap hotel. They have those Motel 3s across town. It’s like $50 a night.”
“What about your parents?” Morrigan asked as she climbed in.
“I’ll just call and say I’m staying with a friend.” Emma smiled. “Come on, you don’t really want to spend the night alone do you?”
Morrigan began to respond but stopped for the simple fact that Emma was right. As much as she was trying to get Emma to leave, the idea of her actually doing it was depressing.
Morrigan hesitated, her grip on the steering wheel tightening. “Alright,” she finally said, her voice softer. “Let’s find a motel.”
Emma smiled. “That’s more like it.”