That was a great idea. She put a splash of vodka into two clear plastic cups, figuring that was what any reasonable Russian would prefer, then filled the cups the rest of the way with punch. Thankfully, not a single person spoke to her the whole time. So far, so good. She picked up the drinks and turned to head back to Van.
A teenage girl with earbuds draped around her neck stood in front of Monalisa. “Hi, I’m Kaley, and my dad said I need to work on my social skills by actually talking to people in person and not by text. So, like, this is me doing what he said. Who are you?”
Monalisa almost laughed. “I’m Lisa. Nice to meet you, Kaley.”
“Are you a friend of my dad’s or Pandora’s?”
“Technically, neither.” Monalisa lifted one of the punch cups in Van’s direction. He was talking to a tall, distinguished older man. “I came with Mr. Tsvetkov over there.”
Kaley glanced his way. “Oh, cool. I like Van. He’s like the toughest guy I know in real life. His dog is super cool too. Have you met his dog? I’d like to get a dog, but Pandora’s got a cat, and well, you know.” She rolled her eyes.
This kid didn’t have any trouble being social. “Sure, that could be tricky. And yes, I’ve met Grom. He is definitely a cool dog.”
Kaley’s eyes narrowed. “So, are you Van’s girlfriend? That would be good. Because Pandora said he could totally use one to snap him out of this funk.”
Monalisa almost choked. “No, I’m his rehab therapist. I’m just here to help him recover from his injury.”
“Oh.” Kaley thought about that a moment. “Then your job is to, like, get him happy again?”
“You could say that.” Happy enough to get back into the ring.
A big smile broke out on Kaley’s face. “Then you’re kind of like his girlfriend, right?”
“No, it’s strictly a professional relationship.” She tried to catch Van’s attention to see if he’d pick up on the signal that she needed to be rescued, but he was still talking.
“Well, your aura’s pretty cool. And based on that, I think you two would make a good couple, so if you like him, like like him like him, you should go for it.”
“I don’t—what did you say about my aura?” The tiniest panic alarm went off in Monalisa. So small, it probably wasn’t even worth listening to. Not much anyway.
Kaley preened. “I’m a witch like Pandora. She’s my mentor, actually. She’s teaching me all about witch stuff, and that’s my gift. Reading auras. She says no one can do it as good as I can. And yours is, like, super interesting.”
“Oh? How so?” The alarm got a smidge louder.
“I don’t know what kind of supernatural you are, but…” Kaley leaned in like she was about to share something top secret. “You’re kind of dangerous, aren’t you?”
The alarm turned into full-fledged panic, freezing Monalisa. She had no idea how to respond. Admitting the truth wasn’t going to help. Especially not if this kid decided to share her new-found info with everyone she knew. Like Pandora, who would undoubtedly tell Van.
Monalisa had no choice but to keep up the lie she’d begun. But what if Kaley could see the dishonesty in her aura too? She tried to come up with an answer that stayed clear of both sides. “Aren’t we all in our own way?”
Kaley nodded. “Totally. And it’s cool with me. I mean, I dig that you and Van both have that dark and light thing going on. You even share some of the same colors. His has a lot deeper greens and sparks of gold and red—like scales, which makes sense, right? But his aura also has the dark edging like yours. There are some definite similarities, for sure.”
Intrigued, Monalisa had to know more. “What does mine look like?”
“It’s pale green with streaks of blindingly bright light, plus a thin inner band of gold, and then the whole thing fades to black at the edges, which is what Van’s does. Your black is thicker, though, so you must be a little more dangerous than he is. Which is super cool.”
“That is very interesting. No one’s ever read my aura before. Thank you for sharing that with me.” She wasn’t sure what to do with this new information. It was interesting. Thankfully, she felt like this was a good ending to the conversation. “I’d better get this punch to Van. Nice meeting you, Kaley.”
“You too, Lisa. And I better go see if my grandfather needs anything. Oh, if you see my dad, tell him I was totally social, okay?”
“Will do.” Monalisa made her exit. She got the feeling Kaley’s dad was Pandora’s boyfriend, so that made him Cole. She hadn’t been introduced to him yet, but it would probably happen before the night was over.
She joined Van and almost breathed a sigh of relief that she’d gotten out of the chat with Kaley without revealing more about herself than she wanted to. Maybe she had a little of that paternal luck after all. If so, that was all she wanted from her father. Ever.
She held Van’s punch out to him without interrupting the conversation he was still involved in.
Van took the cup. “Lisa, this is Bartholomew Stanhill.”
The older man stuck his hand out. “Pleasure to meet you, miss. Please, call me Stanhill. Everyone does.”
“All right.” His British accent added to his charm. “Nice to meet you too. Are you a friend of Pandora’s too?”
“You could say that.” He smiled. “I’m sweet on the mother of the girls, Corette.”