All That She Can See(50)

‘And I’m telling you, I don’t want to risk it.’ Danior slid her hand under the pie dish and moved to take it upstairs to where Cherry assumed the kitchen was. Chase stood in Danior’s way, blocking her path. She narrowed her eyes at him and growled, ‘I’m not playing games, boy. Move.’

Chase’s mind flashed back to all the times she’d called him boy and he had to take a deep breath in order to keep calm.

‘It’s just a little slice of celebratory pie.’ He chuckled and tried to keep his voice light but Cherry could hear his nerves. Surely the sisters would too?

‘Oh, for goodness sake, Chase! If you want pie so badly why don’t you just HAVE SOME!’

SPLAT.

Danior pushed the pie onto Chase’s face. The sauce dribbled out of the sides and the pastry cracked and crumbled down Chase’s front. Danior threw her head back and cackled. Cherry gasped as she watched Danior give the pie tin a little twist on Chase’s face with added venom. Chase pulled the tin away with a great sucking noise only to find that most of the pie was still stuck to his skin.

‘What. The actual. Fuck.’ His words bubbled through the sauce.

‘Oh, stop whining. It’s not your big day.’ Danior dismissed him with a wave of her hand, before pushing past him and heading upstairs with her dress. Cherry heard the curtain rustle and turned to see Velina leave the room without so much as a backward glance. Cherry turned back just in time to see Chase licking his lips.

‘Chase. Stop eating it!’ she whispered.

‘I can’t help it! It’s everywhere! And I was going to have some anyway so it makes no difference. Fuck,’ he said looking down at himself.

‘Yeah. Fuck,’ Cherry said.

‘Right. So… erm…’ Chase looked at her, holding out his red-stained hands in defeat.

‘That wasn’t exactly part of the plan,’ Cherry said helplessly.

‘What do we do now?’ Chase asked quietly.

‘I don’t know!’ Cherry hissed, clenching her fists.

‘It’s okay. Just… listen, take a breath. We’ll figure this out.’ Chase tried to rub the sauce from his face but Cherry could see he was only rubbing it in, his skin getting pinker and pinker underneath.

‘Calm down?!’ Cherry slid her phone out from her pocket. ‘We have fifteen minutes. FIFTEEN!’ she cried, raising her voice. Chase rushed to her and pushed her towards the door.

‘Shhh!’ he hushed. ‘Just go outside.’

‘What?!’

‘Go outside! I have an idea but you can’t be here. They don’t trust you. You saw how Danior looked at you. As much as I hate to say it, I’m family, and even though they don’t think much of me, they still trust me. Just let me try one last thing. What other options do we have?’

‘Okay,’ she said. He was right – there were no other options.

‘Okay?’

‘OK. I’m out of ideas. But just please… be careful and… and…’

‘I’m not going to screw this up.’ Chase kissed her on the forehead, leaving behind some sticky, cherry-flavoured debris. He ran across the shop and up the stairs. ‘Mum! Dani!’ he called.

Cherry left the shop and instantly found herself pushing through the restless, humming crowd. She took deep breath after deep breath, her chest rising and falling underneath her wool cardigan. Someone accidentally stood on her foot and the pain triggered the prickle in the back of her eyes and the sound in her ears started to wane in and out. ‘Oh, God.’ She let out a sob and there, in the middle of the crowd, she sat down on the pavement, pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead against them. She couldn’t separate out any of the noises until she latched onto the only sound she was waiting for: the bell above the door of Psychic Sisters.

The crowd fell silent.





18





As Rare As A Unicorn





‘I’m not really one for speeches…’ Velina began. She stood on her tiptoes so she could reach the mic that was duct-taped to the front of the lectern. Danior pushed her aside and rested her hands on the edge of the lectern, with her elbows sticking out so Velina couldn’t get any closer. Cherry could only hear their voices and when she opened her eyes the sight of all the yellow flyers made her stomach flip.

‘I, on the other hand, am one for speeches!’ Danior cackled and snorted and the speaker that was teetering on the front of the small podium squealed in response. ‘Welcome one and all, young and old, to our humble shop. For almost four decades we’ve been here, in our little hovel, helping you all realise your greatest dreams and making all your lives brighter with the knowledge you crave but are unable to reach. We can reach that knowledge, however, and so have worked hard for most of our lives giving you, our loyal friends and customers, just what you need.’ Danior licked her lips, transferring more of her lipstick to her teeth, which she then bared to the crowd in a grin. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today we want to thank you for all the… love you’ve given us by letting those you care about who have passed communicate through us. All we require is a… small donation. Baskets and tea are being passed around. Make sure you find both!’ Danior wiggled her fingers dismissively to her side and Velina produced two wicker baskets from underneath the podium and handed them to the front row of the crowd. ‘Good, good. Keep them moving!’