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Arabelle stood wincing in the bathroom as her companion tested the mirror to make sure it was real. She inhaled slowly through her nose and out through her mouth. Not only was her arm in pain, but she now had a small headache because of the portals. She listened to Aileen as she asked if the skull was the reason for the attack and Arabelle nodded. She was just about to pull away from the Vanburen before the girl could come near her arm when she heard the toilet flush and the door to the stall behind them creak open.

Arabelle froze, her head turning to look at the woman who came out. Had she seen them? Arabelle had no time to check if the bathroom was empty before she emerged. Usually she would listen for movement before choosing to, but in the rush to leave the estate Arabelle had taken the empty looking bathroom as an okay to go.

Arabelle stared at the girl indignantly, as if challenging her to make an already bad day worse by freaking out on them. Hell, what if she was a wiccan too? Had they been followed by the girl with the portal abstraction? She stepped backwards from the woman as she moved to the sink and glanced at Aileen. If they needed to bolt, she was closest to the door. Arabelle would have to push the woman aside to follow Aileen out.

[b] “So that’s a cool little trick you have there.”[/b]

Arabelle met the woman’s eyes in the mirror. She pressed her lips together and stuck her chin out. This woman wasn’t a Blind because of how she was acting, but what was she? Arabelle had not read enough of James’s journals to differentiate between the types of extra-normals. If that was even possible. Arabelle watched the woman touch her hand to the glass, but she was distracted by the opaque blue arm that reached for a towel. So Arabelle was right. This woman knew of magic. 

[b] “Don’t worry, if there’s a string of burglaries around here I’m not gonna be the one to rat you out to the police.”[/b]

Arabelle almost laughed. Instead she raised an eyebrow as the girl continued to ask questions about her abstraction. Maybe this girl wasn’t hostile at all?

Then the woman recognized Aileen. Arabelle looked just as confused as Aileen did. [i]Another[/i] Vanburen? Why was Ezra the only one aware of her? If they knew each other so well already, Ezra would have mentioned her a long time ago. Arabelle had never seen her at the estate before either. Not even when James was alive. So, how did she end up working at this cafe in Araminta without a proper introduction to the family? Had she come to Araminta because of the curse?

Arabelle almost choked on her own spit when Aileen called her Miss Matthews. She wasn’t a goddamned nanny. Neither was she the full time caretaker. At least Aileen was trying to find a way out of this… situation. Which was growing increasingly more tiresome the longer she stood there. She needed to get her arm fixed, and then they could get to her apartment until it was safe to go back to the estate.

[color=804061] “I need to get to a doctor.”[/color] She winced as she took a step towards the door. [color=804061] “[i]Now.[/i]”[/color]

She looked at Nisha and gave her the best smile she could despite the pain in her arm.

[color=804061] “It was nice to meet you, Nisha. I hope to see you at the estate one day so that Ezra can properly introduce you to the Vanburen family.”[/color]

She hoped that Nisha would pass off the edge in the tone of her voice for her pain instead of unfriendliness.