Silver Blood (Series of Blood Book 1) by Emma Hamm (bill gates book recommendations .TXT) 📕

“You’d miss me if you found another host.”

“I would not.”

“You would.”

Wren blinked, and her own eyes stared back at her. She shook her head firmly and got back to work. Though she couldn’t resist smiling along with the laughter that rang loudly in her head.

E didn’t like to say that it was partial to Wren. E wanted to cause trouble and to make people laugh. Or cry, depending on the day and what side of the bed E had woken up on. It frequently said that Wren was holding it back from doing all the things that it was meant to do.

But Wren knew how much it adored her. It made her laugh whenever it could, and it was always there to pick her up mentally when she fell. E was her best friend and her biggest advocate. Even when it didn’t need to be.

“So who are you today anyways?” she asked quietly as a few more customers came into the store.

“I’m channeling Cleopatra’s grandmother.”

“That seems an odd choice. Why not Cleopatra?”

“Far too boring, darling. Cleopatra got everything she wanted, but her grandmother… Well now that was a woman to enjoy.”

“I don’t think Cleopatra’s grandmother was even in the history books much.”

“You just didn’t listen when we were learning about it.”

“Also true.” Wren smirked. She was never one who had enjoyed being cooped up in school very much. She wanted to run outside and play with whatever animals she could find.

Back then, the school had been near a pond. Nature was always trying to take back the giant buildings that lived around them. Magic pouring into the world hadn’t helped that, in fact it had only made it worse.

Vines had their own ideas, and trees could pull themselves up by the roots to travel to new ground. It made living in metal buildings much harder when green things could fight back.

But she had loved the area behind the school building. There were far too many stinging nettles for anyone else to follow her, and Wren preferred to be alone. The other children were brutal when they learned she was a Curiosity. The harsh words would send her running outside the building to catch frogs and try kissing them into princes.

E had been more forceful back then. She thought that it had tried to scare her into being frightened of it. Wren would have been easier to control if she were frightened of the beast inside of her. But she hadn’t been frightened and had given E sass right back.

Eventually, they had learned that they quite liked each other. It only took a couple summers of puberty before E and Wren were back at that pond laughing with each other. Rather than E telling her scary stories and attempting to drown her, E had taken it upon itself to build her confidence back up.

She could see its reflection in the water, and it liked to watch her skip rocks. E had never been able to do that back home. The skipping part always confused it.

That was the only fact Wren knew about E’s life before her.

“Wren, love, could I get a little Happiness please?”

Wren blinked at the hobgoblin in front of her. He was a tiny little thing with green scales along the edges of his jaw. He wasn’t a regular in her store, but money was money.

She turned on her heel and hopped up the ladder once more. Her heel slipped on one of the rungs, but her clumsiness wasn’t anything new to most of the other customers. They knew how she tended to trip or fall and ignored her now.

Saving her in her time of need was only going to have to be repeated in a few moments. The woman needed a keeper more than she need a savior.

Her hand wrapped around a large bottle with yellow smoke in it. Happiness was one of her bestsellers. It was easy to find, easy to take, and the effects lasted for at least two hours.

The neck of the sweater she wore fell off the long slope of her shoulder. The pale skin underneath was unmarred from scars or tattoos. She handed the hobgoblin the bottle and swiped the coins off of the table.

“You joining us?”

She smiled at his offer. “No, thank you though. Would you like some cards?”

He glanced over his shoulder at the three men behind him. “Yeah. Yeah that’ll do.”

Happiness always created a want for something fun. Wren loved it when people took Happiness and stayed in her booths. Their laughter was fantastic for business, and it always made her smile. She liked that one more than the other emotions.

Once the four men were settled, business picked up as usual. She was constantly busy though her prices weren’t high enough for the steady stream of people to make much of a difference.

Wren was well aware that Juice was usually sold for a higher price. But she couldn’t convince herself to sell it for anything other than a few coins. It took her nothing to make it. She settled down with her flowers and herbs, blew a little smoke, dashed a little water, and dreamed.

This was not the accepted process for creating Juice. Technically, M.O.M. stated that the emotions had to be pure substances that were pulled from personal memories. But Wren found that by doing so, she dulled the memories into black and white. Eventually she would lose all emotion that was connected to that special moment.

She didn’t want that. Wren’s happy memories were few and far between. She wasn’t going to dull those for any person or money in the world.

Instead, E had suggested that she let it do the the work for her. She had a small pallet in the corner of her room that she laid upon during these working sessions. Bottles, vials, and flasks were arranged in a semicircle around her with herbs and incense. Wren would get everything ready that she could and then she would