"Madam, yes, shrink, no." She rubbed her thumbs over the back of his hands and watched the scales ripple up in their wake, pulled up by her presence without any effort from her at all. "You've met Riley, yes?" He nods. "She's a witch. So is her sister. People here don't talk about the supernatural aspect of our town with strangers. You can't blame them, can you? We've been hunted through history. We're naturally distrustful. But when we do find others of our kind we try to make them welcome."

She let his hands go and the scales stayed where they were. "I don't want anything from you except your attention to the situation at hand. I swear, if you can pull the change back," she gestured at his scales, "and you're willing to accept the charm, you can leave."