“Leave him,” I said to her.
“What?”
“He’s not worth it. He likes Jasmine anyway.”
The woman whirled her head and stared at him.
“Besides, you don’t want kids anyway, John. That’s all she wants, isn’t it, these past three years.”
She stared at me, her mouth open. I started laughing. “You mean you never knew? Those late nights?”
The man was angry and glared at me. “Who the hell do you think you are.”
I turned my back on him, whistling “Here Comes the Bride.”
He grabbed the scruff of my jacket and meant to yank me out of line – but he got shocked instead from the power coursing through me. “John!” yelled the woman, and John pulled back away from me, holding his hand.
“Let’s get out of here,” he growled, grabbing the woman by the arm and starting to pull her out of line. She dug in her heels. “I’m staying here.”
“Then find another way home,” he snarled and stormed down the street.
She looked at me, looked at John, and jumped out of line. “John, wait!”
I shook my head but saw the woman that was behind them glaring at me. “I hope you’re happy.”
“I am, thanks for your concern! Want me to tell you your Veritas?”
“My what?”
“Veritas. Truth. Complete and unvarnished, dragged out to the light of day!” I was manic with the power. Part of me, the more rational part, wanted me to tone it down. The other part was reveling in it.
Said the woman next to her in a whisper I heard, “He’s crazy.”
“I heard that.” I whirled on my heel and gave my back to them.
They left soon after.
After about an hour, I finally made it to the door. I immediately shut off the power from the ley lines, knowing – or believing – that someone might be able to sense auras there.
I could feel the heat from inside the shop, even with the A/C running. I got inside finally, and took a breath of stale air. Tyler had his normal post at the check-out and he saw me. He whispered something to someone next to him, and when she finished bagging whatever items for whatever person in front of her, and then went to a back room. By now, I knew the layout of the store and gravitated to the simalcrum dolls – not voudoun. Not even close.
I felt someone touch my arm. There was no shock this time. “Come with me, please,” said the check-out girl, wearing a thick goth look. I didn’t know where she had come from, but I followed her into the card-reading room, and then through a door, down a tight hallway that twisted right, then outside. I went up a set of wooden stairs to a porch. She peered inside, and I could see a woman with very long white and black hair seated at a table, another woman across from her. The woman was crying.
“Wait right here,” said the checkout girl quietly.
“Sure,” I said, and she put a finger to her lips. She checked a few more times, and when the woman left, she opened the door and guided me inside.
The woman turned around. She was dressed in what looked at first like archmage robes – but these were dark purple with a yellow sash around her waist. Her face was weathered, her nose too big, but she had bright blue eyes and the white and black hair made her look like she dyed only certain parts white or black.
“Ah, Grimaulkin. I’ve been waiting for you.”
==========
Of course I was taken by surprise that she knew my name. I wondered if that spirit I set free blabbed to her, too.
“Please, sit down.” She motioned to the chair across from her.
“Are you going to read my cards? Tell my fortune?”
She smiled, that weathered face looking old when she did. She wore lipstick, and I could now see the makeup up close. “I will tell you your past and make you an offer.”
I sat down, arms across my chest. “Go for it.”
“A gray eyed man in black came to me, looking for you. But he described you differently – as a man of black skin and red hair.” She smiled again. “I can see that under your magic. You boil with it.”
“That noticeable?”
“You are magic, my young mage.”
“So the man in black, did he wear a fedora?”
“Yes, and he carried a sword. One made of magic, but a sword.”
“Was his name James?”
“You know his name was James. You know much about him, and he knows much about you.”
“I actually don’t know that much about him. So, what’s the offer?”
“Can you guess?”
“You’ll protect me. At what price?”
“I already have protected you. I told him I didn’t know you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Oh, I did.” She pointed to the crystal ball on the table. “I have seen you.”
“Who is your daemon?” I asked.
“I have no daemon. I have many spirit guides.”
“Same difference.”
“No, they are not the same.”
Was I going to have another argument? I decided not to. “So the offer is to protect me?”
“Join my coven. The Rosicrucians cannot touch you there.”
“One of your twenty-one covens?”
“My Inner Circle.” She leaned forward. “If you scared the Rosicrucians, you must be a very powerful mage indeed.”
907 dragged out words.
I have no idea how to handle Alicia other than making her like Cruella deVille.