Witch Way

Chapter 2--Something Witchy This Way Comes

Chapter 2

Shayla arrived in the town square after nearly half an hour of walking. Her breathing heavy, she collapsed onto a park bench to let her heart rate slow down before heading to the grocery store. She pulled her hair off of the back of her neck and leaned over until she was laying on the bench with her hair hanging off the side.

"You okay Miss?" A voice asked hesitantly, as if they were afraid she might attack.

"I'm fine thanks." She answered a bit snappily, her heart still thudding against her ribcage. She pulled her arm from where it lay across her eyes to put a face with the mysterious speaker.

"Just checking, you look awful tired." The man acknowledged, his face finally coming into view and blocking the sunlight that was in her eyes.

"Oh, it's you." She stated bluntly, growing irritated to see the oil stained man from the day before. He might be easy on the eyes, but she didn't need a keeper.

The man seemed to sense her growing anger and swept his light brown hair out of his eyes to give a nervous glance around the area. "Um, ok. Sorry to bother you."

"Well don't bother me again then."

"I-I-I was just trying to be nice, I thought you had fainted."

"I don't need a keeper. I can look after myself. Back off." She shot at his back as he scurried back to the mechanic shop.

Shayla stood up as he disappeared through as side door of the building, and headed in the opposite direction towards the market.

~*~

The visit to the store turned out to be uneventful. She did get the things she needed; cleaning supplies, food, new bed clothes and toiletries, but she had to listen to the clerk ramble on about how she just knew Shayla would love this town. The incessant questions about her former life was nearly enough to make Shayla beg her to just stop talking. She realized there was no way she could make it back to her house on foot laiden down with so many bags.

She stood on the sidewalk for a moment, discouraged by her lack of foresight. She began to head back to the park bench when she spotted a familiar rickety old truck sitting in front of the mechanic's. She grimaced at the thought of walking in to the building, worried that she might run into the oil stained man again. After a moment's indecision, she decided to walk around the square and see what other stores it might hold. She'd need nearly an entire wardrobe soon enough, so she figured she needed to see what kind of horrors these small town stores had.

Most of the stores were pretty normal, a family owned drug store, a gas station, a consignment shop, and a fairly cute clothing store. The clothes weren't designer label, but she'd never owned anything designer anyway. She made sure to make a mental note about the consignment shop, knowing she'd want to get rid of some things that had been left by the previous owners of her new home. She came up to the last of the stores and stopped dead in her tracks.

An intense tingling sensation seemed to set her body on alert from head to toe. She had to fight her fight or flight urge to whip her head to see what store she was next to.

Triple Goddess Sorcery Supply Shop

All she could think was, 'What the hell is a magic shop doing in a town like this?' She pushed the door open, ignoring the urge to run and grimaced as a bell announced her entrance. The store was full of crystals, herbs, shiny medallions with what look like some archaic alphabet inscribed on them. The only thing that seemed ordinary were the candles, there were scented candles, as well as unscented colored candles. But what held her attention were the six people seated in the floor, surrounded by candles and a chalk circle. They were chanting too fast for her to make out the words, and not one of them had opened their eyes when she arrived.