Golden Girl

~9~

As they stepped through the door, lights came on. Flute music started up like they'd walked on a stage. The wide aisles were lined with bins and nuts and dried fruit, baskets of apples and clothing racks with tie-dyed shirts and gauzy Tinker Bell-type dresses. The ceiling was covered in wind chimes. Along the walls, glass cases displayed crystal balls, geodes, macrame dream catchers and a bunch of other strange stuff. Incense must have been burning somewhere. It smelled like a bouquet of flowers was on fire.

"Fortune teller's shop?" Frank wondered aloud.

"Because that would be helpful," Aurelia deadpanned.

Percy leaned against her. He looked like he had been hit with a sudden flu. His face glistened with sweat. "Sit down ..." he muttered. "Maybe water." At least he was coherent enough to form sentences.

"Yeah," Frank said. "Let's find you a place to rest."

The floorboards creaked under their feet. Frank stood between two Neptune statue fountains when a girl popped up from behind the granola bins. "Help you?"

Frank lurched backward, knocking over one of the fountains. A stone Neptune crashed to the floor. The sea god's head rolled off and water spewed out of his neck, spraying a rack of tie-dyed man satchels. "Sorry!" Frank bent down to clean up the mess. He almost goosed the girl with his spear in the process."

"Eek!" she yelped. "Hold it! It's okay!"

Other than the slight widening of her eyes at the chaos, Aurelia's face managed to stay blank. The same couldn't be said for Hazel, who was mortified, and Percy who was turning a sickly shade of green as he stared at the depicted statue of his father.

The girl clapped her hands. The fountain dissolved into mist. The water evaporated. She turned to Frank. "Really, it's no problem. Those Neptune fountains are so grumpy looking, they bum me out."

The girl was short and muscular, with lace up boots, cargo shorts, and a bright yellow T-shirt that read R.O.F.L Rainbow Organic Foods and Lifestyles. She looked young, but her hair was frizzy white, sticking out on either side of her head like the white of a giant fried egg. Her irises were distracting—constantly changing color from gray to black to white and over again.

"Uh ... sorry about the fountains," Frank apologized. "We were just—"

"Oh, I know!" the girl chirped. "You want to browse. It's all right. Demigods are welcome. Take your time. You're not like those awful monsters. They just want to use the restroom and never buy anything." She snorted—her eyes flashed with lightning. Aurelia thought hse imagined it but she felt the shock go through Frank and Hazel as well.

From the back of the store, a woman's voice called: "Fleecy? Don't scare the customers, now. Bring them here, will you?"

"Your name is Fleecy?" Hazel asked.

Fleecy giggled. "Well, in the language of the nebulae it's actually—" She made a series of crackling and blowing noises that resembled a thunderstorm giving way to a nice cold front. "But you can call me Fleecy."

"Nebulae ..." Percy muttered in a daze. "Cloud nymphs."

Fleecy beamed. "Oh, I like this one! Usually no one knows about cloud nymphs. But dear me, he doesn't look good. Come to the back. My boss wants to meet you. We'll get your friend fixed up."

Fleecy led them through the produce aisle, between rows of eggplants, kiwis, lotus fruit, and pomegranates. At the back of the store, behind a counter with an old-fashioned cash register, stood a middle aged woman with olive skin, long black hair, rimless glasses, and a T-shirt that read: The Goddess Is Alive! She wore amber necklaces and turquoise rings. She smelled like rose petals. Very friendly looking.