Ever since a string of bad boyfriends left Leigh cynical and dark, she kept her heart closed off. With the help of some dark magic, she sarcastically wishes for a devil to dance with at her cousin's wedding, but her worst nightmare shows up instead...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Chiara, can you ask the kitchen for a large bowl? Oh! And some salt."
Sydney pulls my arm and whisks me out of the bathroom, down the hall, and into a dimly lit private room where the wedding presents and some personal bags are being stored. Sitting me down at a dining table in the center of the room, she then grabs a large maroon hobo bag off the floor, threading the round leather straps over her arm and picks off three votive candles from the table with the presents.
She places the votives in the center of the black tablecloth, then sits beside me and begins furiously rooting around in her bag. Her arm is so deep inside she looks like a red-headed Mary Poppins about to produce a full mirror out of there.
Chiara floats in a moment later to sit as well, setting a large glass bowl in front of me and handing off the silver salt shaker to Sydney.
"Perfect! Thanks, Chiara. Okay, we'll also need paper and a pen," Sydney remarks, pulling a very normal-looking notepad and a Sharpie out of her bag. "And, of course, my crystal-infused moon water."
My brow pinches together, and quietly, I ask, "Your what?"
Sydney proudly pulls out a long glass bottle with a very large pink crystal in it. "Water is an information carrier that can absorb vibrations, crystals have strong energy for creating manifestations, and the water can absorb and carry that. And then, obviously, the moon also has huge influences on water's energy with the pull of the tides and whatnot. So I always leave it on my window at night to let the moon supercharge it up!"
Whatever. That can't be a real thing! I'm so disoriented by the situation that's unfolding that I forget to overthink and just speak, my eyebrows raising along with the pitch of my voice, "And you seriously carry that around with you?"
"Of course!" she states, nonplussed, as if I'm the weird one in this scenario. "It's super good for you, and you also never know when you are going to need it. Like tonight!" She screws off the cap and takes a big gulp, staring me down the whole time, then sets it on the table next to the salt and immediately carries on. "Okay, take the pen and, with intention, draw the man you wish to summon."
Draw? A person?! My dream man? This is going to be a disaster. My body temp rises with the idea of drawing this in front of them.
"I'm not very good at drawing," I admit.
She dismisses that with a wave of her hand. "Doesn't matter. It's what's in your head and your heart that counts. Imagine the guy you want and all the details while you draw. The drawing can be a stick figure for all I care."
Phew.
I draw a stick person, but it looks so plain. I think about trying to make it more detailed, but this whole thing feels just so ridiculous and silly. I decide to make a joke of it to relieve my embarrassment and add little horns and a pointy tail. Hmm, something's still missing...
