Magic Tricks 🔮 Book 2 || gxg

Just a Fortune

If, when Ada woke up, someone told her what she would be doing with her afternoon, she would have told them they clearly didn't know her. Oh how wrong she was. Her calendar app informed her her childhood friend's birthday was coming up, as she was eating breakfast. Paz was the sort of person you went to when you felt weird but didn't know why. They knew more about crystals and their uses than she knew about engines. So yeah, she knew right away where she would be going on her lunch break. It was this weird little shop not far from the bookstore with a hand-painted wooden sign reading 'Luna's Oddities.'

Ada had never been inside before, she hadn't the need. She knew next to nothing about this stuff, and without Paz around the corner, it's not like she was thinking about alternative medicine all that often. She didn't get those feelings much, more often than not Paz would point them out for her.

So Ada wasn't sure if she believed in that sort of thing, if he was just humouring them or if part of her believed she simply did get wrong energies sometimes. Regardless, they were easy to shop for. They never grew tired of crystals, books, or statues.

This was just the tip of the iceberg of her strange day, bear with her.

The morning was slow going. She had a stubborn alternator to occupy her time and little interest in it. Colin tried to chat her up a few times. He noticed the heavy bags under her eyes and pointed them out. Those few hours of sleep were not enough to counteract a late night of drinking and regular sleep interruptions. She wasn't about to tell him why she was so tired. None of it was his business. Hell, she wasn't even going to tell Charlotte later.

Ada dipped out while he was in the washroom so he wouldn't ask questions. She wasn't ashamed to be going there, but she wasn't particularly proud of it, either. She would rather not have to field those questions and jokes at work if she could avoid it. The shop wasn't a long walk away, and she was glad to see the open sign hanging in the window between heavy velvet drapes.

Over the top already; at least she was going to find something good.

The door was barely open a crack before she was assaulted by incense. Busy displays made a narrow path into the dimly lit store which split around either side of a low wooden bookshelf. The top held a collection of diving instruments of all shapes, sizes, and qualities. Some she recognised, others she didn't. The counter appeared to her left as the room opened up. A young woman scrolling through a sticker-covered laptop glanced up at her as she emerged, and a smile spread her taupe-painted lips.

"Hey, need any help?" Her voice was higher than Ada expected, clear like birdsong.

"Thanks, I'm all right."

Ada slipped into the aisle that would lead her away, because she really wasn't in a chatting mood. She still had to eat before her break was over.

Ada felt her eyes on her as she scanned, and she couldn't help wishing for taller shelves. Whatever. She was surrounded by indigenous instruments on one side and card decks on the other—tarot was only the shallow end, the types of decks grew more obscure as she progressed to the gloomy recesses of the shop. Angel cards were the last ones she recognized, and the shelf stretched on. None of those was the right gift, Ada didn't know the first thing about what sort Paz used. Plus, she seemed to recall them telling her about how personal decks are. Anyway, she moved away from those to scan bins of tumbled crystals and dried herbs. The further back she went, the less familiar things became until she was surrounded by unusual, writhing statues; crystal balls in astonishing hues, books in languages she didn't recognise.

When she snapped to, she gathered her thoughts and hurried off in search of things she knew Paz would love. She found a first edition Numerology book from an author she knew they enjoyed, a salt lamp carved to look like a dragon egg, and a bottle of rosemary essential oil from a local maker.