"This denim jacket is gorgeous and the lace embellishing the shoulder area adds an original touch... You should try it..." Ivy hands me the garment and holds my bags so I can walk closer to the mirror. "You look amazing..."
"I'll take it then," I answer smiling and giving it back to the owner of this vintage store who shoves it in a bag along with the flower dress and a sweater I already bought here. "Thank you for coming with me today, Ivy, I love your favourite shops... I'll take this braided leather belt too... Can we go somewhere to grab a bite? I have to stop now or I'll spend every penny of my salary this month, I've lost count of the amount of clothes I bought this evening. Oh look, I love this shirt..."
"Okay, we'll better go to eat something before you end up bankrupting yourself," my sister laughs her ass off while handing me some bags. "You have an eye for fashion, finding good bargains easily, Vinnia hates coming to Chelsea Market because she feels she needs to check every clothes rack to make sure she's buying the right stuff, whereas you can find what you like instinctively and it's always on sale."
"Do you think it's one of my druidic talents?"
"It could be," Ivy laughs amused again. "It's a useful power when you go shopping with a limited budget. Let's go to Sarabeth's, they have the best coffee in the city and their scones with jam are famous..."
I follow my sister delighted, dodging hundreds of people carrying bags or sitting down on benches holding a drink or some food, everybody looks happy and relaxed here and the truth is that I understand them because I've had the time of my life too and my hunter isn't giving me problems for a change. Today has been a good day despite it started with a big fight: my girlfriend refuses to take my money.
We celebrated Vinnia's successful show last night having dinner in a Japanese restaurant but didn't extend the party to the early hours in the morning because the designer was exhausted, I felt better after my conversation with the artist in the entrance hall and understood she was right: I'd been working hard, my life was upside down suddenly and stress was taking its toll on me. Ruby ran a bath for me with her wonderful oils and soothing herbs and I was able to sleep all night long. I still believe we're moving too fast concerning our relationship, like a runaway train that could go off the rails in the next turn, but I can't fight against a goddess and a stubborn witch so I've decided to go with the flow and enjoy my time with her as much as I can.
That was my firm intention when I got up and made breakfast, gave some food to Morgan and took my phone to check my bank account and see how much money I had and how much I could spend to buy clothes that evening with Ivy. Numbers got me baffled for a second till I understood what was going on: I had been living with Ruby for a month, I'd moved all my stuff to her apartment and terminated the rental agreement of my old studio. The owner had given me the deposit back and I wasn't paying the usual bills like light, water, food... And I never paid transport since I was going to the parlour with my boss. Not only could I afford buying clothes at Chelsea Market but I could also buy a gorgeous shirt I loved from Vinnia's collection... That was wrong. Ruby came into the kitchen yawning, poured herself a coffee and kissed my forehead while stealing a piece of my toast with jam.
"What's the matter now?" she asked noticing my furrowed brow.
And war broke. She stared at me in disbelief when I explained the problem and suggested that she should charge me a rent because I was living in her home, she flatly refused and I answered that, at least, I should pay my expenses and go to the supermarket from time to time. The witch was shaking her head and eating my breakfast while I was speaking and I got angry, the cat hid under the kitchen island when we started yelling at each other, I threatened with packing my things and going back to my old apartment... Ruby swore she'd tied me to the bed to stop me from leaving and brought out her status as High Priestess that allows her to do whatever she thinks it's suitable to keep her coven safe... I yelled that I wasn't going to allow her to boss me around using that excuse... and suddenly, a crystal vase with flowers that Ivy had left on the coffee table shattered scaring the death out of us.
"Was it my fault?" I asked confused.
"I think they were our negative energies mixed," Ruby answered sighing wearily. "Take Morgan in your arms while I clean this mess, I don't want her to cut her paw..."
Finally, we managed to talk like reasonable human beings and keep other glassware pieces intact. Ruby decided to accept a small amount of money to pay for food and other expenses every month, it's less money than the rent I used to pay for my old studio apartment which means I can afford buying lot of clothes today, but it makes me feel better knowing that I'm contributing to this relationship somehow and she's understood it. I think we've managed to overcome our first lovers' quarrel successfully. We said goodbye with a kiss when Ivy came to pick me up and Ruby went to her agent's office, we'll all have dinner in Aletta's office tonight to talk about the details of our trip to New Orleans.
"Ivy, wait a second..." I mumble confused and my sister stops, staring at me with caution. "Don't you feel that?"
"What? Do you feel sick? Is it the hunter?" the florist whispers taking a look around to make sure no one is listening.
"No, I don't think so, I don't know... It's coming from there..." I explain quietly pointing at a shop displaying antique porcelain objects and vintage clothes, there're also small pieces of furniture, trunks, lamps, paintings... We both get closer cautiously and the feeling gets stronger. "It feels like a beating, like a pulsing energy... Does it make sense to you?"
"Look at that, Iselen... those are stones with carved runes... And those books, the cup, a knife, the old pocket watch and a bronze key, candles, quartz and moonstone crystals, holy sticks... There's a mortar, a compass and bronze bowls... This is the equipment of a sister... These crystal bottles coming from an old 19th century apothecary's shop full of dry herbs are really beautiful..."
"Do you mean all this belonged to a witch?" Ivy nods while taking a closer look at the objects displayed on different tables, it's pretty obvious that the shop owner doesn't know what they are and he's scattered them around in no particular order.
"You felt her power, the remains of her energy that's still attached to these possessions, she must've been a powerful sister... Or maybe she died not long ago and her friends and family sold the equipment without knowing what it was, actually. It's a shame, witches leave these things to other sisters usually but it's not always possible... Do not touch it!" I pull my hand away with an abrupt movement, looking at her scared, I was about touching a silver moon pedant. "I feel positive energy, I don't think this witch practiced black magic, but we don't know what kinds of spells were linked to these objects... We better don't touch anything till we know what we're dealing with here. I'll call Ruby so she can come with the members of the coven..."
"Will she find out what we can touch or not?" I ask bewildered while Ivy takes her phone.
"Our High Priestess has studied a lot and her knowledge is vast but, in addition to that, when we're together our sensitivity is higher along with our powers and we'd be able to choose which stuff we keep and what objects we should buy because they'd be dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands."
*****
"You've made an amazing discovery, girls, congratulations." Thyra puts some bags on the coffee table in front of the garden on a wall made of live moss in Aletta's office, our sisters follow her carrying more stuff they leave on the leather couches and the floor.
"To be honest, it was Iselen the one who found the shop, I only felt the energy when she showed me this equipment. You know what? I think your inner hunter makes you extra sensitive to the presence of magic and we were really lucky today thanks to you." Ivy flops down on a chair while Lester pours drinks for us and Aletta and Louisa order some pizzas to Lombardi's while Diana Siena sleeps in her stroller ignoring the noise as usual.
"Maybe this is what your grandma was talking about when she told us your hunter was our weapon," Ruby leaves the bags with my clothes close to the door and takes two glasses of wine that Lester gives her before sitting down next to me and looking up at the ceiling, lost in her thought. "Why didn't Sarah try to talk to me? I knew her better than you, after all... Maybe she couldn't, the magical energy she was able to gather to send her message was weak and only a very sensitive witch, or druid, could feel it..."
"You mean I'll keep seeing and feeling things that will make my skin crawl often, how cool..." I sigh wearily and the artists smiles, kissing my cheek.
"That's supposed to be something good, babe." I look at her in disbelief and she laughs again, shaking her head before rummaging in a bag to take some books. "Let's see what we have here..." The girls copy the High Priestess' movements and take a look at the stuff we've bought, almost everything that was in the shop and belonged to the unknown witch, in fact. Ivy will keep the apothecary's bottles she loved for her dry herbs, Lester seems delighted with the compass that will help him to find more lost things, Vinnia shows Louisa all the pink quartz, amethyst and moonstone crystals, Elvira is sorting bowls by size and Aletta touches the stones carved with runes fascinated.
"It's been a while since the last time I saw some of these," the blonde Valkyrie winks at me. "Do you want to try, Iselen?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about taking a look at your future although you should know that runes are more temperamental than Tarot cards and don't always show what we want, you ask about your love life and they tell you things about your professional career and all that jazz... But they're reliable and when a völva like me is handling them... I'm always right."
"Okay... I'm not good at reading cards, my grandma always said I was too emotionally involved to make them work since I only read them for friends and family, it works better when you read the future to strangers, apparently."
"You don't need cards," Vinnia snorts moving some stuff away from the coffee table to make room for Aletta. "You're a powerful druid with a gift..."
"Although it would be desirable to elaborate further on your predictions," Lester cuts her off from another couch holding his phone on his hand. "I still don't know when I'm going to meet my girlfriend."
"I'm sorry, brother." The Valkyrie comes back and places a round mirror on the table putting quartz crystals around it carefully.
"Don't worry, I'll meet her soon and that's the only thing that matters..."
"Focus on this, Iselen." Aletta points at the table and puts the runes in a red velvet bag. "Mirrors have lot of energy, they're doors between worlds and between present and future and this is... gold glitter."
"Glitter? You can read the future with this?" I ask perplexed while my sisters sprinkles glitter all over the mirror. Savannah laughs amused and nods holding her glass of wine.
"That's exactly what I said too."
"Glitter is the way to follow the traces," Aletta explains giving me the bag. "You have to shake it while focusing on your questions and turn it upside down so the stones fall on the mirror, the way they land and the traces they leave on the glitter while rolling around are important... Let's do it." I sigh and obey, shaking the bag while the witches stare at me with expectation and I turn it upside down, some stones land face up and some others face down, rolling over the mirror. The Valkyrie looks at them with critical eye for a while and uses her index to draw some lines on the glitter connecting some runes, one of the stones has landed far away from the others and Aletta draws a straight line that keeps it separated. "That's your grandmother..."
"Really?" I ask shocked. "What does it mean?"
"That she's still present in your life and plays a role in your future despite she's not in this world anymore... The love rune, that's Ruby obviously, and she's right next to the cosmic shield that's the protective rune..." My girl smiles smugly next to me, she's probably remembering our fight this morning when she told me that she'd do whatever necessary to protect me, even tying me up to her bed. "This is a weird couple: the rune that drives away nightmares right next to the positive energy generator... I don't know how to read this but these other two are pretty clear to me: prosperity along with professional future... your book will be a great success, my friend."
"I told you... I loved the story..."
"What? Ruby has read it?" Louisa asks rocking my goddaughter in her arms while the baby tries to play with her mother's moon pendant that's hanging from her neck. "When we'll be able to read it too?"
"I was thinking of publishing it soon on a site for amateur writers, I like that one because I can keep all of my authors' rights even if I'll give my book for free, but I'd love to check the story one more time to be sure..."
"It's perfect, I told you, you should publish it now." My girlfriend points at the stones on the table and my sisters nod. "Even runes know your future, you're the only one with doubts here..."
"All right, I'll do it." I grab my phone feeling a weird burst of positive energy, as if the good wishes of the members of my coven, their good vibes supporting me, were forcing me to do this without thinking twice. The book was ready in the drafts folder and I only had to upload it definitely... one minute later I'm showing them the screen triumphantly. "I did it... I hope your runes are right."
"I'm never wrong, I told you," Aletta answers a bit offended while grabbing her phone.
"But you like me and it could happen that the runes only tell you good things about my future to please you or you always read a positive message on them for me, turning a blind eye to bad news. That's what happens to me with Tarot cards, I never read dire predictions to my friends because I wish them only the best."
"But they're right today," Ruby answers quietly while holding her phone. "More than 100 people have downloaded your book in two minutes..."
"What? How? Why?" I ask confused and a little scared too, checking that she's right through the statistics showed on my profile... more and more people are downloading my story. "What's going on?"
"I promoted your book on my Instagram stories..." Savannah shakes her phone in front of my face. "We all did..."The girls nod and show me the screens of their devices, their thousands of followers are watching the post and swiping up to click on the link to take a look at my story. Ruby chuckles next to me and shows me the post she's written talking about me, how lucky she is to have such a talented girlfriend, how happy she is with me and how much her cat loves me and promises her followers she'll show them some pics of the tattoos she's doing on my skin.
"Thank you, I don't know what to say..." I whisper moved.
"This is how the coven works, babe, I told you."
"Pizzas are here!" Vinnia gets up excited when hearing the door bell ringing and Thyra helps Elvira to bring plates and napkins for us while I keep staring at my phone in awe. More than 200 people have downloaded the book in the first 5 minutes, I'm going to be a brilliant success if things keep going so fast, but there's something bothering me, a discordant energy in the room that makes me frown... I turn my head and fix my eyes on the tattooed guy that seems to be focusing on the screen of his phone.
"Lester... Lester!" I repeat out loud and my brother looks up, startled, while I stare at him suspiciously. "Pizzas are here, that's food... why aren't you excited?"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I'm hungry..." he answers smiling faintly and taking a plate.
"What's wrong?" Ruby seems to feel his disturbing energy too and our sisters look at us confused while the smell of delicious pizza drifts all over the room.
"This is so strange..." our brother answers shrugging. "I'm talking about Tävibo, one of the shamans of the Paiute tribe that still lives in California, a very special guy... a bit eccentric... one of a kind... but he told me the most amazing stories about Native American legends and he knew the Sierra better than anyone. His knowledge about medicinal herbs was insane..."
"I never met Tävibo personally but I've heard about him, of course... What's the matter?" Ruby asks puzzled.
"He jumped from the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco... a boat has found his corpse one hour ago. A friend of mine from Los Angeles has told me the news... I don't understand it, why would he do something like this?"