(Unedited, Not Proofread, 3624 words)
Trigger Warnings: Light mention of death/suicide (nothing descriptive/terrible, read cautiously and stay safe <3)
We did, in fact, end up eating in the car. The entity watched us leave and I was very happy to learn it is confined to the diner and is unable to leave in any capacity. Kaylen, after a moment, moved us to a different parking lot so I didn't have to sit and watch it stare at us through the doors and windows, which I appreciated greatly.
About thirty minutes later, we are walking into a store called Rachel's that is stuffed in between a gas station and a small Subway. I didn't expect much as we were crossing the parking lot, but as the doors open, I am hit in the face with several strong scents and a complete shower of good energy.
"Welcome! Welcome!" A cheery voice exclaims from somewhere out of sight. "Come in! Please wipe your feet! I'll be with you in just a moment."
We all take turns wiping our feet off as we were asked, but as soon as I finish, I am immediately drawn to the center of the shop.
The walls are painted dark purple, and the ceiling is black with splatters of colored paint that resemble galaxies above our heads. In the middle is the sun— represented by the actual light—, and around it is the planets and far-away stars and everything in space. The ground beneath me is wooden and it creaks in the most comforting way as we walk on it. All around are shelves stocked full of everything a medium— or I guess a witch in this case— could ever want or need. Crystals, plants, books, dream catchers and supplies, herbs, spices, tea kettles, teacups, little treasures, knick-knacks, stuffed animals, playing and tarot cards... everything.
This little shop is everything I've ever wanted to experience. There are candles lit along the counters, some scented lavender and others unscented but colored. There are small night-lights plugged into outlets, each with little pictures on them and small price stickers that have melted to the plug from being there for so long. The shelves are well-loved, but dust has begun to settle on them. Tiny fans circulate the air, and as they turn back and forth, one blows enough air for a wind chime to lightly sing one or two notes.
I feel at home almost instantly in here. My worries, my anxiety, my desperation... all the bad feelings melt away.
I wish I could say the same for Jonah, but I can tell he feels a little panicked as he steps up next to me. Without causing a scene, I glance over at his face. His eyes fail to meet mine, but even without looking into them, I can feel an intense sense of some fearful emotion. I can't quite pinpoint it, nor do I know what the cause could be. He stays next to me as I begin to walk around, but he says nothing and barely looks up from the ground.
"Hello, hello, hello!" A very cheerful young woman runs out from somewhere I can't see, appearing between me and one of the walls that holds a candle collection on it. She has long brown hair that was once dyed purple and has now lost almost all color, dark blue eyes that remind me of late-night skies, and a friendly smile that catches me off-guard. She's about my height, and she's wearing a flowy black dress beneath a shawl and a jacket, all a mix of colors that have no one name. Her energy clashes with mine unexpectedly, but from the way we both begin to smile upon seeing each other, I know it's on a good way.
"My name is Sophia, I'm Rachel's daughter and the owner of this shop. What are you interested in today and can I help you find it?" she asks, her eyes never leaving mine. Her voice has a hint of an accent that I can't place, as it's not sharp enough to be discernable. Maybe British, through it could be a non-English one as well.
"Um, hi," I chime, "I'm Josephine, I'm a medium and I'm here looking for some gemstones that can help me connect to spirits."
"Ah, a medium!" she exclaims, her eyes lighting up with a child-like interest. "One of mother nature's ways to connect the living to the dead, how wonderful! Would you like some help finding these gemstones?"
"If you could point me in the right direction, that would be great," I ask, and she nods excitedly, her hair bouncing around as she moves.
"We have a full collection across the store. Tumbled, natural, geodes, cut, whatever you'd like," she offers, and I'm suddenly sure that the accent is German even though it still doesn't quite sound like it. She points as she finishes speaking, and Jonah and I both turn around to look. "Some have small description cards, and our mixed collections have pictures to help you identify them. There is a book to the far right of the wall with an explanation of all gemstones and how they relate to various practices. If you find yourself in need of help, you know my name!"
"Thank you, Sophia," I say gently, and her heartwarming smile is the last thing I see before she whisks herself away in a cloud of flowing silk and fabric, her shoes making soft clicks along the wood as she walks away.
Jonah and I turn around and he tentatively leads the way to the other side of the store. Halfway there, we pass Mike and Abby, who are both inspecting a statue of a rabbit that is on one of the center shelves. All the other shelves are parallel to the wall with the entrance on it, but nine short shelves positioned in a three-by-three pattern, are set to be perpendicular to it in spite of their distance away.
We pass them quietly and when we arrive on the other side, we find shelves mounted to the walls and wooden stands with mixed crystals inside. Each stand is labeled with one of three words: Natural, Tumbled, and Cut. The geodes Sophia mentioned are on the shelves above, along with displays of rocks and explanations of what each form means. Natural being... you know... natural, tumbled being smooth and shiny (made so by a process called "tumbling", or which there is another explanation for, and cut being removed from natural gemstone clusters to remove any bits of rock or other substance that isn't the gemstone itself. Apparently cut can come in "simple", meaning it has just cut away the bare minimum, or "complex", meaning all of the imperfections were cut away.
"This is a lot," Jonah mumbles, and I hum mhm in agreement. He walks over to the book at the end of the display, taking his panicked emotions with him, while I continue reading about the gemstones and their properties.
"Hello, my name is Sophia!" I hear the shop owner somewhere behind me. "Is there anything I can help you find?"
"What's your favorite thing in here?" Abby asks, and Sophia makes a noise as though she's never quite considered it. I smile to myself, waiting for her answer as I pretend to scan the top of one of the buckets of rocks.
"Well, I don't think I've ever thought of it," she admits, confirming my assumption, "but if I had to choose something without thinking too terribly long about it, I'd have to say it's the bracelets. We have a display in the back. Any color, any stone, any size. I love them all dearly. Every one is unique in its own way, and once someone purchases it, it's gone. There will never be another like it."
"Can we go look at them, Mike?" Abby asks. He doesn't respond verbally, but the following events tell me what I need to know.
"Come on, I'll look at them with you," Sophia says happily, and two pairs of footsteps go running across the store. I smile again, my heart warming at the sound of Abby's gasp.
A sudden presence behind me spooks my senses and I whirl around quickly. A few feet away, Mike holds his hands up innocently and immediately says, "My bad, I thought you heard me come over."
I exhale a soft breath and chuckle, "It's alright. Do you want to help me look for gems?"
"Sure," he agrees, though the look on his face tells me he has absolutely no idea what he's supposed to do. I turn back around, looking up at the gems on the shelf while he picks up one from the bucket. "What exactly are we looking for?" he asks after a moment.
"Protection," I reply, trying to read and speak at the same time, "gemstones each have different abilities or properties. Some offer protection, others dispel bad energies, some absorb those energies. I'm looking for something that will calm them and protect us."
"Do you think this stuff works?" he questions, and I nod without missing a beat.
"I believe anything will work if you believe in it enough," I admit, and I feel him turn to look at me. He says nothing, even though a question sits heavy on his tongue, so I decide to elaborate. "That's why I don't have concrete beliefs on the afterlife. I mean, obviously spirits and ghosts exist, but what happens after?"
"I don't know," he replies, honestly, "everyone thinks differently about it, don't they?"
"They do," I chime, looking down at the bucket standing at waist-height. "I think that if someone truly believes in heaven, then that's where there going. If they believe in reincarnation, then I believe they'll come back reincarnated."
"That's... a way to think about it," he mumbles, not having much to say in response as he turns an orange stone around in his hand.
"Have you ever learned a new word and all of a sudden, you hear it a lot when you've never heard it before?" I ask, and he nods just enough for me to see it out of the corner of my eye. "It's the same concept."
"Nothing exists until you think about it?" he asks, and now it's my turn to nod.
We fall silent for a moment, the only sounds being soft music playing from a radio at the checkout counter, Jonah turning the pages of the giant book in the corner, and Sophia and Abby discussing the different bracelets and laughing every now and then.
Everything feels so peaceful here. It feels right. No worries, no entities screaming for my attention, no ghost children tugging at my conscience. It feels clean, soft, warm.
I can't explain how long it's been since I've felt this at peace with something. No energies, no nothing.
It's not an emptiness. Empty is what I feel lying at home on my couch. This is somehow the opposite of that. This is a type of calm fulfillment.
This is a place where I can think clearly.
"This one's pretty," Mike mumbles, pulling a dark green piece of tumbled aventurine out of the bucket. I recognize the glassy shine and dark color from the pieces Annabeth and I would offer to each other because they were the color of our eyes. I always gave her pieces of sodalite, which is exactly the color of Sophia's eyes now that I think about it.
"Aventurine," I mumble, and he looks over at me. "It's supposed to help with luck. Its name comes from some Italian word that means 'by chance'. I know that one by heart." He hums and nods, passing the stone to his left hand before returning to his search with his right.
I smile a bit before returning to my own.
A minute or two later, we hear little footsteps running over. "Mike! Mike! Look at this bracelet!" Abby exclaims, and we both turn to look at her. She holds up her wrist, showing us both a perfectly fitting black gemstone bracelet.
"Wow," Mike comments, "it's pretty."
"Look, I got this one for you!" she chimes, holding a second bracelet out to Mike. He grabs it gently and thanks her, but the bracelet does not fit him. Abby notices this as we do and she frowns. "That's the only other hematite bracelet..."
"Hematite?" I ask, and Abby opens her mouth to explain.
"It's a grounding stone," Sophia appears behind the young girl with a smile on her face, "used for protection and to calm a racing mind." Mike and I turn to look at each other silently, and when he glances past me for a split second, I know we have the same thought.
"I'll still get this one," Mike confirms, and I nod a bit as we both turn to Abby, "it might be useful, you never know." Sophia smiles before hurrying away, leaving the three of us alone.
Mike and Abby engage in conversation while I return to the gemstones, carefully digging through the natural bucket so I don't hurt myself. Some gemstone clusters are sharper than others.
Just as I pick up an amethyst cluster, a gentle hand presses onto my shoulder. I turn to see who's there, but the space next to me is completely empty, and there is no hand on my shoulder.
Instead of panicking, which I am physically incapable of doing now, I gently set the amethyst down and surrender myself to whatever light energy is tugging on me. "I'll be right back," I tell the sibling combo, already weaving my way through the store.
The energy leads me to the back, where Sophia stands guarding a door. She has her arms crossed, leaning back against a wall right next to the door. When I step out into the small open corner, she looks up.
All is silent and still for a moment before she steps aside, nodding at the door.
I purse my lips and nod, stepping forward and grabbing the doorknob. It doesn't turn, but I hear someone inside tell me to wait a second. A few footsteps follow the request, and then the door unlocks.
"It's soundproof," Sophia says quietly before walking away, and I raise an eyebrow at her before shaking away my suspicions and opening the door.
Inside, a dim light reveals a small room set up for what I assume would be some kind of future reading. Instead of a worker, though, Jonah stands in the middle of the room, tears on his cheeks.
"Please don't be mad," he whispers, and I feel my heart ache.
"I'm not," I assure him, stepping inside and closing the door, "and I won't be."
"I don't think I can do this," he admits, shaking his head. He refuses to look at me now, so much so that he turns his side to me and focuses on the ground, rubbing his hand over his mouth as tears fall from his eyes.
I wait to respond, considering my options. Images of the bracelet flash in my mind, followed by Kaylen, the pizzeria, the one picture of Sam that Jonah keeps in his wallet. So many options, so many ways I could respond, and yet there's only one correct answer.
"No one's making you," I state, shaking my head slightly. "This is a lot. It's a lot for me, and it's a lot for you. And if you don't think you can do it, then you don't have to. No one will be mad at you, no one will be upset."
Silence.
I carry on, softer.
"Sam haunts that building, doesn't she?" I ask, and he nods. I think for a moment, letting the calm energy of the room settle over us before I disrupt it again.
"If I was asked to go back to my childhood home... I wouldn't," I admit, no doubt in my mind. "Jonah, I would pass on a million dollars... hell, I would pass on a billion dollars. I can't go back. I know I can't. And I will never— would never— put myself in a situation where I would have to."
I shake my head, trying to keep my voice steady. "I can't imagine seeing him again. Seeing that memory of him in the doorway now would absolutely shatter me. Watching him do that to himself would..." I can't bring myself to say it, but we both know it's true. He looks over at me, a silent plea in his blue eyes. I smile sadly and nod, promising I won't.
"I'd rather shove an ice spike into my eye," I carry on, and he nods a bit. "So, I get it. I promise. And if you don't want to go back in there, I won't make you and I will fight anyone who tries, okay?" He nods again.
"Thank you, Josie," he says softly.
"I dragged you all the way out here," I mumble, smiling at him as I shake my head, "I wouldn't be caught dead not protecting you now." He smiles at me, then at the ground, wiping stray tears from his cheeks.
"Let's go get some gemstones," he whispers, "for... what did you call them? Protection?"
"Were you listening to that conversation?" I ask, laughing a bit. He looks up at me, a playful smirk painting his lips.
"What? When he pulled out your favorite gemstone and called it pretty?" he questions, and I roll my eyes. "Guess it really is the gemstone of luck."
"Stop," I snap, playfully pointing at him like I'm threatening him.
"Hey, I'm not the one buying it," Jonah holds up his hands innocently, tears and a smile decorating his face, "he is."
"I'm going to leave you here," I threaten, and he does his little 'huh-haa' laugh and everything feels right again.
"Please don't though," he says as we head for the door, "the lady kind of scares me."
"Why?" I ask, opening the door and stepping out. Jonah makes a I-don't-really-know noise and I throw a questioning glance over my shoulder. He shrugs, and we both start laughing.
When we get back over to the gemstones, Abby shows us a plushie Mike bought for her. It's a rabbit, much like the little statue they were inspecting earlier, and she explains that it has a name and that his name— because apparently, it's a he— is Turnip. Why? I don't know, and Mike doesn't either, but Abby's happy and that's what counts.
"Also," Abby chimes, turning to Mike and holding out an empty hand to him. Mike perks up and reaches into his pocket, quickly pulling out the second bracelet and dropping it into her hand. She runs over to Jonah, holding the bracelet up to him. "This is for you!" Jonah glances over to me, his eyes wide, and I smile at him. "Here, I can put it on for you."
"Oh, um... thank you," Jonah says, crouching a bit and offering his wrist to Abby. I glance up and look at Mike, who finds my eyes quickly and smiles a bit. Once the bracelet is on Jonah, he stands up and looks at it.
"Tell him what it is," Mike suggests, and Abby's eyes light up.
"It's hematite," she explains, "it helps calm people down and protect them from bad things." Jonah nods, and I see the tears forming in his eyes before I feel the emotions piling up in him.
"Abs, how about you go find a bracelet you think Josie would like," Mike offers, and Abby nods and dutifully heads back to the bracelet wall while Jonah places the back of his hand against his mouth to keep the cries in.
"That was so sweet," he whispers.
"She's a sweet kid," Mike agrees, and Jonah nods.
"Hey, it's ten," Kaylen calls from the front of the store, "you're cutting into investigation time now."
"That's okay!" I tell her, and she mumbles something back that none of us actually hear.
"We'd better get to it then," Mike says, and I nod.
"What do we need?" Jonah asks, turning to the wall. Mike and I follow his lead.
Aside from personally-purchased items, we end up leaving with a natural amethyst cluster that I plan to leave in the party room to help draw spirits in, a black tourmaline bracelet for me to offer the most protection possible, three smoky quartz pieces for Abby and Jonah and I to keep in our pockets, and— I don't know how this entered our group of items— a tumbled sphere of clear quartz the side of a baseball. We all saw it while Sophia was pricing the items, but nobody said a word about it until we were outside, which was when we noticed none of us had grabbed it intentionally. We chalked it up to an accident and decided not to waste time going back to return it.
The bracelet Abby picked out for me was not the black tourmaline one, but rather an amethyst and rose quartz bracelet that I knew was perfect the moment she put it on me. Mike paid for it while I wasn't paying attention— I genuinely think Abby was in on his plan— and wouldn't let me promise to pay him back.
Sophia also gave us some caramel and peanut butter candies, which we enjoy— as much as we can— while Kaylen drives us to the pizzeria.
This is it, I think, all this protection better work.
(A/N: I lied. The next chapter is out now. Two in one day. Ta-da. Not proofread. Literally about to start writing the next chapter as well. Creativity is bountiful today. Adios.)
Please leave a like if you enjoyed and again, feel free to correct my spelling/grammar in the comments :)