It was a warm Wednesday evening and a festive one for many, as tonight was the first night the carnival was in town. It was an old fashioned county fair type carnival with, rides, games, all the trappings of a typical Midwest county fair.
Ally insisted up and down that they go the first night. In fact she held her breath until everyone agreed. So the whole group piled into two cars and went. The air was warm and filled with the sounds of laughter and music from the carousel. A soft breezed blew the smell of hot salted peanuts and freshly popped popcorn down the long midway. The group, even Lauren, was having a good time.
Shawn had spent 40 dollars at a midway dart throwing game and won Ally a sizeable stuffed monkey. Dinah didn't even have the heart to tell him that the stuffed Monkey probably would have cost him $5 dollars at the local toy store. In any case, Ally was happy, with her new stuffed monkey and the loads of cotton candy she was presently consuming.
Dinah was having fun with the various rides. Matt and Lauren were having a good time as well. With his arm around her shoulder, the couple lazily walked down the midway seeing what there was to see.
Lagging slightly behind was Camila, having a decent time but bothered by one thing. The simple fact that Matt's arm was around Lauren and not her. Camila honestly wanted to be everyone's friend. She even wanted to be Lauren's friend. Though the tempered green eyed girl rarely showed any regard for her. But with Matt she wanted to be more than a friend. She wanted to be Matt's girlfriend but, Matt was in love with Lauren and Camila sadly accepted the hand that fate had dealt out.
As she was walking behind the group, by chance, she spotted what appeared to be a old fashioned gypsy wagon tucked neatly behind the midway. On the side a large banner said.
"Madam Roux - Fortunes told, Potions sold, see or change your destiny"
Camila thought how fun it would be to have her fortune told so she called out.
"Hey I'm going to have my fortune told, anyone want to come with me?" Camila said pointing to the wagon.
"Hey Cabello, if your going to be so gullible to give money away that easy, then won't you give me some." Lauren said acidly.
"I'll go" Said the slightly hyper Ally.
So the pair ran to the gypsy wagon where a young girl with wavy dark hair and typical gypsy clothes sat outside the wagon.
"I'd like my fortune told, is Madame Roux around?" Camila said, with a half giggle.
The girl looked at her with a broad smile. "I'm her granddaughter, Kathy. She's not around but, I'd be happy to read your fortune. She taught me everything she knows. I'll even give you a half off discount of any of our potions"
"Sold"
The gypsy girl led Camila and Ally into the wagon where in the center of the small room was a round table with a black tablecloth. On the table sat a large crystal ball. All around the room there were pieces of gypsy art, bottles with unknown substances in them. The whole place looked straight out of an old movie.
"Sit, Please" The Gypsy girl said, pointing to two chairs in front of the table as she sat behind it.
"So where do you go to school?" The Gypsy girl asked.
"Miami Art's high." Ally answered.
"How much is it?" Camila asked.
"10 dollars but you can pay me when it's done. You may want to buy one of our potions or charms. All very real, and quite powerful." The girl said in a smooth voice.
Camila nodded with a smile, it seemed like it was all in good fun. "Ok read my fortune."
The Gypsy girl looked at Camila with a rather mysterious look. "Ok, Miss what is your name?"
"I'm Camila Cabello and this is my friend Ally."
The woman asked Camila to put out her hands which she carefully examined. She said some thing in what sounded like Hungarian as she waived her hands. The girl pulled out a deck of Tarot cards and had Camila touch the deck.
With an amused expression, Camila watched as the woman placed down 3 cards and then looked into the crystal ball.
She turned a card which was "The sun." That puzzled the gypsy, as the card was supposed to be The Lovers. The Gypsy girl had set up the deck ahead of time. But continuing on, the girl then gazed into the crystal ball and began to speak in a low voice.
"You..Miss Cabello are a entertainer, No..wait..A singer. You want to be a pop star. You will have great success in your chosen field. Many millions will buy your albums."
Camila was mildly impressed that the woman knew she was a singer. That was because the gypsy girl happened to remember Camila from the platinum music awards which she happened to watch.
The girl turned a second card which was, The lovers. The Gypsy assumed she had switched the two cards when setting up the deck as "The Sun" card was supposed to be second. "You're heart belongs to someone else but you have a rival for his affections. I see black and green in the form of this rival." The girl had observed the group earlier and noticed Camila eyeing Lauren's boyfriend. The girl had also noticed the color of clothes Lauren had been wearing.
Now Camila was a bit more impressed, as Lauren was wearing all black and green this evening.
The third card she turned over was, The Tower, which the gypsy looked at rather curiously. That wasn't the card that was supposed to be there. It was supposed to be the card, "The wheel of fortune." That card's presence was very strange in deed, the Gypsy thought. .
The Tower card, of all the Tarot cards was the most ominous; its presence could mean disaster, sudden change or great upheaval. Its presence sent a chill up the gypsy's spine, as there wasn't even a Tower card in that deck. She had purposely left it out. Again she assumed she had made a mistake in preparing the deck.
But the gypsy kept going and began to speak. "Love will come to you, but perhaps not in a way you may expect but, it is coming and soon." The Gypsy wasn't even sure why she said what she said, but she knew it was the truth.
"There is your fortune, I hope it is satisfactory." She said with a smile. The Gypsy made a mental note to double check her tarot decks the next time.
"We'll you said love is coming to me but, I doubt the one I want's loves me, maybe it will be someone else." Camila said with a shrug.
The Gypsy smiled. "How about a love potion? Just 4 drops and once they consume it they will fall madly in love with the first person they see. I promised you half off. Only 10 dollars."
Camila decided to play along as the gypsy had called the fact that she was a singer. "Ok, I'll take one love potion."
The gypsy's smile widened. "One coming right up. It has enough for 4 doses."
For a minute the gypsy looked about amongst a shelf of bottles but seemed to not be able to find the bottle she was looking for. After a moment she looked in a box near the floor. "Ah, here it is." The girl said as she placed a small green bottle on the table. The potion bottle had the word Love engraved on it.
Camila picked up the bottle, noting how it seemed to sparkle for a moment.
"That will be 20 dollars total." The Gypsy girl said.
Camila pulled a 20 out of her purse and handed to the girl.
"Thank you." She said as she moved to leave.
"You are welcome." Said the Gypsy girl.
A short time later Camila rejoined the group near the edge of the midway.
"So did you get your fortune read Cabello? I'll bet that was pretty dismal." Lauren said with a smirk before she planted a kiss on Matt's cheek.
Camila just put her hand on the love potion in her pocket and smiled. Even though it wasn't real, Camila was a bit hopeful that love might be coming her way.
"She said Love was coming my way, I liked the sound of that."
"Whatever." Lauren dismissively said, as she moved to kiss Matt.
2 hour's later the carnival was closed and the carnival people were cleaning up and counting receipts.
Kathy the young Gypsy girl was sitting on the steps to her wagon, looking quite pleased as her grandmother came up.
"So Kathy, how did you do on your first night alone?" The old woman said.
"I did great. I read 7 fortunes sold a couple of good luck charms and even one of the love potions in the green bottle to some girl."
Kathy's grandmother quickly froze. "What did you say? Green bottle?" She said cautiously.
"Uh..Yea, I couldn't find the normal red bottles, so I found a green one. Just a bit of Karo syrup, some food dye and a bit of Jack Daniels right?"
"YOU FOOL!" The old woman hissed angrily.
"What?" said the now confused girl.
"I told you, ONLY sell the red and blue bottles. They are just the normal fake potions. You just sold that poor girl a REAL love potion."
The girl turned pale. "Oh God...What do I do?"
"Well first you owe me 100 dollars for that potion, which you will work off. Second you need to find that girl and get that potion back. It's too late tonight but you find her tomorrow. Do you have any idea where she was from?"
The girl nodded. "Yeah I do. But grandmother, that same girl I sold the potion too, something odd happened when I read her fortune."
The old woman turned a curious eye to the Girl. "What?"
The three card's she were supposed to draw were, The Lovers, The Sun and The Wheel of fortune. I set up my deck, just like you taught me. I'm sure I packed the deck right."
The old woman suddenly had a look in her eye as if she knew what was going to happen next. "What card's actually came up?"
The girl looked stunned for a moment as her grandmother knew what had happened. "The Cards that came up were, The Sun, The Lovers and The Tower. Grandma, I didn't even put the Tower card in the deck."
The old woman thought for a moment, "Chance and or Fate decided to play tricks tonight. That girl is in store for a love she'd never expect in a million years. You need to find her tomorrow and get that potion back. Pay her back double her money if you need to. Otherwise, that Girl will be playing with very powerful forces indeed. Love potions are not to be taken lighly."