Sera finds herself sitting at her desk the next day, staring blankly ahead at her computer screen. Emails keep popping along the right hand side of her screen. She ignores them. Everything that is happening is finally catching up to her. Worst of all, last night was the first night in almost six years that she hadn't dreamt at all. Not one snippet. She doesn't even feel like herself anymore. Even going for a run this morning, didn't snap her out of this daze.
Mostly, she keeps thinking about Nate. God what is it about that mysterious man that she can't seem to get off her mind. Isn't it strange he knew all about her—and what was with that wine? Amanda comes skipping down the hall, breaking up her thoughts.
She props up onto her usual spot on the corner of Sera's desk. Popping her leg over the other, she cracks her gum and asks, "What's up hot stuff?"
At those words, Sera unleashes. It only takes a few moments to tell Amanda everything, but to her, it feels like she talks forever. Unloading to her best friend about the necklace and the oddly gorgeous dinner with one-sided conversation. When at last she looked up to her best friend's awed brown eyes, her mouth droops open slightly.
"Who are you?" she asks Sera. "Let me get this straight. You met a sexy guy at the coffee house, got his number, had a gorgeous romantic date, and you are mad that he wants to know all about you? I mean I knew you were out of the loop when it comes to dating, but come on!" She grows dramatic tossing her arms in the air a few times.
"So, it was a date?" Sera finally realizes the truth.
"Duh."
"And this is normal?"
"Well, I wouldn't say normal," Amanda twists on the desk causing Sera to fidget, "I'd say this guy is some kind of saint and you should marry him!"
Sera laughs.
"I mean who are you, getting guy's numbers at coffee houses? You're a little ginger fox, you know that?"
Somehow hearing those words from Amanda was all Sera needed to calm down. She's right. He seemed concerned for her safety, that's a good thing right? She'll never forget the fire in his eyes when she told him she felt someone watching her. He flinched like he had been physically hit. Maybe, things are simpler than they appear.
"Oh my, Sera, your boobs!" Amanda shrieks.
"Thanks, it's my new bra..."
"No, they're glowing. Your boobs are glowing."
"What?" Sera glances down to see the vial casting her cleavage in a ghastly glow. "Oh, it's just my necklace." She pulls it from her shirt. It blinks slowly with that light it has.
"Oh." Amanda giggles. "That's new."
"It's been doing this lately. The last time it glowed..." The pieces slowing begin to pull themselves together. Nate!
She slips away from Amanda and walks out into the row of cubicles. It pulses faster as she walks toward the elevator—faster and faster until the entire thing is lit up. Someone stands before her. Her eyes take in the dark slacks, the white collar shirt with a few buttons strategically forgotten. It allows a few tufts of hair to peek out from underneath his collared shirt. Her face finally meeting his.
"Gabe," she breathes disappointment.
"Where are you headed little lady?"
Her hand wraps around the necklace, "Just headed to the bathroom, excuse me." She slips around him and heads toward the bathroom in the front.
She quickly slides into the unisex bathroom and secures the lock into place. Her eyes glance around uneasily. Public bathrooms make her nervous, ever since...
Bracing her hands on the edge of the sink, she stares into her reflection.
"Get it together, Seraphina." Even she has to admit there are strange things going on around here. From the necklace, to the two new guys in town, to the trip to NYC, and she doesn't even want to begin to rationalize what happened with the deer.
It causes her heart to race, her palms grow sweaty, and she's constantly scared as hell. Then why is it that she's never felt more alive?
When she finally heads back to her desk, Amanda blocks her path this time. She had rolled her chair into the hall using her legs as a barrier.
"What's the password?"
"Turtle?"
"Turtle?" Amanda bursts into laughter. "Seriously?"
"What? It's the first thing that came to mind."
"I'm sure it was." In between remaining giggles she gets out, "Do you want to come to the mall with me at lunch?"
Amanda gives her those puppy dog eyes of hers that she knows Sera can never say no to. "Yeah, sure," Sera concedes, mainly because she doesn't want to be here alone with creepy Gabe.
"Good! While we are there we can get you some 'date clothes.'" She raises her voice a little to insinuate something Sera doesn't quite catch on to.
"You don't like my wardrobe?"
"Let's just say petticoats and bloomers have long since gone out of style." She jokes with a southern accent and wheels her chair back into her cubicle.
Walking through the vast mall during lunch, Sera follows her best friend into almost every store that sells clothes. Don't get her wrong she enjoys shopping, but she usually has a game plan going in. She knows what she needs, she finds it, and she buys it. Amanda is the complete opposite. She is a compulsive, I-need-want-everything buyer. Happy for a break from reality, she follows her friend from store to store, watching her refresh her winter wardrobe.
"Sera, oh my God! This color would look so good with your eyes. You absolutely have to try it on." She tosses her a green blouse. With a roll of her eyes, she walks to the back of the store and disappears into the dressing room just to appease her friend. Sera locks the stall behind her and takes a seat on the ledge releasing a breath.
"Here, Sera. Try these, too." Amanda tosses some clothes over the top of the door. "Don't forget to come out and show me, I want to see them."
Realizing she's not going to get away without trying them on, Sera reluctantly begins changing. She steps out in the green blouse.
Amanda seems to like it. "Oh my God, Sera, that's gorgeous. I love it!"
"Really?"
"It's fabulous. You should totally buy that."
"You don't think it's too... green?"
"No it's perfect."
With a shrug, Sera slips back into the dressing room. She pauses before the mirror. This shirt is definitely too green. Maybe if it were in red, it would look better. Sera shoots a longing glance at the back of the door. Stepping back outside is probably not the best idea. Amanda would no doubt toss a million other things at her.
"Sera?" Speak of the devil. "I want you to try on that white polka dot dress next. I think it would look so cute with those black pumps we saw at the other store."
To amuse her, Sera picks up the polka dot dress from the pile. The thing looks tiny. She pulls on it between her hands. "This thing is like skin tight." She whispers to herself. Maybe, going to the mall was a bad idea.
"Sera?" Amanda tries again.
"Okay, okay," she yells back before turning to unbutton the blouse. Glancing down to release the button through the eyehole, she notices the shirt she is wearing is no longer the bright green it once was... it is red. Not just regular red, the exact shade she was imagining in her head only moments before.
Hastily, she unbuttons it, needing to get the freaky shirt off her. As soon as it's over her head, she throws it across the tiny dressing room.
Oh my God, what is happening to me? She sits down on the ledge of the changing room with her head in her hands.
It takes a few calming breaths before she can rise to her feet. Cautiously, she walks over to the red shirt prepared for it to attack her at any moment. She picks it up between her two fingers and twirls it around examining it. No doubt, it is a different color. She reaches for the tag. Mindlessly, she reads it aloud a few times reminding herself, "Green."
Sera exits the dressing room in a blur, Amanda is talking to her. She can't seem to comprehend anything she is telling her. She can feel the color drain from her face as she walks to the register. She has to buy the shirt, it's the least she can do since she may have ruined it.
Once they leave the store, she can slowly get her breathing back under control. After a few more minutes, she makes it to the end of the corridor. Amanda turns to her almost inspecting her.
"What was that, Sera?" Amanda asks, arm gesturing behind them.
"What?" she says wondering if Amanda caught the new color of the shirt.
"You completely freaked in there, what happened?" Amanda stops in her tracks grabbing hold of Sera's arm.
"I... I don't know." She bites her lip. How can she even begin to explain this to Amanda? She's been wondering the same thing herself. She glances up to Amanda to read her face, but what catches her eye is the figure near the emergency exit. He's standing down the hallway from them. His blue eyes meet hers, and her stomach churns with nervous anxiety. He's dressed in a weird black outfit that screams undercover special ops or something of that nature and that face of his screams revenge. Probably because the last time she saw him, she had pushed him through a bathroom wall. Her body seems to go on the defensive as soon as she sees him, the aggressive blond from the club. How did he find me?
"We have to get out of here," Sera whispers, but her eyes never leave the back corner.
"What? Why?" Amanda responds. She attempts to gesture with her hands, but the shopping bags seem to weigh them down.
"Amanda, now!" She gives her a glare that means business and Amanda follows her in the direction of the elevator. They speed walk down the hallway, glancing back every so often to see the man, but she can't seem to lay eyes on him anymore. Somehow, she knows he's not going to let her out of his sight. She finds herself running the last few steps to press the button for the elevator.
"Come on, come on," Sera mumbles under her breath.
"Sera, what is going on?" Amanda must sense her nervous energy because she glances around trying to figure out what Sera keeps looking at.
"I just have to get out of here. I think I'm having a panic attack," she breathlessly states the first excuse that pops into her head.
Finally, the elevator doors ding open. Sera dashes inside, pressing the 'P2' button before hitting the 'Close Doors' button multiple times.
The doors close, and it begins to lower them down. Sera leans an arm against the wall. Taking a deep breath, she finally turns to Amanda. "I'm sorry I freaked. I just haven't been myself."
Sera is still unable to make eye contact with her best friend. Her eyes dart around the small elevator. Never did she think she would actually feel slightly comforted by an elevator. She closes her eyes when the walls of the elevator begin closing in only a few more minutes.
"You think?" Amanda responds sarcastically.
Suddenly, there is a loud bang on top of the elevator and it jerks a little harder than usual as it reaches the level. Sera reflexively studies the ceiling. Above her head are two dents the size of feet. She grabs Amanda's arm and quickly bursts out of the elevator. Occasionally, her eyes zip behind them for any sign they are being followed. Sera's feet push her faster until she is pretty much dragging Amanda to her little sedan.
Her hands are shaky at the wheel, but that doesn't stop her from zooming out of the parking garage. She's putting plenty of distance between them and the mall, but that doesn't prevent her from glancing in the rearview mirror every few seconds.
Her car is speeding past intersections as she heads back to the office. Her eyes continue to scan the road when her eye catches on the half-moon image, and she whips the car to a screeching halt on the side of the road. She jumps out immediately, after placing the car in park and completely ignoring the words Amanda is spewing at her.
Sera finds herself running into Amazing Anna's shop. She stumbles slightly on the sidewalk before making it inside. The door chimes as she enters. Her eyes lock with Anna's. Anna is sitting in a high-backed white chair in the center of the shop. If that wasn't freaky enough, she doesn't at all look surprised to see Sera filled with terror.
"Anna, what is happening to me?" She gets out sucking back the tears.
Anna's face fills with something similar to pity, "You will figure it all out in due time. You are just going through some changes right now, but this is the 'new chapter', we were talking about."
"You knew?" Sera breathes. "You knew this would happen? Why didn't you warn me?" Why is everyone around her keeping secrets?
"I couldn't tell you. I was told not to."
"By who?" She yells her hands flying up at her sides.
"I can't say." Her eyes fall from Sera's face.
"Oh, that's convenient," Sera's voice is getting more animated. Her restless legs begin to pace back and forth in the small lobby.
"Seraphina." The way Anna states her name calms her slightly. She comes to stand before her, placing her delicate hands on Sera's shoulders. "This is your calling. This is what you have been waiting for. It's your time to shine. Don't be afraid of it, embrace it," she cryptically tells Sera.
"So things will get better?" she asks as a sole tear chases its way down her cheek.
"You will be better, you will adapt." Anna pauses before adding, "The struggle however, is just beginning."
"You sound like a fortune cookie, why can't you give me a straight answer?"
"I've been bound not to... you have been given an incredible gift Seraphina, what you choose to do with it will define who you are and ultimately who you were meant to be."
"How will I know what the right decision is?"
"I know you will make the right decision, it will be black and white, as easy as good vs. evil," she responds with a wink.
She takes some comfort in this knowledge. She's still a little scared at what the future holds, but Anna's faith in her is what inspires the faith in herself. She reluctantly says goodbye and makes her way back to her car. She is preparing herself for the explanation she has to give Amanda. Only when she gets there her friend never says a word, she places her hand on her knee for a moment before she turns back to the road, starts the car, and heads back to the office.