I sighed. "I know. Where did my life go?"
"Well, since people know you are here, I think you should stay at your old apartment tonight."
"I'll be fine. I’m not running. Plus, if I get attacked, I can make a portal and escape." I reasoned.
Clive walked over to me and grabbed my arms. "I don't like that you are here all alone."
I smiled up at him. "I'll be fine. The moment I feel scared, I’ll come to you. I promise."
Clive grimaced but nodded. He pulled me into his arms and gave me a tight hug. “I’m always here for you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the weekend flew by without incident, I was able to restock the shop in preparation for Monday, and I was able to finish moving out everything from my apartment that I wanted to keep into Mrs. Coe's, no I mean mine, I had to remember that. I packed up her items that I was going to donate and placed the boxes near the front door. I kept what I wanted, but I knew a lot of what she owned could go to a better home.
By Monday morning, I was completely moved in; I was officially starting my new life.
The store was mine, the apartment was mine, and I was going to give it my all. I was going to change my future and prove that I could handle this.
At 7:59, I was downstairs in front of the door. I was opening the shop at 8:00 am. On the dot, I turned the closed sign to open and unlock the door and pulled up the shades.
And no one came in.
No one came in by 8:30.
No one came in by 9.
By noon, I wanted to cry.
Not a single customer all morning.
Not one.
Maybe I was wrong, maybe word did get around, and people were not so forgiving or understanding.
For the sake of my sanity, I decided to give it until 2:30. If I didn't have a customer by then, I’d close the shop, go upstairs, enjoy a bottle of wine, and plan for the next day. I nodded my head, trying to make myself feel stronger than I was.
I couldn't cry, it was just one day. I remembered from years ago when I worked their full time, Mondays were always slow. That was probably it, I concluded. I couldn’t entertain the alternative.
I moved about the shop adjusting this, straighten that, cleaning the glass bottles, checking the freshness of certain herbs. Anything to help me pass the time and try and keep my mind off the day.
When I finally allowed myself to look back at the clock, it was 2:15. Only 15 minutes to go, and the day would be over.
I had to remember that the store had been closed since the murder, her murder. Maybe people were wary of coming inside. Better yet, maybe they didn't realize the store was back open.
So many maybes.
In my time of working at WICCA, I couldn’t recall a day we were open, where we didn't have at least 5-10 customers.
Most days, people just came in to talk to Mrs. Coe. Maybe they only shopped here because of her.
I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts. Nothing good was going to come from me thinking like this.
At 2:29, I started lowering the shades. Right as I grabbed the sign to turn it from open to closed, a woman appeared in front of the door.
"Oh no, I’m not too late, am I?" She asked as she reached for the handle.
I flipped the sign back to open and moved out of the way, allowing her to open the door. "Not at all. I was just going to go take a quick lunch break, but I can hold off." I lied.
"Oh perfect," she smiled and stepped in. She looked a little bit older than me, probably in her mid-30s. Her naturally curly hair, drawn up in two pigtails, reminded me of Mickey Mouse's ears. She donned a black business suit that looked like it was tailored to her body and black pumps. "I thought I could get over here earlier, but I've been in meetings all day. I need to re-up on some supplies." She smiled at me, picking up one of our shop's baskets before she started milling around the store.
"Is there anything that I can help you find?" I asked.
She waved me away. "No, thank you. I come here enough to know where everything is but thank you anyway. You must be Olivia?"
I nodded. "I’m sorry, have we met? I don’t remember seeing you here before?"
"No, you wouldn't." She moved around, placing herbs and dried animal pieces into her basket. I gave her some space and walked back over to the counter. I didn't want to crowd her and seem too eager that she was my first customer since the store was officially mine. "I normally come at 11:00 AM on Mondays. My lunch break is the only time that I can really get here. My job is about a block and a half away."
"Oh," I nodded, understanding. "I didn’t work mornings during the week."
"Yeah, but Mrs. Coe talked about you a lot. Always said that if we ever met, we might be good friends." She crossed over to the counter and plucked a few potions off the rack. "I'm Jessica."
"Olivia, but you know that," I laughed, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. "Is this it?" I motioned to her basket.
"Sure is." She started taking the items out and putting them on the counter. I noticed the band around her wrist.
"You’re part of the Easton Coven? I thought Covens supplied their members with supplies?"
"They do," she nodded in agreement. "But only enough for yourself. Technically, my mother is Unbound, I'm only in the Coven because I married in." She said before showing me her beautiful diamond ring. "My mom is on a fixed income, so I pick up supplies for her. This is the only place she gets her ingredients from. She shopped here all my life until she got injured on the job. Now I pick up her stuff for her." She smiled.
"Oh, well, I do hope she feels better." I inwardly groaned at my response, but I didn't know what else to say. "Your total will be $68.30," I said as I placed the last of her items into her shopping bag.
"No problem." She smiled. She reached into her handbag and pulled out her credit card, swiped it on the reader, the machine dinged that her purchase was approved, and she returned it to her wallet.
"Oh, um…" I said, almost forgetting about the online shop I created. "If you ever have another day like this, where you can't make it to the shop, I'm creating...well I created…it's up but it’s still a work in progress, so not everything is there yet but enough of the standard items." I shut my eyes realizing I was rambling in front of a customer. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. "I created an online store for customers like yourself, who might be a bit too busy to always come into the shop."
Her eyes lit up. "That is actually perfect!" She squealed. "I can just have everything shipped directly to my mother’s house. Not that I don't like coming in here and shopping." She quickly added on at the end. "But you know, sometimes life gets busy, my husband and I are thinking of starting a family ourselves, or if I go on vacation, I know that my mother will still get everything that she needs."
"I completely understand." I grabbed a sheet of notebook paper and wrote down the website name along with the password needed to access it. Couldn't have any non-magical's receiving actual magical potions. "I'm currently having business cards made, but right now you could be one of my first testers for the website."
"I love it, thank you so very much." She said. She took the paper from me, folded it, and put it in her wallet. She grabbed her bag off the counter, and I noticed her ring light up slightly before the bag shrunk. She tucked that into her purse as well. "I don't work at a magical establishment. Can't let them see this." She motioned to her purse.
"No need to explain. But it was wonderful meeting you, Jessica and I do hope to see you again." I smiled.
"The pleasure was all mine. Have a wonderful day and enjoy lunch.” She winked and headed for the door. I almost asked her, ‘What lunch?’ but stopped myself, remembering that was the lie I told her when she first came in.
Okay, I made one sell and met a repeat customer, today wasn’t a complete waste.
FIFTEEN
After my one sale on Monday, Tuesday was like a breath of fresh air.
I had at least three sales
each hour from when I opened at 9am until I closed at 7pm. A much-needed improvement from Monday.
Honestly, it was a better day than I expected. It turned out that people didn't realize WICCA was open on Monday, and they all came to show their support after they saw the store had reopened.
I got a little teary-eyed a few times as some of our regular guests hugged me and let me know that they were here to support me just as much as they supported Mrs. Coe.
They said that no matter what was in her past, she had more than atoned for it with her work in the community.
I decided to close a little later than normal. Since Monday was so slow, I wanted to make every sale possible and make up for it. I hadn’t had a chance to look at the books, so I wanted to add a little padding, since I was responsible for all of the bills now.
As I emptied the cash register, my cell rang. I glanced down at the phone and saw it was Chelsea calling me.
"Hey?" I smiled. I placed the phone on speaker so I could continue to work.
I heard a lot of rustling and the sound of foot traffic in the background. Maybe she butt-dialed me? I went to hang up, but then she spoke. "Olivia, I don't have much time." Her voice was rushed and panicked.
"What's going on?" I asked. “Is everything okay?”
"I found something. Someone wanted to fire you and Mr. McDaniel's is covering for them." She whispered into the phone.
"What?" I asked, trying to wrap my head around her words. That was not the conversation I was expecting.
"I know you said not to look into it, but I had to. If Arte wasn't behind you getting fired, I had to know why. I dug a little deeper today. A lot of the senior members were on retreat so I could move around without too many people noticing me, but I think-" There was a pause and more sounds from the street before she came back to the call. "I think I was-I was spotted."
"Where are you? Can I meet you somewhere?" I said before holding up my hands, calling my keys to me.
"No," her voice was thick, like she was trying to hold back tears. "I think I stumbled onto something big, and I wasn't supposed to. Whatever it is, you must be careful. You can't trust him."
"Chelsea, where are you? Can you meet me at the shop? I can have Clive here before you arrive, or I can have him meet you wherever you are. You can trust him."
She didn’t answer right away, just more rustling and car noises, then I heard a small cry. "I don't think I'm going to make it. I think I'm being followed. The way they look, I think-" Her voice cut off again.
“Chelsea!” I called, but all I heard was rustling and more street noise. “Chelsea, tell me where you are! Tell me where I can meet you." I tried to remain calm, but my heart was racing.
She sniffed. "You can't-" Her voice was garbled by the wind around her. Her breath was coming in pants; it sounded like she was running.
"Chelsea?" I called but no answer. "Chelsea, I can't hear you. What did you say? Chelsea, where are you going?" I screamed, trying to make my voice heard.
She didn't answer. Instead, I heard more panting and the sound of air whipping around. I pulled up my phone contacts and texted Clive and Arte in a small group message. Clive because he worked for the SPF and whatever was happening, they needed to get there first, and Arte because Chelsea was a part of his Coven, and hopefully, he would be able to triangulate where she was with her Coven bracelet.
I didn’t have to wait long before Clive responded, saying he was close to the office and would drive by to find her. Relief flooded me.
"Chelsea!" I screamed back into the phone. "Clive is close, tell me where you are, he can be there." But I was met with only more sounds of the air. "Chelsea, Chelsea!" I screamed into the phone, but no luck. Whatever she was doing, she wasn't concentrating on the call.
"Fuck!" I screamed, hating being helpless.
There was a bit more rustling before there was quiet, and I heard her ragged breath. "Olivia." She whispered while she struggled to catch her breath. "They're going to find me. It’s too many of them. No matter where I go, they’re there. I’m trapped.” She sobbed. “Please tell my parents I love them."
"No." I cried into the phone. "Don't say that. Tell me where you are! Clive is close, he can be there."
"He won't make it in time." Her voice was coming in hard sobs. "Just tell my parents I love them, please."
"No! Chelsea, please just tell me where you are." I sobbed. I glanced down at the phone again and saw Arte sent Chelsea's location to Clive. "Clive has your location. I told Arte you were in trouble, and he sent your location. It's going to be okay."
I heard her take a breath as I heard strange men's voices in the background. I closed my eyes and felt tears run down my face. This wasn't fair. They couldn't get her. Not because of me.
There was a loud crash followed by Chelsea's scream before the line went dead.
"No!" I screamed, trying to dial her back repeatedly but the call kept going straight to voicemail. "No, no, no." I whispered as I sank to my knees.
I don't know how long I sat staring at my phone waiting for Chelsea to call me back when I heard the door open and then slam closed. I was up on my feet and my hands out, ready to attack when I saw Dessen holding a broken doorknob in her hand. Her face was full of concern as she sped over to me. She wrapped me up in her arms.
"Clive texted me." She whispered in my ear. "He told me he’s on his way to her."
"She can't," I sobbed into her neck, "she can't be. Not again, I can’t go through this again."
"It's going to be okay," she whispered, as she rocked me.
"No." I shook my head. "I have to go; I have to be there. I can help." I tried to get out of her arms, but it was of no use. Dessen was a thousand times stronger than I could ever hope to be. "Please! I can't just wait here. I need to get down there. She's in trouble because she was looking into something that involved me." I sobbed, hating how much I was falling apart. I tried to blink back some tears, but it was a battle I was losing. "Dessen, she can't."
SIXTEEN
We waited for hours with no word, no update, on Chelsea and I knew what that meant - she was dead. If she was alive, Clive would have called me. I would have spoken to her already.
She’s dead.
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. How did we get to this? I should have never told her the truth. I should have lied; told her I did quit and let her stay out of my life.
Sure, she would still be pissed at me but at least she would be alive. She should have never been wrapped up in this.
After the first hour of my pacing in the shop, Dessen locked up and moved me to the living room, where we sat waiting for more information.
"What am I going to say to her family?" I whispered looking up at Dessen. "How do I tell them it's my fault?"
"No." Dessen crossed the room in a flash and held me. "It's not your fault Olivia. You didn't kill her."
"But it's my fault she was in the position she was in. She was trying to help me." I screamed.
"It doesn't matter." Dessen whispered, rocking me back and forth. "You didn’t intend for her to get hurt; you didn’t send those people after her. No matter what, this is not your fault."
I wanted to believe her. I really did but I couldn't. At the heart of it all, she was placed in this mess because of me.
I felt my waist vibrate; a text message. I pulled back from Dessen and reached for my phone and checked the screen.
"It's from Arte." I wiped my face. "He's downstairs at the back entrance."
"I'll go get him." Dessen stood so I wouldn’t have to get up.
"Thank you." I gave her a watery smile.
"No problem." Dessen winked and left the room. A few seconds later I heard the backdoor to the apartment open.
I didn't have to wait long before they were back and Arte entered my apartment looking a little worse for the wear. Of this I was thankful, I don’t think I could have handled it if he came in looking like his normally well put together self. I stood to greet him
as he crossed the room and pulled me in, giving me a much-needed hug.
I hated how my heart thudded in my chest as I inhaled deeply, taking his scent in. I didn't know why, but it relaxed me, comforted me. But I also knew by the way he was holding me, the tightness of it, how tense he himself was, that my biggest fear was true, Chelsea was dead. The words didn’t need to be said, his body language was the confirmation I needed. It had to be the cult, they were behind all the deaths in my life, but I would not let them get away with this.
"I just came from the scene." Arte explained, finally releasing me and taking a step back. "Clive is still there. He said she put up a fight. A good one. She took one of the attackers down with her. The first person to do so since the attacks started."
“I’m glad. Were they able to identify who her attackers were?" I turned away as I fought back tears. This was different from Mrs. Coe’s death. It didn’t hurt the same. This time, it was anger mixed with guilt; it was my fault she was dead. Chelsea died because she was looking into something for me. Trying to help me.
"Clive is on his way." I heard Arte say. Clive must have texted him. "He needs a full statement."
"I don't know what I can say other than I'm tired of this. I'm tired of all of this." I said, feeling the weight of her death all over again.
"Olivia." I looked up at the sound of Clive's voice and threw myself into his arms as he walked through my front door.
"I'm sorry Olivia." He said once I pulled back to look at him. "But I have a few questions for you." He walked me over to the couch and we sat down.
I closed my eyes. I was tired of this. I was tired of answering questions but never getting any answers, I was tired of this Cult killing people and getting away with it. I wanted them gone. "Ask away."
Clive nodded and took a notebook out of his jacket. "Jacob will be here later, but I told him I would ask these." He explained before grabbing his pen. "Let's start at the beginning. Why did Chelsea call you?"
I closed my eyes and recounted the past few hours and my past conversations with Chelsea. I knew this was going to be a lot, and I knew that Arte would have to look deeper into his Coven and business after this. But the idea struck me, this could be a good thing, that I could finally have the answers I needed from Arte and this could lead to whoever was behind all of this. "She was being followed. She said someone spotted her snooping inside Mr. McDaniel’s office. " I chanced a look at Arte for a split second before turning my gaze to the floor.
Ahmentree's Magic Page 10
