I brushed my teeth as I checked myself out in the mirror.

All here. 100% Hexana Covington, coming at you live.

I spit out the toothpaste, rinsed out my mouth, and brushed my hair twice before running out of the bathroom and the apartment.

I’d been late for work so many times that the frantic sound of my boots hitting the concrete seemed normal now. As I slipped into my car, I sent up a silent prayer to the auto mechanics in heaven.

Every day that I tried to start my car felt like a gamble: a real-life scratch off. I put the key into the ignition and twisted.

Nothing.

I caressed the steering wheel and whispered, “Come on. Start for me. I know you can do it. I know you want to do it.”

I twisted the key again.

Nothing.

I let out a guttural groan of frustration, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and shaking it. I essentially ended up just violently shaking myself back and forth, rebounding off the driver’s seat as I shouted in my closed car. With that little tantrum out of the way, I pull the keys out, got out of the car, and left.

I was going to have to walk.

Again.

The walked to Luke’s wouldn’t have been so bad had I not had to deal with the oppressive Nightsbridge humidity. It’s like walking through a dense stew. And in August, the month I was currently surviving through, I was getting a hefty dose of stew as I walked. I could already feel little pinpricks of sweat all over my body beginning to ooze.

I pulled my cell out and checked the time.

Oh, you’re super late.

There was no chance I would make it on time. I considered running, but when you live in a city like Nightsbridge, it’s better to be late than to be completely drenched in sweat.

On my walk, I kept glancing to my right, in the general direction of the theatre. I always knew where it was, could always feel its presence, even if I couldn’t see it through the trees or around other buildings. It was always there waiting on me to come home. I just had to win it.

Gotta swing by the Stop ‘n Shop later today to get some more scratch offs.

“Nope,” I mumbled. “Actually, you can’t do that unless you’re feeling like getting arrested.”

I groaned as I realized my closest source of scratch offs was now a full mile away from my house versus four or five blocks.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Dammit, Hexana. You’ve gotta think before you do dumb stuff like that again.

I came around the final corner and there it was: Luke’s Bar and Bookshop.

It was a bar that also sold used books. Obviously.

I don’t know where Luke got the idea, but he thought it would be far more popular than it actually was. He’d expected it to take the country by storm and that he’d eventually be a franchise owner. As of yet, he could barely make ends meet with his current concept.

I took a quick peek through the panes of glass in the front door and, when I didn’t see Luke lurking, I opened the door and slipped in.

“Hexana,” a friendly, familiar, not Luke voice said from my left.

I turned and smiled at Ted, Luke’s son, cutie to the nth degree. If there was anyone in Nightsbridge I would for sure hook up with, Ted was the guy. Too bad he was ruled by a vicious shyness and an unbearable bashfulness.

“Teddy bear,” I purred, enjoying how the nickname made him blush. “How are you?”

Ted shrugged. “The same. You?”

“Can’t complain.”

“Not even about a phone that doesn’t work?”

I raised an eyebrow. Had Ted finally gotten the courage to call the number I’d given him months ago? Did he even still have the number I’d given him?

“I mean,” he blushed. “It must be broken. You’re late. So, you couldn’t see the time?”

I sighed.

It made sense. A guy like Teddy and girl like me would never work. I would eat him alive and spit out the bones. Probably better that he didn’t hit me up for a date. He wouldn’t survive it.

“Yeah,” I said dryly. “Phone’s broken. It doesn’t even ring.”

Ted gulped.

We held eye contact for a couple seconds and then he broke it, looking down at the bar and wiping uselessly at it.

“You know,” I said, feeling like I wanted to push things a little farther than they already were. “You should make it ring sometime. I bet you’d be great at that. Making my phone ring?”

Here comes the stammering excuse about why he hasn’t given me a call yet.

“I–I–I wasn’t sure yet were to ask you out to. I don’t know what your tastes are?”

Typical.

I gave him a wink and headed to the back, but not before calling after, “Well, you’re never gonna find out by not calling me.”

The back of Luke’s was my favorite part of Luke’s. It served as the bookstore. Shelves upon shelves of worn paperbacks, all nestled together with seemingly no order. It was a chaotic set up, but something about the chaos spoke to me. Something about the chaos drew me in.

Did I mention it was quiet? It was so quiet. All those books, no sound. Beautiful.

Whenever I get the theatre back, I’m going to have a book room just like this. Exactly like this. Shelves of paperbacks, none of them in any sort of order. I’ll just take a nap in the center of it. Surrounded by silence and the smell of old books.

I closed my eyes and allowed a smile to curl the corner of my lips.

An angry holler broke the silence and shattered my smile into a scowl.

“Hexana!” Luke shouted from his office. “You’re late.”

I came around the corner and stood in the doorway to Luke’s office.

Luke was a guy in his 60’s who never met anyone he thought he couldn’t boss around. You were either too late, or too on time. To clean, or too messy. There was no winning with him.

“Hey, Luke. Good afternoon to you too.”

“Is it a good afternoon?” He glanced at his watch. “It’s getting on closer to evening. And your shift started 20 minutes ago. Get out there. Sell some booze.”

I opened my mouth to ask him for more hours but decided maybe now wasn’t exactly the most strategic of times to do that. I grabbed an apron off the wall, tied it on, and left his office.

Heading out to the bar, I started taking orders and serving drinks.

I hadn’t been on my shift for more than 10 minutes when it happened: the thing that would start the chain of events that would change the rest of my life and push me into the magick world.