“Yes. There are Descendants out there that are not nice people. There are Normals out there that know about us and want to either destroy us or restrain us. They’re scared of what we can do. So every single one of us needs to learn how to defend ourselves.”

That was a scary thought. I wanted to be able to defend myself, but also hoped I would never have to.

I tried to imagine what that would look like, and failed. “How do I use magic to defend myself? Do I just blast people?”

“No. That’s only one way, but it’s dangerous because it’s harder to control and you could hurt bystanders and damage property. You will learn how to use magic in other ways to attack and defend.”

“When?”

“Don’t get too impatient. You need to learn control and learn the basics first.”

I nodded reluctantly. She was right, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

She got me to lift the crystal a few more times before ending our lesson. Using magic really took it out of me and left me feeling like I hadn’t eaten all day, so I went into the kitchen to grab a cup of tea and a snack.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Monday morning was quiet at Mystical Encounters and I was starting to think that I would be able to run things without someone looking over my shoulder fairly soon. It was all pretty-much what I’d done in the past. I’d had a few different jobs — mainly in retail — and every one of them I’d had to leave unexpectedly when Mum decided to move. My resume looked impressive at first glance, until you saw how long I’d been at each job.

I spent my lunch time sitting by myself — but not by myself — as Johnny gave a silly running commentary on the people walking past. He made up names for them and told stories about where they worked and where they were going. I tried hard not to laugh out loud.

I nodded at a guy walking on the other side of the road dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase.

Johnny rubbed his chin. “Okay. His name is Brian and he is late meeting his mistress in Room 21 in the town’s only hotel. Her name is Sally and she is married to the local butcher. Brian is nervous. He’s worried that if Sally’s husband catches them, he’ll lose some much-loved body parts.”

I covered my mouth and hoped no one would notice my shoulders shaking as I laughed silently.

“He has a pair of Sally’s knickers in his briefcase and he wants to give them back to her before anyone finds them.”

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“You’re terrible,” I whispered. Where does he get these ideas from? “Maybe you were an author. You definitely have the imagination for one.”

The clock tower struck one. Whoops! I shot up from my seat and shoved my rubbish in a nearby bin. I didn’t want to be late.

“Look what you’ve done. You’ve made me late,” I told him, but I couldn’t help smiling.

I rushed back to the shop, cursing myself for not keeping track of the time.

I needn’t have worried. Ruby was a couple of minutes late. “Sorry. The queue at the bank was almost out the door.”

I smiled. “It’s okay.” As long as you don’t know I was late.

I felt the tingle of a spirit nearby as we entered, so I didn’t look behind me. I needed to focus on work and not get drawn into somebody else’s drama. I was thankful that they didn’t come into the shop.

We had some time later on in the afternoon, so Ruby took the opportunity to show me a crystal called smoky quartz. I loved the colour — some parts were white and they faded to a smoky dark grey.

“This crystal helps to ground you. It’s good to have some with you when you’re around negativity.”

I almost laughed when I thought that it would have been handy to have at Mirrabooka whenever Janice was around. That made me wonder if they’d given her the boot yet. I hoped so. It still made my blood boil thinking about how she treated the patients. I could handle her shit most of the time, but Mrs Dawson didn’t deserve to be treated like something on the bottom of Janice’s boot. None of them did.

Ruby pointed to the big centre piece in the crystal display and reminded me how clear quartz was used to help with healing. She said we’d be learning some basics on how to heal in our classes. She also said that we’d be going through the different kinds of candles and the power of incense to bring out strong emotions and memories.

I was curious and wanted to know everything, but I knew I’d have to wait. I couldn’t possibly learn all there is to know in one day.

Ruby stood up and stretched her arms out. “I need to do some paperwork in the office. Do you think you’ll be okay for a while?”

“Yes.”

“Call out if you need me. I’ll leave the door ajar.”

“Okay.”

I parked my butt on the seat behind the counter. Johnny wandered in and sat on a chair in the corner and talked to me between customers.

I was doing fine until Jade stumbled in. Johnny stopped mid-sentence. My heart hammered in my chest and I had to push my emotions down and smile.

She didn’t look at me, just turned left and wandered around. That gave me time to get my heartbeat to slow down.

I tried not to look at her and carefully straightened a display on the counter that didn’t need straightening.

She grabbed a couple of boxes of incense and headed toward the counter. When our eyes met, there was no hint of recognition in her gaze this time. I’d been dreading it, but now I felt disappointed.

Jade smiled at me, then she appeared to be looking directly at Johnny. Her smile grew wider.

Huh? Can she see him or is she just smiling at the dreamcatchers?

She took a step toward Johnny. “Hello, Jackson. How are you? I haven’t seen you for such a long time.”