Page 29 of The Lone Wolf Café
Just my luck.This store was the most incredible source of food I’d ever encountered, and they were all out of the good I was most desperate for.
Maybe I will have to resort to drinking tea,I grumbled to myself, even as my stomach turned at the thought.I’ll ask Rowena what she recommends other than Earl Grey.
I approached the front counter, where a cheery witch with tight brown curls and a pastel, flowery dress totaled up my order. Even with the plethora of goods I’d piled into my basket,including some luxuries I didn’t really need, I still had several dollars left over when I left the store.
On the way out of town, I paused in front of Juniper’s shop, shifting the heavy paper bags propped on my hips.AcadiaArcanawas stamped in swooping purple letters above the front door, and a gigantic, pear-shaped amethyst geode glittered in the window.
I remembered the few bills left in my pocket and smiled. Unlike witches, we werewolves had no use for crystals. But we still liked shiny things.
The first thing I noticed upon walking inside was the lighting. The shop was filled with antique lanterns, each containing an orb of a different-colored faerie fire. It made the whole space glow with the faint hue of a pastel rainbow. The floor-to-ceiling shelves were crammed with bowls, jars, and glasses of labeled crystals, and Juniper was seated in a plush chair behind the counter, surveying a sparkly piece of rock with a magnifying glass.
“Oh, hello!” Juniper exclaimed, fumbling with the magnifying glass as she set the rock down on the counter. A lump of glittering crystals stirred next to her, and I realized it was a crystal elemental – in the shape of a long, slender snake.
I initially balked at the creature, and Juniper laughed at my reaction as the snake innocently flicked its tongue.
You dummy.I scolded myself.It’s not an actual snake. Stop being a baby.
“Sorry. Don’t mind Silas.” Juniper patted the crystalline snake’s head, and he settled back down around his perch. “You’re the new kitchen witch. Nettie, right?”
“Yes,” I smiled, happy that she remembered by name. “And you’re Juniper.”
“Indeed,” she smiled. I noticed the way the claw-shaped scars on her cheek crinkled when her mouth moved. She looked a lotmore relaxed now that she was outside the café – and away from Rowena. “Come on in. How much do you know about crystal magic?”
“Um… not a whole lot,” I lied as I stood awkwardly between the shelves.Is that normal? Do witches not know much about magic beyond their own craft?
“No worries,” Juniper smiled. Her eyes were pure blue, without a single fleck of any other color. She stood up and gestured for me to follow her, and we strolled through the tight aisles as I listened to her impromptu lesson on crystal healing.
“This whole section is dedicated just to gemstones mined in Maine,” Juniper explained as we stopped in front of a wide display shelf. Above the crystals was a large state map, marked with the various mining sites where the gems had come from.
“We have a long history of amethyst discoveries,” Juniper plucked a cluster of the bright, violet-colored crystal from the shelf. “It’s one of the best gemstones for stress relief. The darker the color, the better.”
I grabbed one of the smaller amethyst crystals and held it flat in my palm.I could use something for anxiety,I thought.Maybe it’ll keep my ears and tail from popping out every time I get stressed.
“But, of course, the most famous gemstone in Maine is tourmaline,” Juniper continued, gesturing to a small display shielded by a dome of glass. There were tiny pedestals topped with cut gemstones, half pink and half green – just like a watermelon. Surrounding the main display were dozens of other cut and uncut stones. Tourmaline seemed to come in every color of the rainbow.
At the end of the display, my gaze fell on several round, jet-black beads. I pulled the piece of black tourmaline Juniper had given me the day before from my pocket, holding it up to the display.
“Black tourmaline is my favorite,” Juniper explained as she hovered over my shoulder. “Even though it’s one of the most common varieties. Something about the color is so enchanting.”
I lowered my hand and slipped the piece of tourmaline back in my pocket. I felt a question burning in my brain, humming in my skull and buzzing on the tip of my tongue. But I struggled to force the words out.
“That necklace Rowena wears, that’s black tourmaline, isn’t it?”
Just as I expected, the question seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the air. I could feel Juniper’s breath quicken as she stood behind me, and we spent several seconds locked in a long, tense silence.
“Um, yes, it is.”
“Did she buy it from your shop?”
I bit my tongue as soon as the words escaped my mouth. I was digging an ever-deeper hole, but I couldn’t help myself.
Juniper was silent behind me, but I could hear her boots clicking on the wooden floors as she walked away and returned to her seat. When I turned around, she was sitting in her chair by the register, her back stiff as a board and her glassy gaze locked straight ahead.
“My mother gave it to her,” Juniper explained, her eyes still locked on the far window. “When we were kids. Before she passed away.”
I nodded, lowering my head. From where Juniper sat in her chair, her right cheek was facing me, and the deep gouges in her skin seemed more pronounced.
I was suddenly very aware of how dangerous it was for me, a werewolf, to be masquerading as a witch in this town. I didn’t know Juniper’s story, or how she got that scar, but I could see the way mentioning her mother’s death made her face tighten and her eyes glaze over.
