Page 85 of Love Heals
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Once all the spinning ended and Jared opened his eyes again, he found himself on the front lawn of a one-story house. Big, yellow lettering on the roof spelled out the name of the antique shop, but aside from that nothing looked as it should. The sky was blue, but not regular blue. It seemed too bright somehow. Unreal. The impression wasn't helped by the fact that all the trees had leaves in varying shades of the neon rainbow and the grass seemed to be made of plastic.
The air smelled like strawberries and cinnamon at the same time.
Jared closed his eyes and just breathed for a moment, waiting for his stomach to settle after the trip. Maybe it was his nerves. Maybe once he opened his eyes again, everything would be a little more bearable.
No chance.
This place was still.... weird.
"Wow," Aldrich said. "Is it just me or does this place look like a radioactive unicorn threw up all over it?"
"It's not quite my taste either" Puck said. "Less really is more sometimes, isn’t it? But never mind that now. You wanted to come here, so take care of your business so we can leave."
Yes, that sounded like a good idea. The sooner they heard the prophecy, the sooner they could leave this place and Jared's eyes could get some rest. Silas probably needed to get some more rest too. Jared glanced over at him to make sure that the sunlight in this pocket dimension wasn’t bothering him, but none of the vampires seemed disturbed by it. One more reason to believe that it was totally fake.
Puck led the way up the short path through the lawn to the house and rang the doorbell. It played a surprisingly soft melody. Something almost like a lullaby.
"Coming!" a high-pitched voice sounded from inside the house. A second later, the door was thrown open and a slender woman with purple wings floated in the air before them. She couldn't have been taller than a five-year old girl, but Jared got the feeling that she was much older than that, regardless of her appearance. "We're open to customers!" she announced cheerfully. Then she flew up so close to Jared they almost bumped noses. "I haven't seen you here before. I'm sad to say the new customer discount special expired last month! But I have a lot of other great deals."
"Save it, Sage," Puck said. "I've already warned them off you."
Upon noticing Puck, the fairy immediately dropped her friendly demeanor. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"
Jared got the feeling maybe it was a good thing they'd brought the witch. At least Puck knew how to negotiate—and honestly, he enjoyed having the fairy's attention taken off him.
Before Puck could say anymore, though, Vlad spoke up. "We're here about a prophecy."
"A prophecy?" Intrigue colored Sage’s face. "Well, come in. We can discuss." She flew back into her shop. Jared and the others followed.
It wasn't a big shop, but every nook and cranny was stuffed with strange objects. When Jared had found the word 'antique shop' in his mind, he'd pictured a room with vintage furniture, maybe a few antique lamps and wardrobes. He hadn't pictured crystal orbs as big as his head, or display boxes with tiny teeth in them…
Aldrich walked up to an array of small objects that looked like transparent mushrooms, but got a slap on the wrist from Puck every time he tried to poke or prod at one of them.
Yes, it was definitely a good thing they had taken the witch.
The fairy led them to an area in the back that looked surprisingly normal. A leather couch, two arm chairs, a low table in the center. There were even a few cups of tea on the table. Granted, the cups were smaller than any Jared had ever seen, but he appreciated the illusion of normalcy anyway.
The only thing that seemed even the least bit magical in this room was a shelf to the side. Through its glass doors, Jared could see a collection of orbs that reminded him of marbles, only bigger, with swirls of moving colors inside.
"You like those?" the fairy asked him with a knowing smile. "They're my most prized possessions. What you seek should be in there too, if I have it."
"The prophecy is in one of these orbs?" Vlad asked.
"Sit." Sage gestured at the couch and the arm chairs. "I do so hate doing business like this standing up. That's not how you trade secrets."
"We're not here to trade secrets," Jared clarified, even as he took a seat on the couch, Silas settling beside him.
Sage gave him another one of those knowing smiles. It made the hair on the back of Jared's neck stand up. "If you want me to share one of my secrets, you have to give me one in return."
"You want one of our secrets?" Silas asked.
"I'm a bit of a collector," Sage explained with a way too cheerful grin. "I can't part with a piece of my collection without replacing it."
Vlad spoke up at that. "I'm sure we can come to an agreement."
"Sit," Sage urged again, because Vlad was the only one still standing. "And then tell me about this prophecy you need. I have more than one in my possession." She sounded quite proud of this accomplishment too.
