Page 93 of Girls Night
My eyes scan the shop as they adjust to the dim. It is exactly as I remember it from when Electra and I dated. The Three Blind Mice is an arcane treasure trove full of statues, powders, and potions. A mage’s wet dream. Candles drip from bookcases stacked with grimoires and textbooks. Tarot cards and various animal skulls are on display. On the ceiling, painted in red, is a protection circle. Hieroglyphs are carved into the walls.
Olectra takes me to one of the back rooms hidden from view by a velvet curtain. Inside is a round table and two chairs in one corner, a bust of Hecate surrounded by candles in the other. It’s quiet.
“Take a seat,” Olectra says, pulling out the chair nearest to the entrance for me to sit.
I do as I’m told, and drop the satchel to my lap. Opening it once again, I pull out Copper-Eye’s envelope. I put my bag on the carpet.
“Is smoking still allowed in here?” I ask.
“No,” Olectra says. With her back to me, she lights the ring of candles around Hecate, then sits down at the opposite end of the table. She flicks a piece of lint off her sleeve. “You look like shit.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you dress like the Olson twins?” I blurt out without thinking. I don’t mean it as an insult, or a compliment for that matter, but judging by Olectra’s expression I have a feeling she’s taken it as the former.
She purses her lips and sits up straight. “Electra, Alectra and I have agreed to help you under one condition, Chen.” She rests her hands on the table, her palms faced up. “After this, you walk out of here and never return to the Three Blind Mice again.”
I place the envelope on the table and push it toward Olectra. I’ve been buying and bartering products in Chinatown and the black market since my break-up with Electra. The Three Blind Mice won’t be missed. And yet, I still feel a twinge between my chest upon hearing Olectra’s words.
“Can I at least get to see Electra before I leave?” I ask, knowing deep down that the answer will be “no.”
What spills out of Olectra’s mouth is far worse. “Why, Chen? So you can apologize for sleeping with Alectra behind Electra’s back?” She leans forward and snatches the envelope from the table. “Make no mistake, gutterbug. She doesn’t want to see you ever again.”
“I thought…” I begin, but my voice trails off when Olectra lifts the flap of the envelope and digs inside. It’s no use trying to justify what I did. It will only fall on deaf ears.I thought she was Electra.
Olectra plucks the pressed flower from the envelope and leaves it on the table. Her forehead creases. “What am I looking at?”
I shift in my chair. “I got this earlier today. It’s from Copper-Eye.”
“How do you know?”
“Her handwriting is on the front of the envelope. I tried performing a tracker spell to see where it came from, but it didn’t exactly work out as I hoped.”
“Let me guess, magic still has you on probation?” Olectra scoffs. “It does enjoy messing with people when they’re in its bad books.” She pinches one of the petals and it comes away as powder on her fingertips. She studies it, and brings the powder to her nose. Dabs it with the tip of her tongue. “So, what do you need from us?”
I shrug. “Tell me where it came from. Give me an address or state. Maybe even a trail of how it got to my apartment. That’s all I want.”
“We’re not a fucking search engine, Chen.”
Now it’s my turn to lean forward. “But you’re three of the best minds in our community. Hell, everyone knows to come to the Three Blind Mice for anything magical. You’re problem solvers by nature.”
Olectra rolls her eyes. She runs long fingers through her mermaid hair, then brings them to her amulet. She clicks her tongue. “Give me a moment to bring Alectra to the front. She’s the tracker mage. My expertise is purely cartilage and tissue…” She winks. “As you know.”
Bitch. My left clavicle smarts just thinking about the night she cracked it with the effortless wave of her finger. It always unnerved me that Olectra was a bone mage, but it does explain her violent bouts of rage.
Gripping the amulet around her neck, she takes a phone out of her pocket with her free hand and opens Apple Music. Olectra thumbs her screen until she settles on a song, and hits play onCalifornia Dreamin’by The Mamas and the Papas. She closes her eyes and stills.
Seconds drag by and I lean back in the chair. Clearly Alectra is reluctant to show face. I can picture her bickering with Olectra, putting up a fight as she’s dragged to the front. I’ve seen it before. The sisters can be cruel with one another, and Olectra always wins.
As the band belt out their chorus about brown leaves and grey skies, Olectra lolls her head to the side. Gradually, her eyes open. They’re foggy and unfocused. Her shoulder’s hunch, and she adopts a crooked posture. Her right eye droops and she scowls.
“This is awks.” Alectra’s eyes dart from me, to Hecate, then to the table and the cell phone playing the last notes of the song before the room descends into silence. She twitches and smacks her lips. “Can you at least pretend to be happy to see me?”
I cross my legs, then my arms. “Not really.”
She huffs and blows a raspberry. “Fine. Great seeing you too, I guess.Not.” Her fingers spider-walk over the table top before coming to a halt next to the pressed flower. “Is this the stupid thing Olectra told me to check out?”
“Did she mention that the ‘stupid thing’ was a flower?”
Alectra nods.
