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Apparently, though, his sister, who had a minimum-wage part-time job at the University library, was a regular. As they went into the shop, Geoff, the pudgy, balding, always impeccably dressed other co-owner, who actually ran the place, grinned brightly and said, “Zelda! And Zaxxon! It’s good to see you both.”
Zelda met him in the middle of the shop and slapped the hand he’d offered. “It’s good to see you, Geoff-with-a-G.”
Geoff smiled. “How are you, dear? I heard you had a bad fall recently.”
At her side, Zaxx noticed his sister’s flinch, but her smile was at full wattage. “Just a little crash at practice, and crashes are part of the gig. I’m fine, but thanks. How you doin’?”
“I’m doing very well, dear, thank you. We’ve got some new curiosities out back since you’ve been in. Go on back, and I’ll check on you as soon as I get these records logged.”
“Excellent. You’re a jolly good bean, sir.” Zelda put on a ridiculously terrible British accent. Geoff was not British, but he laughed as if honestly amused.
Zelda grabbed Zaxx’s hand and pulled him to the back of the shop and through an open doorway.
Back here, the shop was markedly different. Up front was all elegant furniture, fancy décor pieces, ancient stamps and coins, vintage photos, estate jewelry, all the clutter you’d expect from a fancy antique shop. But in this secondary room, which was much darker than out front, Zaxx felt like they’d crossed over into some madman’s attic. Weird taxidermy—lots of huge birds—funky shit in glass jars, insects pinned to velvet boards under glass, and a ton of antique occult stuff. Did Mom know about this place? She would pass out to see it.
He could also totally see his sister loving this room, but he did not see Gia back here. Maybe asking Zelda for help on this errand had not been his brightest move. They were not as alike as he’d thought.
“Gia’s not goth, Zel.”
Zelda gave him her look that meant OMG are you really that dumb? and grabbed his kutte. “C’mere.” She dragged him to a display counter along the front wall of the room. The glass case was full of funky silver jewelry on artfully arranged black velvet. A strand of mini-lights wending through the velvet made all the pieces twinkle prettily.
Jewelry was generally a good gift for women, right? And Gia wore silver; he hadn’t seen her wear anything else. Still, all the pieces inside this display were like all the other items back here: big, bold and extremely weir—wait.
In the far case, arranged around a small model of the solar system—one of those things high-school science classes had, with a crank to turn to make the planets move around the sun, but this one was clearly antique—were more subtle pieces, all of them silver, most with faceted stones. They had a celestial vibe to them. He leaned forward and studied them more closely. They were mostly zodiacal, and they mostly looked new. More than new: contemporary.
“Are these antiques?”
Zelda came up to his side and leaned over the case to peer at its contents. “Not everything in the shop is antique, or even used. It’s called ‘Jubilee Antiques and Curiosities, and we’re in the Curiosities room.’ A lot of things back here are brand new. You see something you like for Gia?”
He didn’t really want to do a zodiac thing. Astrology was Mom’s religion, for lack of another, but Zaxx was fine not having a religion at all. He didn’t believe in all that nonsense, anyway.
However, he and Gia had talked about astrology—about him being a fire sign, her being water, and, more importantly, how she hated being a Cancer because she thought it had the worst symbol and the worst sign. Not a great name, either.
But Zaxx loved astronomy, and he’d told her that as well. What he was looking at in this display case was a bracelet, two slim, rigid silver bands joined in the center with an oval stone in a dark blue that seemed depthless. The constellation of Cancer was etched into the stone. The stars were rendered in tiny sparkling stones, either diamonds or cubic zirconia.
He and Gia had yet to actually have a date. They’d had one hookup, several weeks of very much not-togetherness, and about a week of beginning to be together. Physically, since she’d been off her feet all week, their new togetherness was limited to hand-holding and kissing when he visited.
Diamonds would be both expensive and probably too intense for a gift this early in their relationship, which was so young it didn’t really deserve that name. Jewelry was probably too intense this early, even if it wasn’t full of precious gems.
But he liked that bracelet. It was pretty, it was elegant, and he thought it had the right vibe for Gia. It recalled a nice, intimate moment from their one night together. On her birthday, he could give her a piece of star-sign jewelry that was neither a ‘sea bug,’ as she’d called the crab symbol, or the 69 sign that carried with it a raunchy connotation.
Instead, he could give her stars.
“Are those diamonds, you think? All the tags are turned down, so I don’t know how expensive it is.”
“No idea,” Zelda muttered. She was studying an evil eye charm in another case, not paying attention to him.
“Peach, help me out.”
With a loudly rhetorical sigh, his sister turned from the evil eye and leaned over the case to study the bracelet. “Oh, a cuff is a good idea—a little edgier than a chain bracelet. I like it.”
“Do you think those are diamonds?”
“Why do you think I would know? I don’t think I’ve ever been all that close to a diamond in my life. It’s sparkly, that’s all I know.” She wandered off and left him to his wondering.
Zaxx squinted, as if he knew enough about stones to tell a diamond from glass. He did not.
“Would you like me to take a piece or two out for you?” Geoff asked, moving behind the display case.
