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Folding the note again, I slipped it into my pocket just as the bell above the door chimed.
With a lift of my head, I spotted a familiar figure under the threshold. Dressed in partial tactical gear, I recognized him at once.
“Noah, right?”
He smiled with a nod and tucked his hands in his pockets. “That’s me.”
The breeze that came in with him smelled like pine trees, and I could tell he had come from some sort of patrol in the woods. It was refreshing compared to the stuffy storefront.
“It’s nice to see you again. Can I help you with anything?” I asked, keeping a polite air about me.
Noah glanced around the shop, taking in the sights around him. He looked slightly apprehensive as if he was out of his depth, yet a positive expression remained on his face. “Yes, actually. I was hoping to get a reading done.”
Hitching my thumb toward the back room, I replied, “Willow just stepped out, but if you’re willing to wait, she should be able to perform one when she gets back.”
He didn’t look all that bothered. “I was actually hoping you might be able to do the reading.”
Nerves gripped my stomach. I pulled a sheepish face. “I don’t normally do them. I’m not the most gifted in fortune telling.”
“This could be a chance to practice,” he suggested, giving me a friendly grin that was difficult to say no to. “I don’t mind being a guinea pig.”
While I wanted to insist on waiting for Willow, I could tell he meant well, and I didn’t want to keep him waiting.
Letting go of a discreet breath, I gestured to the reading table. “Alright, then. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He chuckled and took a seat on one of the stools. “No harm done. I have faith in your abilities.”
It was a good thing one of us did, anyway.
Once settled at the table, I pulled in a deep, focused breath and gazed at the crystal ball normally used by Willow. There was a chance it wouldn’t work for me as it did for her since some tools took to certain people more.
“Is there anything in particular you’d like to know about?” I asked, hoping to break the slightly awkward tension.
“Just my near future in general.”
Nodding, I focused my energy on the crystal ball and mentally stated my intentions. I asked my magic to show me his fortune despite the slight hesitance that lingered in my system. I wasn’t all that confident, but I didn’t want it to hold me back.
The crystal ball filled with a concentration of white light as my power coursed through it, and I tried my best to catch any potential images from within it.
“Hmm,” I murmured, concentrating as best as I could. “I see … a struggle of some kind. Like hoping something will work as you want it to, or maybe a physical fight. There’s a figure in the distance … it looks feminine. I think there’s someone on your horizon, but I can’t see who it is.”
Noah didn’t say anything as I read the vague images, but he watched me intently with a hint of a smile.
“Things in your life are stable but not exactly how you’d like them to be,” I murmured, mostly filling in the blanks of what I couldn’t see. “You’re searching for something, and your search will soon come to an end.”
“Not bad,” Noah quipped, letting his eyes shine with appeasement. “Sounds like a promising prediction.”
“I would say so,” I managed, pushing through the slight embarrassment.
I had watched Willow give hundreds of readings before, and I knew what I had delivered was subpar. She always had such a divine way of receiving and giving messages, and her accuracy was usually scarily on the nose. Thankfully, she hadn’t been there to oversee the complete disaster that was the reading.
“Thank you for the reading, I appreciate it,” Noah said, reaching for his wallet. “How much do I owe you?”
More humiliation flooded my system, and my face flushed. “No, that’s okay, it’s on the house. It was practice anyway.”
He looked surprised but withdrew his wallet. “Well, in that case, I’d love to make it up to you.”
My cheeks warmed. “How so?”
