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My eyes widen as I turn to him, “Like a stakeout!” My voice is a whispered squeak.
Caspian blinks twice and barks a laugh, “I guess that’s one word for it.”
I rub my hands together with excitement as we pass by a handful of tents before settling on one, we order a couple breakfast burritos with drinks and find a table to sit at.
Caspian sits facing me so that we can scan the incoming crowd behind each other without looking suspicious.
An hour goes by and I’ve gotten antsy, fidgeting in place, only pausing when Caspian shoots me a look.
Note to self, stakeouts have zero mental stimulation.
We had finished eating a while ago, there’s no sign of Tammy anywhere and I heave a defeated sigh. “This isn’t working,” I say irritably and rub my temples.
“We haven’t spent long here but if it makes you feel better we can walk to burn some of this anxious energy you have.”
I shoot him a glare but push to my feet, and he laughs under his breath.
Ass.
My hands fidget with the empty drink. It slips and falls to the ground with a clatter and I huff, angrily cursing as I bend to pick it up which makes Caspian laugh harder.
It’s not anxiety, it’s anticipation. Yup. That is it. Screw you, Mystery Man.
Caspian tosses me a knowing smirk and I huff before wandering down the busy street away from him. My frustrations soon forgotten as I spot a vendor selling shirts with custom images on them. I browse through a few of them, snickering some of the clever phrases that I know Caspian would wholly roll his eyes at if I was wearing them right now.
The ‘I’m with grumpy’ shirt has an image of the dwarf from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
I wonder how much they’d charge to put Caspian’s face on it.
I laugh quietly to myself as I leave the vendor behind to continue down the road, and I glance back to see Caspian trailing not far away.
We venture into a few more tents, one has custom pictures with intricate frames that look hand made. The next creates custom dog harnesses and collars. The one after that sells homemade jams and spice blends for BBQs.
Eventually the vendors are all local farmers who are selling ripe and in-season produce, with a colorful spread of fruits and vegetables across their tables. There’s only a handful of tents down the pathway, but I abruptly stop as I see curled brown hair standing at a handcrafted jewelry vendor at the end of the street. The woman’s height looks similar, and build, the curl of her hair is not exactly right nor is her choice of clothing, but I still sprint toward the tent.
“Lara!” Caspian hisses at me as I take off. I dodge and side step people as I near the woman.
She turns as I’m only a few feet away and her brown eyes look at me with shock. “Oh, excuse me miss, I didn’t see you there!” Her voice has a southern accent to it.
I nod, murmuring an apology as I catch my breath, my heart dropping into my stomach as she walks past me.
Caspian places his hand goes to my shoulder as if to comfort me, but my disappointment is overwhelming. Blowing out a breath, I turn to leave but hesitate at the tug in my body and I glance to Caspian with wide eyes.
His brows pinch together, and I frantically glance around before my sights fall to the vendor in front of me.
Caspian’s voice is hushed as he leans in, “What is it, Lara?”
Suspicion fires through my body and I look around us. Everyone is enveloped in their own bubbles, paying no mind to us and the person working in the vendor is giving more attention to her phone.
This almost seems too coincidental.
My hand goes to my body where the tug feels tight, and I look Caspian in the eyes with caution before murmuring, “I almost can’t believe it but there’s an amulet here.”
His head jerks back as I point to the jewelry in front of us and we both turn to scan through the items for sale. There’s a variation of earrings in the displays, some bracelets and anklets on another that I briefly skim over.
“There.” Caspian eagerly points to a set of hanging necklaces.
Each one has similar features to the amulets we have, just in different variations and I frown. “How do we know if there’s one or multiple?”
