The Loki Equation Part 11
I would just like to take the time to point out that I, in no way, shape or form, am not a brave person. At all. I lock all my doors at night. I drink plenty of water. I wear my seatbelt. I stay away from shady boys in bars.
So it's a safe bet to make that I felt like I was way out of my league here.
Loki wasn't exactly making it much easier on me.
He kept pulling candy out of his pockets and offering them to me. Like he was rewarding a well-behaved puppy.
It was a Jolly Rancher this time.
"Seriously? Where does all this candy keep coming from?"
"I thought cherry was your favorite"
"It's not the flavor that's concerning me!"
"If you don't want it..."
I snatched it from his fingers and did my best to crunch it grumpily. He just smiled and let me into the store by my elbow.
Now, believe me when I say that there is a store like this one in pretty much every city. You might have even been in one.
Along one side wall was a long low glass case filled with "tobacco" paraphernalia, if you know what I mean.
There were more shelves in tidy rows.
Some held burners and lots of incense and candles. Some had books. Some had folded up clothing. Statues. Jewelry. Other ones had little glass vials with labels handwritten on paper tags:
Dragons Milk
Aardvark Tongue
Unicorn Toenail
Ha! I got a kick out of those.
"Excuse me," I asked the salesgirl, "Do people actually buy these?"
"Oh yeah," she said, swiping her zebra striped bangs out of her eyes. "Mostly tourists, but there's a coven of witches down the street that come in every once and a while."
"Oh wow. Okay. Coven. Cool" I said. What kind of weird neighborhood was this?
Loki was poking around through a tray of crazy witchy jewelry. I didn't know how much help he was going to be, so I guess the reckless side of me (that I didn't know existed, by the way) decided to go ahead without him.
I leaned a little closer to the salesgirl.
"Listen," I said, "See that guy over there?"
She looked over, swiping her bangs again so she could see with both eyes.
"Yeah. Dang. Is he one of those guys that you pay to hang out with you?"
"Wh..what? No. Jeez. No."
"Oh. Bummer. I'd pay."
"Don't let him hear you see that. His head doesn't need to get any bigger, believe me. What's your name?"
"Carlise"
"I'm Rachael"
She put up her fist, and I tapped it with mine.
"Listen, my friend over there and I are looking for something. A book. We heard it was here."
"Sure man. We got lots of books"
"This is a special book"
"Aren't they all special?" she asked.
Woah. Touché.
"You're right. Um, this one, though. It isn't like...well, regular books. This one needs to be with him" I hooked a thumb in Loki's direction. He still wasn't paying attention.
Carlise studied him very closely for a minute. Then she nodded.
"There was a lady in here the other day saying that same kind of thing" she told me. "But her vibe was wrong, man. She got really mad and left when I told her that we didn't have anything more powerful than A Dummies Guide to Black Magic"
We both laughed at the same time, and covered our mouths so we wouldn't draw attention.
"Look, I really need to get that book back where it belongs. How does my vibe feel?"
She smiled, and somehow it outshone her thick Cleopatra eye makeup and scene hair. "Pretty good, man. You're like a sunshine."
She took a key off her studded belt and unlocked shelf under the "tobacco pipe" case. When she stood up, she held a book in her hand. It was a lot smaller than I imagined. Like a journal, almost. It was a dark cocoa brown, with some gold edging, but not too much. It wasn't fancy. I was a little disappointed. I was kinda hoping that it would be...I don't know. Bound in human skin, or making its own fog. Anything.
"It's happy to see you, dude" she said, handing it over.
"Happy to see me?"
"Yeah, it's like...humming."
The book felt a little warm, but that's about it. I was just going to take her word for it.
"Thanks Carlise. This is amazing. What do we owe you for it?"
She waved her hands in front of her.
"Nah, man. You and mister tasty over there just do your thing. You're good"
We both smiled, and bumped fists again.
Loki looked slightly upset that I had dragged him out of the store by HIS elbow this time. I guess only he's allowed to do that.
"I was learning how to use Tarot cards to predict lottery numbers" he complained, smoothing out the crease I had made in his shirt.
"Shut up! Look what I got!" I said. I couldn't hold my excitement in any longer. I jumped around him in a circle, and smacked the book down in his palm. The look on his face made me laugh even harder, till I was bend at the waist and howling.
"You actually found one..."
I probably should have been a little insulted at that, but whatever.
"Heck yeah I did SUCKAHHHH! And THAT is how girls handle business!"
He laughed with me, and pulled me into a tight hug that crushed my shoulders.
When we both calmed down, I remembered something.
"That girl, Carlise, told me that someone else was looking for this. She said it was a woman, and she had a bad vibe. I think that's stoner talk for evil aura, if that's a thing that happens with people like you. Are they here? Ones like you? Looking for this stuff? Because no offense, you look like someone who would give off a bad vibe too..."
"That was mean, darling. I don't have a bad vibe. It's all reputation. And I think that this woman that your friend described is probably associated with whomever decided to put an end to the other bookkeepers life. The man they found. And also the people behind the fires"
He rubbed his forehead with the tips of his fingers.
"Looks like this might be more of a challenge than I thought" he said.
I rolled up my sleeves.
"Well then let's go, slowpoke.
I don't have all day"