Eight years ago…
The magic shop was an oddity in town, specializing in the occult, the paranormal, and various magical phenomena. It took up residence in the shabbiest building at the end of the worst block just off Main Street.
The shutters had been painted orange at some point. The paint flaked and the front door squeaked when yanked.
It became a dare among high school kids. They had to go into the store and last—survive—at least five minutes. Touch something. Anything. Then get the hell out of there.
Lavinia Cutler was determined to make it to ten.
With her best friend Ben at her side and a world’s worth of reservations mixed with excitement, she reached out to take hold of the knob. She tried to pull and her fingers froze on the brass.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ben spared a glance over his shoulder. His tension reached across the two feet separating them and tried to strangle her. “It’s getting late.”
“Sure, I want to.” Only Lavinia wasn’t sure. Not really.
It was easy to feel cool and levelheaded during daylight, in the middle of science class, with her friends around her and everyone boasting about their own bravery. Ashley said she made three laps around the store and had her hand on a psychedelic oil painting before someone called out to her. Tim had done even better and lasted a full eight minutes.
Lavinia listened to their stories, hiding her embarrassment. She was the only one who hadn’t stepped over the threshold yet. It was pitiful. She had a good month and a half of merciless teasing to look forward to if she didn’t go inside.
It had already started. The stiff backs and sly over-the-shoulder looks when she walked by. There were whispers following her down the halls of the high school and she heard laughter on the bus.
Peer pressure was the worst. She was normally decent at fighting her way through the mire. Smoking? She’d tried it once and had the worst coughing fit of her life. Never tried that again. Drinking? Sure, it was cool to have a beer after school sometimes, although it wasn’t really something she’d write home about.
Yes, Lavinia did relatively well with peer pressure.
The magic shop was another matter entirely. Peer pressure could not be ignored. Almost everyone in her graduating class had done it, had accepted the challenge. She remembered just last week, Ricki Grazioso had come in to touch a sculpted statue of a Medusa head. Then she got an A on her history final without even studying. Once word got out of her good luck, those few stragglers who hadn’t yet made their way past the threshold were inside.
She was on her own.
A flock of birds took flight from a nearby tree and Lavinia lifted her gaze to the sky, concentrating on the flapping of their wings. They split the sky, heading over the tree line and toward the setting sun.
Ben fidgeted with the straps of his backpack. “I need to be home for dinner at seven.”
“Jesus Christ, man, grow a spine.” With a last inhale, Lavinia pushed open the door.
Burnt sage singed her nostrils and smoke drifted lazily toward the ceiling. She peered through the deep shade, trying to make out the inside of the store while her eyes adjusted to the difference in light. A static electric tingle traveled along her arms.
There were no welcomes coming from a clerk and no sign of life other than her and Ben. Lavinia felt a warning sting start at the base of her spine and work up to the top of her head. Then she remembered the look on her friends’ faces when she’d held up her hand. She was the only one who hadn’t gone through the initiation. The only one who didn’t have the guts, the balls, to go into the shop. It was only a shop. You only had to touch one thing. In and out.
Seemed like a simple idea.
In and out, sure. With Ben trembling beside her, Lavinia forced one foot in front of the other. The scent was going to her head. She felt it spiraling toward the ceiling even though her body was earthbound. Her sneakers skidded along the cracking brown laminate flooring.
“We need to leave,” Ben whispered. “I have a bad feeling.”
“You always have a bad feeling.”
“For good reason!”
Lavinia inhaled sharply, a small sound, but her frustration was clear. Hands clenched at her sides, she forced herself to be calm and not to take her emotions out on Ben. He was the only one who’d agreed to come with her for moral support. It counted for something.
“We can’t leave until I find something good,” she said. “Be patient.”
“Then touch this shelf right here and get it over with. I’ll tell everyone you made it ten minutes. I promise.”
“It’s not enough.”
Two mahogany bookshelves filled with an assortment of crystals and tarot cards stood no more than six feet ahead of them. It wouldn’t be good enough, she knew. They were too close to the front door. It would be easy to bolt in, lay a fingertip across the wood, and bolt out again. No, she needed something better. Something unique. Something to make the others think twice about teasing her.
But she wasn’t easily put off. “I think I see some books in the back. Why don’t you stay by the door and tell me if someone comes by? Keep them off my tail.”
“Tell you if someone comes?” Ben’s eyes looked large enough to explode out of his head. “It’s a retail shop. Of course they’re going to come. They’re going to see us and kick us out. They might even go to the police when they see we aren’t here to buy anything. I’m sure the owners want to crack down on the troublemakers who keep coming inside for a prank.”
He was always the first one to see the worst-case scenario. Not just see them, but veer off course and take the worst-case detour.
“Just whistle, okay?” she said in an agitated whisper.
Lavinia tapped a finger on her chin and moved quickly toward the back of the store. There were a million other places she would rather be. Her head flew out of control from the mix of temperature and incense. She drew the sides of her sweater together when a sudden chill took her. For all the heat in the store, it was impossible to get warm.
She scanned the items on either side of her and saw nothing of interest. Sure, there were crystal balls. There were boxes of wands, small pieces of twine tied up in intricate knots and circles. Candles in rainbow hues. There were gilded dragons and rune-etched Norse blades and curios of all shapes and sizes.
Then there were the spell books.
Her eyes zeroed in on the leather tomes. Their spines glittered like they were bound in magic itself. No matter how hard she tried to ignore them, they drew her, a magnet turned toward the north. This time she didn’t need to force her feet forward. They moved on their own.
Her fingertips reached out to the second shelf and the scarred book with a long purple bookmark ribbon trailing almost to the floor. She grazed the spine. Fire scorched her skin. Unspoken words burned her throat, and with incense thick in the air and Ben’s frantic whistles falling on deaf ears, Lavinia opened the book to read.