Page 75 of Heavensent & Hellbent
“We can do that?” Zain asked. “See our past selves?”
“It’s not usually advised, but…” Castiel gave us long, assessing looks. “Your circumstances are exceptional.”
He reached across the coffee table for a notebook and scribbled an address before ripping the page and handing it to Zain. Then he flicked his hands, and the door unlocked. “Now go,” Castiel said. “I’m busy.”
32
“This is it?” I asked.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Zain said, nudging me with his shoulder as he led the way into a store called Heaven Forbid.
The sign was lilac with silver stars clustered around the name, the font swirly and resembling a basic Microsoft Word job. It was one of few shops open down an otherwise desolate main street just outside of downtown.
“I always judge books by their covers,” I muttered just before we entered. The sun was starting to set, the sky a mix of blues, pinks, and purples.
A bell rang over the door, incense suddenly clogging my senses. Crystal suncatchers lined the large window, jingling against one another. The space was relatively small, and there was no one inside except Zain and me, which was lucky because I doubted it could hold more than five people. I ran myfingers along a stack of tarot cards, some of them serious and Wicca, others commercial like a Hello Kitty deck that I picked up and seriously considered, until I remembered why I was here. I noticed Zain observing a display of porcelain angels on the other end of the store.
“Is anyone here…?” I asked just as footsteps sounded beyond the storefront, and a petite woman appeared, shoving aside a curtain of beads that separated the back from the main store.
“Hello,” she said, smiling at Zain before shifting her attention to me. She squinted, lips puckering. Not quite the warm welcome Zain was given, but I moved past it.
The woman was Black, with a mixture of brown and gray curly hair tied up with a pencil. Her cheeks were over-blushed, her lips painted a deep purple. Around her neck she wore her spectacles on a chain. She dressed in a bohemian style, with an abundance of beaded necklaces. She looked, in short, exactly how I would expect the owner of a tarot shop to look.
“Hey,” Zain said, while I muttered a quick “Hello.”
“How can I help you?” she asked.
“Marissa? We’d like a session with you, if you’re free now?” Zain answered.
She cast another glance over at me, as though considering whether I was someone she wanted to do said session with. I was getting sick of being sized up like this.
“Okay, come through,” she finally said, walking past me to lock the front door. She turned the sign from Open to Be Right Back.
We followed her to the back of the store. Fairy lights lined the walls, the only furniture a circular table and chairs, and a storage cabinet. She told us to take a seat, before sitting across from us. She reached behind her for a lighter and lit the candle between us.
“What is it you’re looking to find out today?” she said, her voice much more level now, like she was putting on an act.
I could feel Zain shifting in his seat next to me. He rested his elbows on the table. “You know what I am, don’t you?”
“Yes. And I canfeelsomething different about you, too,” she said, flicking her chin up at me.
“Good. Well, we need you to retrieve memories of our past selves.”
“What makes you think I can do this?” she asked. I felt like this was a test.
“Castiel recommended you.”
“Ah, him,” she muttered. “I don’t often work with your kind—neither of your kinds. While you angels are often very charming, and nice to look at, mortals are much easier to work with. Jinn…well, I make it a rule to avoid them whenever possible.”
Zain said, “Well, she’s half mortal, and you don’t know me. I’m very easy to work with. As well as charming.”
“I bet.”
“Please,” I said. “It’s really important.”
She eyed me for longer than I thought necessary, as though she was reading my soul to see if I was worth helping. “Fine,” she finally said, and it was only then that I could relax. “It’ll cost you, though.”
“How much?” Zain asked.
