“You want a reading, darling?” she asks. “Twenty-five bucks for twenty minutes.”
I shake my head. I only brought twenty dollars. I can’t spare the time, even if I did have enough money—I have to find Ben before he strands me here.
“Just looking,” I say. I sift through the bowl of rocks. My eye catches on a stone that looks slightly different from the rest. It’s a translucent yellow with thin gold threads shooting through it, about the size of a walnut. I pick it up. The rock is strangely warm in my hand.
The woman gestures at the stone. “Rutilated quartz. A very powerful crystal,” she says. “Is there something that you regret in the past? Something that you wish to change?”
A shiver goes through me. How did she know that?
Probably just a good guess. She must be trained to read body language or something.
“Doesn’t everyone have something in their past that they’d like to change?” I reply.
“Some more than others.” She smiles. “That crystal can help you.”
I stare at her. Wait. Is she suggesting that this stone can change the past? That I could use it to fix things with Alistair and Marisol? Because I don’t believe that anything—least of all a rock—could change Alistair’s mind about me. Our friendship is way beyond repair.
But, then again … what if it did help? I glance down at the rock. There’s something hypnotizing about the web of gold threads running through it. And I like the way it feels in my hand. Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the idea … I mean, it is kind of weird, the way I found that joker and then stumbled across this tent.
“I should warn you—you want to be very careful with that crystal,” the woman adds. “Change one thing from the past and you change everything about your future.”
My face heats up. This is ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m standing here, actually considering buying a rock in the vain hope that it might work some kind of magic and make Alistair and Marisol forgive me.
But … I would do anything to go back and choose Alistair. And while it seems highly unlikely that a rock could actually make that happen, my heart really wants to believe that it’s possible.
“So how does this work, exactly?” I ask.
She leans her elbows on the table. “Put it under your pillow tonight. Before you fall asleep, focus on the thing in your past that you most want to change. In the morning, when you wake up, that particular problem will have resolved itself.”
I lift an eyebrow. “That’s it?” I don’t know what I was expecting, but it seems way too easy. Shouldn’t there be a chant or a ritual sacrifice or something?
“Well, you have to really concentrate,” she says. “And you need to be very careful about what you wish for. So, make sure it’s something that you really, truly want to change. If you pull one thread in a sweater, then the whole thing can unravel, you see?”
I have to admit, the idea of my sweater unraveling or whatever makes me a bit uneasy. What if, by choosing Alistair instead of Ben, I send my life in a completely unexpected direction?
It doesn’t matter. Whatever my new future holds, having my friends back will be worth it.
“I’ll take it,” I say, pulling out my wallet. I check over my shoulder to make sure Ben isn’t behind me. If he catches me in this booth, buying a rock, then I’ll never hear the end of it. He doesn’t believe in magic or palm readers or anything else that this woman is selling.
I feel a little foolish as she takes the money from my outstretched hand. The crystal costs fifteen dollars, which seems suspiciously cheap for something that she swears is going to change my life.
“Now, I should mention, this crystal won’t bring anyone back from the dead or anything like that,” she says, dropping it into a little blue velvet bag and pulling the strings shut. “So if that’s what you’re looking to fix…”
I shake my head. The only thing that I’ll be raising from the dead is my relationship with my friends—and, hopefully, Alistair’s feelings for me. If this even works. But after what happened tonight, I feel like it’s the only chance I have to make things right again.
“One more thing,” the woman says, handing me the pouch. “This crystal can only be used once. There’s no going back if you don’t like the results. And no returns.”
The look on her face is kind of ominous. But then her expression clears and her face breaks into a smile.
“Good luck,” she says.
CHAPTER
6
“Don’t forget to pack your inhaler,” my mom says later that night.
I roll my eyes. This is the third time she’s reminded me. We don’t leave for Italy until tomorrow afternoon, but she’s buzzing around the house as if we’re already late for our flight.
She hands me a list of things I still need to pack, instead of trusting that I know I need to bring underwear and good walking shoes. Inhaler is underlined twice.
“And remember, no cell phone,” she says. My mom is insisting that we be “in the moment” on this vacation, which means that we need to leave our phones at home.
I sigh. “Mom. I know.”
“Come and say goodbye to Napoleon.”
“You’re taking him now?” It’s almost eleven thirty. “Why can’t we keep him until tomorrow?”
Napoleon’s going to be staying with my mom’s friend Maya while we’re away. She has a farm, with lots of space for him to run. She’s promised to play Frisbee with him every day, but still, I feel bad about leaving him for an entire month.
“I have too much to do tomorrow,” she says. “I was planning to take him earlier this evening, but you left the house so fast. I knew you’d want a chance to say goodbye to him. Lucky for you, Maya is a night owl.”
I follow her downstairs. My parents’ suitcases are already in the hall, lined up like soldiers standing at attention. Napoleon is waiting by the front door, wagging his tail, totally oblivious that my mom is about to take him away.
I kneel down and bury my face in his neck. My mom gives me a minute before clipping on his leash. Napoleon starts to dance around, thinking he’s going for a late-night walk.
“Let’s go, buddy,” she says. She picks up the bag she packed for him, containing his toys and treats. I watch from the window as she loads him into the car.
A string of loud swear words comes from the direction of the kitchen. I wander in to find my dad’s legs sticking out from underneath the sink, a variety of tools splayed out on the tile around him. He slides out and sits up, his face flushed. He wipes the back of his hand across his brow.
“Fixing a leak is a lot harder than it looks,” he says, sighing. “Don’t tell your mother, but if I was to do this over again, I wouldn’t have tried to fix it myself. I’d have called a plumber.”
If he could do it over again …
My stomach flutters. His words remind me of the crystal I bought at the night market tonight. What if it really is a magical, time-turning rock? What if it really can change my past and make things right with Alistair and Marisol?
It seems totally impossible, but I have nothing to lose by trying it. So, after I finish packing everything on the list my mom gave me, I dig the crystal out from my bag and place it under my pillow, just like the palm reader instructed me to.