Page 10 of Crystal Iris
I stare at her. “You don’t? Then how…?”
“I found him online,” she says with a grin.
I choke on my food. “You what?!”
“Relax, he came highly recommended.” Akira continues eating as though she hasn’t just shocked me to the core.
“By who? Online lunatics?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“Look, I did my research,” she says nonchalantly. “He seemed legit.” She takes a sip of her beer.
I shake my head, still stunned. “I can’t believe I let you drag me all the way here to see, at best, a charlatan.” I scan the restaurant for the waitress. I need something stronger than fries and ketchup right now.
The cab drops us off in front of a house that’s clearly old, but not in a haunted way—just the kind of building that looks like it has stories to tell. Akira and I both stare at it for a moment, and the driver, sensing our hesitation, asks if we’re getting out.
I’m still taking in the place, trying to decide if I’m really readyto go through with this. We have no idea who’s inside.This was such a bad idea.
“We should go back to the hotel,” I say, looking at her.
Akira is already getting out of the cab, giving me a reassuring nod. “Whatever the necklace is, it’s worse than anything that could be inside,” she says. She’s out of her mind.
“You know, we’re asking for trouble here,” I say, following her.
We stand there for a moment, the cold air of Salem brushing against my skin, making me feel more alive and alert than I’ve felt in days. I’m not sure if it’s the cold or the anxiety of what’s about to happen, but I’m ready for answers—or at least something to make sense of all this chaos.
She rings the bell. I eye the street, making mental notes of the neighbors in case… well, in case it’s needed.
The person who opens the door is not who we expect. Not that I know exactly what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect her. The teenage girl looks us up and down, from head to toe. She’s wearing a T-shirt with a band I don’t recognize. She looks completely… ordinary. She opens the door wider and motions for us to come in.
“My dad’s in the kitchen.”
Lloyd is a short man in his sixties. He’s bald, wearing glasses far too large for his bony face, and dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. Again, ordinary. The inside of the house? Ditto.
“Please, take a seat,” he says, pouring all of us a cup of tea.There’s no way I’m going to drink anything here.Akira, though, seems completely at ease, which makes it harder to read what she’s thinking.
“Thank you for seeing us,” she says, blowing on the tea. She better not be thinking about?—
And she does. She actually takes a sip.
I jump toward her, trying to stop her, almost spilling the whole thing on us.
“Trust issues?” Lloyd asks calmly.
I glance at Akira. Is she losing it?
“How does this work?” she changes the subject, unfazed.
“You’ve got nothing to fear,” Lloyd continues. “That’s why I let my daughter open the door. As you can see, I’m just a father.”
I listen carefully, trying to hear if the girl is still around. It helps to know there’s someone else in the house.
“Where did you guys come from?” Lloyd asks, clearly curious.
“None of your business,” Akira replies coolly, taking another sip of her tea. I tense, watching her. She looks... okay.
“I grew up in Salem,” he says, his voice turning wistful. “It’s a shame what they’ve done to this town. Dismissing our heritage. People’s greed turned what was once something sacred into a gift shop. There’s a clear divide here: those who think witches were just misjudged women and that the occult is all myths, even though they’re fine profiting from it. Then there are those who know the truth.”
He’s about to keep going when I cut him off.
