Chapter 2
Fiona stared down at the strange iridescent yellowish stones that sat on the black-velvet tray on her workbench at Sticks and Stones, the store she shared with her sister Morgan.
She”d seen her share of semiprecious stones and crystals, both magical and not, but these were an unusual color and were behaving quite oddly. She watched as the stone zinged off the tray and hit the window. She”d never had stones that did that before.
The bells over the door chimed as a tiny woman wearing a hooded dark-green cloak entered the shop. It was early spring and still cool enough to wear jackets, but something about the woman seemed off to Fiona, though she couldn”t quite place what.
Fiona quickly swept the bouncing stones into a drawer and slid it shut. ”Good morning! Can I help you find anything?” she asked brightly.
The woman”s sharp gaze roamed over the cozy shop interior, taking in the rows of crystals and display cases full of jewelry that Fiona had made as well as the jars of dried herbs Morgan used for her concoctions.
”Quite an interesting establishment you have here,” the woman rasped in a low, gravelly voice. She lowered her hood, revealing a deeply lined face and piercing silver eyes. ”I”m looking for some jewelry for my sister, something very special.”
Fiona felt unease prickle the back of her neck but kept her tone pleasant. ”We do have some unique items. Is there anything in particular you”re looking for?”
The woman drifted closer to the counter, the hem of her cloak brushing the worn floorboards. ”Yes, you could say I”m searching for something quite... remarkable.” Her gaze locked onto Fiona”s as if peering into her soul.
Fiona suppressed a shiver, silently willing her sister to arrive soon. Dealing with this ominous stranger alone made her deeply uncomfortable.
Fiona nodded and walked around to the front of the display cases. ”Well, we have quite a variety of gemstones and crystals, many of which have special properties,” she explained.
Ping!
The woman”s gaze jerked toward Fiona”s desk. ”What was that?”
”What?” Fiona played dumb even though she”d heard the noise too. ”This cottage is old and creaky. Makes lots of noises.” She pulled the woman toward the case farthest from her desk and pointed at a pink necklace. ”This is rose quartz, known as the love stone. It”s said to open up your heart chakra and promote unconditional love.”
The woman peered at it, her expression unreadable.
Fiona set the pendant down and selected a ring set with labradorite. ”This labradorite ring helps provide clarity and insight.”
The woman”s eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the ring. Fiona placed it next to the pendant and moved down the case. She picked up a bracelet made with variscite stones. ”Variscite aids calm communication and brings harmony to relationships.”
The woman let out an impatient huff. ”Yes, yes, but do you have anything more... potent?”
Fiona glanced uneasily at her desk as another muffled ping sounded from the drawer. She coughed to cover the sound and quickly turned back to the woman.
”Potent in what sense exactly?” she asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from whatever was making noise in her desk.
The woman waved a bony hand impatiently. ”Oh, you know, potent in bringing things together. Making connections. Influencing outcomes.” Her sharp gaze bored into Fiona”s.
Fiona”s smile faltered slightly. She had a very bad feeling about this woman and whatever she was really after.
”I”m not sure we have anything quite that, um, potent,” Fiona hedged. ”Our gemstones have more subtle energies.”
The woman clicked her tongue, clearly dissatisfied. ”What a pity. Are you certain you have nothing more... impactful?”
Ping!Another stone ricocheted in the drawer.
Fiona crossed her arms, looking the woman straight in the eye. ”I”m quite certain. Now, if there”s nothing else I can help you find today...”
The woman stared at Fiona, her eyes narrowing. Then she glanced over at the desk, where the noises had come from.
”No, I suppose there isn”t,” she said slowly. She turned and drifted back toward the door, pausing to look back over her shoulder at the desk. Fiona stood very still, resisting the urge to rush over and check on the stones.
With a swish of her cloak, the woman pushed her hood back up and opened the door. ”Good day,” she said crisply before disappearing outside.
Fiona let out a shaky breath as the door swung shut. She quickly returned to her desk and yanked open the drawer. The stones were pinging wildly off each other and the sides of the drawer. She scooped them up in her hand, holding them still, and felt a distinct vibrating energy pulsing through them.
What in the world were these things?
Fiona had barely had time to contemplate the stones when the bells over the door chimed again. She quickly closed her fist around the vibrating stones and hid them behind her back, bracing herself for another encounter with the ominous stranger.
But instead of the cloaked woman, her sister Morgan breezed through the door. Morgan paused and gave Fiona a strange look.
”What are you doing?” she asked, eyeing Fiona”s awkward pose.
Fiona exhaled in relief. ”Oh, it”s just you,” she said. ”Did you see a strange woman in a green cloak on your way in? She was just here acting very odd.”
Morgan shook her head, her brow furrowing. ”No, I didn”t see anyone out there.” She set the herbs she”d been carrying on the counter and turned back to Fiona. ”Why? What happened?”
Fiona slowly brought her hand out from behind her back, opening her fist to reveal the stones, which were still faintly vibrating and pinging against her palm. She held them out to Morgan. ”I was working on these stones to put in a bracelet, and they started going crazy and jumping all around.”
Morgan”s eyes widened as she took in the stones, which were now hopping up and down in Fiona”s hand. ”Are you making them do that?”
It was a fair question since Fiona had a way with all kinds of stones and could transmit energy to them to make them do as she wanted. She”d helped her friends in many paranormal battles with that ability. Except this time, she wasn”t doing anything to make the stones move.
She shook her head. ”They”re doing it on their own and seem to want to go toward the window.”
No sooner had she finished talking when one flew out of her hand and hit the window.
”Well, I guess that pretty much answers my question,” Morgan said.
”Question?” Fiona picked the stone up from the floor and put them all in the tray then closed the lid.
”I was going to ask if you had noticed anything odd.”
Fiona looked at the tray. ”Um, yeah. But why?”
”I sensed a disturbance this morning.” Morgan explained how both she and Celeste had felt something odd and then told her about the celestial alignment that Luke had mentioned. ”I think whatever this alignment is, it”s already affecting the magical energies. Making them act strangely.”
”Makes sense. Maybe we aren”t the only ones that know about it.” Fiona glanced at the door and thought back to the creepy woman who had been so interested in potent magical objects.
Morgan gave her a knowing look. ”You think the woman who was just here might be connected somehow?”
”I don”t know,” Fiona said uncertainly. ”She seemed very interested in crystals and jewelry with strong magical energies. Kept asking if I had anything really potent or impactful. It was clear she was looking for something specific. Are you sure you didn”t see her? I mean, you came in just a few seconds after she left.”
Morgan glanced back at the door. ”I didn”t see a soul.”
”Weird.”
Morgan studied the tray holding the vibrating stones, her brow furrowed. ”Where did you get these odd stones?”
Fiona shook her head, still perplexed by their strange behavior. ”I bought them from Cal last month. Someone had pawned a whole box of loose stones and never came back to claim them. So he gave me a deal on the lot.”
She leaned against the desk, arms crossed. ”When I first got them, the stones seemed perfectly normal. I’ve worked some of them into jewelry already and they seem like normal stones. But these yellow ones…” She gestured at the tray. ”... started acting like this today. Bouncing around and zinging all over. And that weird woman showing up right afterward, asking for something unusual for her sister? It can”t just be a coincidence.”
Morgan nodded slowly, thinking. ”No, I”m sure it”s connected somehow. Did Cal say anything about the person who pawned the stones? Anything unusual about them?”
”No, he didn”t really have any details,” Fiona replied. ”He assumed they were just an amateur rock hound or something who”d fallen on hard times. Needed cash quickly and left the stones as collateral for a loan.”
”Hmm.” Morgan stared at the pinging, bouncing objects. ”Well, someone out there obviously knows something about these stones that we don”t. We need to figure out where they came from and why they”re acting so strangely.”
”Did Luke say that he got an assignment from Dorian about this?” Fiona rummaged in her drawers for a secure box for the stones.
”No, but she had mentioned it, and if we”re all feeling something, then chances are we need to take some action,” Morgan said. ”I think we should go talk to Cal and see if he remembers anything else. And maybe do some digging, find out who pawned them originally. That might tell us something.”
Fiona nodded resolutely. ”I agree. Let me put these in something more secure.” Fiona rummaged through her desk drawers until she found a small cedar box. ”This should help contain their energy,” she said, placing the vibrating stones carefully inside.
Morgan hurried over to her side of the shop and grabbed a handful of dried leaves. ”These should mute the magic and calm the stones down a bit.” She placed them carefully in with the stones.
Fiona added a layer of soft cloth to cushion the stones before closing the lid securely and tucking the box into the back of her desk drawer.
”What about the other ones?” Morgan asked.
Fiona pulled out a tray in which a colorful display of semiprecious gemstones sat. ”These seem normal, but I”ll keep an eye on them. All right. Let”s go talk to Cal and see what we can find out,” she said, grabbing her purse and keys.
Just as they reached the door, it suddenly burst open, the bells clanging violently. Fiona”s heart skipped a beat when she saw who stood on the other side.
Sheriff White stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, glaring at them. Her salt-and-pepper hair was pulled back in a tight bun, matching the severe look on her lined face. She was new in town, and Morgan still hadn”t decided whether she was friend or foe, but given the look on her face, she would have had to say that right now, the sheriff was definitely foe.
”Can we help you, Sheriff?” Morgan asked in her most innocent voice.
”I”ve received a report that you two are in possession of stolen goods,” White said sharply, her piercing blue eyes flashing.
”Stolen goods?” Morgan said in surprise. ”We have no stolen goods here.”
The sheriff stepped inside, the floorboards creaking under her heavy boots. ”That”s not what Calvin Reed told me. He informed me that he sold a stash of stolen gemstones to Fiona, here.” She leveled an accusing look at Fiona.
Fiona crossed her arms over her chest. ”Cal wouldn”t sell stolen goods. He sold me a box of loose stones, but he never said anything about them being stolen.”
Morgan nodded emphatically. ”Fiona got those stones over a month ago. If they were stolen, why didn”t you come around then?”
Sheriff White”s eyes narrowed. ”Because we just tracked down where they ended up yesterday. They were stolen from Maynard Dove along with other family valuables.”
Morgan”s mind raced. She”d never heard the name Maynard Dove before. Was he some sort of paranormal connected to this celestial alignment? And if so, was he someone she would have to be wary of?
”Sheriff White, I swear I had no idea those stones were stolen,” Fiona said earnestly. ”Cal never told me anything except that someone had pawned them and never came back to claim them. I paid him in good faith.”
The sheriff fixed Fiona with a hard look then glanced around the shop. ”And where are these stolen stones now?”
Morgan crossed her arms. ”Now wait just a minute, Sheriff. You can”t just come barging in here, accuse us of theft, and take our things. We run a legitimate business.”
Sheriff White bristled, putting her hands on her belt near her holstered gun. ”I can get a warrant, but if you run such a legitimate business, then I”m sure you won”t mind handing them over.”
Fiona sighed and threw up her hands. ”Fine. If it will get you out of here faster, I”ll get you the blasted stones.” She went to her desk and pulled out a carved wooden box. Opening it, she revealed a pile of smooth, polished stones in an array of colors—reds, blues, greens, purples. She held it out to Sheriff White with an exasperated look.
The sheriff took the box, eyeing the contents. She set it on the counter and pulled out a small receipt book, scribbling out a note. ”Here”s your receipt for the confiscated goods,” she said crisply, tearing it out and handing it to Fiona. ”I”ll be in touch if I have any other questions. Don”t be going anywhere, you hear?”
Fiona snatched the receipt with a huff. ”Wouldn”t dream of it,” she said sarcastically.
Sheriff White tucked the box under her arm and strode out of the shop without another word. They watched through the window as she loaded the box into her squad car and peeled out down the street.
”Ugh, good riddance,” Fiona grumbled, crumpling the receipt and tossing it on the counter.
Morgan shook her head, brows furrowed. ”Something strange is definitely going on here. I think we need to get the whole family together to figure this out.”
Fiona nodded grimly. ”I agree. How about over a lasagna dinner tonight? I”ll send a family text.”
”Sounds good. Too bad we had to give up those stones. I feel like they might be a key to something.”
”Don”t worry.” Fiona smiled slyly and reached into her bottom drawer and pulled out the cedar box. ”I gave her the other stones, the ones that don”t jump around. She doesn”t need to know that she didn”t get all of them.”