Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
DAPHNE
“There’s a shop over there. Let’s go there and get some supplies. Maybe I can get a ride to your mom's.” I moved towards the shop, and he followed like a lost puppy dog. The herbal tea shop was welcoming, and I waved to Carter behind the counter.
“Hey, Carter,” I said.
“Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while.”
I walked to the corner that was ‘pot-pourri’, but we all knew they were charms of various kinds.
I grabbed the ones that would be useful, that I should stick into Ryder’s clothes, and some charm bags.
Carter practiced clothing magic, which meant all his charms were based on sewing into clothes.
Some would then meld within the weave of the garment.
I loved how people took hyperfixations on weird magic.
“Do you have any emergency sewing kits?”
“Girl, are you in trouble? And who’s your friend here?” he asked. I looked at Ryder, who stood in the streaming sunlight awkwardly.
“Walking trouble. Kit?”
Carter nodded and grabbed a small kit from behind him. This wasn’t the only magic shop in town, but it was the closest. “You know me, always being late cause I need coffee. And I never got that coffee either.”
Carter looked at Ryder and then at me. “There’s one down the block,” he said as I placed the charms on the counter. “Have him take you. Or maybe he can take me.”
I groaned as I realized I didn’t have my card. “Carter, I had to pop out of my house. Can you pull a tab?” I asked as I looked at all the charms. Charms like this would rarely be put on credit.
“I can pay.”
“They’ll track your card!”
“You said they have magic. How can we hide from magic?”
I waved to the charms. “These! I think they will give us time.”
Carter’s whole mood shifted. “You really are in trouble. I’ll let you off, but you owe me big.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Carter huffed as he walked around the counter.
He pushed Ryder onto a stool and grabbed one charm.
“Let me help.” He jerked the bottom of Ryder’s shirt and sewed in a few of the charms. Once it was set and active, it would melt into the fabric.
It was a lot of work, which was why these were so expensive.
I’d be paying Carter off for quite a few months.
“If we get out of this, I will pay you back, Daphne,” Ryder mumbled, as if he could read my thoughts.
I nodded as I looked away. “Yeah.”
“Daph, you need to start sewing if you want this to work.”
I picked up the other sewing kit and pulled my shirt up. Ryder’s eyes trailed down my body and stopped at my exposed skin. My skin flushed as I turned away from him.
“You should still take Daph for coffee before you two go wherever you are heading. She is tragically single.”
Ryder chuckled. “That’s unfortunate.”
“That’s my middle name.”
“I won’t disagree,” Carter mumbled. “So, mortal?”
“Uh, I guess?”
“Sucks to suck.”
I ripped my thread out and placed the patch between my hands. The heat of the magic pulsed through my hands into the charm. A zip of extra magic filled my being. I lifted my head. “Carter, do you have any defensive or offensive charms?”
“Girl, you know that’s not what I do.”
I sighed as I grabbed the rest of the charms. This wasn’t the shop to purchase battle charms. I could make do, but could Ryder? My eyes flickered to the gun in his belt before looking back at Carter. “I’m a bit over my head.”
Carter sighed and clapped his hands. He bent over and pulled out his keys. “Take my car. How bad is it?”
I frowned. “It’s bad.”
He nodded as I grabbed the keys from him. Carter looked away from me and looked at Ryder. “Get her coffee—”
“She made some—”
“Get her a nice coffee first.”
Ryder frowned. “Yeah, let’s go, Daphne.”
“Bye, Carter.”
“Be safe. May the light guide your way.”
I sighed at the door. “I don’t follow that.”
“The light finds the way.”
I sighed as Ryder pulled me out of the door and walked us down the street.