Chapter 4
Circe woke in her bed, which jarred more than it should have. For one, she had no recollection of making it home. For another, she still wore her clothes. And finally… why did the feel of the man’s lips from her dream seem to linger?
A dream so vivid that she could recall everything with precision, including how it felt when Taurus—that giant beast of a man—had swept her into his arms and effortlessly carried her.
A tall woman, who, while not fat, also couldn’t be called light, she’d never experienced the like and never would again because it hadn’t happened.
Really, teleporting arches, a magical tower, men claiming to be warriors blessed by stars?
Utterly ridiculous, and yet the details proved as vivid as a memory.
Despite not being due in to work until eight, she rolled out of bed and headed right for the shower.
A long and hot one with lots of soap that finally dispelled the tingling in her lips left behind by her dream man.
A man who wouldn’t usually be her type with all those giant muscles and that hideous beard.
She usually preferred more academic types.
Once she’d dressed, Circe headed into the kitchen to feed her screaming stomach. She’d obviously skipped dinner.
Because I was locked in that shop.
Or was that part of the dream, too? Perhaps she’d made it home before the storm and never entered the store full of Zodiac junk.
Plausible, seeing how the cloak thrown over the back of the couch showed no signs of dampness, indicating she’d outrun the rain.
Odd, though, that she’d not hung it on the rack. She liked to keep her place tidy.
Even stranger, why couldn’t she remember getting home and going to bed? Had she suddenly taken ill? Whatever the cause, she felt fine this morning. No fever, no aches, no stuffy head. Still, perhaps she should schedule an appointment with her doctor.
She left for work slightly earlier than usual, not only because of the construction, which she’d not imagined, but because she wanted to walk down the street with the shop and prove to herself that she’d imagined it. Only, it turned out the place actually existed.
For several minutes, she stood in front of the window showcasing Zodiac items. Okay, so maybe she had gotten stranded inside, but how had she escaped and ended up in her bed? Had the basement room she’d entered poisoned her with some kind of gas? The kind that wiped memories?
Because no way did I teleport to some tower and meet a man who is some avatar warrior for the stars.
Despite the store not opening for another hour, the lights were on. On impulse, she tried the door, and to her surprise, it opened.
She cracked it a few inches, not enough to trigger the bells, and heard two guys arguing.
“…left the shop without checking.”
“Sorry. I was in a rush to get to the hospital.”
“Everything okay?”
“Not really. This pregnancy isn’t going as smoothly as Anna’s first one. The doctor put her on bed rest.”
“Which sucks, man, I get it, but you have responsibilities.”
That voice. It sounded just like Taurus from her dream. Impossible, and she would prove it by confronting him. She pushed the door fully open, causing the bells overhead to tinkle. Immediately the talking ceased.
A man exited the back, big, square, clean-shaven, unlike Taurus with his frizzy chin mop.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
The tenor indicated he was the one with a wife. “Hi, I was hoping to speak with the other person here.”
His expression went blank. “I’m sorry. There’s just me.”
Why would he lie? “I heard you talking to someone.”
“On my phone. I had it on speaker.”
She pursed her lips. “Did you let me out last night?”
“Out of where?”
“Here. I was accidentally locked inside.”
“No, you weren’t.”
The gaslighting ignited her annoyance, and she snapped, “I most definitely was. How else would I know about your secret door in the basement that you keep locked and the stone arch you have hidden behind it?”
“Listen, lady, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but there was no one in here when I left last night, just like there was no one here when I opened five minutes ago. And I most definitely don’t have some secret door in the basement. I think it would be best if you left now.”
She wasn’t crazy. Or was she? Because everything that happened after she found that arch had the hallmarks of insanity.
“I’m sorry to have bothered you.” She pivoted and marched back onto the street, keeping her rigid pace until she reached work. People greeted Circe, and she absently replied, her mind a muddle as it tried to sort fact from fiction—and failed.
Despite the urgency of the asteroid, it proved impossible for her to concentrate, her mind straying constantly to Taurus and the things he’d claimed in her dream. When she found herself opening a browser window to do a search on Zodiac Warriors, she gave herself a shake.
Stop dwelling on last night. It would accomplish nothing. She had work to do. Work that threw out the same results over and over. The asteroid wouldn’t hit Earth.
Perhaps Andreas was right. An antique couldn’t reliably predict events happening today. Was she determined to prove otherwise because it would make the paper she wrote more interesting? She hoped not, as she’d never wanted to be that scientist who manipulated results to prove her own theory.
A pounding headache led to her leaving work early. The construction blocking her usual route had barely begun, and she debated taking a different street home to avoid the Zodiac Emporium.
How cowardly of her. She set her lips and deliberately forced herself to pass the shop, glancing inside for a second, only to halt abruptly.
The man with the hideous beard sitting with his feet on the counter looking bored was none other than Taurus from her dream.
In that moment of recognition, his gaze happened to meet hers. His eyes widened.
She entered bellowing, “I want to talk to you!”