Chapter 5
A ce and I walk through the market where there are shops layering over top of each other. Stands placed on the outside of each shop and people standing in the walkway trying to sway you to purchase from them over another. I see the podium set up with fresh fruit on the left and practically skip my way over to it. Ace slowly follows behind.
I look up at the woman, Her hair is in a long messy braid wrapped up into one big bun placed on top of her head. She's wearing a nice gown for a townsfolk but the designs in her dress and shawl screams traveler, “Is this from this Island?” I ask as I pick up a bright colored mango. It looks fresh and super juicy. It's almost impossible to find fresh fruit like this anymore, you really have to go to Cibus Island for fresh fruits and it’s heavily guarded by the royal's direct soldiers. ??
“No.” She says quietly. She looks right at me and smiles,
“Don’t you have a gorgeous face, child.” Her hand almost touches my face but she pulls it back quickly as she notices Ace walk up.
?? “Buying fruit again are we, Abby?” Ace jokes but stills himself once he notices how off guarded I am. ??“Abby?”
“Uhm, yeah.. yeah, you know me.” I force out a chuckle but continue looking at the woman. Her expression when she said that.. the way she was grabbing at my face. It was like she saw something. The look a child makes when they see candy, excited and ready to take it. ??Ace nudges my arm and I snap back into reality. ??“So sorry, yes I’ll take 2 mangoes and 1 apple please.”
I’m almost eager to move on now. She smiles at me, gathers the fruit, and puts them into a brown sack. I remove my money from inside my boot and go to hand her the cash. But instead of taking the cash she grabs my hand, staring straight into my eyes and says “Blue or Green? It doesn’t matter which you choose, the story remains the same.”
She begins chuckling so loud that the surrounding people look our way. What does that even mean? Blue or Green? ??What a wacky lady , I think as I rip back my hand from her grasp. I grab my fruit and push Ace to move forward to the next location.
I have no idea what she was talking about but part of me is kind of curious.?? Though the other part of me just wants to get as far away as possible. We move on but Ace continues to glare back at her. I just keep moving forward as I am officially weirded out. The only thing keeping me slightly calm is knowing that most of these vendors all go a smidge crazy living this life. They commonly say strange things to make you feel off or to try and bait you into buying more, even if it’s a different service. This lady wreaked “Gypsy” and I’m sure she would have tried to convince me to go into her shop to learn more, leading me straight to a group of men awaiting their next trafficking victim.
I have no time or energy for a woman to waste on guesses nor is it worth risking my life for. Even if I am a smidge curious. ??Once we get a few vendors away, we slow down. The streets are extremely busy, people standing, buying, and selling everywhere within this brickway. By the time you are three vendors down, you have already pushed yourself through thirty people. ?? Ace stops and turns to look at me, then glaring up to where the woman was. I follow his eyes back and glance over as well and notice she is no longer there. Gone just like the security man when I checked in.
Now I’m feeling a tad unsure. I don’t like to be an over-thinker but how many strange interactions am I going to have today before I come to the fact that something is different than the other times. I quickly turn my head back to face Ace. ??“Did you see her leave?”
“No, I’m sure she conned someone into doing a reading. It’s nothing for you to worry about Abs.” ??He says this, but my gut is twisting. I’m sufficiently uncomfortable and based on how Ace is glaring, I think he is noticing the strange occurrences too. ??
“Let’s just move on, we haven’t a ton of time for this visit anyways.. and I desperately need new boots.” He smirks and lifts his foot to show me how the sole of the boot is barely hanging on to the rest of it. ??
I let out a laugh as he starts shaking his foot so I could see the sole flapping up and down. He's so great at distracting me from the craziness. Sometimes it’s so easy to get lost in the new world.. It's a mad world. But Ace has always had a way to distract me from anything in general, he has always been my sense of home. I lift my arm and gesture forward. Signaling “after you.”