“A few,” Ilyan said. I could tell there was more to his answer, but part of me didn’t care at the moment. I wanted to focus on this city and my current freedom.
I let Ilyan take the lead, his embrace gently pulling me along as we walked by small boutiques and larger restaurants. I finally had to pull him to a stop when we came to a row of street vendors under the overhangs of the buildings. Each person had a blanket set in front of them with jewelry, watches, and other handmade objects laid out, each with a tiny paper price tag. I slowly walked by them, taking in the large amounts of turquoise and silver.
My feet stopped when I saw it. The simplicity of my need making my legs week.
A long board.
It wasn’t even for sale. It was simply someone’s possession, being used as a different way to showcase the intricate turquoise jewelry that lined its top. But still, I needed it.
Mine had been lost forever when Ilyan had picked up my broken body from behind that dumpster and brought me into this crazy world I now lived in. I missed it. I hadn’t longed for it in that deep pining way I had seen other teenagers do, I simply missed it. I missed what it represented. I missed the part of me that had disappeared when it had. I missed normal.
I kneeled down next to the street vendor’s blanket, Ilyan’s hand never leaving mine. I looked up at the old wizened woman, her legs covered with a beautifully woven blanket. She looked down at me happily.
“Which one do you like?” Ilyan’s voice was soft in my ear. It took me a second to grasp what he was talking about. He thought I was ogling the jewelry.
“I don’t wear jewelry, Ilyan,” I answered honestly, suddenly worried that he would buy me something.
“Which one?”
I scowled at him, unsurprised to find him smiling at me expectantly. I sighed before pointing absent mindedly at the board. Ilyan raised an eyebrow still trying to figure out which one I was talking about.
“I like the long board, Ilyan,” I clarified, looking away uncomfortably. “It reminds me of mine.”
“Sometimes I forget how much you have lost. People, loved ones, even objects. It’s all part of you.” Ilyan squeezed my hand, and I turned back to him as his fingers trailed over the jewelry lightly. They fluttered around the bracelets and necklaces before stopping on a small turquoise bracelet with stones flat against one another; it wasn’t jagged like the others.
Ilyan picked it up and held it in his hands, his eyes closed as if he was measuring something.
“Turquoise,” Ilyan began, “can draw out negativity. Did you know that?”
“No.” I was a little surly, but I didn’t like the idea of Ilyan buying me jewelry. And I had a bad feeling that was exactly what was going to happen.
“And this particular turquoise will help bring up feelings of love, and of family.” Ilyan looked up at the old woman who nodded her head in agreement, her beautiful face breaking into a smile.
“Your young man is right,” she said, her voice shaky and warm. I almost wanted to laugh right out at her comment. Ilyan was neither young nor mine. “That is Navajo turquoise, it will bind you to your family and to the ones you love.”
The old woman smiled knowingly at Ilyan, her face lighting up. I turned to bat her assumptions away but was stopped by Ilyan’s smile. My face instantly widening in surprise, Ilyan rarely smiled like that. I must have looked ridiculous, because Ilyan smiled happily at me.
“We’ll take it.” Ilyan held the bracelet underneath my wrist, his magic unclasping it and snaking it around me. I looked away nervously from his obvious use of magic to the old woman who was busy counting the money Ilyan had paid her with.
“Ilyan... I...” Ilyan pulled me away from the seller before I could argue more.
“I think it will help you, Joclyn. Trapped in rooms, hunted, people trying to betray you, running for your life,” he smiled, but it was sad, “I think you could use a little bit of a negativity release. With all that’s going on, you could use a stronger connection with those who care about you. It’s no long board, but I will replace what you have lost – as much of it as I can – when all this is over.” I could only nod at his words and the sincerity behind them.
I lifted my wrist up to look at the stones. They were pretty, but part of me wanted to take it off and give it back to the old woman. As much as I didn’t like the message of the stones, I could already feel my magic collecting around my wrist, seeping through the stones and then back into me. It did it of its own accord, whether I wanted it to or not. I smiled a bit before shrugging my hoodie sleeve over the bracelet, letting it disappear from view.