If, when Ada woke up, someone told her what she would be doing with her afternoon, she would have told them they clearly didn't know her. Oh how wrong she was. Her calendar app informed her her childhood friend's birthday was coming up, as she was eating breakfast. Paz was the sort of person you went to when you felt weird but didn't know why. They knew more about crystals and their uses than she knew about engines. So yeah, she knew right away where she would be going on her lunch break. It was this weird little shop not far from the bookstore with a hand-painted wooden sign reading 'Luna's Oddities.'

Ada had never been inside before, she hadn't the need. She knew next to nothing about this stuff, and without Paz around the corner, it's not like she was thinking about alternative medicine all that often. She didn't get those feelings much, more often than not Paz would point them out for her.

So Ada wasn't sure if she believed in that sort of thing, if he was just humouring them or if part of her believed she simply did get wrong energies sometimes. Regardless, they were easy to shop for. They never grew tired of crystals, books, or statues.

This was just the tip of the iceberg of her strange day, bear with her.

The morning was slow going. She had a stubborn alternator to occupy her time and little interest in it. Colin tried to chat her up a few times. He noticed the heavy bags under her eyes and pointed them out. Those few hours of sleep were not enough to counteract a late night of drinking and regular sleep interruptions. She wasn't about to tell him why she was so tired. None of it was his business. Hell, she wasn't even going to tell Charlotte later.

Ada dipped out while he was in the washroom so he wouldn't ask questions. She wasn't ashamed to be going there, but she wasn't particularly proud of it, either. She would rather not have to field those questions and jokes at work if she could avoid it. The shop wasn't a long walk away, and she was glad to see the open sign hanging in the window between heavy velvet drapes.

Over the top already; at least she was going to find something good.

The door was barely open a crack before she was assaulted by incense. Busy displays made a narrow path into the dimly lit store which split around either side of a low wooden bookshelf. The top held a collection of diving instruments of all shapes, sizes, and qualities. Some she recognised, others she didn't. The counter appeared to her left as the room opened up. A young woman scrolling through a sticker-covered laptop glanced up at her as she emerged, and a smile spread her taupe-painted lips.

"Hey, need any help?" Her voice was higher than Ada expected, clear like birdsong.

"Thanks, I'm all right."

Ada slipped into the aisle that would lead her away, because she really wasn't in a chatting mood. She still had to eat before her break was over.

Ada felt her eyes on her as she scanned, and she couldn't help wishing for taller shelves. Whatever. She was surrounded by indigenous instruments on one side and card decks on the other—tarot was only the shallow end, the types of decks grew more obscure as she progressed to the gloomy recesses of the shop. Angel cards were the last ones she recognized, and the shelf stretched on. None of those was the right gift, Ada didn't know the first thing about what sort Paz used. Plus, she seemed to recall them telling her about how personal decks are. Anyway, she moved away from those to scan bins of tumbled crystals and dried herbs. The further back she went, the less familiar things became until she was surrounded by unusual, writhing statues; crystal balls in astonishing hues, books in languages she didn't recognise.

When she snapped to, she gathered her thoughts and hurried off in search of things she knew Paz would love. She found a first edition Numerology book from an author she knew they enjoyed, a salt lamp carved to look like a dragon egg, and a bottle of rosemary essential oil from a local maker.

All the while, the woman's eyes were on her. She probably thought Ada was going to steal something. They likely got a lot of that in a cluttered store like this. She imagined it would be hard to keep track of inventory when you could only see a sliver of the store from any given spot. The woman perked up as she assessed the tings in her arm.

"Slow day?"

Ada set each down on the glass panel covering the antique cherry counter. A few local flyers had been placed underneath, though some were out of date. The glass was scratched and clouded from years of use.

"The usual." She didn't have to check the tags to ring them up on the ancient register, and they were actually right.

"Oh, you're not cash only, are you?"

She grinned, green eyes twinkling behind her square glasses. "No, thank Gods. I made my auntie get one of those phone readers. Here, debit or credit?"

Her shiny phone looked out of place amidst all the trinkets and antiques. Her fingers sparkled with more rings than Ada had piercings. As she placed the items carefully in one of those generic, black plastic bags, Ada caught her eyeing her beneath her frames. Ada hid a frown by scanning the shelf to her far right.

"Have you ever had your cards read?" Asked the woman out of no where. The bag rested on the counter between her hands so Ada couldn't just walk out without seeming incredibly rude.

"Only by friends."

She grinned despite Ada's jab. "Well, want a reading from me? On the house. I've got an inexplicable urge to read you."

"Oh yeah?" Ada said in her dryest tone.

Her grin didn't even falter. "Yeah, I've got a feeling something really big is about to happen to you. Come on, humour me? I haven't done a reading in days."

And then, as her grin peaked, Ada caught that shimmer. Just like the one on Sam, that liquid gold veneer flashed over her cheek as it caught the lamplight. So brief Ada nearly missed it. Her spine went rigid, teeth welding until her jaw screamed in protest.

If she hadn't imagined them then, or now, Ada could only think of one explanation. Was she a werewolf, too? How had one slipped by the pack?

"All right."

Curiosity stamped out her fear. She certainly didn't feel safe following the flick of her emerald skirt through the beaded doorway behind the counter, but Ada felt comfort knowing that if something went wrong, she couldn't just turn on a dime and shred her. The change took time.

"What's your name?" asked the woman as she rounded a tiny, tall table with an ornate cloth draped over its oval surface.

"Ada, and you?"

There was a stool just inside the doorway, and Ada took it. The room was barely larger than the closet she and Sam shared. It was painted a dreary blue and decorated much like the rest of the shop.

"Maggie."

Ada felt better having the table between them. There was barely any room for her to squeeze around it. The obstruction would give her time to get away if something went sour.

There was a weathered box to one side of the table, and after slinging her dark hair over one shoulder—it was impossible to tell the colour in all this dim lighting—she tipped the deck of long cards into her palm. They were a rich purple with ornate borders, and a simple line illustration of a sun and moon overlapping, the centre filled with stars. She shuffled them with the ease of which Ada handled her picks.

"I'm going to use the Celtic Cross." She cut the deck with her left hand, inverted the centre stack, then shuffled them all over again. "Unless there's something you'd like to focus on?"

Ada shook her head, watching the rhythmic filing. "That's fine."

Her grin grew, and she spread the deck out across the surface. "Focus on a decision or a problem, something like that. Pick ten cards and don't look at them."

Ada held her gaze for a moment before taking her time at selecting cards. This part she was familiar with, though not this spread. She set them in the little gap between the wall and the deck, trepidation growing with the pile. As soon as she had finished, Maggie swept the deck away. Nimble cards laid them out in a three-by-three cross, one card sideways over the centre card, and the four remaining cards laid vertically to the right.

One by one, she turned them over. Four of them were reversed. The art was vibrant, watercolour backgrounds with more delicate line work depicting the image for each.

"Ace of wands. The first step in creation. You're at a wonderful place right now, there's so much potential ahead for growth here." Her eyes were bright as they briefly met Ada's, and she tapped the next card. "The Emperor. You're in a struggle for control, perhaps with an authority figure in your life."

Ada thought of Hillebrandt and dismissed it at once. "Go on."

Her grin was impish for an instant. "The Hierophant, reversed. Traditional approach isn't working, is it? You long to take matters into your own hands, perhaps against the wishes of that authority figure? Is it your father?" Ada remained blank, and after a few moments, Maggie moved onto the next card. "Oh, The Empress. You had a loving childhood, yes?"

This she conceded to. Her parents may be willingly blind at times, but love did that to people. They were very caring, though they did work a little too much.

"Hold onto that feeling. Remember that things weren't always this trying." As Ada squinted at her, she was gesturing to another card—did her cheek just sparkle? "The Hermit. This is my favourite card, but I must say, it is a little concerning here. You're a bit of a lone wolf, aren't you?"

Her spine crawled. "What?"

"The Hermit speaks to a time of contemplation and self reflection, of turning inward; but in this position, we are discussing your view of the problem, whatever that may be. While turning inward is generally a good thing, I would say paired with The Hierophant, reversed, in a spot regarding the unconscious, it calls to light another aspect of The Hierophant: subversiveness. Self reflection is good to an extent, but together I'm getting the idea that you're planning something big, something you know you shouldn't be doing, but can't seem to keep yourself from."

A chill was chased by goosebumps from the centre of her shoulders outward. Sam didn't even know what she was thinking about. Was this a shot in the dark? A lucky draw? Or was she actually fucking good at this? She might have noticed Ada was rattled, it was hard to say. Her mischievous grin was hard to read.

"Next is the Three of Cups. A lovely card in a lovely position, you can expect happiness, even a sense of community in your future if you remain on this path. That isn't to say the outcome will be happy, but that happiness is going to be an influence in your future path." She tapped the next card, also reversed. "Here, the King of Wands is saying that your approach to the issue at hand is impulsive, that your expectations might be more than a reach."

"So I should plan more?"

"Maybe." Her black nail tapped another reversed card. "The Star. Reversed as it is it symbolises a loss of faith, or discouragement. You're not feeling good about the factors playing into your decision."

With two more cards to go, Ada was actually sweating from the nerves. She wasn't expecting her to actually hit home on anything. Yet here she was, perfectly describing her feelings toward her makeshift plan.

"This position refers to your hopes and fears. Sometimes one or the other. The Knight of Cups is a bringer of news, be it romantic, be it adventurous. The nature of his message is impossible to tell here, but I get the feeling it is positive. And finally,"—she cleared her throat—"the Two of Swords, reversed. Your outcome. I'm sorry to say there's no right choice here I can't tell you which direction to go in. I couldn't on any read, but here, the cards are saying exactly that. This decision has too many factors to clearly indicate positive or negative outcomes. Ultimately, there may be no right choice for you. I hope you are able to accept, when the time comes, that there may only be dark roads for you to take, and that while both, or all may be vile, one will always be the most tolerable. I hope you will be able to recognise it when you see it."

She sat up straight, meeting her eye fully again rather than over the rim of her glasses, as Ada fought her racing heart. "Well, that was wholly uninformative."

Her lip twitched. "Really? I thought it was quite cohesive."

Ada shrugged, getting to her feet and easing out into the shop again. She was eager to be out of there. She didn't put a great deal of stock in fortune telling, but she didn't discredit it entirely. SO yeah, she was pretty shaken.

Maggie stopped behind the till, knowing eyes tracking her progression. Ada could feel her stare even when her back was to her. Before she could reach for it, Maggie picked up the bag from the counter, offering half the handle to her. Though their intentions were different, Ada did brush her skin as she took the bag. No warmer than her own.

Ada felt somewhat better leaving the shop. Fresh air blew concerns out of her mind, most of them. So she wasn't a werewolf, or if she was, she wasn't graced with a higher body temperature. Ada was pretty sure Aidan had mentioned something like that before, that some people didn't develop all the perks. So she wasn't totally convinced Maggie wasn't a werewolf, but she didn't have anything better to go on.

Ada also had no more time to worry just then. Checking her watch, she had only five minutes to get back if she wanted to get home on time. It looked as though she would be eating her sandwich in the washroom later.

Ada's day didn't end with work. Charlotte got off around the same time as her, and they met at Tim Horton's since it was the only half-decent place to get coffee after four. She had sounded a little surprised when Ada called her in the morning to invite her, but excited nonetheless. Her denim jacket, which actually fit her, was covered in patches of varying age.

"Hey, thanks for meeting me."

Ada slid her cup back to accommodate her. As she sat, her half-up ponytail bounced around a lime green scrunchy. Her makeup, as usual, was Instagram worthy.

"Of course, it sounded urgent. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just needed to talk with you about something, but it can wait a minute. How are you?"

She smiled easily. "Pretty good, work was boring. They're having me make changes to a house design for the twelfth freaking time when I have, like, six other projects to get done." She took a sip. "You? Also, why do you smell like Nag Champa?"

"Birthday shopping at that occult store for a friend in Ontario." Ada shrugged.

It was apparently never too late for coffee. The lineup had grown no shorter since Ada's arrival, more people trickling in at almost the same rate others got their orders. Even the drive-through was busy. This was a small town's social equivalent of a mall. Ada was far from the only person meeting friends there.

"So, what's up?"

Ada turned her attention back to her; her grin hadn't faltered. "Right ...ah, what did you think of Noah?"

Just diving right into it, apparently. In all her time spent thinking about this conversation, she hadn't given much thought to instigating it. She swallowed nervously.

"Noah? He seemed nice. He's so ... brooding." Charlotte sipped, smile disappearing for a moment.

"Yeah, he's gone through a lot."

"So he's always so quiet?"

Ada shrugged. "Yeah, mostly."

"What happened to him?"

Her interest was piqued, but not as rapt as she had spotted during the game. Had she misread her somehow? No, Charlotte had definitely been staring.

"It's not really my secret to tell." Ada chewed her lip for a moment. "He made some really bad decisions and is learning to live with it, I guess."

"Aidan seems a lot happier now that he's home safe." That time, her grin did twitch slightly.

"Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of work for him, but I think it's good for the both of them." Ada fought the urge to squint; but she thought ...

"Is that why I haven't seen much of h- them since they got back?"

Ada gaped for a moment. She hadn't planned for this. Not at all.

"Um ... uh, yeah, that's right. Noah's got some stuff going on and needs Aidan's help. He had a bad fall over the summer and hurt his spine."

Charlotte appeared appropriately concerned. "But he's okay, right?"

"Yeah, as far as I know. He's pretty private."

She cocked an eyebrow. "More than you?"

Ada blushed a little. "Yeah, way more."

"I'm just teasing," she chuckled. "That's wild, though. I'm glad he's okay. Do you think they'll want to join the campaign, too? Aidan seemed pretty into it."

"Aidan might, but I don't know about Noah, though. If Aidan joins, Noah will be coming anyway, so he might get into it." And there, again, was the problem. "So, uh, I just want to clarify something, and I'm sorry for being so forward: are you into Noah?"

Charlotte laughed harder. "No; well, yeah, he's absolutely delicious, but I'm not crushing on him or anything."

Relief flooded her, followed by lesser trepidation. "Wait, so those stares were for Aidan, then?"

Just the smallest hint of a flush adorned her cheeks. "That obvious? Oh, God, he didn't send you, did he? That would be mortifying."

"No!" Ada said quickly. "Not at all. If anything, he's probably oblivious with all the shit he's juggling. You're good. I'm so sorry, I really don't want to pry."

Her brow arched again. "Is it worse if it's Aidan I've been eyeing?"

"Actually, no, but it's still very complicated."

Ugh, she had NOT planned for this. She had no idea what to say. Why was it so unreasonable for them to date? No, this was not her decision. She couldn't make this for Sam, or for Aidan.

"And totally not my place. I'm sorry, I should probably explain why I'm prying. Sam wanted to be the one to do this, but she's away for a few days. This Noah business is pretty serious, so we were both concerned. She, and I, thought it best if I brought it to you right away. Can you forgive me?"

Charlotte smiled, squeezing Ada's hand for a moment. "How could I be mad that my friends are trying to keep me safe? If I was actually into Noah I wouldn't be this chill, just saying, but it's sweet that you care. I know Sam wouldn't butt in if it didn't really freak her out."

Ada started to speak, but Charlotte held up a finger.

"Oh, and I hope you know I am so going to be asking questions after this." Her grin was full of amusement and promise.

Fuck.