A Castle Of Crystal

14. Under my nose

"Holy shit he's huge."

"Right?! He has to be six-six, minimum," I howled as Jude swiped through my phone over breakfast, "and thats Nova's house behind us. The whole place is amazing Jude, I hate that all this bad shit has happened."

"I'd come with you if I could, goddamn it would be such a nice break," he sighed wistfully, "speaking of breaks, I've sort of been mulling over working at Marnie's. I'm at my wits end with this bitch and it's exhausting, I tried to talk to her about a Christmas bonus and she basically said kick rocks."

"Why don't you look into that culinary degree? Plus I'm sure once summer hits there will be a lot more places looking to hire on a new chef."

"It wouldn't be bad but that's a lot of cash I don't have," Jude groaned, sliding my phone back as he got to his feet, "tell Astrid she's beautiful for me, will you?"

"Tell her yourself dickweed!"

He flipped me off after pulling his jacket on and tapping out a smoke, the door closing tightly behind him before I locked it. The blue stone sat on the table and I tucked it into my jacket before checking to make sure I had everything: Jude's radio, my merkaba, phone, knife, and finally patting to make sure my wallet was in a safe place with a chuckle. I truly wondered now what she looked like; I knew she was small and lithe, quick on her feet and light with her fingers, but I wanted to know if she had scars and tattoos, if her hair was curly or straight, long or short, I just wanted to know. The image I had painted of her that sat against the wall now might've been accurate but everything from that night had been so distorted by the rain and my crap-tastic memory so I wasn't exactly banking on it.

"I'm heading out Scylla, I'll be home before noon and we'll go to Nova's!"

There was an excited gurgle and I walked out the front door with a skip in my step before I jingled my keys, locking everything up behind me. It wasn't raining today and while chilly I was more than happy to walk; I needed to keep my cardio up anyway if I was going to be running from the Royal Guard in Alchemilla. It was a strange thought to know I was technically a wanted criminal in another dimension but at the same time it painted a wry smirk on my face. Maybe I liked causing a fuss for once.

Once I got to the shop I spotted Astrid immediately as she'd taken a table, her hair wrapped around her head in a braided crown while the same circular glasses perched on her nose. She was buried in the screen so when I approached with two cups in my hand it gave her a bit of a fright.

"That's on me, earbuds," she laughed as her face flushed and scooted her little iPod away, thanking me as she closed the laptop. Today she sported a red shirt with a high neck and the same fuzzy jacket from the last time we were here.

"Is it warm in here to you?" I asked, deciding absentmindedly to shrug my coat off. The scars weren't really something I was ashamed of anymore, in fact I was starting to love them like lasting impressions of Scylla left behind on my skin.

"Thank God I'm not the only one who noticed that," she laughed brightly, "I walked in here and thought it was a damn sauna."

"The preemptive heat raise before the eventual temperature drop," I observed, fishing the rock out from my jacket and setting it on the table. "I'm not even sure where to start, there's too many damn blue rocks on the internet."

She paused for a moment, her eyes wide behind her glasses as she reached out and took one in her hand. It was maybe the size of her palm and her jaw just about dropped. "Where did you get this?" She whispered, like she was afraid people might hear.

"I was helping my Mom clear the rest of my Dad's crap from the attic and found it in a lunchbox with some other stuff from my childhood," I lied smoothly, or at least I hoped I did.