Madame Ziad leads us into her shop and sits down at the same table where she gave me my first reading. There's a nervous energy about her as she fidgets with her hair and folds her hands together.
"Thank you for agreeing to talk with m-" I start to say.
"Where on earth did you get that necklace dear?" Madame Ziad interrupts.
"A man tricked me into putting it on..." I reply.
"Did you drink a potion and say the incantation?"
"Yes."
"And none of that struck you as odd?! Why would you drink a random potion some stranger gave you?"
"I didn't! I just told you he tricked me! He created a fake scenario where I saved him from danger and he gave me the necklace as a thank you. Then we went out for drinks and he said he wanted to do shots to celebrate our new friendship so I took one with everyone. How was I supposed to know this wasn't a normal necklace and he spiked my drink?! How the hell would I know that?!" I ask.
"Calm down El" Jesse says.
I can feel the tears start to well up again. I take a deep breath and try to compose myself.
"Can you help me?" I ask Madame Ziad.
Madame Ziad sighs and purses her lips in what looks like confusion. She gets up and goes behind a curtain next to the table. I can hear her rummage around for something. She comes back from behind the curtain with a book in her hands. She places it on the table and wipes the dust off of it with her sleeve. She lowers the readers she was wearing atop her head onto her eyes and starts to flip through the pages.
"What is that?" Jesse asks.
"It's an ancient book of magical artifacts from alternate realms" She responds, still flipping through the pages.
"Oh, of course. Naturally." Jesse says.
Madame Ziad stops flipping when she comes across the page she was looking for. I can see that there's a picture of the necklace on the page. But I can't make out what it says.
"Dear, what you have around your neck is a binding necklace." She says.
"I know that part. How do I get it off? Can't you use magic to take it off me?" I ask.
"I know of magic in alternate realms, and I can perceive it. However, I cannot perform it. I'm a psychic, not a witch. Nothing can be done unless someone replaces you, you die, or dark magic is used to detach it" She responds.
"Witch? Does that mean Calvin is a witch since he can perform dark magic?" I ask.
"Most likely a warlock. I remember when I initially took your reading I felt the energy of a powerful magical being. I knew it couldn't have been you or your little friend, so it could only have meant that a magical being was close to you. That is why I warned you of danger, since most magical beings that find their way to earth only wish to do harm." She says.
"Why didn't you say that when you gave me my reading in the first place?!"
"I saw the look you and you friend gave me, dear. Your friend couldn't even contain her laughter. I didn't bother because I knew you wouldn't believe me.
"I sigh knowing I can't even deny that. If anyone had told me I'd be in this situation a week ago, I for sure would have laughed in their face.
"What does he want with me? Why does he want to marry me?"
"Is that what he wants? Marriage?" She asks, confused.
"Yeah. He said since I agreed to wear the necklace I have to marry him in 90 days."
"Technically he is correct. The binding necklace's origin comes from a form of ancient slavery in the Diathenmic realm. The idea is that whoever you're bound to is the master, and whatever plans they have for you can be enforced using the necklace after 90 days. Historically it's been used more for slavery but I suppose someone could use it to enforce a marriage as well. Has he been torturing you in your dreams?"
"You know about the dreams?" I ask.
"Yes, it's a property of the necklace. The master can visit the dreams of the host. Like I said, this was used for slavery so using dreams for torture was common practice to break the host's spirit without breaking the body.
"If he tortures you I swear to god I'll kill him" Jesse interrupts.
"Jess he's not torturing me" I say.
"Not yet! What kind of guy has access to this type of thing Ellie? It was used for slavery! He's forcing you to marry him!" He says.
"I do have to say I haven't heard of it being used in this way in my time. But it could be a lot worse than marriage" Madame Ziad says.
"So you can't remove the necklace and essentially everything Calvin said is true. So I'm basically fucked, and there's no way out of this" I say.
"I would try to reason with him if you can dear. If he put it on you, he can surely remove it. It's just a matter of getting him to do so." She says.
Madame Ziad turns her attention back to the book she pulled out and carefully tears the page with the necklace from it.
"I think you could get more use out of this than I can." She says while presenting me with the page. I can't understand the words written since they're not in English. It kind of looks like Latin so I'll see if I can get this translated once I get home.
"Unfortunately, it's getting late. I have to call it an evening and send you both on your way. I truly hope you manage to find happiness at the end of this in some way" She says, walking us to the door.
"Thank you Madame Ziad. For everything." I say as she shuts the door. I walk back up the alley with Jesse as the purple sign shuts off for the night. As we walk, my attention gets drawn to a crow sitting on top of a trashcan. It's eyes follow us as we continue to walk up the alleyway. Once we pass it, it caws and flies to the top of Madame Ziad's sign.
"Where to now?" Jesse asks.
"Home. I need to think about how I'm going to get Calvin to remove this thing" I say.
"El you haven't eaten, at least let me take you to dinner."
"I'm not hungry, sorry Jesse. I just really need to go home and think about all this"
Jesse nods in understanding and we get back in the car to return home.
YOU ARE READING
The Necklace
Romance"Wait, I felt that! You can touch me? I thought this was a dream?!" Calvin chuckles at my shock. "I can do a whole lot more than touch, Ellie." For a second my eyes wander back to his perfectly chiseled face and I think about him showing me exactly...
