The Light Of My Death // The Oracle Series: Book 1

•Chapter 5•

^Picture of Imogen^

Bing! Bing!
Ora rang the front desk bell and waited patiently, breathing deeply to override her anxiety. "Coming!" A lady shouted from the back of the shop. Ora heard a loud thump and then saw an older lady in a floral dress get up off of the floor from behind a big wooden book shelf.

"Are you okay?" Ora asked in concern, reaching around to help when the lady held her hand up to stop Ora before leaning on the shelf to prop herself up.
"No, no, I'm fine." She said hastily. Ora nodded and smiled kindly. I gotta get this job, yo.

The lady looked Ora up and down and held up her hand again to stop Ora from speaking and Ora shut her mouth in annoyance.
"What's your name?"
"Ora."
"I see." The lady nodded before turning and gesturing for Ora to follow her to the back of the shop.

She followed after a few moments, confused but desperate for a job.
"The answer is yes but the question is why." The lady said calmly as she unlocked a door that lead to a room that smelt of coffee beans and j'dore perfume.

"I-I like books." Ora said mentally rolling her eyes. Ugh, I must like trains too.
"Well, that's always good." The lady laughed and stuck her hand out. "My names Imogen. I'm the owner."
Ora took her hand swiftly and shook, looking around at the personal pigeon holes/cupboards for the staff, which only seemed to be Imogen and Michael.
Maybe I am needed then.

"We've made it work with just two employees for 40 years but maybe it's time to expand a little." Imogen mumbled to herself with a smile.
"I'm sorry what?" Ora asked. Did she say 40 years?
"I said it's time to expand after all these years."
Oh.

"10 is a long time, you know?" Imogen smiled, not quite reaching her eyes.
"How does 9AM tomorrow sound?"
"Oh! Perfect." Ora was surprised at how soon the lady wanted her to start but didn't openly question it.

Ora turned to leave, a little nervous about meeting Michael again.
She felt like something was off with the woman, but financial stability overruled and Ora would soon officially begin her job as a book keeper.

                          • • •

The rainbow edges glittered underneath the colour corrected triplet loupe, used in Gemology to inspect the natural colour in crystals. Ora furrowed her brow and leaned the crystal closer to the lamp light to inspect its ridges.

The night air flowed through the open window and caressed the back of Ora's neck, causing her to turn around to see Pepper waiting expectantly by the curtain.
"Wanna go out? The windows open, you lazy cat." She reprimanded, getting up to pick him up and put him on the window sill.

Once he was up, Ora noticed a peculiar smell in the air. The scent of Lynx Body Spray mixed with incense wafted into the room and also seemed to be coming from Peppers fur. Where has he been going?
The smell of incense got stronger and stronger, overpowering the Lynx as the breeze from the window followed through more vigorously.

"Where the hell?..." Ora whispered, both curious and a little worried.
Curiosity won over and Ora slipped on her black Adidas jumper and went outside to see where the incense had come from.

Once outside, Ora followed the smell across the street, blackened by the night, and through pathways beside houses before tripping and falling flat on her face in the middle of a road 3 streets over from hers. "Ouch!" Ora yelped and automatically reached for her injured ankle, stopping when a beautiful and bright, rainbow coloured opal stared straight up at Ora, the culprit of her pain.

Ora sniffed the air around the opal, once, twice, three times, acting as a hound chasing rabbits as Ora began to realise that this was also the culprit of the incense debacle.
It's the prettiest and purest looking Opal I've ever seen. Ora thought to herself.

Confused but still curious, Ora looked around to see who would have placed it there and quickly put the Opal in the pocket of her jumper.
A cold shiver ran up her spine, chilling her bones as unease spread throughout her abdomen causing Ora to quickly run across the streets towards the safety of her home.

                                • • •

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