The Deal

The Tea Reading

I spend days with my nose shoved into Nan's tattered tomes on charms and talismans, trying to rid my heart of its affliction.

Carrying a sliced onion on your person will rid your soul of unwanted energy and feelings.

I attach a slice of onion to a necklace and wear it for a full day, hoping the onion will absorb all of the love in my heart like a leech.

To mend a broken heart, combine rose quartz (for self-love), malachite (for emotional healing), and blue calcite (for release) in a glass of water. Let the glass charge in the sun and then drink the water, thinking of your lost love.

I do just that, the water warm and earthy tasting, leaving a thick coat on my tongue as it tries to detox my heart. I recite the words from the book before I drink, picturing Harry's smiling face in my mind, "pink to feel, green to heal, blue to seal."

Take an unlit pink candle, representing love and romance, and place it on a windowsill. Write your lovers name on a piece of paper, light the candle, and burn the paper on the flame. Let the candle burn to the wick as the smoke releases you from that love and dispels it from your home.

This was a particularly windy night and much of the smoke actually blew back into the house, though the flame never snuffed out. It took a full day for the candle to melt, the fire stubborn against the breeze.

To sever a connection in a relationship and free yourself from that love, take a string of black yarn and tie it into a knot, visualizing your lost love's face. Repeat this until the knot is strong and then take a sharp pair of scissors and saw through it, banishing their face from your mind.

My scissors were rusty and the knot was strong and by the time I managed to cut through the thread, I was sweating and out of breath. As I cut through the yarn, I recited the incantation written in the margins of the old book, "what bound us together, I now undo. I will be free of you."

I exhaust every remedy in my Nan's library over the week that passes after the incident with Harry.

But, still, no ritual seems strong enough to smother the love inside of me. What started out as a flame has grown into a wildfire and it's untamable. I try my hardest to snuff it out, but at the end of the week, my heart still beats for Harry and my soul remains crushed by his rejection.

It's in a last-ditch effort that I'm burying a jar of water in my yard when Niall walks in on me.

Whispering the name of a lover who broke your heart into a jar of water will help purify and cleanse those feelings attached to the name. Burying the jar will act as a trap for those feelings and will put that love to rest as you move on.

"I've seen you do some strange things over the years," I yelp at the sudden intrusion, spinning to face a grinning Niall as he approaches me, to-go mugs in hand, "But, this... this tops it all, I think."

I huff and finish dragging the dirt over the jar before I stand to face him, wiping my hands off on my long, burnt orange dress before taking the cup from him. "Really? Stranger than the time you caught me naked and kneeling in this yard, covered in honey, and surrounded by candles and crystals?"

Niall's eyes grow wide and he shivers as if suddenly remembering, "you're right, never mind. That definitely takes the cake... thought you were possessed."

For the first time in a week, I let out a genuine and joyful laugh, relaxing in his warm presence.

I let the soft tendrils of his yellow-orange aura surround me, wash over me, and try to lift my spirit. I haven't seen another soul in days, taking some time for myself away from the shop and civilization.