Page 15 of Clinically Bewitched
“Huh?”
My phone rang.
I fumbled it out of my bag, nearly dropping my rose quartz in the process, and saw two names on the screen: Freyja and Phoebe. They were calling at the same time, which meant they’d coordinated this, which meant something important had happened.
I answered and immediately regretted it.
“ATHENA!”
“ATHENA!”
Both of my sisters were shouting at once, their voices overlapping in a way that made it impossible to understand either of them.
“One at a time!” I pressed my finger to my other ear, trying to block out the sound of slot machines and street performers. “I can’t understand you when you both talk.”
“You’ve met him!” Phoebe shrieked.
“Already!” Freyja added. “You’ve already met your soulmate!”
I blinked. Looked around. The crowd was a sea of tourists in shorts and fanny packs, families with strollers, and groups of women wearing matching T-shirts that said “BRIDE TRIBE.”
“I... what? No, I haven’t. I just got here. I literally just walked out of the airport.”
“The cards don’t lie,” Phoebe said, and I could hear the sound of her shuffling her deck in the background. “I did a reading the moment you landed, and, Athena, the cards arescreaming. The Lovers, The Magician, The Wheel of Fortune—”
“Lucille confirmed it,” Freyja interrupted. “I asked her specifically, and she said, and I quote... ‘The threads have already crossed.’”
“Lucille said that?” I asked, because Lucille was Freyja’s spirit guide and she usually spoke in much vaguer terms. Things like “The path reveals itself” or “Trust the journey.” Actual specific information was rare.
“Word for word,” Freyja confirmed. “She’s never been this clear about anything. Athena, you’ve already met him. Your soulmate. He’s there. In Las Vegas. And you’ve already crossed paths.”
I looked around again, more carefully this time. A man in a Hawaiian shirt was eating a hot dog. A woman was taking a selfie with a showgirl. A group of college-aged guys were laughing about something on someone’s phone.
“I don’t see anyone,” I said slowly.
“Think!” Phoebe urged. “Since you landed, have you talked to anyone? Bumped into anyone? Made eye contact with anyone?”
“I mean, I bumped into someone like two minutes ago, but he was just some grumpy guy in a suit who—”
“THAT’S HIM!” they both screamed in unison.
I winced and pulled the phone away from my ear. “What? No, he was... he was rude. He didn’t even let me apologize. He just walked away.”
“Describe him,” Freyja demanded.
“I don’t know, he was... tall? Dark hair? Wearing a suit? He looked like he was late for a very important meeting with other people who also take themselves too seriously.”
“Was he handsome?” Phoebe asked.
I hesitated. “I mean... objectively, yes. But that doesn’t—”
“IT’S HIM!” they shrieked again in unison.
“You don’t know that! You can’t possibly know that from—”
“The cards know,” Phoebe said firmly. “And the cards are never wrong.”
“Never,” Freyja agreed. “Athena, listen to me. I’m going to talk to Lucille right now. I’m going to ask her for a location, a sign, something specific. She said the threads have crossed, which means the universe has already put you two together. Now we just need to figure out where he is.”
