Chapter 3

Amber decided to stay longer after the store had closed as there was some paperwork and arrangements that she wanted to take care of. Something that she didn’t want to leave until the next morning.

Leah got home and went to lie down on her bed. She tossed and turned but couldn’t seem to fall asleep. She also felt bad for leaving her mom alone at the store to handle the load of paperwork, so she decided to go back to help her.

Leah unlocked and opened the front door of Silver Stardust, causing the bell to tinkle, and noticed that her mother was not at the front desk. She must have been in the back getting the rooms ready for her workshops on Saturday. Amber always took such pride in her work and Leah had learned to do the same. She couldn’t have asked for a better role model. 

As she entered through the curtain separating the front and back areas, she realized that her mother was not alone. She could distinctly hear two voices. She tried to make out who was there with her mom, but all that she could make out was that it was a female and they were speaking in hushed voices. She thought that it must be Kamali as she usually stayed later to help Amber with any tasks not completed during the day. And she also loved getting the workshops ready for the next day. Leah knew that her mother was lucky to have Kamali as her best friend and assistant at the store.

Leah was surprised to see Kamali in her mother’s office as she was certain that it was her with whom her mom was speaking. Who else could it possibly be?

“Is everything okay? What are you doing back here so soon? Didn’t you go home to rest?” Asked Kamali, concern written all over her face. She was like a second mother to Leah.

“Everything’s fine, I just felt bad for leaving mom alone to do all of the paperwork and set up the workshop rooms.” Said Leah with a frown on her face. “Who is in the workshop room with Mom?” Asked Leah wondering who would be at the store so late.

“I’m not too sure. She must have come in while I was out,” lied Kamali, as she knew exactly who it was and she wasn’t happy that the visitor has come to see Leah.

Leah looked up when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. A blonde woman wearing a long black silk cloak came out of the room where her mom was and went straight to the door to leave, not making eye contact with Leah or Kamali. She seemed in a hurry to leave as if she was angry about something.

“That was strange,” said Leah as she watched the woman leave the store, “Mom never has visitors so late at night. Something must be going on.”

“It must be someone making final arrangements for a workshop, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” Lied Kamali again, trying to hide the fact that she knew who the woman was and exactly what they were talking about. They had met before. And not under favorable circumstances.

Leah made her way to the workshop room where her mom was. It was then that Leah felt a searing pain in her right hand and fell on both knees to the ground. It felt as if she was being burnt with hot coals and she could smell the scent of her own flesh burning. Her right palm was paining so badly that tears streamed down her face. What was going on?!

Leah stayed in the kneeling position until the pain subsided a bit. She felt drained and nausea had set in. Once the pain has completely disappeared so did her nausea and headache. That was so strange. First such intense pain....then nothing at all. It was as if nothing had just happened.

Leah turned her hand over to take a look at her palm where she had felt the burning sensation. It was then that she noticed a mark in the middle of it. It most definitely hadn’t been there before the pain, Leah would surely have known about it. It looked like a burn scar. It was raised and white, but that was not what struck her as strange. What caught her eye was that it was in the shape of a symbol that she had often seen in her mom's store. A symbol almost everywhere. The Crescent Moon.

Just then her mom and Kamali joined her in the passage where she was still kneeling on the ground. They both rushed to her side, not knowing what was going on and her mom wondered why Leah was at the store so late at night in the first place. She should have been at home after all, not there. Something foul was at play here and Amber could sense it in her soul.

Leah could see the concern in their eyes and tried to downplay the painful situation she had just experienced, but they saw straight through her mask. They knew her far too well not to see that something was amiss.

"Leah! What are you doing here? We heard you screaming with pain. What's wrong? Why are you kneeling on the ground?" Her mom started firing questions her way, noticing how pale her daughter looked. She had never seen her in such a situation before. Leah was usually all sunshine and roses and now she was the sight of someone who had been attacked.

"Hello to you too, Mom," said Leah, trying to keep the conversation light. But it was of no use, Amber had seen the pain in Leah’s eyes and the scar on her hand. An alarmed look crossed her mom’s face. A look Leah had never seen before. A look that concerned her. Leah felt as if her mom was not shocked about the experience that Leah had just suffered.

"Come through to the backroom Leah. Let us take a look at your badly injured hand." Said Amber and Kamali swiftly followed them. She knew exactly what was going on. It had after all been prophesied that Leah would come into her powers around her eighteenth birthday, which was only days away. The premonition had come sooner than expected and had taken them all by surprise.

Leah sat on one of the treatment beds in one of the workshop rooms while her mom and Kamali went to one of the cupboards at the back of the room to fetch bandages. They were both acting strangely. Both gave each other little worried glances. Leah noticed that they were having a very hushed but heated discussion while fetching the bandages. She couldn’t hear what they were actually speaking about, but she got the sense that they were both concerned about something. Something that seemed to have scared them and left them shaking with dread.

They eventually returned to Leah’s side and started examining her badly injured palm. Leah noticed that Kamali's face had turned as white as a sheet and her mother was silent. Both not uttering a word of what they had just heatedly spoken about. Leah started to panic and her head started to spin. The room began fading away as if she were falling into a deep pit and it was then that Leah passed out and had one of her worst nightmares yet.