many unknowns for me not to ask the question.
'Well said, Rabbit, and by your choice I will do you no harm.' She said it as a promise or a vow, and I believed her. After all, if she lied to me I thought I would know.
'How many?'
'As many as you will, and no more.'
Megan gave me a complicit smile but offered no help.
I turned to the semi-precious stones set out on the table, searching for obvious clues. They were all nicely shaped, though not completely regular. Megan plainly had a gift for selecting ones that were attractive because they were imperfect.
A stone in a cotton-lined rectangular box caught my attention. It was a lozenge with brown and gold stripes that glowed with an inner light. I lifted it from its box and was slightly startled when Megan held out a black suede pouch for me to drop it into. I let it fall into the soft pocket and she retracted it, waiting for me to choose again.
The second choice was easier as I had more idea as to what I was looking for now. My gaze settled on a lump of minty rock with a sparkly surface. I collected it and dropped it into the proffered pouch. I glanced at Blackbird but she had a watchful withdrawn expression.
My third choice leapt out at me when I spotted it amongst the stones at one side. It was stratified like the first, but had verdant green hardness that stood out amongst the others. It joined the rest in the black pouch. For the next one I struggled, scanning the rows of boxes for some minutes until I lit upon a dark red stone, deeply embedded and sulking in its nest of cotton fibre. I found myself curiously hesitant to touch it. Instead, I lifted the box and emptied it into the pouch. Megan nodded, knowingly.
I would have ended there, but there was a sense of incompletion, of things left undone. I went over the table again, sifting through the boxes with a fingertip, until I passed over a box and felt a nerve-tingling jolt. I came back and hovered over a stone that hummed under my finger.
'What's that one?'
'It's a green fluorite,' Megan answered. 'Most of them are purple, so the green ones have a rarity value.'
I picked it out and dropped it into the pouch with the others. 'I'm done then, I think,' I told her.
She walked back around the table and laid out a black velvet cloth, tipping out the pouch. She fell into a rhythm and recounted the stones, placing each at five points of a circle.
'Tiger's eye to see beyond and pierce the veil, actinolite for balance and healing, malachite for connection to the spirit, red jasper for grounding and connection to the earth, green fluorite for guidance and self- knowledge.'
'You choose well. These will be well received.' Blackbird offered the compliment with something of a degree of respect that had been absent before.
'I just chose the ones that felt right.'
'Just so.'
I turned back to Megan, pulling out my wallet.
'No cards,' said Blackbird. 'This is a cash transaction between you and Megan. There is to be no intermediary.'
'For a friend of Blackbird's-' Megan began.
'It is for a gift and for that it must be Rabbit's to give,' Blackbird told her.
At that Megan nodded her understanding and scooped the stones back into the pouch.
'How much do I owe you?' I asked her.
'You owe me nothing, Rabbit, but I will accept ten pounds if you agree?'
I smiled and offered her a tenner from my wallet which she squirreled away in a cash box after handing me the black pouch. It felt weightier than it should.
'Thank you, Megan.' If this was a test, maybe I had passed it.
'If I may?' She scanned quickly across her wares and plucked a stone from a box. She held out her closed hand for me to put mine underneath.
I glanced at Blackbird and there was the slightest indication of a nod. I put my hand out, palm underneath her fist. She dropped the stone into it. It was shaped into a tiny pear in a deep glossy blue and had a silver ring attached where the pear-stalk would be. It felt initially cold in my palm but it pulsed into warmth in my hand as if fuelled by some inner heat. It didn't look any different, but it felt somehow alive in my palm.
'Megan, we're not…' Blackbird started to explain then halted. She blushed very slightly. I looked from her to Megan, waiting for some explanation.
Megan looked thoughtful for a moment then offered, 'Lapis will aid your physical awareness and perhaps enhance the focus of your power. It has other properties, too, but those are the ones that are important for now.'
'Why does it go warm like that?'
I was talking to myself, but Megan thought the question was for her. 'It does?' she said, surprised.
'Hmmm,' added Blackbird in a tone that told me she wasn't going to elaborate.
'Here, let me.' Megan held out her hand for the stone. I gave it her back she took it and turned away for a moment. When she turned back she had threaded a leather thong through the loop, which she tied deftly in a knot.
She passed it back to me. 'Wear it close to your heart and may it bring you good fortune.'
I didn't know quite what to say so I slipped the loop over my head, loosening my tie slightly to allow it to fall down inside next to my skin. I felt it rest cold against my chest then flare to warmth again before slowly cooling to skin temperature, confirming what I had felt before.
'Thank you, Megan.' It felt odd to start wearing rocks around my neck, but the warmth emanating from it told me there was more to this than I had thought, and I needed all the good fortune I could get.
'Megan, it has been a pleasure to see you again, but we must go. Rabbit, it's time we were moving on.'
I nodded, acknowledging the gift once again and slipped the black pouch into my jacket pocket. Then I followed Blackbird through the random swell of people out of the market and back onto the cobbles.
'Is she Fey?' I asked Blackbird as we moved out of earshot.
She glanced sideways at me but then continued walking and, for a moment, I thought maybe she hadn't heard me. Then she spoke.
'Megan is an interesting person because she is sensitive to our kind. She can usually tell if a person has Fey blood — she knew you did straight away. And you've seen the skill she has with stones.' We were momentarily separated by an American couple with broad Western drawls delighting over the ancient monument of Covent Garden, reminding me that what people considered ancient was all relative.
'But she has no power as far as I am aware,' Blackbird continued as if she had not been interrupted. 'I came across her when I was looking for a gift for someone and she had the ideal thing for me except that when she searched for it, it wasn't there. Some very light fingers were pilfering her stock. She knew they weren't the run-of- the-mill thief as this wasn't the first time things had gone missing from under her nose but she had not found a way to prevent it from happening.'
'And you helped her.'
'I placed a simple ward on her stall making it uncomfortable to steal from her, then spread the word that if I caught the thief, I would have the price of the thievery out of their hide.' She smiled a grim smile and for a moment there was something predatory there.
'Couldn't you just have them arrested?'
'The Feyre live outside of human law and human law enforcement. There are no Fey criminals. If you've done wrong, you've done wrong. Fey justice, when it is served, is immediate and personal. If someone transgresses against one of us then that one has the right to satisfaction, in blood if necessary. It is our way.'
'Your way, you mean.'
'No, I meant what I said. It is our way whether you like it or not, and it is a way you will learn if you want to survive. Others will not make the allowances for you that I have.'
'I hadn't noticed you making allowances for me.'
'That's what's worrying me. Here, we're going down.' Blackbird made for the entrance to Covent Garden underground station and waltzed through the barrier without validating a ticket. I fumbled for my card, then waved
