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was a regular customer, but not a Pagan of any variety. She simply loved the stock.
    Nick liked Alice, but she had an irritating habit of stringing the most grating phrases together. He once heard her start a sentence with ‘To be honest, I’m not going to lie, but at the end of the day, the fact of the matter is …’
    Urgghhh, painful! He hadn’t bumped into her for a while now, and wasn’t too bothered by that.
    Inside Creaky Crystals there were two tills behind glass counters at opposite ends of the store, in order to get through more sales at once. The stock included crystals, crystal balls, hand-carved ornaments, photo frames, coloured candles, tarot cards, dream-catchers, wands, athames, cauldrons, incense, oils, jewellery, meditation CDs, cloaks, calendars, gifts, and similar items. Though, at this time of year the items were more Halloween oriented.
    Nick assumed that Mora regretted setting up in the lower grounds; her income would most likely have doubled in the upper. Nonetheless, she loved her store, and Nick could see that.
    Towards the end of his shift, Janet tramped over to him. ‘Have you got a girlfriend yet?’ she said, her eyes so wide.
    ‘No, Janet. No luck there,’ Nick answered apathetically.
    ‘I can set you up with someone, you know?’
    ‘I’m not looking to date anyone at the moment.’
    Janet seemed to have acquired an interest in his love life over the past few months. She was in her thirties and had three kids, was of average height, her hair was leathery brown like her eyes, and she had large teeth and gums that couldn’t be ignored when she laughed or smiled. Being closes friends with Mora, she was in the same coven as her.
    When Nick had first become interested in Wicca, Mora invited him to one of her coven meetings to see about initiating him. In that particular meeting they worshipped ‘the Goddess’ or ‘the Mother’, invited her into their circle, and asked for some kind of protection over their family and friends.
    Nick hadn’t known what to expect before attending, but it turned out that he felt extremely uncomfortable. Their Ritual Leader, as the group referred to her, asked Nick if he was on a spiritual journey, if he wanted to devote himself to the study of Wicca, and be initiated into their circle. She told him that they initiated people sky clad (in other words, butt naked). He decided against joining. Being seen naked by his manager and a co-worker wasn’t quite his cup of tea. The Ritual Leader said it was to show to the Goddess that he wasn’t afraid to be in front of her the way he came into the world, and something about being ‘reborn’ the way he was first born.
    He wasn’t ashamed of his naked body, but didn’t want to prove it by stripping off in front of people either. There was probably more to it than that, and he didn’t like to judge too hastily, but still … No .
    ‘You know … a man your age should really have a woman by now!’ Janet commented.
    ‘I’m only twenty-four.’
    ‘Exactly. You should be in a long-term relationship, working up to marriage and then having children; else you will be an old daddy.’
    He chuckled. ‘I’m only twenty-four, and who said I want to have children? I can’t even afford to look after myself.’
    ‘Well what’s the point of having a girlfriend if you don’t want family?’
    ‘I never said I wanted a girlfriend. You’re the one pestering me about it!’ his voice raised, but as far as he could tell, she was only winding him up. He hoped.
    ‘Hmmm … I still don’t think it’s right. You should be at least looking out for that special someone,’ she said decisively, then gave a cheeky smile and sauntered off.
    Nick thought of the woman he’d saved. He didn’t even know her, never got her name, but she was beautiful. Her face was imprinted in his mind and warmth swam throughout his body in thought of her.
    Before the shift was over, he mulled over asking Michael if he’d noticed anything out