*Previously Featured* Wren's first day at her new school is a twisted kind of day--in other words, anything but ordinary. With Kellan and Jaxon battling for her attention, their crazy love triangle draws Wren into a hidden world she never dreamed po...
Hi, Readers!! So excited to get this chapter up for you. As promised, there is a video (at the end) made to go exclusively with this chapter too! As always, love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and edits. Hugs, XoXo -Amber
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(Wren Speaking)
I'm pretty sure when I told Gran about my planned night out with Jaxon, if I mentioned it was going to include a trip to Preston, she would not have approved. Preston was the nearest thing to city life as one could get, complete with great shopping, restaurants, and nightlife. I had only been there a couple of times, as the closest we'd ever lived to it was an hour away by car. I don't think Gran ever understood my fascination with making the trip.
"Uh, Jaxon? Where are you taking us?" I asked, looking at the tall buildings as we drove by them.
"We're celebrating, and I'm keeping this part of our night a surprise."
"I know where we are," Sage piped up like she had just figured it out his secret. She was practically strumming with excitement, barreling out the car door the second we stopped. She was already standing on the sidewalk, waving at the rest of us to hurry up and we hadn't even undone our seat belts yet.
After seeing her excitement, I couldn't help but look at Jax for more information. "What am I missing? I don't get it?" He just shook his head and grinned. There was no way I was getting him to spill his plans to me.
"Come on, you two. I can't hold her back for much longer." Robin laughed as Sage dragged him across the street by his arm. "I think she's excited."
"You're going to love this." Jax reached for my hand and wove his fingers between mine. Then we stepped off the curb, jogged across the street and walked about a block down to stand in front of a bricked up doorway with the words, Touch of Home imprinted in the middle of them. With the weeds growing through the sidewalk and green paint peeling off the building, it looked like the place hadn't been used in years.
"Touch of home," I read the words aloud. "I'm sure glad my house doesn't look like this. It doesn't look very homey."
Sage laughed as removed her necklace and wrapped it around her hand. "Touch," she pointed out, "has more of a literal meaning here." She wiggled her fingers, then placed her hand over the letters on the door. The sign's letters lit up and changed from a dull black to bright purple color. The bricks that filled in the doorway shimmered and sparkled, then dissipated like dust. As soon as our group had made it through the archway, the bricks magically reformed behind us, leaving us in a room that appeared to have no other exit.
I felt like I had just entered the most unusual shop, I'd ever seen. It was filled with odds and ends that were stacked, piled and tossed in every available space the room had to offer. The wall closest to us contained shelves of hundreds of small jars, with their contents labeled on the front of them. I walked over and picked one up and thought they looked like they might be intended for use in potions. I ran my finger over the names of a row of salts, Red Sea, Celtic Sea, large flake, fleur de sel, and Himalayan pure. There had to be twenty different types of salt alone. I couldn't help but look at the magical sounding items on the shelf below. Eye of newt, ground bat wings, glowing moonlight lavender, deadly black mamba venom, dried spider legs, spiced yarrow and hundreds of other glass jars and tins containing something even more unusual than the container before it.
