Nightwalker Chapter 4.

It was late in the afternoon by the time Lev and Reggie, more so Reggie, were organised and ready to go meet the fortune-teller Maman. The pair had taken Reggie's van and once again parked further away than necessary. Lev found himself struggling with the hordes of people who were going about their business. Ten years ago, this part of the city was a quiet and less trendy place, yet now it seemed all the hustle and bustle of the city had found its way here. There was no shortage of coffee shops, office spaces for 'start-ups' and 'de-stimulation areas', which, even after Reggie's explanation, was a concept Lev struggled to wrap his head around. He almost walked into someone as he stared into what looked like a giant glass box with a rather sickly looking tree inside.

"They're like these places with trees and crayons and stuff, I think. I've never been in one, I've yet to be OVER-stimulated, if you know what I mean." Reggie said.

"Y-you're a virgin?" Lev replied in confusion at what Reggie Meant.

"No! That's not what I mean." His friend exclaimed in mild offence.

"This is so weird," Lev muttered as he swerved around a gaggle of teenage girls who looked to be in a rush to go somewhere.

"What's that?" Reggie asked.

"Just being around this many people again, no pat downs or room inspections before they are allowed to go outside, I bet," Lev answered with a touch of sarcasm.

"Well, yeah, you don't need to make a shank from your toothbrush when you can go into any old store and buy a platinum forged steak knife whenever you please," Reggie replied, which to Lev sounded a lot like someone talking from experience.

A short while later, Reggie chimed in, "There it is," as he pointed up ahead. Lev squinted and saw a sign hanging above the crowd ahead for a coffee shop, then another for a tattoo parlour past that one.

"I don't see it," Lev muttered.

"It's between the 'Bean Shack' and 'Dementos' tattoo parlour." Reggie clarified as he curled his finger a little to emphasise the in-between factor.

The pair stood in front of Maman's shop for a moment to get the 'vibe' of the place, as Reggie called it. The building itself was a single-story cottage, which must have been quite old if it was authentic to the time it was portraying. The walls were a darkly stained wood, which was holding up an old and weathered black tin roof. The small front yard consisted of patchy long grass, a few scraggly hedges, and a neatly kept path to the front steps. "Aesthetic and function." Reggie joked as he opened the wrought iron gate, which, to both of their surprise, didn't squeak at all.

Lev entered the shop first, cringing in mild fright at the loud tinkling bell at the top of the door. The shop was cluttered with rows of shelves and tables, all overstuffed with all manner of books and trinkets. The fragrant incense smell was to be expected, but the noticeably thick waft of smoke was a mildly concerning sight. Someone inside cleared their throat loudly and soon spoke, "Yeah, hi, how can I help?" a teenage-sounding girl's voice called out from somewhere.

"Uh, hello?" Lev replied as he looked around for the owner of the voice.

"Here. At the back." The voice called out again with some agitation. Lev walked towards the back of the shop and spotted the girl sitting at a counter, looking at her phone.

"Hi, I'm Lev. We spoke on the phone this morning."

The girl chuckled and shook her head. "Damn, I thought for sure you wouldn't show up after grandma's weirdo routine."

"Uh. Yeah, well, I'm here. Is she here?" Lev replied awkwardly. Maman's granddaughter smirked and spun around on her chair to hop off and waltz through a black bead curtain. Lev looked back at Reggie with a puzzled expression.

Reggie, who had two hands full of incense that he was smelling intently like a connoisseur, looked back at him and shrugged, "Kids these days, man."

A few moments later, the girl returned and motioned for Lev to go through. "She will see YOU now, your friend can leave.... or stay out here, I guess." Lev shrugged at Reggie and parted the bead curtain.

The room on the other side was a dimly lit, smoky box of a room, which housed a few dressers all laden with well-used candles and a low table in the centre of the room with a crystal ball placed on the centre of it. Lev looked around the room, expecting to see this 'Maman' seated at the table, but she seemed to be absent entirely. "Excuse me? Hello?"

Almost immediately after he spoke, a chuckle echoed from somewhere, and a section of the wall opened through which a short elderly woman emerged. "Welcome Lev, please join me at the table." The woman said, as she shuffled over to the table and sat down, her voice was soothing and sounded like it belonged to a woman half her age.

As Lev sat down across from her, he found the woman's age hard to discern; her face had barely a wrinkle on it, and her eyes were sharp and gave her a fox-like mystique. "Thank you, you're Maman obviously?" he asked.

Maman nodded her head, then fixed her gaze on the crystal ball between them. "You seek answers regarding a woman thought lost to you, correct?" she said, the question entirely rhetorical in nature. Lev, knowing this, still felt compelled to nod in confirmation.

"I want... Need to find her again," he eventually added after an uncomfortable silence of him watching Maman, who was staring into her ball like she was in a trance. The fortune teller began to speak in monotone, as if someone else was directing her. "I see a figure that casts no shadow and a building named ‘The Diamond Palace.’ I also see danger. This woman, she is not the same woman you knew ten years ago."

Maman's warning made Lev think of his run-in with Jessica the previous night. "Wh-what do you mean exactly? I briefly... 'found' her last night, and something about her was... 'different' but I don't know quite what it was." He asked, hopeful for any small tidbit of information he could get. The fortune teller smiled and reached into one of the sleeves of her tunic.

"This." She said as she withdrew a folded square of paper and passed it to Lev. "This is the name of a book. Go to the nearby library, and you will find it there. The page you want will already be marked for you," she explained. Once finished, she smiled and stood up.

"C-can you tell me anything more?" Lev said as he watched Maman return to the hidden door from which she had emerged.

Maman stopped at the opening and looked back at Lev. "If you follow my directions and still choose to pursue this woman. Good luck." She said before disappearing into the darkness.

Lev emerged from the beaded curtain, surprising Maman's granddaughter, who jumped and stuffed her phone into her pocket. "Y-you done?" she stammered.

"Yes, thank you. How much do I owe you?" Lev replied as he rounded the counter and stood in front of her.

"Grandma said not to charge you." She answered as she settled down and pulled out her phone again.

"Uh...Ok. Wait, is my friend still here?" Lev asked as he looked behind him at the rest of the store for signs of Reggie.

Maman's granddaughter shook her head. "Nah, he left right after you went inside. Try the coffee shop next door. The coffee is crap, but their sushi is sick."

"Sushi, at a coffee shop?" Lev asked in confusion. To which Maman's granddaughter nodded enthusiastically.

"Crazy, right? My favourite is the soy bean and almond sushi!" She added, which made Lev grimace a little. "Man, even just mentioning it made me hungry! Come on, you can look for your friend while I get some," the girl said as she stuffed her phone into a distressed denim backpack that was adorned with badges, pins, and all manner of dangly and sparkly regalia.

Lev followed Maman's granddaughter outside and watched as she locked the door behind her. "What about your grandma?" Lev asked.

"Huh? Oh, she is long gone by now, she's like a ninja, I swear," she replied, which provided more questions than answers.

The duo entered the 'Bean-Shack', which was almost full, but there was no line at the counter. "Everyone working on the next sci-fi classic, I bet," Lev muttered as they walked to the counter.

Maman's granddaughter ordered the sushi she was craving, then looked at Lev. "You want anything? I got you, Grandma tells me you're broke," she asked. Lev tilted his head to the side before reluctantly asking for a long black.

While they waited for their order, Lev looked around and spotted no sign of Reggie. "Huh, I wonder where he went," Lev muttered.

Maman's granddaughter looked at him as if he were stupid and waved her phone like it was a fan. "Can't you just text him?"

Lev rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't have his number, plus my phone hasn't been used in ten years... And I'm broke, remember," he answered.

"Oh right, the prison thing." Maman's granddaughter replied as she got their order and handed Lev his coffee.

"H-how does your grandma know all this about me?" he asked in disbelief as they departed the store.

"I guess it's magic," the girl answered nonchalantly.

"That makes it sound like you're not much of a believer," Lev replied.

Maman's granddaughter shrugged, "Meh, it's whatever. Doesn't bother me much either way. So, what are you going to do? Sit at our door waiting for him to come pick you up?" she asked with a smirk.

Lev pulled the piece of paper Maman gave him from his pocket and looked down at it. "I guess I'll just go find this book, the...Vora Carrion?"

Maman's granddaughter whistled in acknowledgement of the book he had just said. "That bad huh?" She replied.

"I... guess so? Do you know where the nearest library is? No phone to ask the internet, remember," he asked, which prompted Maman's granddaughter to hold out her hand for the piece of paper.

Once she had it, she produced a pen from seemingly nowhere and wrote down the name of the library and the street on which it was located. "In case you don't make it there today... It's about five blocks away, this is where I always send people for those creepy books," she explained before handing the slip of paper back to Lev. "If your goofy friend comes back, I'll tell him you are heading there." She added with a wave before opening the gate to her grandma's shop.

"Thank you," Lev replied as he looked down at what she had written.

"Oh, by the way." Maman's granddaughter said as she tapped on the gate. "My name's Rika. You seem nice... for a criminal anyway." She said jokingly.

"Thanks, Rika, I try my best," Lev responded.