The Souvenir by KS Brixey is a side story that occurs alongside Avenrand: The Locket, set in a fictional Healing Arts Shop found in the novel.
Hannah grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled her towards the window of Claire’s Shop of the Healing Arts. “Aren’t they beautiful?” Hannah pressed her face up against the glass admiring the largest crystal she had ever seen. A large purple amethyst cracked open like a panoramic egg the size of a beach ball glistened behind the glass. “Let’s go in.”
“But Han, it’s vacation. Wouldn’t you rather go ride the go carts?” Hannah’s father, Eric, pointed to the top of a small Ozark Mountain towards the heart of Branson, Missouri, “We didn’t come all this way to look at rocks.”
“I want to find a wishing stone. Please, Daddy.”
“For just a few minutes, then we’ll go ride the go carts with your dad.” Hannah’s mother, Tracy, took Eric’s hand and led him into the store after Hannah.
It didn’t take long for Eric to try to debunk the myths of aromatherapy. “It’s nonsense. There isn’t any scientific proof that one smell has more of a healing property than another.”
“You have to have a little faith, Eric. Just because we don’t know how something works, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.” Tracy inspected a diffuser next to the rows of essential oils.
“I’d have to agree with you.” Claire winked at Tracy. “Did you know that the nose has the shortest path to the primal brain? Smell is the only sense that doesn’t need to be processed by the central nervous system.”
“Look what I found!” Hannah cheered as she reached out for the flickering stone.
“That’s Tibetan Quartz from the Himalayan mountains. It channels the energy of spiritual masters.” Claire smiled. Eric rolled his eyes.
“It’s beautiful.” Tracy slapped Eric’s arm.
“Are any of these stones from the Ozark mountains?” Eric looked skeptically at the labels. “We were really hoping to get her a souvenir from Branson.”
“Most of the souvenirs in the United States are actually made in China.” Claire laughed.
“Touche,” Eric chuckled. “I guess if she wants a rock from the Himelyans then why not a Tibetan Quartz.”
Hannah gripped the crystal as her dad complained about the traffic in Branson. The last thing she remembered is a loud squeal from the brakes. She found herself standing near a tall Ferris Wheel where the go kart track should have been. She was alone. Squeezing the stone and her eyes shut at the same time, she feared her parents went home without her.
When she opened her eyes she was standing outside their front door but it was locked. A kind woman answered the door. The woman didn’t know where Hannah’s parents lived. Trembling, Hannah gripped the stone again and found herself inside the entrance of a Branson Walmart. A familiar face was among the posters of missing children plastered on the store wall. It was her 1989 school photo alongside an age projected image of what she might look like in 1999. “1999?”
“Anyone you know?,” a stranger asked.
Hannah didn’t know how to reply. “I think it might be my sister,” she lied.
“Did your sister die?” the stranger gently put his hand on Hannah’s shoulder.
“I don’t really know.” Hannah grasped the stone again. When she opened her eyes she was standing in the cemetery in front of her grandmother’s gravestone. “Am I dead?”
Expecting to see her own tombstone in the family plot, the newer stone read, “Tracy and Eric Wilburn. August 14, 1989.” Hannah took the Tibetan Quartz out of her pocket and set it on her parents’ grave marker. It was flashing, calling to her like it did in the store. She didn’t want to pick it up, she wanted to find out what happened to her parents. But she was all alone. She had no parents, no house, nothing, just this crystal from Claire’s Shop of the Healing Arts.
Grabbing the stone, Hannah wiped the tears from her eyes and looked around. She recognized this store. She was back where it all began. “I knew you would come back eventually. I’ve been calling you.” Claire gently took the Tibetan Quartz from Hannah’s hands.
“What is happening?” Hannah asked.
Claire handed Hannah a red-orange crystal. “Here, what do you think of this one? It’s
Citrine. It can manifest abundance but best of all it can morph into a protection stone.”
Hannah ran up and wrapped her arms around her parents. “Can it protect my parents, too?”
“It will protect you and anyone you surround with your love.”