Chapter Twenty
Athena
The universe wassinging.
I could feel it in every cell of my body. It was a bright, golden, absolutelyperfectenergy that hummed through everything. The air tasted sweeter. The light looked warmer. Even the traffic sounds from the street below sounded like music.
I was cosmically, completely, utterly happy.
This is what alignment feels like.
This is what it feels like when the universe says, “Yes, this, exactly this.”
I spun around Julien’s apartment, our apartment now—we were “figuring out the logistics,” which really meant he was slowly, adorably adjusting to the idea of living somewhere that didn’t look like a surgical suite—and gathered my supplies.
My tarot deck. The one my grandmother had given me, worn soft at the edges, the cards practically humming with energy.
My rose quartz cluster. For love, obviously. For celebrating love.
My clear quartz points. For clarity and amplification.
My amethyst. For spiritual connection.
My citrine. For joy and abundance.
My selenite wand. For cleansing and charging.
I arranged them on my reading cloth—deep purple silk embroidered with gold stars—and lit three candles. White for purity, pink for love, gold for divine blessing.
I need to tell my sisters.
I need to tell them everything.
About Julien finally surrendering. About the dinner with our parents, where his mother got wine-faced and his father looked like he’d swallowed a lemon. About the sex.Oh God, the sex!About waking up in his arms and feeling like I was finally home.
About how the universe had been right all along.
I grabbed my phone, pulled up the group chat with Freyja and Phoebe, and started typing:
EMERGENCY SISTER MEETING. I HAVE NEWS. COSMIC NEWS. UNIVERSE-LEVEL NEWS.
Then I deleted it.
Too vague.
JULIEN AND I HAD SEX AND IT WAS PERFECT, AND I LOVE HIM AND HE LOVES ME, AND THE UNIVERSE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING.
Delete.
Too much information.
Need to talk. Good news. Really good news. Can we FaceTime?
Better.
I hit send, then immediately started gathering more crystals because I couldn’t justsitthere waiting. I needed todosomething with all this energy.
My phone rang, and I looked at the screen.
