In Irina's Cards (The Variant Conspiracy #1) Read Online Free Page B

long, but we felt a strong connection. We wanted to try to be a family, so it made sense for Darryl to adopt my other baby. Still, his father gave him a very hard time about marrying me on more than one occasion. It didn’t help that I was a struggling widow when I found out I’d be having another baby. After the adoption, your grandfather went as far as to change his will cutting Darryl out completely. I won’t dignify that man’s beliefs by sharing any more detail with you girls. I’m not saying Darryl is a warm, caring man, but there are reasons behind his frustrations in life.”
    My own smile fell as my memory of the warm lakeside rock refocused on Mom’s face discussing Darryl’s crappy father. Life made Darryl a jerk, but I got uniquely saddled with his disappointment. I actually felt better knowing there was a reason he looked at me like a busted prototype.
    Now, I launched off the urban bench and back out onto Victoria’s busy main street. I wove through the slow-moving bodies as I sped forward on the pavement. I turned sharply around the corner back to Chinatown. I paused and looked more closely at the red and yellow dragon street signs on stylized red lampposts that clearly marked the neighborhood.
    I reached the elaborate themed gate and slowed my pace. I lingered at each shop window, waiting for a sign or a feeling to tell me something. I didn’t really have new information. Sense and reason dictated that I would never know why I’d had visions of Victoria–or why a grubby weirdo started stalking me.
    The shops and baskets and trinkets and produce all felt familiar on my second, well, really third viewing. I noticed a tiny brick alley; the one I had seen in my vision. The alley had its own street sign ‘Fan Tan Alley’. I took a step back to look in the narrow corridor. It seemed more European than something inspired by Chinese architecture. I stepped inside and felt confined in spite of the sky overhead. Three stories of bare brick walls rose on either side. Each shop was small, identified by a hanging sign over the door. I moved slowly to take in the surreal little space as people pushed past me.
    I walked past a split door with only the top half open. People in white uniforms with old food stains moved through a loud and steamy restaurant kitchen. Next, a record shop window had handbills plastering the glass, inside and out. A trinket shop overflowed its space with wreaths and charms hanging on racks off its open door. A small biker boutique offered boots and jackets and fishnet stockings in its window. Farther in, more posters clung to the brick around a stairwell opening and a group of shifty kids looked up from their conversation to stare at me briefly. They whispered again and dispersed, laughing.
    I frowned and stood stewing over the insult when a wave of incense wafted over me. Across the alley, a tiny windowless shop with lavender on the door had a sign overhead. It was so old and worn, I couldn’t read it, but the door sat ajar, the room dimly lit. I barely had room to turn around without my bag bumping rows of liquid-filled glass bottles or snagging cord-strung pendants off their hooks.
    “Hello, Miss Proffer. Your order is almost ready. The tea blend is finished, but I still need to prepare the packaging. Have a seat,” called out a lovely voice from the back of the store. A curtain of tacky beads obscured a closet-sized storeroom behind the front desk. I saw a figure move.
    “Um, I’ve never been here before, so I haven’t ordered anything yet. Actually, I just got to Victoria yesterday,” I said politely. “Do you happen to know anyone named Rubin?”
    “Hang on. We do have your order. I’ll be right out,” she said.
    My heart lurched. Had I been given a roofie at some point and wandered around town in a stupor?
    I looked around the room again. Row upon row of jars labeled with one and two-word herb titles covered the opposite wall. The shop didn’t look expensive, but I had