Alchemy of Secrets

by Stephanie Garber

It started with a whisper you heard while in line at a coffee shop, a story you probably should have ignored.

It almost felt like magic. Not big, miraculous magic but the simple magic of timeless things. Of two-dollar bills and handwritten letters, typewriters and rotary phones.

The next morning arrived slowly, reluctant to perform a job it had grown tired of doing.

For a moment she’d feel like she might not spend the rest of her life alone, haunted by questions she couldn’t quite answer.

“I want you to go to the future, to someone who needs you, but doesn’t really want you. Someone kind, who will only use you once for their need and then never use you again.”