My head swings up and down, nodding so quickly I think I might have given myself a chiropractic adjustment. “Yes, please.” After I give my answer, Callista wastes no time producing a crystal ball from beneath the glass counter.

She hands me the meter and asks me to, “Please, close your eyes and clear your mind.” I do as I’m told, and after a moment, I hear the goddess mumble.

“Is something wrong?”

“Όχι, just… try again.” I try to clear my head again, though the worry of something going wrong makes it difficult. “I… I haven’t seen this before.” I open my eyes and see a single digit reflecting in the light of the crystal ball.

“Zero…” A stale laugh bubbles up from my core. “Zero. Yeah, sure, that makes sense.” My eyes drift over to the bottle on the counter. So incredibly close, yet worlds away. The laughter only grows as I set down the crystal ball to brace myself on the counter. “Nothing! Nada! Zip! My entire life, and I’ve amounted… to nothing.” I can’t seem to stop laughing at the sick joke that is this moment.

Callista looks worried, but before she can say anything more, Nathan steps into the scene. He sees me losing my shit, the bottle on the counter, and the crystal ball, still displaying my pitiful lack of karmic funds. “Fucking shit… why didn’t you just follow me to the damn bar?” I’m in no state to answer his question. I just wheeze out another pained cackle that somehow transitions into an abrupt sob. “Callista, mind bringing the exit here?” He asks as the goddess nods.

Just beyond the glass display, a pair of doors open back out to the mall proper and Nathan gruffly seizes my shoulders and leads me away from what I thought for a brief euphoric moment might be my salvation. Once we’re far enough away from the boutique, Nathan gently plants me on a bench while I slowly wind down back to coherence. “I… that was… it could have… I was so close to it… and now…”

“I know,” he responds to my unfinished ramblings. “Trust me, I know better than most.”

“How could you?” I ask, shaking my head at the thought. “How could you possibly–”

“I’ve used that product before.” My stream of consciousness dies with those words. “And no, it wasn’t just because I was vain and wanted a bit of height, or nicer eyes… I needed… everything.” The guy next to me scoffs at his own story, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his knees. “I saved up for it, too. Wasn’t easy for a shithead like me. In the end, it helped me claim my name and lose my old one.”

“So you–”

“Yeah, like you. I wanted something vastly different for my life than what the world initially provided.” Cracking an unusually sincere smile, Nathan stares off into a memory. “The people who met me after but heard I used Callista’s magic all assumed I did so on a vain whim. I let them think that. It’s none of their business otherwise. It’s so easy for people to tell you that looks don’t matter when they’ve never had to deal with the reality of not seeing someone you can reasonably call yourself in the mirror, of pretending that the way they see you and treat you is how you see yourself and expect to be treated. I was drowning in an ocean of self inflicted misrepresentation. So yeah, I think I get it.”

I’m rendered speechless, looking at Nathan as he thinks over his next words.

“I think I understand what’s supposed to happen next. Granted, my boss keeps me in the dark about most things because they’re an asshole like that… but I can tell you for certain that if you want your best shot at getting your hands on what you want most in a timely manner… we need to go to the bar.” Nathan whistles a low note that fades into an uneasy silence. “It is gonna suck, though. Sorry about that. Honestly, you don’t need to do a damn thing you don’t want to. Whether you choose to follow me to our original destination, go home, save your points for Callista’s blessing, or find contentment within yourself… you’re still you. You’re still Estella. Sorry for not seeing it before, but no ignorant jackass like myself, nor god nor goddess or any other force in this world can strip you of what’s already yours.”

For a few long minutes, I really chew on Nathan’s words, before finally settling on a response. “Thank you. That helps, somehow. Truly.”

“Of course it does,” he says, slapping both of his knees at once and shooting up onto his feet. “I’m incredible. Now, are we getting a drink or are you calling it a day?”

With a flash of false bravado, I hop to my feet as well. “What do you think? Let’s get wasted.”


***


At long last, Nathan and I reach our original destination, and after all the incredible sights and offerings of the Karma Mart thus far, I’m insanely disappointed to find out that the bar we have come all this way for is… just a really plain bar. Wooden stools, an almost bare back shelf behind a wooden counter covered in rings and chipped varnish. “Not to sound ungrateful… but I guess I was expecting something a bit showier,” I say, obviously underwhelmed.

Two yellow eyes open, seemingly out of thin air, as a mouth filled with sharp teeth follows right underneath them. “Well, I’m sorry some of us gods are a bit too busy for showmanship!” Once the floating face speaks, a body materializes around it. The bald man standing behind the bar, covered head to toe in shifting tattoos and visible scales, scowls at me.

“That was so cool!” I declare, breaking the barkeeper's look of malice. “Wait… were you just hiding here the whole time?”

“Hell yes, it was cool and no, I wasn’t hiding. I was blending. Very different! Hiding is for cowards. Blending is for winners!”

“This is George,” Nathan says, while taking a seat on a nearby stool. “He’s the god of retribution and also runs the easiest way to earn some quick karma.”

“Mhmm… and judging by the smell of this one,” George responds while leaning close to me. “I’ve got my work cut out for me today.” With that ominous statement, the real life Karma chameleon places a glass and a fresh bottle on the bar in front of me. “Rules here are simple, girlie. Drink a shot, you get two thousand points. That’s that.”

I examine the unmarked battle of brown liquid in front of me. “Holy shit, how bad can this drink be?”

Nathan fields this question, looking at me with concern. “The worst fucking thing you’ve ever experienced.”

The barkeep laughs. “Yeah, this one would know. He came in here a fair bit when he needed some credits. Real glutton for punishment.” Still not seeing the big deal with this little trial, if one could even call it that, I pour a shot into the glass before of me.

“What’s it taste like?” I ask, a bit a fear finally creeping into my veins as I stare down at the drink I’ve poured.

“It’s not the taste that gets you,” Nathan answers. “After every shot, you live through the eyes of someone you’ve wronged and feel the pain you’ve inflicted.”

“Aye, it’s not a method of penance for the faint of heart. It’s why we have a three drink a day maximum here. Can’t have anybody breaking themselves over a bit of karma.”

The worst pain I’ve inflicted on someone. My mind immediately races with images of my past jobs while working for Eleanora, and I understand just how twisted this game could become. “So… after every shot, you give me my points?”

George shakes his head. “No, the act of drinking itself earns the points. Once you experience the pain, the transaction is complete. My only role in this is supplying the method.”

Two thousand points per shot and sixteen shots in a bottle. An incredibly stupid idea crosses my mind and quickly takes root. “So… after I drink this, it's a done deal, right? No take backs?” George nods as he and Nathan watch me contemplate taking a drink, neither of them realizing what I actually have in mind. “Huh… good.” I take the glass I poured out and dump it back into the bottle. I swear I hear a sigh of relief from Nathan as I appear to choose not to go through with this.

“That’s probably a wise deci–” George’s words drop mid sentence as I stand up and backpedal away from the pair, bottle still in my hand. With a quick toast and a smile, I chug the entire thing before either guy can stop me. The burning sensation of the alcohol travels down my–


***