Flin yanked my wrist and I fell through the gateway.

As soon as we were through, he pushed me to the ground and fell on top of me. I caught the glow of green light on Geist’s wooden parquet floors as the seal shot over us both and hit the back wall of the shop. There was a loud crashing noise, glass shattering, wood splinters.

Thankfully, the gateway had closed. The woman couldn't follow us through.

Flin rolled off and sat there, looking down at me. I sat up and Silvy floated down to my shoulder.

“That was close,” she said. “You almost got got.”

I shook my head. “What sort of spell was that?”

“Life magick,” Silvy said, licking her paw. “Probably would have hit you and thrown you into the wall, probably would've broken several bones, given you a concussion. So boring. So basic.”

“Well, I'm glad that didn't happen. Lucky us, right?”

Flin snorted. “Nothing lucky about this.”

He stood and helped me to my feet. I looked around at the dark shop, looked around at all those glass cases, over at the cubby system where—

Oh shit…

The seal had hit the cubby system directly. It had also clipped the case right below it.

The cubby system was destroyed, wood fragments scattered across the floor and everywhere else, glass sprinkled in with the wood.

I sighed. Picking through all that debris to get the witchstones out is going to be a nightmare.

“Where are the lights?” I asked.

Flin walked over to the entrance as I sat there waiting. I heard the light switch flicking on and then off. On again and then off. No light came on though.

“Great,” he mumbled. Walking back, his fingers traced a shape in the air and a little orb popped into existence, blue fire licking off the top. The orb floated just above Flin's hand, casting a glow a foot or two around us.

“You don’t know a spell for more light?” I whispered.

“There isn’t one,” he replied.

By the faint glow, I could see Grey Eyes’ body was still in the shop. Only now it was covered with glass and wood shards.

I frowned at this. Why didn't Geist remove the body? Why is there no smell?

“Is that a body?” Flin asked, staring at the man lying on his back. “Is he dead?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“How?”

“Geist.”

“Geist killed him? Right here? In his own shop?”

“In front of me too,” I said. “I think he was mostly trying to kill me, but…” I brushed an imaginary speck of dust off my shoulder.

“But what?” Flin asked, staring back at me blankly. Silvy snorted and slithered into my hood.

“But this parka. I don't know how, but whenever Geist shot the glass at me, for whatever reason, the glass didn’t touch me. The parka protected me.”

Flin stared at the parka, nodding his head, but not looking that impressed. He pulled a pair of lume goggles out of his jacket pocket, slipped them on, and looked me up and down.

“Like what you see?” I raised an eyebrow.

“It's not like that,” he said.

“It better not be.”

“Well…” He pulled the goggles off and put them back in his jacket pocket. “It looks like there's a faint hint of life magick lume on the parka. It's really faint, though. It probably only stands up to physical projectiles. Any sort of magick spell would eat right through the ward on the parka.”

“So, when you say physical projectiles, you mean like bullets?”

“Yeah. Bullets, spears, whatever. If anyone sent a magick spell your way however, it would cut right through that ward. If someone hit you with their fist, the parka probably wouldn’t protect you either. It might somewhat blunt the pain though.”

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I nodded. “I’m not invincible,” I said with a little frown.

Flin laughed. “Not even remotely close.”

He walked to the back of the shop, and I followed, staring at all the glittering glass on the wood floor, keeping my eyes away from Grey Eyes’ body.

When we got to the first case, I frowned.

It’s completely empty.

My stomach twisted.

Why is the case empty?

“Flin,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Where are they?”

“They? They who?”

“You’re gonna love this,” Silvy whispered.

“Love what?” I asked.

Silvy just giggled.

I ignored her, pushing away the ominous overtones. Flin cast his light on another case, holding the orb directly over it as we both looked inside.

Alarm bells rang in my head.

Two empty cases. Why are they empty? Why are they empty? Why are they empty?

The last time I’d been in here there had been no empty cases.

“Maybe he's moving shop?” Flin suggested.

“Maybe,” I said, but I didn't hold any such hope.

“I don't think he's moving anywhere,” Silvy giggled.

Again, I ignored this, and continued exploring the empty shop. My mind flashed to the cubby system and I dragged Flin over to light up the floor where all the wooden fragments were. There should've been witchstones scattered all throughout the debris, but when Flin brought the shining blue orb down, all I saw flickering there was glass. No witchstones to see. Nothing.

“What is going on?” I mumbled. “Where did all the witchstones go?”

“Yes.” A voice from the other side of the shop whispered and as soon as it did, Flin threw his orb in that direction. “Where did they all go?”

The orb lit that corner of the room, lit up a figure sitting on a stool, and boomeranged back to him.

The figure?

You guessed it.

Geist.

He was sitting on the same stool he always did.

“Where did they all go?” Geist repeated in the darkness.

We spent too much time in Bristlebloom. We spent too much time with Lebec.

I took a deep breath and sighed, trying to force my mind to relax. My mind had other ideas. Fixating on my errors, dissecting my plan, obsessing over what I’d done wrong, what I could've done better, what the outcome would've been had I done something different, had I relied—

No. You relied on yourself. This mistake is yours, but at least you didn't allow someone else to set your fate.

“So,” I said. “Where are the witchstones?”

“Where are they?” Geist asked. “I think a better question is, why are you in my shop? Why are you trespassing?”

I ignored this.

“That's not the real question,” I said. “The real question is why did you destroy Blackhart? And why did you destroy that first shop?”

“You think I had a choice?” Geist answered. “You think I had any sort of choice at all here?”

Surprising.

“I don't know,” I said. “It sure seems like you did. Why else would you destroy them?”

Geist just laughed. “Do you know what those two shops had in common? What Blackhart and the other actually did?”

I shrugged. “No clue.”

“They both have long histories of supplying witchstones to the magick world’s underground. They both supported a thriving black market of witchstones.”

I just stared Geist, not understanding. “Okay, and?”

“And my shop is the only legal witchstone reseller. My shop is the only one licensed by the Austerium to sell witchstones.”

I glanced at Flin. I didn't buy what Geist was saying. It didn't make any sense.

He destroyed a small shop and a shop that hadn’t operated since my father died simply for the good of the Austerium?

Flin stared back at Geist, not saying a thing.

“So why not report them to the Austerium?” I asked. “Why not report both shops and get them shut down?”

Geist laughed. “Because both shops are protected from on high, or were.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Isn't it obvious?” Silvy whispered from inside the hood.

“No,” I said.

“No?” Geist snapped. “You don't tell me no, girl.”

“I was talking…” I trailed off. I'd almost told him about my familiar, which would've led to a whole other discussion about how I became a witch, but maybe he knew that, maybe he already knew about the curse lurking in the witchstone he’d given me. “I don't get it. It seems like there could have been plenty of other ways you could have gone about this. I don't understand why you destroyed both of the shops.”

Geist laughed. “The legal market is all fine and dandy, but the underground market is where the real money is at. I've heard of this stick game called Monopoly. It's a board game in your little world, right?”

“I know the game. I’ve been subjected to it."

Geist waited.

“So that's what you’re doing?” I asked. “That's what all this was about? Money?”

“No. Control. It was never about money. Whoever controls the witchstone supply, controls the witchstone market, controls the Austerium, controls the entire magick world.”

All the casters who aren't graced with the magickal gifts that wizards are. All those witchstones they would have to buy and use to do anything magickal.

I shook my head. “Fine. So, you wanted Blackhart and the other shop out of the way. I get it. You succeeded.”

“Not quite.”

“What?”

“We’re not finished here yet.”

“What do you mean?”

Geist put his hand to his chest and feigned a look of supreme outrage. “You stole my witchstone inventory, you filthy stick. You stole my products. You even managed to kill one of my employees, a bona fide Austerium adept. Look at him over there, just decomposing on the floor. How embarrassing for Lebec. He's the one who brought you in, right?”

I just stared at Geist as he laughed at me.

“I think you'll enjoy Witherstone,” he said. “I think a stick like you would enjoy a magickal jail cell.”

“We need to get out of here,” I whispered to Flin. “Back through that gateway.”

“I'm giving you giftwrapped to the Austerium,” Geist said. “You can be the perfect package to ensure the Austerium stays off my back for years.”

Geist got up from his stool and stepped around the counter. His fingers were interlaced at his stomach and he looked like he was doing nothing more than taking a leisurely afternoon stroll. I didn't understand how he could be so calm. He wasn't just facing down me, a stick. He was also facing down an adept-in-training in Flin.

“Stay away,” I said. “That witchstone you gave me cursed me. I'm a witch now. I'll eat your magick.”

Geist froze, his feet coming to a stop as his eyes bulged out at me in shock.

It only took half a second for this look to melt and for his face to go slack.

He lifted a single eyebrow and said, “Huh… I was told you were a half-witch.”