Concerned, Evelyn took a few steps forward as Milo and Hraktar glanced at each other. Clarissa scrambled inside the tent. Derek was waiting for some sort of battle cry, but there was nothing. Instead, the crystal tiara sparkled in the sunlight as she popped her head out of the tent, grinning. “Come and see! You all as well!” She pointed to Evelyn, which was enough encouragement for Derek. He was curious about this whole thing.

“Are we sure it’s safe?” Alejandra asked.

Hraktar already had his great sword out. “I’ll make sure it is.”

Clarissa was already retreating into the tent. “Oh, stop worrying Hraktar. It’s perfectly safe. I recognize this smell anywhere.”

Derek walked in and was immediately struck by the fact that the tent was bigger on the inside. Above the tent door was a swirl of pink flower petals that shifted around like it was in a contained snow globe. He walked further in to see hundreds of trinkets and items. They had an organized chaos element to them. Bottles, potions, and vials were stacked on some shelves, books and parchments piled on another. Trinkets were strewn around the room and the air in the tent cycled through so many smells. It started as lavender before changing to a citrus, then somehow dropped to a pine smell, before changing to peppermint. The change was dizzying, and though all the smells were delightful, it messed with Derek’s head.

Tyler walked through the tent, then gasped. “Is this…”

“YOU!”

Everyone jumped as a gnome woman leapt onto the desk. Despite the spry leap, the gnome had to be two hundred years old. She had clumped white hair to her head, wrinkles, and an enormous nose that held tiny glasses. Her eyes were a deep purple color. Tyler clapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes wide.

“Oh my god!” Evelyn said. “It’s Calawit!”

The gnome woman was staring at something just past Derek’s shoulder. He glanced behind him to see Grizzizzik had appeared in the tent. He was in the tent opening, but the pink petals above him turned red and hissed. The rogue glanced up before looking again at the gnome woman half his size with an annoyed look. “Hello, Calawit.”

“I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what this place is. But I know you, sir.” Calawit had a gravely voice like she smoked every day for a hundred and seventy of her two hundred years. “My enchantments and charms are working well, so don’t think this new world we’re in gives you any leverage.”

A few of the red flower petals dropped onto Grizzizzik’s hands, sinking into his skin. He lifted them, glaring. “Seriously? It was just once.”

“It was not just once. You never succeeded once. No one steals from Calawit, and no one ever will. Because I’m cautious! I don’t trust anyone!” The gravel in her voice somehow changed. It was still deep, but it turned far more friendly. “Princess Clarissa? Is that you?”

“Calawit!” Clarissa said, holding her hands out. Standing on a desk, Calawit could embrace the six-foot-tall elf.

“It is good to see you, my friend. I was afraid I was the only one who’d traveled to this new world with all these monsters. It’s taken a bit for me to hold up my enchantments, but monsters will not harm me here.”

Clarissa pulled away from the hug. “I am so relieved.”

The gnome woman picked up locks of Clarissa’s hair, her eyes widening. “What happened to your green hair?”

The druid stroked her blonde hair. “I’m a steward of the desert now. I rather like it.”

Calawit noticed the others. Not just Milo and Hraktar, but Derek and his friends. Her face shifted as she took them in. “Welcome to my store. Understand that there is an enchantment over everything that keeps you from pick-pocketing anything without the proper exchange of gold. If you want to know what that’s like, simply look at your friend over there.”

Calawit gestured with her thumb to where Grizzizzik was trying to pick something up to read it. With the angry red petals glued to his hands, he couldn’t even touch the item. His fingers slipped right through it as he grumbled about how much he hated magic. He stopped when he noticed everyone’s attention on him.

“The bottle’s turned around,” Grizzizzik said. “I can’t read what it says. I’m not trying to steal it.”

Calawit jumped off the table, crawling over the tops of bookshelves to get to Grizzizzik, making a show of turning it around so he could read it.

Grizzizzik still glared at her. “I’m sure this would be easier for you if you’d take the enchantment off.”

“On the contrary.” She sat down on the edge, tucking her legs under her as she grinned. “I enjoy having a rogue look so uncomfortable in my shop.”

There were tears in Tyler’s eyes. “She’s… she’s everything. A figment of my imagination come to life. Breathing. Real. Here.” His face was a mixture of awe and joy. “Is this how you guys feel?”

“Surreal, isn’t it?” Derek asked.

Calawit was Tyler’s most beloved NPC character. Technically, she was a character he had played with his high school buddies before adding her to their campaign as a retired adventurer. The gnome sorcerer fit in with the group so well. If she wasn’t running a shop, the group would have had her in their party a long time ago. That, and Calawit was quite stubborn about staying with her shop.

Calawit stood up, jumping over the tops of a few bookshelves before sitting on Hraktar’s shoulder. Hraktar winced, bracing himself. “Relax, big guy.” She patted his cheek, making him wince. “I’ve told you before. Anything in the store can’t be broken, either. Not until it’s out of my enchanted tent.”

“You were never in a tent, you were in a building,” Grizzizzik said.

“Are you trying to find a loophole, rogue?” Calawit’s gravely voice had a touch of humor.

“Finding loopholes is what I do,” Grizzizzik said.

“Try it, rogue. I’d love to show you how much deeper those petals go,” Calawit said.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Hey, Cala!” Milo said.

“Milo! Here for more healing potion for your breakup?” Calawit asked.

Milo waved a hand. “That was ages ago.” Yes, it was ages ago, but there was still an obvious tremor in the mana fusor’s voice.

Calawit made a fortune off Milo, rebranding hard alcohol as a special heart healing potion after an NPC completely betrayed the group. After said NPC completely stole Milo’s heart then crushed it to bits. He stuck with his science after that.

Calawit leapt off Hraktar’s shoulder and onto the top of the bookshelf, towering above Milo. “I’ve got more than enough gold if you wanted to set up a trading system again!”

Grizzizzik’s face seemed to contort, like he was in pain. “Gold came with you?”

“An astoundingly gigantic pile.” Calawit placed her hands on her hips as she smirked in the rogue’s direction. “So much gold. In my office. In the back, there. The one covered in every enchantment I know.” Calawit glanced around. “I doubt this new world has any use for gold.”

“Well…” Derek started to say. Calawit glanced at him curiously. “I mean, they would, but I doubt they would see it.”

“And they wouldn’t see you, either. Have you noticed that?” Tyler asked.

Calawit nodded. “Yeah, I have. At first, I thought these humans hated gnomes, but after giving a human a crude gesture with no reaction, I realized they couldn’t see me.”

Tyler was trying to hide a smile. “I suppose not.”

She frowned, studying Tyler. “But… why can any of you see me?” She stepped closer to him. “I suppose you are of this world, are you not?”

“Um, yes. Yes we are,” Tyler said.

Calawit went still, and the smile Tyler tried to hide disappeared from his face, replaced with a worried look.

“Tyler?” Derek asked.

“She’s…” He trailed off, still looking at Calawit. Tyler understood Calawit so well he could almost predict what she’d do. Derek had the same sort of predictability with Milo. Derek didn’t even have to look, and he knew Milo was in the area with potions and mana. Whatever Calawit was thinking, Tyler understood her thoughts, and it put him on edge. Calawit was never a threatening personality unless it came to the trinkets in her store.

Tyler glanced around, taking in that Derek was the only one near him. Everyone else was exploring the shop. Evelyn and Alejandra were looking at a strange bauble. Clarissa and Milo were discussing the mana, and Grizzizzik was still trying to pick something up, hissing every time his hands went through something. Nick was close, watching Grizzizzik with narrowed eyes. Tyler lowered his voice as he lifted his hands, showing her the back of his palms. “I understand your concern. If you want to test it, test it on me.”

Calawit narrowed her eyes. “How do you know my thoughts, human? You are clearly no mana wielder.”

“I… I am your creator. In a way.”

Calawit kept the distrust clear in her face, but she flicked her left wrist toward the door. Two petals turned an angry red and flew toward Tyler. They settled on the back of his hands, but tumbled away. Calawit’s eyes went wide, then flicked her wrists again. Her brows furrowed as she concentrated. The petals remained on the back of Tyler’s hands. Carefully, Tyler lifted a hand toward an enchanted spoon. His fingers circled around the stem, and he picked it up. Calawit’s breath escaped through her teeth. “Shit,” she mumbled.

It was then that Derek realized what was going on. Tyler was helping Calawit figure out whether her enchantments would work on the people of this world. They just figured out that they didn’t. Which meant Calawit loudly declared where a bunch of gold was to people who wouldn’t be hit by whatever enchantment was over her door.

Tyler looked at the shopkeeper. “I know these people. None of them would steal your gold.”

“Your words bring little comfort.” Calawit’s deep purple eyes turned toward Derek. “I don’t know any of you.”

“Then think about it this way,” Derek said, dropping his voice. “No one else in our world can see you but us. No one in this world can see anything magical from this realm, therefore your gold would be of little use to us, because we couldn’t use it.”

Calawit followed this logic, causing her cautious glare to lighten, but only a little. “I still hate it. We cannot let anyone else know until I put up better enchantments.”

“Do you think it would…” Derek stopped talking once Calawit made eye contact with him. He didn’t want to finish his thought of whether trying a stronger enchantment would even work.

“Tell no one. If Grizzizzik ever figures this out…” It was Calawit’s turn to trail off. Derek had played at the table long enough to know exactly what Grizzizzik would do. He would find some way to get that gold, and Derek had a bad feeling he would rope Nick into it somehow. Nick wouldn’t do it unless threatened, and Grizzizzik wasn’t above such an idea.

Calawit straightened, then looked at the section of the shop with the books. She stopped whispering. “Where’s the other one? Ezekiel? Did he make it?”

“He did. He’s safe. We’ve been trying to convince his friend to join us, but so far, it’s been unsuccessful,” Tyler said.

“Huh.” Calawit kept her eyes on Evelyn, Alejandra, and Nick. “I liked him. He had a childlike excitement with everything.”

And he kept Grizzizzik in check. It was the phrase she left unsaid. Hraktar kept Grizzizzik in check, too, but something always ended up broken when the fighter tried to get the rogue under control.

Calawit’s eyes lingered on Nick. Saw how quiet he was, how he watched Grizzizzik carefully. She turned her gaze back on Derek. “We keep this between the three of us.”

She left, once again employing her strategy of leaping to the top of the bookshelves and walking across it. She made her way over to Milo, and they struck up a conversation. Milo showed her the raw red material that he still needed to work out to make red mana.

“So surreal,” Tyler muttered as he watched Calawit and Milo talk.

Derek nodded. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to it.”

Calawit promised all of them a fair exchange as long as they brought her something interesting. Considering she was going to be the only trader they knew from Shrouded Domain, Calawit no doubt had a monopoly right now, but at least she was a friend. A sort of friend.

They didn’t have long. Evelyn was sending Mr. Larsen a ton of pictures every time he asked from their stockpile of the ones they already took at Derek’s house. They needed to get back to Derek’s house and get their food before they returned home.

“Who is planning on coming to CCNC con?” Tyler asked once they got settled in the minivan.

“I’ve already got tickets for that Friday and Saturday,” Derek said.

“I can’t,” Evelyn said, her voice faltering. “There’s a football game Friday.”

“You’re not even coming for Saturday?” Tyler asked, curious.

“Um…”

“Do it. Neal won’t be there until Saturday anyway,” Tyler said.

Evelyn glanced at Nick. “What about you? Do you think dad will let you go?”

“I’ll have a better chance of going if you’re there,” Nick said.

“Well, as the resident college kid, I’ll be there all three days to scope out the area,” Tyler said.

“Oh, right. Yeah. That’s exactly what you’re doing, isn’t it,” Derek said, laying the sarcasm on thick. Tyler just grinned.

“Alejandra?” Nick asked.

She just shook her head. “I shouldn’t. Not without Rafael.”

“A Saturday ticket is fifty dollars on their lowest. It’ll get you into all the things you need.” Tyler checked his phone. “The rest of us are more than happy to split the cost.”

Alejandra glanced at her hands. “I… can’t. I can’t possibly…”

“If money is a concern, then you have the rest of your life to pay us back,” Tyler said. “We need our fighter with us.” Tyler hesitated. “Does the shield stretch as far as Phoenix?”

Evelyn glanced at Clarissa, who frowned. “There’s a Phoenix here?”

Tyler closed his eyes for a moment. “Sorry, no. That was my bad. Phoenix, Arizona. It’s… it’s the capital of Arizona.” Clarissa again blinked at him. “A city. It’s the name of an enormous city. It’s still in the desert. Does your shield reach that far?”

She shook her head. “Not at my current capabilities. Just around this town and a bit past it.”

Which was another way to say her leveling wasn’t high enough. Phoenix was an hour and a half away.

Tyler rubbed the back of his head. “Alright, well, con is the last three days of September. We still have time to level up. How many experience points does she have?”

Evelyn looked at the air. “Two hundred and fifty.”

“It’s far too dangerous to take them,” Alejandra said. “They’re not strong enough, and the shield around town is the only thing protecting them.”

“They’ll be alright at home. It’ll be like school, but longer,” Nick said.

“Actually…” Alejandra glanced at Hraktar. “Perhaps I better stay here. Someone’s got to. Just in case.”

Derek started the minivan as Tyler nodded. “I think you’re right. Our fighter better stay here to make sure everything is safe here at home.”