Ether tensed and squeezed my hand tighter.

Her reaction wasn’t surprise, but more like disappointment mixed with some fear.

“Seriously?” I had grown up in the Temple and talk of demons was sparse even there.

“Yep.” Daisy turned back to the crystal cases and started flipping through them. "Harror says that there is going to be an uprising again soon and that the demons are making children with Snow Adventurers to raise an army.” She pointed at a stack. "These are all fire spells in that level range.”

“Thank you so much!” I tried to mask my nervousness with a smile.

“Thank you.” Ether nodded as the woman started walking towards the front.

“Let me know if you need anything else!” Her smile helped ease some of the tension I was feeling. “Hopefully I’ll see both of you at the Cathedral next year!”

“I hope to see you there too!” I waved at her as she took her spot behind the counter.

I turned to Ether. The composed woman that I was used to seeing looked like she was ready to run.

“Hey.” I pulled her closer to me and looked into her beautiful red eyes. "You’ve heard that before, haven’t you?”

She blinked. "You haven’t?”

I shook my head. "Nope. I guess most of the Adventurers that made it to Zeb didn’t care about this.” I ran my hand through my own white hair. "And I think that these...” I touched her face and brushed the thumb of my left hand under her right eye. "Are beautiful.” I thought about kissing her, but decided I’d save that for later.

She grabbed my hand and leaned her face against it. "Thanks.” She closed her eyes and composed herself, then opened them and pulled my hand away from her face. "We still should probably get this spell and leave. There’s plenty of ways to hurt someone without attacking them.”

I nodded. "Agreed.”

I knew that the Shopping Center was a safe zone. Within a constructed safe zone, no attacks could be made against another person. It helped prevent robbers and since the only thing that could be taken out of a crystal band while in one was money, it made security, who could take out their weapons, have a definitive edge.

Judging by the amount of shoulder checks that we’d received on the way here, there were plenty of loopholes to cover incidental contact. I agreed with Ether that I didn’t want to see just how many more of the loopholes people could take advantage of.

I turned to the spells. There was Fire Line, Fire Shot, Fire Ball, Fire Arrow, and Fire Rush. Each one of the crystal cases had a short video that would play when you looked at it of someone demonstrating how to use the spell. I turned the Fire Shot one over to show Ether. "Did you know it could do this?”

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The image showed someone with actual guns, loading the spell into a magazine, then it released when they pulled the trigger.

“I had no idea.” The white-haired woman shook her head.

“I need to get a gun.” I looked out the door and remembered that we needed to get out of here as soon as possible. “Maybe I’ll order one from Reace Armaments like Rix did.” I turned the crystal case over and saw the price. “Sixty-five All?!” I looked at Ether. "I like buying stuff from Trent better.”

“Should we see how much it is somewhere else?” The nervous Tank glanced around the store at the other patrons.

“No." I had just over seventy-five All. I still needed to get my jacket repaired, but that could wait until later.

“I think I’m going to get this one and go more for longer range.” I looked up and down the aisle. "Do you want to get something for yourself?”

Ether thought about it for a moment. "I think we should just get back to the RV.”

“Okay.” I took her hand and walked up to the counter

“Did you find everything?” Daisy smiled as she took the spell from me.

“I think that’s all we need.”

The blonde girl placed the spell on the counter and scanned it. “Sixty-five All.” she held out her hand.

I took the All out of my crystal band and handed it over.

“Thank you.” She deposited the money into the Crystal on the counter. She was looking at me strangely then snapped her fingers. "You’ve never been in a safe zone before.”

“That obvious?” I felt very uneducated and embarrassed by the snickers from some of the other patrons.

“You can’t take items out of crystals while they’re in here and…” She picked up a crystal case and threw it out the door, except it froze in midair. An alarm started blaring. A Grim male with black hair in a security uniform came over from across the divide. He stopped outside the shop.

“Daisy! What have you been told about this?” He touched the crystal case, the alarm stopped, and it fell back into the shop.

“It slipped!” She batted her eyes as she went around the counter and picked up the merchandise. “I swear!”

“Right…” His blue orbs eyed her. "Try to keep anything else from slipping.” He grumbled as he walked away.

She went back to her spot behind the counter and put the slippery case back where she’d gotten it. “None of the crystals can leave the store, but you can trade.” She tapped something on the menu in front of her. “Just put your wrist on the counter.”

As soon as I did there was a popup above my crystal band asking me if I wanted to accept an item from Treymire Abilities. I selected ‘yes’ and the paper inside the crystal vanished and appeared in my inventory.

“That’s all there is to it!” She clapped her hands.

“Thank you.” Ether and I turned to leave.

“Wait!”

I turned around and watched her pull back the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a clear crystal band. She selected something and there was a pair of dings.

I looked down at my crystal band and saw Ether doing the same.

The display read: Friend Request from Daisy Treymire

“In case you need anything else while you’re in town and don’t want to walk through the store.” She smiled at us.

“Thanks.” I accepted the friend request and saw Ether do the same.

“See you later!” She waved at us as we left the store.