EPISODE SIXTY-FOUR
From there I touched another item, one of the feathers. As soon as my finger touched it, it wasn’t a feather anymore but a leather-bound book with strange letters on it. Now the Cat’s comment made more sense. All of this was magical, but she didn’t know it. The items in the box were all glamored, protecting their secrets.
“I think we can take the whole box off your hands for, say, $500, if that works?” I turned to look at her. The brownie was gone, and the Cat was purring under her fingertips again.
“Oh, that’d be great.”
I moved over to the register, hoping the Cat wasn’t using magic to make her want to accept the price. Though, given what I could see without touching the items, the box wasn’t worth even that much. I counted out the twenties twice to make sure it was all there, then pulled a bill of sale. I signed it and she signed it as well.
“Thanks for this,” she said, putting the money away in her pocket. Then she picked up her coffee and headed to the door. It closed quietly behind her, the bells silent.
I slowly pulled things out of the box. As I set them on the counter, they changed. Feathers turned into books and scales. Candles turned into tools, and the crystals just became more magical. “She really didn’t see what all of this was… Also, just offering her the money without looking would seem strange, just so you know.”
The Cat’s tail flicked as he looked over the items. “True, I hadn’t thought about that. She was clearly a regular human, who didn’t know her grandma was a witch.”
“How often does that happen?” I asked frowning.
“More often than not. Magic doesn’t always pass from parent to child, and it’s safer to not tell the child about magic until they show promise. This is for worlds where magic isn’t the norm, like yours.”
“Wait, are we on my world now?” I patted my pocket for my phone, but it was upstairs. I’d stopped carrying it in the shop since it really didn’t work most of the time.
“Yes, though not in our normal location,” answered the Cat. “You should leave the items out. The buyer will be here shortly.”
I had taken everything out of the box and placed the box behind the counter. “That seems rather quick.”
The bells on the door rang as it opened. In hurried another human, this time with a panicked expression. Their eyes searched around the store before landing on the counter. “Oh, thank the Fates. She came here.”
Their comment broke my normal train of thought. “Welcome to the shop.”
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“Yes, yes.” They hurried to the counter. “I couldn’t believe that Hazel left the house to Alice without saying anything to us. We didn’t even have time to remove any of the coven’s gear! We all figured we had time to clear it out, but she’s rushing for some reason.”
I glanced at the Cat, and he nodded.
“Well, Alice has an internship offer that she needs to take. Renting the house is going to help her pay her bills in the new place. She sounded really worried, and sad.”
The woman let out a sigh. “I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. My name’s Beth, and I am part of the coven that Hazel ran. Alice should know that we would take care of her… I’ll send some of the others to stop by. She knows us as her aunties.”
I nodded. “It sounds like she could use some family.”
“We’re all she has. Her mother passed when she was young. We’ve tiptoed around, making sure we didn’t break the protection since she doesn’t have magic.” She shook her head sadly. “I’m hoping I can buy all of this back from you. It belongs to our coven. We’re lucky enough we figured out where it went. Some of this has been passed down for generations, even centuries in a few cases.”
The Cat nodded. “Sell it at cost.”
“It’s all yours for $500,” I said. “That’s what we gave her.”
Her eyes softened. “Thank you for being sweet to her.” She quickly pulled the money out of her purse. “I promise we will do better by Alice.”
“I hope so. Make sure to give her a good hug.”
Beth held out her hand for me to shake, and I did. “Oh, you have some magic as well… I guess that makes sense, given this shop.” She hesitated before she pulled her hand away.
“I’m just a Shopkeeper,” I said with a smile. I grabbed the box, but she held up a hand.
“I’ll just put the things in my storage, I have plenty of room.” Then Beth put things one by one into her purse. Somehow, it all fit, like magic. She paused again and stared at me. “I think this belongs with you.” Beth pulled a bright orange stone out of her purse. It hadn’t been one of the items in the box. Then she nodded twice. “For the help you gave regarding Alice.”
“It was just some advice.”
Beth shook her head and patted her bag. “Thanks again, sweetie.” She headed out the door and I sat down on the stool. My latte was still almost full.
“So, what did we accomplish there? They were going to lose their tools?” I asked.
“Some of those crystals and books had been passed down for centuries. It would have been devastating for any coven,” said the Cat.
“How did they let something like that happen?”
“No idea, but they weren’t careful. They are lucky the Fates helped them out.”
“Or helped Alice out…”
The Cat turned to look at me.
“Maybe it was her who needed the help. She got $500, and her remaining family got a kick in the pants to not forget about her, even though she doesn’t have magic.” I shrugged. “But who knows what the Fates are thinking?” I picked up the stone, which felt hot in my hands. “And I got a stone that’s warm.”
Chirping from across the room caught my attention as Indigo dive bombed me without her headphones on. She went directly to the stone and picked it up, even though it was almost the same size as her. Then she headed back to her hideaway.
“Well, that was rude.”
The Cat chuckled. “Guess the stone was for her. It was a Dragon Stone, after all.”