A week passed by with little to no incidents. Sebastian was honestly relieved that the constant stream of plot twists had trickled out for now at least, and they could focus on what had happened.

Daisy adjusted fairly easily, though she didn’t interact with anyone besides Luke, Edmund and himself, unless the person initiated the interaction. Luke had become more relaxed thanks to reassurance from Seb, Ed, and even Garret. The Kingsley household was fuller and livelier than Sebastian ever remembered seeing it.

Even back when Ed’s grandparents lived here and threw parties for their friends or Garret’s colleagues. The parties were always nice and bright, but it was different from having a whole group of people at every meal and hearing them fill the old empty halls with sound all day around. It was a nice change.

A not so nice change however was the huge influx of customers that Persephone’s Emporium had these days. If the place hadn’t been a supernatural hotspot before, it certainly was now. It felt like every day was a full-moon day! Though, he supposed he had it easier than Lydia and Persephone since he still went to school half the day.

There was also far more help after school since Luke and Daisy helped out around the store. They didn’t manage the sales or interact with customers, but they could be trusted with light cleaning and sorting.

It was a real blessing these days, especially when the line of customers seemed never ending; and somehow even more eccentric than their regulars.

“And that’s your total.”

“What? That much for a box of vials?”

“Well, your, um, ferret is also holding a particularly expensive ring,” Sebastian pointed out to the customer, who did a double take to the animal on their shoulder.

It was a familiar, if Sebastian was guessing correctly. Hayden had explained that most potion makers had them since these magical creatures could help with checking the qualities of potion ingredients. It was still a bit weird that the man had decided to bring his ferret with him for a shopping trip though.

“Damnit, you little kleptomaniac.” The man scolded, prying the ring out of its paws. “I’m so sorry about her.”

“No problem, man. At least you didn’t walk out of here with it. Here's your total without the ring.”

The man thanks him, pays, and then leaves with his box of vials, chastising his ferret all the way out the door. Edmund passes the man as he enters, and looks extremely confused.

“Was that man reprimanding a weasel about stealing, or am I just exhausted?”

Seb shrugged. “I think that was a ferret, but yeah, he was upset with it. I’m guessing from how shit you look, it was a busy day at the cafe too.”

Ed groaned and moved to slump himself into Sebastian’s side. “It’s fucking crazy over there. I don’t know how or why, but this town is getting far busier than it should be.”

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“Yeah. Are you going to be okay to still go to the mall after this.”

Edmund nodded. “Daisy can’t keep on wearing our old clothes, and we promised.”

Seb hummed in agreement, then the young girl in question popped up in front of them. “Ed! Look, Persephone gave me this bracelet.”

“Oh, wow, it looks lovely.”

“It's my favourite colour too!”

Sebastian smiled softly as he watched the two talked on about what Daisy had done today. Since they hadn’t enrolled her in school yet, they would drop her off to spend time at the emporium while everyone else was busy. After school, Edmund had to go directly to his job at the cafe, while Sebastian came to work at the emporium and Luke was free to do as he wanted.

It was nice to watch how excited Daisy became when they arrived. She couldn’t seem to stay still, either flapping her hands or rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet as she joyfully recounted her day. She was like the energetic little sister that Sebastian had never had.

As more customers came over to pay, Ed and Daisy moved their conversation to the backroom, and Sebastian can’t wait to be done with all of this. So once the final customer is out the door, he sighs in relief and Persephone moves quickly to flip the open sign to closed.

“Finally! I never thought I’d be upset with a busy store, but this is just too much.”

“Any idea why we’ve suddenly become so popular?” Sebastian inquired.

“No, and that’s what bother me,” Lydia said as they walked over.

Persephone frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not sure. But it feels like we’ve got too much to do with all of these customers.”

“I suppose. We won’t have to worry too long though; I’ll hire someone new to help out with the rush. Even if business goes back to normal, then at least we’ll be able to have shorter shifts between us.”

Sebastian and Lydia nodded in agreement, then as the bell above the door chimed, all three flinched and looked at the newcomer. It was a young woman who had entered. She froze as she noticed everyone staring at her.

“Sorry, Miss, but we’re closed,” Lydia declared.

The woman unfroze and smiled softly. “Oh, that’s fine. I’m, um, not a customer.”

“No, but you’re early,” Persephone remarked. “It’s nice to see you though, Patricia.”

The woman, Patricia, smiled wider. “Thank you. It’s lovely to meet with you again, Miss Persephone. This shop is absolutely lovely.”

Her whole presence was soft and polite, like a sweet little songbird. She honestly looked as innocent as a child to Sebastain, though he couldn’t help remembering Hayden’s suspicion and feeling a little on edge.

“Have you gotten settled at the hotel yet?”

“Oh, no. I wanted to come around first and say hello.” Patricia explained, blushing a bit.

Sebastian didn’t even know vampires could blush, but her demeanour was reminding him a lot of someone with a crush. Specifically, on Persephone. As this information clicked in his brain, Seb wondered briefly if Hayden’s feelings stemmed from a possessiveness over her wife.

Seriously, Persephone and Hayden were both very possessive of one another, so it wasn’t out of the question. But Sebastian also knew that Hayden was a logically minded person who did her best to separate personal feelings from her assessments of people.

“If you would like to meet with Edmund, he’s just in the back.”

Patrcia nodded. “Ah, yes. I’d like to greet him as soon as possible.”

I’ll fetch him then, Sebastian said, before anyone else could say anything.

The idea that Patrcia could be interested in Persephone though made him feel uncomfortable, even if he knew that nothing would really come of it. He felt the need to give Edmund some kind of heads up. When he entered the back room though, all thoughts of vampires vanished when he saw Luke curled up on the floor whimpering.