“Hi, I’m looking for several spell components.I need Golden Chain bush berries and some pixie dust.”We had several gemstones at home, and I knew that I had a ruby somewhere.They might be precious over here, but in Otherworld, they were a lot less expensive, especially spell-grade gems.
She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Wait here.”
As she ducked through a curtain cordoning off a back room, I took the opportunity to examine the blades beneath the glass countertops.They were gorgeous, but I had a ritual dagger, and it was hexed so that if anybody tried to steal it, it would trigger a nasty curse.But the blades she had for sale looked exquisitely made.Most magic shops usually offered generic mass-produced daggers.These?Not so much.
As she returned, I said, “By the way, I’m Camille D’Artigo.I own the Indigo Crescent bookstore.”
“Are you from…” She hesitated, then said, “You’re from Otherworld, right?I think I read about you in the Magic Daily Digest.”
“I am,” I said.“And yes, I remember that interview.”I’d agreed to a small interview in a local magic newsletter, though I’d kept all mention of the OIA out of it.It was good publicity for the bookstore, and given I had to at least makesomemoney with the shop, I figured it wouldn’t hurt.
“Here you go,” she said, holding up a sack of purple berries.They looked a lot like blueberries, but they were from the Golden Chain bush, from the forests of Darkynwyrd over in Otherworld.
“I’ll take eight, actually.I might as well keep a few on hand.”
“And how much pixie dust?”
I thought for a moment, then said, “Three vials.”
Pixie dust was hard to find, and gathering it required that one have questionable ethics, but for some spells—it was all that would work.
“They’re one hundred dollars per vial,” she warned me.
I nodded.“That’s fine.I need it.You have some gorgeous blades here,” I said.
“Thanks, my brother makes them.Okay, at twenty dollars per berry, and one hundred per vial of pixie dust, that will be four hundred and sixty dollars before tax.”
“Not a problem,” I said, handing over my credit card.
She rang up my purchases and wrapped the vials so they wouldn’t spill, then cushioned both the dust and the berries into a bag.“I’ll check out your store sometime.”
“I’d like that,” I said.“And I’ll be back.There’s more than enough here to pique my interest.”As I headed to the door, I thought that Irena and I would meet again.
At home,I found that Delilah and Chase had tackled cleaning the whole house.Pleasantly surprised, I noticed that even the laundry was done.
“Good job,” I said.
“Well, I feel bad for making Iris so irritated.So I thought that I might as well put in some elbow grease,” Delilah said.
I glanced over at Chase, knowing that this was his doing.I mouthed a “thank you” to him and he just smiled.
“So, I have all the ingredients to try to break the spell.Let’s get things set up—” I paused as there was a sound at the front door.“Is somebody here?”
Delilah went to check.A moment later, she let out a shout.Crystal ball in hand, I couldn’t just drop what I was doing, but I quickly deposited it on the floor before heading over to the door.She had slammed it, and now she turned to me.
“There’s something out there and I don’t know what it is.”
“Oh cripes,” I said.“Don’t tell me it’s another demon.”
“It’s a box,” she whispered, peeking out the peephole.“It’s still there.”
A box?Okay then.
“Who left it?”I said, shooing her out of the way.I opened the door and knelt down to examine the package.After a moment, I snorted.“It’s Menolly’s delivery of bottled blood.”I picked it up and carried it inside to set it on the kitchen table.“You really are a scaredy-cat,” I said, but smiled at her.
“I thought it might be another demon,” she said.
“In a box?But we’ll open it, just to be sure.”