Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
On all other surfaces – shelves, tables, countertops – artifacts fought for space. Rune-etched stones and boxes, tarnished astrolabes, figurines, and heavy-looking wands.
The shop itself felt alive to Pandora, like it had its own pulse and soul, as if all the items gathered within hummed with their own latent energy.
Each creak of the floorboards as they walked echoed with whispers of forgotten rituals.
In a glass case toward the back of the shop, items were hidden behind locks that glowed and flickered, that seemed to whimper softly.
There was nothing about this shop that invited any novice to move inside, to play around with a craft they knew nothing about. The entire establishment seemed to actively try to scare you away from practicing the dark or forbidden magicks they offered supplies for.
Then, emerging seemingly out of nowhere, the shopkeeper stepped in front of their path.
She was a striking woman of indeterminate age whose presence commanded notice, but also oozed mysteries.
She was dressed in layers of deep, shadowy velvet in shades of black, midnight blue, and plum, reminding Pandora of sorceresses in many books she’d read. Intricate embroidery of unknown symbols adorned the chest and cuffs of her gown. The threads caught the light and shimmered, in much the same way as the sigil on the front door had, charged with some sort of magick.
The woman’s hair tumbled in waves of blonde and white over her shoulders, framing a face of sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes the colour of storm clouds, keen and forbidding.
Her hands, adorned with an array of rings, moved with a precision that suggested a lifetime of practice as she drew something in the air before the two women.
Another sigil, Pandora thought.
A chain hung around the woman’s neck, holding a vial of something that seemed suspiciously alive, undulating and shivering behind the glass containing it.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever had a vampire and werewolf in here at the same time,” she said, her voice low and deliberate, each word imbued with the weight of ancient knowledge.
While Pandora didn’t feel she was unfriendly, there was something guarded about her as she looked over them.
“Yeah, that vampire–werewolf rivalry is totally overblown,” Lucy said, waving a hand, trying to play off the discomfort that Pandora could feel emanating from her.
“It is not,” the proprietor said, brows furrowing, as if trying to figure out why Lucy was being dishonest with her.
“Well, I mean, for us it is,” Lucy said, waving toward Pandora. “We’re best friends. Supernatural creatures have more in common than they don’t, I think. Even her crazy family seems to be OK with me. Well, more OK than they are with humans, I guess. Why am I babbling?” she asked, looking to Pandora with panicky eyes.
“I think she’s making you,” Pandora said, watching the shopkeeper closely, feeling it herself. It wasn’t a glamour, per se. She didn’t feel drunk the way Victor or other humans sounded when a vampire put the whammy on them. This was more like being drawn forward, like there was a warm hug enveloping her, making her feel comfortable enough to open up, to spill all of her secrets.
“Very good,” the woman said, nodding. And just like that, Pandora felt released. “What would bring a vampire and a werewolf here together?”
“Well, that’s about my friend here,” Lucy said. “She’s engaged.”
“Congratulations.” The woman’s gaze slid to the ring. “The former keeper of that ring had a long, happy marriage,” she said, making Pandora’s brows lift.
“Yes, well, her fiancé is of the warm-blooded variety. And, well, he can’t know they’re vampires. And her family can’t know … some secrets they’re keeping,” Lucy said, waving toward Pandora again.
“And?”
“And she’s got this nightmare of a cousin who is trying to glamour the truth out of her fiancé. So, we decided to come here to see if maybe there’s a way to prevent him from being glamoured.”
“There is nothing to prevent some glamour but allow for other glamour,” the woman said, eyeing Pandora.
“Oh, no. No, I don’t glamour him. That’s just … wrong. I just want to protect him from it in the future. It’s really gross that it can happen to him in general. But especially from my family.”
To that, the proprietor nodded.
She turned in a swoosh of coloured velvet then quickly disappeared in the maze of bookshelves, leaving Lucy and Pandora to rush to catch up, lest they lose track of her completely.
They found her standing in an L-shaped formation of glass cabinets, the contents looking slightly less ominous than the ones in the back that were glowing and pulsing and shrieking.
As Pandora drew closer, in fact, she discovered that within these glass cases there were only types of jewelry.
“He can just wear a nice little accessory and it’s all good?” Lucy asked, looking down at the jewelry but not getting too close. Because of that pesky werewolf/silver thing.