Page 8

I went down the steps that led toward the beach, following the directions my GPS had given me. I’d never been to the Magic Box before, but the reviews online all raved about the store’s inventory and most particularly about Claire, the helpful shop owner and local celebrity.

The couple was still behind me. Maybe they were going to the Magic Box too? I tried not to pay much attention to the weird feeling I was getting between my shoulders. As if their eyes were drilling a hole through my back.

I reached the shop and opened the door, quickly stepping into a cozy and well-lit store full of mahogany-and-glass display cases, a section of bookshelves catching my attention before my eyes glided over the assembled group, my attention instantly going elsewhere.

Holy shit. He’s hot.

There was a man standing in the group, definitely taller than six feet, with bright green eyes and a head of light brown hair that curled in large waves, inviting a hand to go through the soft silk. He had big lips and a little dent in his chin that gave his face dimension. His jeans fit just right, his blue-and-white striped shirt French-tucked into the waistband.

Someone cleared their throat. Ah, shit, that’s right, there were other people here. I snapped out of my hypnotic spell and smiled at whom I assumed was Claire.

“Uh, hi… are you open?”

All their eyes turned to my left. My eyebrows drew together as I followed their confused gazes, spotting the Closed sign on the door just a few moments too late. Shit. My mind had been elsewhere; I hadn’t even realized.

“Oh, hah, right, sorry about that.” I figured I couldn’t just leave, not after the hours-long bus ride I’d endured to get here. “I’ll be quick.”

I stepped inside and shut the door. That was when I saw the visible scales on two of the other guys. Something else that completely slipped past me: I was in the room with a Marvel and a couple of dragons. Great. What the hell could go wrong?

The Marvel blinked away her shock and turned to the men. “You guys can go ahead to the back. I’ll see what he needs.” She turned back to me, her peaceful aura practically blanketing me as she came over, a relaxed smile on her face. She was dressed casually, with jeans and an oversized T-shirt underneath the black-and-gray filigreed robe she wore.

“I’m Claire Hills, the owner of the shop. What are you looking for, hon?”

“Well,” I said, looking around her store. “I’m looking for a rose quartz pipe for my cousin’s birthday. She’s been eyeing one for the last year or so. She wants to get her energies right while she gets right, if you know what I mean.” I put two fingers up to my lips and inhaled, chuckling.

Claire tossed me a bone and laughed at my unfiltered dad joke. She seemed like such a calm and cool person to be around. Just from this ten-second interaction, I already felt like I could trust her. Maybe she had placed some kind of soothing wards around the shop, but I doubted it. I had a feeling it had to do with her.

“Come, we’ve got all kinds of pipes down this way.”

That’s when I got another idea, stopping before we turned down a small aisle. It was likely a dumb question, especially since I hadn’t come prepared whatsoever for a follow-up answer, but I decided to ask it anyway.

“Also, are you hiring by any chance?”

Chapter 4

Help Wanted

Damien

“What a sweet kid,” Claire said as she walked through the shimmering crystal curtain that separated her shop from the back room. “Little odd, but sweet.”

I stood up from the red velvet chair surrounded by a tower of books. Claire’s back room wasn’t as well organized as the front, with random piles of sealed boxes labeled “DO NOT TOUCH” across their sides blocking a window that appeared carved into the hillside itself. A sliver of light shone through, making Claire’s honey-brown eyes glow like two golden orbs.

“What did he want?” Xavier asked, pushing off the wall, hands in the pockets of his khaki pants, rolled up at the ankles to make him look more like a sailor than the bodyguard he actually was.

“Looking for a birthday gift and a job.”

“Did he find them?” I asked, my curiosity sparked from the moment the naive human stumbled into the store, completely oblivious to the importance of the meeting he had just walked into. There had been an ease to him and his perfectly slanted smile. His teeth were ivory white, and there was a small but visible gap in the upper row that gave the guy a grin I could easily pluck from a crowd.

One of those faces that was difficult to forget.

“He sure did. Got his gift and his job,” Claire said, moving to her cluttered desk surrounded by empty birdcages. No, not empty—there were floating jewels in each of them, some clacking together and sounding like chirps. “Shall we get this started?”