misplaced || l. valdez

20 || princess saleswoman almost scams everyone

° ~ •. ♆ chapter twenty ♆ .• ~ °
"princes saleswoman almost scams everyone"

After another half hour, everyone was finally awake. They started heading down the tunnel, but Mari was still freaked out from her dream. She'd already downed two water bottles, but even that wasn't enough to help her. She could smell smoke as if it was still coming off of her. The blinding light had almost dried her eyes out and she was struggling to adjust to the dark sewer tunneI. It twisted and turned and seemed to go on forever. Mari wasn't sure what to expect at the end— a dungeon, a mad scientist's lab, or maybe another Cyclopes.

Instead, they found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator door was a directory, like for a department store.

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "That's the only department store I can think of that begins with an M."

"I don't think Macy's sells this kind of stuff." Leo said, pointing to a nearby sign. "Read the directory. It's messed up."

Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level
Furnishings and Café M: 1
Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2
Men's Wear and Weaponry: 3
Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries: 4

"Kennels? For what?" Piper said. "And what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer?"

"Or sells poisons?" Leo said, looking to Piper and Mari. "Man, what does 'sundries' even mean? Is that like underwear?"

"Why are you looking at us like we know the answer?" Piper said.

Jason just took a deep breath. "When in doubt, start at the top."

° ~ •. ♆ .• ~ °

The doors slid open on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Jason stepped out first, sword ready.

"Guys." he said. "You've got to see this."

Piper stepped up and caught her breath. "Definitely not a Macy's."

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.

Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, Mari couldn't see any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There was too much to take in at once, but Mari saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored mannequins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.

Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "Check it out."

In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage— like an oversize canary cage.

Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a stature, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.