The Mage's Ring

Chapter 2

Eric pulled on the door handle of the antique shop again. The old wood creaked until he let go, giving up.

"Fine then..." He sighed, walking off. A small smile curled on his sweet, innocent face as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Back at the shop, the black haired woman stood at the door for a moment, her fingers still on the lock of the door. The mere touch of her hand made the lock heat up a bit but she didn't register to her at first. All she could think about was how much that brat reminded her so much of herself when she first began magic.

Well, first realized she was born with it. How confused and inexperienced she was. With a power such as hers, misusing the nature of her magic was dangerous. She loathed newbies. They were always the main cause of accidents. She squeezed her violet eyes shut as her mind was rushed to memories of a burning building.

Then, a singing sound quickly ripped her out of it and she realized she had started to melt the lock. She slightly cursed under her breath and released it quickly, shaking her hand to cool her palm down.

The black haired girl walked away from the door, eyes staring at the floor. But, her hair stood up on the back of her neck and she stopped.

"You really should have just given him the box." An older dark skinned man suddenly spoke from the corner of the shop. His scalp was bald, and he wore all black from head to toe, wearing a long leather trench coat. Stigly smiled as he watched the shop owner.

"And you need to stop giving my card to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that shows you a pocket trick." The girl glanced up from her place, flashing those fiery violet eyes through the shelves of her shop.

He chuckled lightly, stepping out. "I thought you would've sensed something greater in him than a card trick, Blaire."

"Hmph. Shows how much you actually know about me." Blaire raised her chin and walked back behind her register. "Guess that's why you don't get paid to think, huh?"

"You don't get paid at all with your attitude." He chuckled.

She rolled her eyes. "What're you doing here, Stigly? Don't you have an alley to hide in?"

"I find it is plenty dusty in here for my taste." Stigly glanced around at the dusty shelf next to him.

"You wanna clean in here? Be my guest" She sat down on a stool. "To ask again, what're you doing here? If he was something special then why didn't you come out and say so yourself? You're his voucher. "

"I figured that perhaps you could see it yourself. Shame..." The bald man put a coin on an old weighing scale that sat next to him, watching it tip. "This shop suits you, Blaire. Nothing new coming in at all."

Blaire shot a glare at him and stood up from the stool.

"It's also like you. Plain. Old." She moved through the doorway she had gone through earlier and opened another hidden door. A staircase descended downwards into the true magic shop resting below ground; underneath the dusty antique shop.

"You seem to forget where you started, Blaire." Stigly stood in the corner of the magic shop already never once moving from his spot above to the naked eye. His brown eyes watched his precious protégé as she came downstairs. "There was a time when you had as much magical talent as a radish."

Blaire ignored him and turned rock music on over her speakers, pulling a beer out of the mini fridge. "Whatever."

She slumped against an old leather couch sitting beside the mini fridge. The magic shop looked more like a lounge than a shop. But there was so much more than meets the eye.