This Shop is Protected by the Demon King

Chapter 3

She counted us, eight of us in total, she checked twice as if trying to make sure she didn't miss anyone. Before I knew it, a metal carriage was called and we were transported away from the alley. The woman spoke rapidly to the person driving in the front, they seemed to be friends. I didn't pay much attention as I lay with my family in the back seat doing my best to warm them with my magic.

At one point she stopped talking and looked at me strangely. I could tell she knew what I was doing. But I did not care, my family was more important right now. We were transported further and further away from the taller buildings out to an area where the buildings were much smaller and quaint looking.

The person driving and the woman carried me and my siblings in our box home out of the car and into a building. I had poked my head out over the edge to see where they were taking us. My eyes widened when I saw the sign, 'Eye of Newt Magic Shop.' I suppose it wasn't that surprising that a witch would own a magic shop... But I had been uncertain whether this world would have merchants of magic or not because of how difficult it was to perform any spell.

The inside of the shop had bookshelves that reached the ceiling and were stuffed full of tomes. Magic items littered the shop shelves and counters. Herbs hung from the ceiling near windows drying... Crystals were everywhere. It was almost all too similar to the magic shops of my old world. Though... Some of these things were considered child's play in my last.

We were carried to the back where the woman reached back behind a beaded curtain and opened a door. Up the stairs was a small living space. The box was set down in the corner near a window, the woman handed the person who had helped carry us up money before they left. It seemed I had been mistaken... That person had not been a friend.

The woman quickly stripped her jacket off and got to work creating a space for my family. Newspapers covered the floor inside of a gated pen, slowly she lifted each of us out of the box placing us one by one onto a small pile of heated blankets.

I sat on the blanket watching as she grabbed her communication device... I believe it was called a cell phone based on what I had heard and saw from newspaper scraps in the alley. She spoke with someone, and in a few short minutes, someone showed up wearing a white coat and carrying several bags.

Bowls were filled up with food and water placed in the pen. The white-coated person lifted my siblings up checking on each of them. Medicine was given to them and me, and I cooperated feeling grateful to receive medical attention.

One by one we were placed back into the pen, I lay next to my mother and siblings. The warmth from the blankets radiated from under us, and I felt their bodies slowly warm. My eyes felt heavy, it felt like only seconds before I heard a ferocious bark from my mother.

'Stay away from them!' My eyes snapped open and I scrambled to my feet seeing my siblings all awake huddled in a corner around me. My mother standing in the way of the woman and the person in the white coat. Her back arched and her teeth were bared, a low threatening growl rumbled out of her.

"Now calm down mama, we're not going to hurt you." The person in the white coat said reassuringly, they reached for my mother and she snapped at them. 'Mama, what's wrong?' One of my brothers asked, 'Stay where you are,' Mother ordered, 'Humans are bad.' She explained. 'How did we get here?' One of my sisters whimpered out now scared that they were in the presence of something bad.

'I asked for help.' My voice was small coming out of me, they thought humans were bad... While I was sure that they could in fact be terrible based on the scars on my mother's body. I couldn't help but wonder... Even worry what they would think if they knew who I was... If humans were bad... What did that make me?