UnFamiliar

Chapter 6

A bell chimed when we walked into Lifebridge. It was quite large for a thrift store and had a section of furniture as well as clothes. The person working the counter looked to be in their twenties, and well, quite androgynous. They had shaggy black hair and a lip ring.

I waved a hello. Look. I was born and raised in the south. We greet everyone with smiles on our faces, even if sometimes those smiles mean quite the opposite of what a smile implies.

Nina looked at me, she had a leash in hand connected to Sherril. We more or less hoped the cloaking spell would make a panther look like a dog, but there was every chance people would see literally anything else, as long as it was something they expected to see. That was the catch of using cloaking spells, they tended to be unpredictable.

"Take Sherril and sit on a couch or something. I'm going to help Val find some clothes." She shoved the end of the leash at me. I wasn't even sure if familiars would follow anyone other than their witch even with a leash.

"I can help find clothes," I said without taking the leash.

Nina put her free hand on her hip. "Yes, because everyone wants to be as monochromatic as you."

"I can pick clothes that aren't black," I said, "I just prefer ones that are."

"Whatever. I want to help Val pick clothes and someone needs to watch Sherril. Pleeeeeease take her somewhere she won't be a nuisance."

"Fine," I took the leash and turned to go find a seat somewhere out of the way.

"Wait," Nina said, "how much can we spend?"

I rolled my eyes. This is what she really wanted, a shopping trip on someone else's dime. "I can spare like twenty dollars tops."

She nodded. "Done." Then she pulled Val towards the clothing racks.

I went over to one of the couches, a little surprised that Sherril seemed to willingly follow me. I was also surprised that the worker hadn't said a word to us about Sherril. Maybe she appeared to be a service dog? We sat, and Sherril put her head in my lap. I was a little uncomfortable, but ended up putting a hand on her hand and petting her while I played one of those games where you shoot balls into blocks with numbers on them on my phone. 

I'd nearly beaten my high score when Nina came over. I glanced at the time before shutting my phone off and putting it in my pocket. We'd been here for about an hour. I wanted to ask how twenty dollars took them so long to spend.

Nina spoke before I could. "Val really is a demon."

"What do you—" I cut myself of the second I actually looked at her. Her curly hair was sticking up in odd places and her cheeks were flushed. "What did you do with him? Make out?"

She blinked. "Why would I—you know what? Never mind. Go pay for his clothes and let's get out of here."

I glanced over at the counter, where Val and the worker were looking at us, waiting for me to come pay. Still, I asked Nina, "What did you mean by he's really a demon? Did you not believe him before?"

She pursed her lips. "No. I think I'll let you find out for yourself."
With that ominous answer I handed her the leash and went over to the counter. The worker glanced at Val, and then told me, "The total is twenty dollars even."

I frowned. That shouldn't have been possible with tax, but I tapped my card anyway.

"Receipt in the bag?" The worker asked.