The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 1: The Pendant of Life

Chapter 7: Putnam's Pub

Chapter 7

     “Ms. Marion, escort the kids to Goody’s Curio Shop and then to Abigail’s Apothecary,” Shade instructed Ms. Marion, “I’ll meet up with you there. If you find yourself waiting too long, take them to Mary’s Ice Cream Parlor. Tell them Shade sent you, they’ll give you a discount.” Shade handed her a handful of gold eagles.

     Shade then turned to Star. “Do me a favor,” he told her, “Don’t lose anyone else, okay? I’m going to look for our resident tough guy, okay?”

     Star nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see him run off.”

     “It’s not your fault, Starkid,” Shade reassured her, “I should have been keeping a better eye out.”

     He lifted her chin, smiled, and walked around, looking around the crowd of young people and parents. He looked inside of the shop windows, looking for the blonde haired boy with a scowl on his face.

     “Damn you, Dareo, where did you go?” Shade told himself.

     Shade spotted a batch of blonde hair and rushed up to grab the person with the blonde hair. He spun around the teenager and for a second he thought he had found Dareo, but instead he was staring into a familiar face, a different one. She was wearing a hooded robe, and her hair was in her face. The look in her eyes was one of anger, and their hazel glow seemed to change colors as she was turned around.

     “What the hell is your problem?” the blonde girl said.

     “Sorry, I was looking for someone else,” Shade said.

     The blonde girl jerked her shoulder away and began to walk away.

     “Hey,” Shade said, “You’re Echo, aren’t you?”

     The blonde girl stopped in her tracks then slowly turned around. “Do I know you?”

     Shade gulped. Her eyes were piercing, much more intense in person than what he had seen in the pictures in Ms. Turan’s office.

     “You don’t know me,” he continued, “But I work for your mother. I’m an Auror. My name is Shade Richards.”

     Echo looked at him with wary eyes. “Never heard of you.” She was about to walk away but he stopped her.

     Shade pulled out his badge and showed it to her. “Look, I’m here escorting some exchange students and one of them seems to have gotten lost. Can you help me?”

     “Help with what?” Echo asked, brutishly.

     “Have you seen a blonde boy, about seventeen, tall, got a mean scowl?” Shade tried to think how to describe him to Echo. “He’s got a British accent.”

     Echo looked around. “Yeah, actually,” she remembered, “There was some punk kid who went by earlier. Nearly knocked me over. He was in a hurry. I was this close to turning him into a turnip. He went over there.” She motioned to the last place Shade had hoped for, but the first place he should have thought to look.

     Putnam’s Pub.

     Home of the riff raff of Salem.

     “Merlin’s Beard,” Shade said to himself, “Of course he went in there.”

     Echo was about to turn again when Shade grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.

     “Do me a favor,” he said to her, “Head over to Abigail’s and tell a woman named Marion Runner to head over to Mary’s Ice Cream. I’ll be there in a bit.” And he handed her a couple of half-eagles.