An illuminated "OPEN" sign blurs my vision. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I feel Alix's eyes on me from God knows where. I haven't had to use the communication device yet, thankfully. I'd rather save it for a last resort.
I let out a breath I don't realize I'm holding, before swinging open the door. A tiny bell chimes from somewhere inside the shop, greeting me. If only my reality is as uplifting as that noise.
Shelves tower over me on all sides, covered in odds and ends of all different sorts. A long table stretches out directly in front of me, glass covering over half of it to show off the weird things too expensive to be kept out in the open on a shelf. My entrance alerts someone in the back, because I hear some shuffling. It's only a few seconds before an older man emerges from the depths of the back room.
"Um, hi." I say, trying for a smile, but it probably looks more like a grimace.
The man regards me silently, before motioning me closer. "Can I be of service?" He asks in a low voice that rumbles when he speaks.
"Yeah, actually. I came for some questions regarding my grandfather. You might have heard of him?"
The man nods, sitting down on a scratched up stool that makes him shrink under the looming height of the counter.
"What is his name? I'll tell you what I know." He asks.
I don't know why I'm hesitant to answer. It's not like there is anything I have to be afraid of. I swallow whatever hesitance I once had, and say the words I haven't spoken for years.
"Paul Hollens."
The man's eyes immediately widen with recognition. "Is it true?" He blurts out. "Has he really been harboring a sixty million dollar locket with him all this time?"
Wait. I'm confused. How could this man know about the locket and not told anyone about it? Something this big is surely something very difficult to keep to oneself. There is something else in his expression, though. Something that I can read easier than a picture book with size thirty-six font. Greed.
"Yeah, actually. Do you know anything about it?" I ask, being incredibly careful not to show him the locket just yet. I made sure to hide it before coming in here for fear of this very thing.
"Well, um, I'll have to see it, you know, just to make sure." He stutters, picking up a pair of glasses lying on the counter in his hands and putting them on his face.
I know I shouldn't. Perhaps Alix will forgive me if I just walk out right now. But I want information, and if greed is what puts this man to sleep at night, then so be it.
"Of course." I say, lifting the locket up from where it's been laying against my bare skin, my body heat making it warm to the touch. I lift it up over my head and, tentatively, stretch my hand out and set it on the table.
The man tries to hold back his gasp, but he's so visibly awed and mesmerized by the locket that he doesn't do a very good job of hiding his amazement.
"My goodness." The man says to himself. "My goodness."
"Well? Do you know anything about its history, or maybe why my grandfather had it in the first place...?" I inquire.
The man hops off his stool, and rummages through a stack of papers on a desk not too far away, mumbling unintelligible words to himself. Eventually, he finds what he's looking for, and hobbles back over to me.
"Ah, yes." He says. "This locket is said to have been made in the early medieval times, by iron-workers. It dates almost all the way back to 700 AD. It was originally an ancient artifact given as gifts passed down generation after generation to the new queens of the time period. In the early 1700's, the locket was lost, and now, since it is right in front of me, has now been found."
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Subject #013 | ✓
Novela Juvenil"I'm only going to ask you one more time." I say firmly. "Who are you and what do you want with me?" He frowns, and I tense, waiting for a blow, but none comes. I really need to shut my big mouth. "Apparently, I'm not nearly as famous as I thou...
