Torren's Magic Palace

Chapter Two: No Suprise Here

Chapter Two

I chewed aimlessly on my fingernail as I leaned lazily over the countertop. It had been a little over 3 days of me working at Torren's Magic Palace, and not one person had showed up. Or at least no one showed up during my shift. I watched over the store during the daylight hours, and Torren, the underage owner of the store, looked over it during the night hours. Every night, as soon as I would grab my jacket to leave, a shifty looking character or two would appear outside and wouldn't enter the store until my car was backing out of the parking lot. What kind of business was she doing here? Something illegal maybe? No, a mere child wouldn't be involved in something that was against the law would they? I quickly thought back to how my father had practically been stealing kids lunch money since kindergarten and agreed that it was possible, but highly unlikely. While I was lost in thought I apparently hadn't noticed that the stack of books on the far side of the counter, which seemed to grow every night, was leaning farther over than it should have been, and decided to collapse... directly on top of me.

"Ow, dangit!" I groaned as I threw some of the books off to the side. Chester, Torren's white domestic short-haired cat, made a sound that seemed similar to a wheezing laugh. "Oh shuddup, Chester! Your input is not necessary!" I scowled at the cat, who squinted its eyes in amusment. I shook my head. Look at me I'm taking out my frustration on a housecat...

 I sighed and began to wipe the dust off of my striped shirt t-shirt, something mother would faint if she saw, and began to collect the many books that had fallen. Instead of placing them on the shelves, I merely replaced them in a much neater stack than what they had started in. I wasn't sure whether or not they were for sale so I figured I would just leave them for Torren to handle. They looked a bit too old to be on the shelves anyways, but considering half of the things sold here seemed to be ancient it wouldn't suprise me if they were 'new in stock.'

I looked at some of the titles. "Witching Hour 101," "The Kitchen, Herbs, and You," "Haunting Homes." The stack went on and on with other odd titles. I raised an eyebrow before turning back to my 'exhausting work.' I picked up one of the pens next to the register and attempted to spin it as fast as I could on the countertop, which didn't go so well considering it was draped in a thick, spin-stunting cloth. Chester, who had been hiding amongst the shelves after my accident, had reappeared onto the counter beside me and stared at the pen that I had finally gotten at a pretty decent speed. He took one look at me, then back down at the pen to swat at it, causing it to fly off the counter  and skid across the floor. The cat gave me a satisfied look which I met with a look of exasperation.

"Really Chester? You seem to only show up around here to give me trouble. Well I'm already having enough trouble around here as it is, so your services are not needed!" I shook my finger at him. He gave a hurt look and sulked away to his perch ontop of the books I had just finished picking up.

"He was just trying to help you know," rang a small voice from behind the counter.  I jumped and turned to face the small Torren. I tried to ignore the fact that she was layered in what seemed like dozens of pink ruffles and looked at her childish, yet concerned face.

"He only wanted to show that it would actually spin better on the floor... Not that I know why you were trying to accomplish that in the first place," she shrugged. I blushed and straightened up my posture, an instinct my mother had trained into me since what seemed like before I could even speak. Its not that I was worried about her opinion, its just after so many years of it, it becomes uncomfortable to slouch for too long.

"Now Era," she scolded me with a pet name she seems  to have adopted for me during my short time being here. "I need you and Chester to be on good terms because I will need you to watch the store for me tonight."