The shop was quiet, just the two of them working the early morning shift. Regis had come in at some point, but like usual, he’d disappeared behind the dusty curtain. Only the sound of tools against metal and the sharp smell of chemicals proved he was still somewhere in the back.

A soft giggle echoed through the shop, high-pitched and off-key. Like something trying and failing to sound like a little girl.

"Fuck."

How did it come to this?

A year, a full year of this bullshit.

Her life hadn't involved ghosts, swamp witches, or feral fucking brownies, and no, they were definitely not the kind you bake.

Some days, she prayed she would wake up, and shit would be normal, but no gods had answered her yet.

Something broke somewhere across the shop.

Tegan let out a long-suffering sigh but didn't panic; she knew exactly what had happened.

"Mother fu-" Tegan muttered, looking up at the ceiling and praying to any god out there listening as little clinking sounds echoed as little porcelain feet touched the ground.

Danni, the only normal coworker she had, was humming to herself, completely oblivious behind the checkout counter.

Thank God for Small favors.

Behind the glass, jewelry sat in neat rows, the metal and gems glinting in the sun as it streamed through the large windows.

It seemed to taunt Tegan, calling her poor in a hundred different ways.

Streaks of light cast long shadows across the antique couches and claw-footed tables.

Everything looked peaceful, but Tegan knew better. If Danni looked up right now, the secret would be blown.

Everything had a layer of dust, no matter how clean they were, thanks to dust bunnies.

No, they were not the little balls of lint.

Her eyes narrowed as a shelf rattled. The pitter-patter of tiny footsteps headed straight toward the front. The little bastard was doing it on purpose. He knew exactly where the counter's blind spot ended, and he was sprinting for the edge.

"Not today, Joseph," she hissed, loud enough for him to hear, but low enough to stay under Danni's humming.

He giggled.

Tegan leaned over the shelf just in time to see a porcelain doll handcrafted in 1911 dart past the aisle. "Goddammit! You little ass... I swear to God, Joseph, if Danni sees you, I'm banishing your ass."

She straightened with a huff, flicking the pricing gun and sending dust motes scattering through the sunlight.

Most days were boring.

The kind where the front door didn’t stop opening, the bell never got a break.

Danni loved those days. She liked the steady flow, the small talk, as she thrived off the chaotic energy of a packed shop.

People came in for the jewelry, the old furniture. They never saw the stuff they didn’t keep out, the stuff that could bite, or hex.

The little things in the glass case that looked expensive were all normal and safe now.

At least these days.

Ethan had once given in when a woman wanted a ring so bad she threatened to sue for discrimination. He handed over a 14th-century lord’s ring, and the second it touched her skin, it started to rot.

Ethan had tried to warn her. The lord had cursed it but at least he never made that mistake twice, mostly because the legal fees were fucking murder and that didn't even include trying to scrub ancient rotting flesh off a glass display case with standard Windex

Boy was that a fucking nightmare

Tegan shuddered at the memory, and felt herself gag, leprosy didn't just have a certain smell, it was the worst thing she ever tasted, and she cursed God that day.

How fucking dare, he connect the sense of smell and taste!

Danni gasped.

Shit, did she see?

"Tegan..." She froze at the little tremble in Danni's voice.

"What?" She looked around, making sure Joseph didn't expose himself.

"You have to read this; they just found a third-"

"No... Absolutely not. "

"But-"

"Danni, I just want one day of peace. I don't want to know what's in the news, I don't want to hear about all the horrible things happening in the world."

"Oh, Okay."

Tegan didn't look up; she didn't want to see the hurt look Danni would give her.

Just one day of peace.

Was it seriously too much to ask for?

The universe had decided it was.

Because a shadow just crossed the window, too tall, too dark, and definitely didn’t move in a way a normal shadow should.

And it just stopped.

Shit.

“Now what…” she muttered, already pushing herself upright despite her protesting knees.

Tall. Lanky and an ominous presence could only be Mordecai.

“Damn it, Mordecai.”

Mordecai wasn’t supposed to come in during those hours.

People like him knew better. Business hours meant witnesses, meant noise, meant too many eyes on things that weren’t supposed to be noticed.

He showed up early, or late, or whenever the shop felt just empty enough to get away with it, or when he knew Ethan wasn’t here to kick his ass out.

The sudden gust of autumn wind that swept through the shop when the necromancer opened the door left a chill in the air. The bells' sharp ring echoed in the otherwise quiet shop.

“Good morning, Mordecai. What brings you in today?” Danni looked up from her phone. Then, as smooth as ever, she slid her phone under the register before standing up straight.

All the while, she had a customer service smile plastered on her face.

Tegan narrowed her eyes at Danni. Sometimes, she wondered if she was possessed.

Because no normal person had a smile that wide.

And no normal person was all sunshine and... dare Tegan say pleasant?

She huffed, normal.

As if normal wasn’t overrated enough, it was… what's a good word?

Absurd, it was fucking absurd in a place like this.

She was proud of herself for remembering that little calendar Ethan had gifted her.

He said she wouldn't even use it.

Take that word of the day!

Even so, Danni shivered, pulling her jacket tighter around her, but nothing could block out the supernatural chill that spread through the shop.

“Just stopping by, is Ethan or Regis in the shop today by chance?” Mordecai spoke in that deep, gravelly voice that lifted all the little hairs on her body. It was meant as a signal. Predator in the vicinity meant to indicate she should run the hell away.

Danni didn't have the finely tuned senses she should have, so instead she stood there smiling.

“Ethan is out today, and Regis is in the back, but he is on a rush order, and you know how he gets, so I'll get Tegan to come up front for you.”

Danni, bless her heart, didn’t feel it, didn’t have that same physically gut-wrenching reaction Tegan did.

“Sounds fine.” Mordecai hummed as he walked along the counter, looking at all the jewelry through the cases.

After an incident nobody talked about anymore (Tegan was definitely fine not talking about it), Ethan made a rule: only managers handled clients of a certain caliber.

And oh boy, did Mordecai count.

Creep was a local grave robber turned morgue attendant.

The dangerous type who'd steal a soul for a bad coupon. Ethan usually handled him personally. Ethan was currently at a private auction, which meant Tegan was there.

The worst type of game, and what was worse, was that games always had rules.

Working at Sharpe Antique and Oddities meant a lot of rules. The kind you learned fast or didn’t last long enough to repeat.

A few, as listed, were-

1. Wear protective gear when entering the basement

2. Do not look anything in the eyes that has a face. (It will look back, and now you are haunted. Great.)

3. Rule two does not apply to Joseph! Also, keep an eye on Joseph! At all times! (Seriously, don’t even blink)

4. Do not talk back or insult the customers. Especially the Witches (Ethan definitely means Tegan, and she definitely doesn't listen)

Tegan stood up quickly, way too quickly, and knocked her head right into the shelf above. "Shit!" The curse came out louder than intended.

The delicate teacups wobbled dangerously close to the edge. Her breath hitched as she reached out, catching a handful of them before they fell. "Shit." She muttered, more relieved this time.

Mordecai watched, amused as she shelved the items and went the long way around the shop. Shit, Danni was watching her.

Think!

Think!

“Danni, inventory in the back needs to be priced,” Tegan pointed to the back room as she eyed the floor for the damn doll.

“But that’s not even...”

“Just do it.” She urged as she spotted the doll's foot sticking out from under a shelf. "Now, please."

Danni huffed and grabbed her phone. “Fine, but just this once.” Tegan waited until she heard the curtain close and footsteps fade.

Once out of earshot, she reached down and grabbed the doll and yanked.

It hissed at her and struggled, but she kept a tight grip and dragged it out into the open as it fought.

Mordecai leaned against the counter, long fingers tapping the glass as Tegan held the tantruming doll.

His eyes were practically twinkling with amusement as he watched Tegan try and fail to get control over Joseph. She slapped a hand over the doll’s mouth when he started yelling curse words at her in Latin.

"Stop it!" She hissed as he pulled her hair.

She yelped when his sharp little teeth sank right into the fleshy parts of her palm.

“Little asshole." She had never wanted to hit a doll as much as she did right at that moment.

She took a deep breath to stop the violent thoughts, proud of herself for keeping her cool, then threw the doll into a glass cabinet and locked it.

The muffled screaming continued as it beat its little fist against the glass.

Tegan flexed her aching hand and turned back to Mordecai, like getting bitten by a haunted doll was a perfectly normal part of her shift.

Well, because it was.

Who knew a promotion to manager would include rounding up and being assaulted by a fucking doll?

“Well?” she sighed, rubbing her face hard with her good hand.

Today was going to be a long, grueling day.

She schooled her expression and looked right at him. “So, are you going to show me what was so important, or are you going to get the hell out?”

His tight-lipped smile stretched across gaunt features, made even worse by stringy black hair and sunken, beady black eyes. He looked like a corpse himself when he smiled.

"Oh, I think he will be really interested in what I got.”

"You know the rules: it can’t be anything you pried, cut." She paused and then added," or chewed off a corpse. " She glanced down at the pouch on his waist as she said it.

Oh fuck.

She didn't even want to know what was in that thing. Mordecai enjoyed bringing in organic human matter just to freak her the hell out.

It really isn't such a big deal in the magic community; in fact, several spells involve human parts, but that doesn't mean it didn't make her want to vomit.

She was about to list what they did accept, but the words were barely out of her mouth when he tossed something onto the counter.

Metal clinked against glass.

Bounced once right into Tegan’s hand before she even registered it.

She froze.

Her brain rebooted as she realized what she was holding.

Tegan gagged, pulled her hand away, and backed up against the shelf!

Tegan looked up at Mordecai, horrified. "Absolutely fucking not!"

Teeth!

This asshole brought Teeth!

She was about to lay into him, her face scrunched up and ready to verbally rip him a new one. But Mordecai just smirked, prepared for the verbal lashing.

He leaned his full weight over the counter to look intimidating, but the newspaper Danni had left behind slid right out from under his hands. He stumbled, nearly faceplanting into the glass case.

"Well, look at that," he muttered, quickly straightening his jacket to save face. He pointed a long finger down at the crumpled paper. “That's a shame, isn’t it?"

She glared at him, absolutely done with the bullshit today.

Tegan snatched the paper, intending to toss it on the shelf behind her and snap at him to stop fucking touching stuff. But she didn't throw it.

The shop was supposed to be her safe place. Because out there was the real world, terrifying, unstable, full of shit she didn't want to or care to understand.

He nodded once to the paper when he saw her struggling against herself. She fought the urge to look, but damn it, she actually looked at the crumpled-up pages in her shaking hands.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and her heart did a jumping, fluttering thing.

The two photos of the girls were smiling up at her, but the one empty space seemed to tug at something deep inside her chest.

Who was she?