CHAPTER TWO

A New Career

            Alice blinked at the woman standing in front of her.

“What’s happening? Are my eyes going?” She put her hands over her face, blocking out her surroundings. “Oh, my gosh…I’m…seeing things. I’m losing my mind. I’m going to be the bag lady that talks to herself and lives on the street in a cardboard TV box.”

     Azura eased her hands down gently. The woman was studying her with soft brown eyes.  She had very long, dark lashes.

            “You’re not crazy, Alice.  I’m sure you must have thought I was the crazy one, pinching you like that, but you’ve had a spell on you for a very long time and I’ve just removed it.”

            Alice squinted at her in disbelief and finally choked out, “A spell?  What…why did the shop suddenly change?”

            “The vacuum shop is what most people see. You are not most people. Your Aunt Ruby saw that about you when you were very small, and she cast a spell on you so that you wouldn’t see the magic. It doesn’t do to have non-magical parents raising a magic child; they tend to think the child is unstable or possessed.”

            “Magic?” Alice repeated dazedly.

            “You never believed in magic, Alice Cunningham? Not even as a child?”

            “I…I suppose when I was a child.” Alice continued to gawk at her surroundings, waiting for them to start flickering again, to turn back into the vacuum shop.  Nothing changed. The cat in front of the fireplace uncurled with a sleepy “mew”, and observed her disinterestedly before sauntering towards the back room and out of sight. 

            “This isn’t possible. Magic isn’t real.”

            “True - to anyone who doesn’t have magic, it isn’t real. They won’t hear it or see it.  Anyone else who walked into this shop right now would see a very dull store full of over-priced vacuum cleaners.”

            This was ridiculous. It had to be a joke of some kind, or she was hallucinating. This happened to people in movies, not in real life. And it most certainly didn’t happen to her. “I’m not magic. It isn’t real,” Alice insisted. “It can’t be.”

            “Why not?”

            “I don’t know! It just isn’t!” Her voice squeaked a little. She was beginning to sound hysterical.

            “It took a while for you to see through the enchantment on the store,” Azura mused.

            “It’s not real,” Alice whispered, trying to convince herself. She blinked again, wishing this new shop would go away, wishing for the boring vacuum cleaners. “I’m not going nuts. I can’t be crazy. There’s no history of mental illness in my family, so it wouldn’t make sense…wait, crazy Aunt Ruby, Oh no!”

            “You are not crazy,” Azura said. “The denial will last for a few minutes until you get over the shock.”

            “This is crazy.”

            “You seem to use that word a lot.”

            “Oh no! That’s a symptom of being crazy, isn’t it?”

            “I wouldn’t think so.”

            Alice tried her best to calm down. It occurred to her that this might all be a strange dream, and maybe the best and simplest thing would be to play along.

            “What are these floating, shiny strings?” she asked quietly.

            Azura Grey looked pleased. “Ah, you can see the threads.  Good. Ruby was right.”

            “What does that mean?”

            “You can see magic.” Azura tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine how she knew just from watching you as a little girl. That woman never ceased to amaze me.”

            “Those strings are magic?” Alice stared at them again. The strings were thick in the air, running around the shelves and displays in the shop, curling up bookcases and ceiling pillars and clinging to the roof. Some of the colors stood out brighter than others, in some places they were together in patterns. Here and there lights pulsed gently as some kind of energy ran up and down the patterns. When she looked carefully she could see the objects on the shelves had threads on them too.  She approached the shelves cautiously, peering at the objects more closely.  A straw basket of colourful scarves had blue and yellow threads woven into the wool. In a wooden box a collection of reading glasses had threads of pink and brown clinging to the frames.

             Alice spotted a box of reed flutes with a neon pink thread wrapped all the way up to the mouth piece. “These things are enchanted too?”

            Azura looked proud. “You catch on fast. We sell all sorts of enchanted objects.”

            “Oh.”

            “You’re taking this all rather well,” Azura said, thoughtfully. “That is to say, you aren’t screaming or fainting.”

            “I think…I think I’m dreaming.”

            “Ah,” Azura responded, “I think you will find you are not.”

            Alice shook her head like she was trying to get water out of her ears. It sort of felt like she was underwater, or that her head was stuffed with cotton. Nothing made sense. It was as if reality had cracked down the middle like a badly made clay pot, and all her assumptions of what was real and normal were leaking out the bottom.  It had been several minutes now and the store was still the same; no vacuums suddenly appeared, the threads still floated in the air, refusing to vanish in the face of her denial. A thought snuck in past her defences. Maybe this is real.

            “Okay,” Alice spoke, trying to gather her wits, “I inherited a magic shop, and I can see magic, and I’m not going crazy.” Maybe if she said it out loud everything would start to make sense.

            “Also, you may want to start packing,” Azura added calmly.

            “Packing?” Alice was struggling to keep up. “Why?”

            “There’s a suite above the shop for you.”

            She had to pause for a second to grasp this new information. “I inherited a suite too?”

            “It comes with the store. It’s sort of necessary.”

            “Necessary?”

            Azura didn’t seem to mind that she kept repeating everything. “If you work here you need to live here, since you never know where it’s going to end up next.”

            “I don’t understand,” Alice said faintly.

            The older woman smiled. “I know this is hard to take in. Let’s have a seat by the fire, you look like your knees might buckle.”

            Come to think of it, her knees did feel watery. Alice followed the woman into the next room, looking around as she went.  The cat was in its spot again, and it lifted its head to blink sleepily at Alice. The fireplace was small and made of bricks. It was a real fire, not the gas kind and the heat it gave off was comforting to Alice as she sat in one of the old brown armchairs beside it.

            “You see,” Azura continued, “the shop never stays in one place for long. It moves from city to city.”

            “A traveling magical shop?” Alice rubbed at her temples, feeling the start of a headache.

            Azura chuckled. “You’re starting to look a little less shell shocked. That’s good.”

            “I guess.” She was beginning to accept that this might not be a dream, which was terrifying.

            “Hot Chocolate?”

            Alice was surprised at how much she wanted a hot drink right now, something normal to hold on to, to reassure herself that she wasn’t going nuts. “Yes, please.”

            Azura got up and moved behind some bookcases, and Alice heard a door open and the woman’s voice floated out from the back. “Several hundred years ago people believed in magic. They also feared it. Witches and Wizards were hunted down and killed; anything that had been enchanted was destroyed. That is why the shop moved, to avoid the hunters and protect itself. Ruby left it that way when she bought it, I suspect because it adds an air of mystery.” Azura came back around the bookcases holding two red mugs. She handed one to Alice.

“Plus it’s cheap.”

            “Thank you. How do you mean cheap?” She inhaled the smell of peppermint.

            “When the shop arrives in town it simply chooses the first available place. Sometimes it’s a vacant lot, sometimes an empty store front that hasn’t been rented out yet. Either way, the owner of that place always conveniently forgets he owns that plot of land for the time we’re there. No one has ever come around asking for rent.”

            “So…” Alice dragged out the word, trying to think. “Aunt Ruby wanted me to inherit the shop, live above it and travel from town to town selling magic…stuff?”

            “That’s the gist of it.”

            “Well,” she said, weakly, “It sure beats the hell out of being a vacuum salesman.”

            Azura’s smile lit up her face. “You’ll do it?”

            “I guess I will.” Alice shrugged, feeling like she was on the verge of a hysterical laugh. She shut her mouth firmly.

            “I know it will take getting used to.”

            “I’ll say, I’m just starting to believe this actually might be real.” Alice paused for a desperate sip of her drink, as if the hot chocolate might ground her in reality. “So, what if I tell my parents this and they think I’m nuts?”

            “They will,” Azura said firmly.

            “I can’t tell my parents?” She felt vaguely panicked now. How was she supposed to keep this a secret?

The woman raised a steel coloured eyebrow. “Would they believe you?”

            “I could show them.”

            “They haven’t got any magic,” Azura said, “So all they would see is over-priced vacuum cleaners and grey walls.”

           “Oh.” Alice felt deflated.

            “Sorry, but it’s a limited amount of people that have enough magic to see through the spell.”

            Alice was twisting her hair again. She made herself stop, taking a deep, calming breath.

“I don’t know if I can take this.”

            “I know it’s a lot in one go,” Azura said. “You must have more questions.”

            She thought about this. “About a million. What happens if we move on to another town and Mom and Dad come down to visit me at the shop? Will they find it gone? That would be sort of hard to explain.”

            “I’m sure they will be visiting a few times to begin with, so we won’t move the shop for a little while. After that, should they think about going to visit you at the shop, they’ll remember that they already went to visit you several hours ago and that it would be silly to go back. Should it be some type of emergency, however, the shop can be back in this space in under three seconds.”

            “Aunt Ruby put a spell on them too?” Alice felt slightly horrified at the idea of this crazy Great Aunt casting spells willy-nilly over her entire family. “Mom said the last time she saw us I was only seven.”

            “Ruby never did things last minute.” Azura smiled fondly. “I believe she knew you would be getting the shop since the moment she met you.”

            “Wow.” Alice warmed her hands on the mug. “That’s crazy.” She added to herself, and a little bit scary.

            “I suppose.” Azura shrugged and tapped her chin again. “Hmm…I believe I should tell you a few things before I open the shop.”

            Alice hadn’t looked at the front until now. The door was made of dark wood, with a glass pane in the top half.  There was a sign on the glass with the “We Are Open, Please Come In” part facing inwards.  Large rectangular windows were set on either side of the door, and she could see a pair of wrought iron lamps through the panes. The end of a dark green awning peeked through the top of the window.  She couldn’t help the thrill of excitement that went through her. “Wow, the store is just so...so…”

            “Enchanted looking?”

            “That’s the word.”

            Azura smiled. “You should see the looks on some of the regular children’s faces when the shop chooses to let them in.”

            “Regular children?” Alice repeated.

            “Regulars - the slang term being “Regs”, I believe.” Azura leaned down to place her mug on the corner of the rug by the fireplace. Alice did the same.  Her hot chocolate had been cold for a while now and she’d been clinging to it simply for the sake of holding onto something.

            “Oops,” she squeaked as the cup tipped over, dark liquid splashing out over the rug. “Oh no I’m so sorry!” She stared at the spreading chocolate stain in horror. The rug was dark red with a complicated pattern around the edges. It was probably Persian and about a million years old, and she’d just spilled peppermint hot chocolate all over it.

             “Keep watching.”  Azura’s eyes twinkled.

           The rug seemed to suck the stain in. It didn’t simply soak it up like regular fabric either, it sucked it in and she could have sworn she heard a little slurping noise. She stared in shock. The place where the chocolate had been was suddenly spotless.

          “Oh! That was magic?”

            “It was. Feast your eyes on our “Self Cleaning Carpet”.” Azura chuckled. “Oh, the look on your face.”

            “I thought I’d ruined it.” Alice let out a breath of relief. “That’s amazing!”

            Azura laughed again. “You won’t be as easy to impress in the next couple weeks; you’ll get used to it.”

            “I can’t imagine getting used to all this.”  She continued to stare at the rug in astonishment, wondering if it would do anything else. Maybe leap up and fly around the room.

            “It takes time,” Azura said. “Now what was I saying?”

            “Regular children,” Alice mumbled, still watching the rug.

            “Ah yes. Occasionally the shop takes pity on an un-magical child from a bad home or school situation. Usually the poor child finds an item, a magic bouncy ball or something that just happens to cost the exact amount of change in his or her pocket.  Of course, the store is gone the next time they come back, but they treasure the experience and the magic object for the rest of their lives.”

            Alice remembered the strange dream she’d had last night. She fingered the silver bracelet around her wrist, running her fingers over the carved surface of the charms. She inhaled, smelling the wood burning in the fireplace and that faint spice that lingered in the air. It brought the dream back sharply.

          “Or at least it usually goes like that.” Azure glanced down at the charm bracelet on Alice’s wrist. “There was one incident where a young boy got turned into a Werewolf, but…”     Alice’s mouth dropped in alarm, and Azura hastily continued. “But regardless, our normal customers are usually Wizards, Witches, Mages, Sorcerers, Elves, and so on…” Azura trailed off. “Alice?”

            She had gone very pale. Her breath was coming in short, sharp gasps. “Werewolves?”

            The older woman shrugged apologetically. “Magic.”

            “Oh.” Alice closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay, give me a minute.” Did she really want to see these people? It sounded terrifying.

            “This is why I have the store closed right now,” Azura said gently, “Because I don’t want you meeting any of them yet.”

            “Are they dangerous?” Alice pictured packs of slathering Werewolves coming in to buy magic hats and pencils.

            “Not usually,” Azura said. “And each city has leaders that oversee each type of creature, councils that keep their kind accountable. There are always reports of a rogue or two within every species, but they mostly try to stay civil. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be much chance of staying a secret.”

            “Why do they have to stay secret?”

            “Because if we didn’t, the hunts would start all over again. Nobody wants that.”

            “But what if a rogue comes into the shop?” Alice frowned.

            “Do you see how many threads of magic there are here?” Azura asked.

Alice looked up at the threads floating in large colourful bunches in the air around them.

            “Much of this is raw magic, which I will show you how to use, but the patterns you see on the walls and ceilings as well as all the furniture, those are spells. They protect us while we’re in the shop.”

            “Oh…” Alice trailed off, still worried.  What about outside the shop? Discovering a magical world was great. Discovering you could get eaten by a hungry Werewolf any minute, not so great.

Azura was tapping her chin again, something she seemed to do every time she was thinking. “I think we should test you out a bit, just to satisfy my curiosity.”

            “Test me?” Alice repeated nervously, “How do you mean?”

            “See that pattern of threads just above your head? Try to touch that.”

            Alice stood up slowly. All the threads seemed to float just above their heads, close enough to reach, but not to get tangled in their hair. The pattern that Azura had pointed out was made of several different shades of red. She was supposed to just reach up and touch it? 

            “Are they solid?”

            “Not for most people,” Azura said, “if they were at our height we could walk through them as if they were as insubstantial as smoke. But if you concentrate you should be able to touch one. Just try, not to worry if you don’t get it on the first attempt. It’s a difficult thing to learn when you’ve never done it before.”

            The threads that Azura had pointed out stretched from the wall of the shop and disappeared in the brickwork of the fireplace. She hesitated, and then reached out with one shaking hand, bracing herself.

         Her fingers passed through it as if there were nothing there at all. She stared down at her hand. Did that mean she wasn’t magic? Now Azura would send her home because she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t run the shop if she couldn’t even touch magic. She felt her stomach turn leaden with disappointment.

      “I don’t think I can do this.” Why had she expected to be able to do it on the first try?   Perhaps Aunt Ruby had been mistaken and she didn’t have any magic at all.

            Azura smiled encouragingly, “Try again, and this time really concentrate on making it substantial. Picture it in your mind as solid. Will it to happen. You have the ability to touch it. You only need to command it to respond to your touch.”

            Alice frowned. Use your force of will, that’s what Azura was saying. She had never been strong willed. She wasn’t a stubborn or forceful person. Maybe she wasn’t meant to do this. A mean little voice spoke up in her head, that’s right, because you’re not really good at anything, are you? You’re just average. Alice gritted her teeth and reached with all her might. She demanded the threads be solid. She concentrated so hard her head hurt.

         And she touched it.

        “Ah!” She pulled her hand back, fingers tingling. “It shocked me.”

           Azura looked surprised, “look at the fireplace.”

            The fire had gone out. The logs were smoking, as if someone had poured a bucket of water over them. “Did I do that?”

            Azura looked delighted, “You did! Goodness, Ruby was certainly right about you. That’s amazing considering that was only your second try.”

Alice glowed at the praise. ‘That’s a spell on the fireplace?”

            “Smart girl,” Azura rose gracefully to her feet and reached for the threads, she wrapped her thin fingers around the pattern and it glowed brightly. Alice sat up, startled, as the fire re-lit itself with a loud “WOOF”.

            “Now,” Azura said, “You should run back home and start packing. I imagine that you’ll want to take some time to explain to your parents that you’re moving out. I’ll be here waiting to help you get settled in.”

            “They’ll be happy,” Alice said distractedly, “They knew how miserable I was about Jason and all our plans…“She stopped, feeling embarrassed to have blurted that out. It wasn’t like Azura knew who Jason was, or cared.

            “Ah,” Azura nodded. “I see.”

            “This is all really crazy, “she looked around the shop again, “but it really is perfect timing.”

            “You have a new life now.”

            “A new world.”

            Azura stood up, “Ah yes, but I think you will find that this one is far more interesting.”

            Alice stood as well, grabbing her bag from where she'd dropped it on the floor, “I don’t doubt it for a minute.”