Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Lily’s first day started off busy.

The customers were, for the most part, friendly and usually gone after a few words. Any questions the customers had were directed to the more knowledgeable Isabella. Lily used any downtime to take notes on anything that sounded interesting. The list grew throughout the morning and quickly. Eventually, her notes took up multiple pages and changed from simply interesting to anything that sounded borderline made up.

The bat glanced over at the unguarded sheets while Lily handled the last customer on her own. Isabella did her best to make out what her co-worker had jotted down but found the rabbit's handwriting hard to make out. While trying to figure out what was written, she missed Lily finishing up the transaction. A panicked gasp alerted Isabella that she had been found out. Moving her gaze from the paper to her now-lunging Lily, Isabella moved just a little faster and yanked the paper off the counter.

“Like, what’s this?” Isabella asked while trying to get a better look.

“It’s mine is what it is and I would like it back, thank you.” Lily snapped, grabbing at the paper. Isabella did her best to evade the rabbit’s grasp while trying to read but after a few seconds of frantic flailing, Lily retrieved her notes.

“Quite the list you got there. I tried to read it, but you write in scribbles. So, like, explain.”

Lily gave her partially crumpled paper a look to check for any damage.“They’re notes. Mostly things that sounded like complete nonsense. Like, what the hell is, um,“ she paused to look them over, tapping the paper once she found her pick, “Here! What in the goddess’ name is ‘Aetheral imbibitions’?”

“It’s, like, magic booze. Monks mostly brewed it in the past, but a bunch of distillers and brewers tried their hand at it. It turned into a pretty competitive scene. Think potions that can get you sloshed.” The words ‘ magic booze’ caused Lily’s ears to perk up. Seeing her new co-worker’s reaction drew a raised eyebrow from Isabella along with a smirk. “You like the juice?”

“I’ve been known to knock back a few. Wouldn’t mind getting my paws on that Aetheral imbibidy-whatever though.”

“I might, like, know a guy. Good for jadeleaf, too, if that’s your thing.”

“Oh, that is absolutely my thing. I feel like a chunk of my first paycheck is going to you.”

Isabella laughed as she walked around the counter. As she started towards Sandra’s cafe, a book dropped by a careless customer caught her eye. The bat aimed her hand at the discarded item without missing a step. In passing, a circle formed around the middle of the book. The leather-bound tome hovered off the floor before it flew into her open hand. In one fluid motion, Isabella moved her hand and placed it back on a bookshelf in passing.

“Did you just use that spell thing?” Lily asked, her head slightly tilted, “I didn’t hear you say the spell name.”

“Aye. Reciting spell names is, like, more of a beginner’s thing. After a while, just the motion is more than enough. Practice while I go bug Sandra for some coffee.”

“Oh! Oh! Three creams and five sugars for me. Please and thank you.”

As the clock hit one, the initial rush of customers had slowed to a trickle. Before too long, it was uncommon to see more than three customers inside the store; even then, they usually didn’t buy anything. Lily and Isabella used the downtime to examine the list of topics Lily had jotted down. Much to the rabbit’s disappointment, many of the more fantastical sounding ones turned out to be relatively mundane. Things like ‘Complex Ignio theory’ and ‘Aquis display’ were actually ‘How does fire make you feel?’ and ‘Competitive water dancing.’ respectively.

With an annoyed groan, Lily scratched out another letdown before moving on to the next one. “You are really good at making magic sound lame, lady.” The rabbit grumbled while her eyes read the next entry. One more, one more. Alright, what’s ‘Astral pet husbandry’?”

“Lily, meet Apep.” Isabella lifted her left arm, presenting it to Lily. On the back of her hand was the head of a snake, etched in white to stand out against the bat’s black fur. The marking continued down her wrist and coiled up her forearm, disappearing under her elbow-length sleeve.

As Lily leaned closer to examine the design, Isabella ran her fingers down the head of the snake. She watched as the etching shimmered. The eyes on the tattoo, once closed, opened and emitted a soft red glow. Her head snapped back as the snake began to stir and shift. A faint hissing sound could be heard right before the marking disappeared up Isabella’s elbow-length sleeve. The hissing grew louder as the glowing intensified. The hissing faded as the hem of the sleeve began to rise. From under it poked a semi-translucent snake head. The eyes, bright red, were the only parts of the snake that seemed to be completely solid while the rest was a cloudly grey vapor held together by a thin layer of glassy ‘skin.’ Its eyes stayed focused on the rabbit while it started to slither out and up onto Isabella’s shoulders. Once the reptile’s tail was clear from the shirt, Apep’s body lay loosely coiled around the bat’s neck like a scaly scarf.

“Wh-wh-wh-” Lily stammered, unable to formulate words.

“‘Astral animal husbandry. It's how you, like, take care of arcane animals. This is Apep. He’s a Ghost venom snake and my familiar. Don’t get too close, though; he will bite.” The bat warned while scratching under the snake’s chin. The accompanying happy hiss drew an uncomfortable shudder from the observing rabbit.

“Wow, from disappointing to terrifying.” Lily spat out while taking a step back. “You can just summon a snake from your arm?”

“You never know when you need your familiar. It just so happens he makes a good lookout when I want to nap under the counter. I was joking about the biting thing. He’s actually quite friendly. Apep,” The hand the snake sprang from snapped, “Here.”

The snake obeyed the order and slipped down Isabella’s arm. Its body coiled around Isabella’s forearm with its head resting on her open hand. The ghostly snake flicked its tongue at Lily while those red eyes never broke from her. Though the creature showed no hint of aggression, Lily’s expression showed nothing but fear.

“I know it’s supposed to be cute, but no.”

The rabbit took another step back. Lily watched as Isabella brought Apep’s head toward her muzzle. Giving her familiar a peck between the eyes, Apep sank back into Isabella's jet-black fur. Once its pale form had completely gone, the original marking reappeared on its owner’s arm.

“Better?” Isabella asked while examining her marking.

“Would you be mad if I said yes?” Lily responded, her body slowly relaxing now that the reptile was gone. The bat snorted, the question catching her off guard. Isabella turned away while trying to compose herself. Lily took a moment to fold up and stash her list of topics. While she was interested in the rest of the magical subjects, she feared the next thing could summon wasps or bring about a thunderstorm.

Isabella confirmed it was fine and wasn’t the first time she had gotten such a response. With the store empty, the bat hoisted herself onto the counter before pulling out her phone. Tapping the screen a few times, Isabella showed it to Lily. “This is his true form back at my place.”

On the phone was a video showing a massive semi-translucent snake laying coiled on an equally large bean bag chair. The size of the reptile filled the rabbit with a new emotion. It was like all-consuming fear if that fear’s own survival instinct was kicking in. Lily’s hands clenched into tight fists as a sudden urge to fight just the image of the reptile consumed her. The only thing that stopped Lily from needing to replace Isabella’s phone was the bell ringing over the entrance.

“Um, pardon me?” A male bear spoke as he entered Starlight, a few more customers walking in behind him. He stepped towards the front counter as Isabella hopped off back down. “Got an order for ‘Isabella.’”

She hurried around the counter to meet the delivery guy, mouth watering at the smell of her order. While Isabella was busy with the bear, a customer approached Lily. It was a male opossum who kept his head low. He only raised his head to look around as if he was searching for something.

“Hey there.” He spoke in a nasally tone. “Awesome store you got here. Listen. I’m shopping for a friend. They gave me this list of stuff, and I’m hoping you can help me.” The gray opossum placed a piece of paper on the front counter and slid it over to Lily.

Picking it up, Lily read the words on the paper to herself. It said, ‘This is a robbery. Keep quiet, and no one gets hurt. Give me the chime.’ She looked up from the note and up to the creature that gave it to her. His eyes were fixed on her, silently waiting for her response.

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“I’m sorry, man, but I don’t think we sell chimes,” Lily said while reading over the note again. Isabella returned to her side, putting the bags of food behind the counter on the floor. “Hey, Isabella?”

“Yeah?”

“Do we sell chimes? This guy gave me a note saying something about a chime. Oh, and,” Lily trailed off as she, with Isabella glancing over her shoulder, read the note one more time. The words ‘This is a robbery.’ had finally clicked inside the rabbit’s head. “Ah hell, this guy is robbing us.”

Lily’s words were loud enough to draw the attention of those nearby. The thief started to panic and, with his plan of a quick and quiet job having now fallen through, tried his best to play damage control. He leaned over the counter and shushed her.

“Don’t shush me.” Lily snapped back, her expression a mix of confusion and disgust.

“Listen, you stupid hare.” he hissed back, “Shut your mouth and hand over the damn chime!”

A sudden hush fell over the store as the word ‘hare’ was shouted. The thief looked around and saw every customer in the store was now very aware of his presence. The sound of hands slamming down on the counter caused him to spin back around. What he saw when facing forward was Lily leaning halfway over the counter. Her ears were straight up, and her eyes were dilated.

“What did you just call me?” Lily’s eyes narrowed as she spoke through gritted teeth.

A lump was caught in the thief’s throat as his situation continued to worsen. The thief started to think dropping a slur wasn’t the right way to de-escalate the situation. His regret, mixed with the dread caused by the rabbit’s furious gaze, caused him to shrink back a bit.

“Stop making a scene.” The thief started again, finding his nerve again, “I’m only going to say this one more time. Hand over the chime and the money.”

Lily’s claws dragged across the wood of the counter as she tried to calm herself. It didn’t take much to trigger Lily’s temper, and being called something as offensive as ‘Hare’ was more than reason enough to lay someone out. The only thing stopping her from flying across the counter was knowing how much she needed this job. Though, if this opossum mentioned anything about a chime one more time, she intended to deny responsibility for her actions.

“Third floor: lobby,” announced the elevator speaker. Danniel typed away on his phone as the car came to a stop. The wolf put his phone away and began to make his way through the opening doors. His own day had been relatively quiet, something more unusual for him than what you would see working the front counter, but trekking the surprisingly large store multiple times that day had worn him out. As the smell of freshly baked coffee cake filled his nose, the phone Danniel had put away buzzed in his pocket. He stopped and pulled his phone back out. Checking the screen, he saw a new text message from Isabella. He opened it and started worrying immediately. Her message simply read, ‘Issue up front. Chime related.’

“Great,” grumbled Danniel as he hurried to the front. As he got closer to the lobby, he heard the shouting match being had. Coming around the corner, he saw an opossum being shouted at by the new girl. Danniel moved, unnoticed, closer to the counter. When he saw Lily grab hold of the opossum’s collar, he promptly cleared his throat.

The sound drew the attention of the furious rabbit and the opossum. Lily’s expression softened somewhat upon seeing him, but it turned just as sour when the thief broke free of her grasp. “Lovely timing you got there, Dreads. Could you please handle this guy?”

“Is there a problem, sir?” Danniel asked while eyeing the opossum.

“You’re damn right there’s a problem,” Lily answered on the thief's behalf. “This piece of mud called me a hare because we don’t sell chimes. Oh, and he’s robbing us.”

“Just hand over the chime, man. Hopefully, you can follow orders better than the mouthy hare over there.” Pulling a hand from his pocket, a ring of yellow light formed around the opossum’s wrist. From between the fingers of the clenched fist formed, thin, razor-sharp blades formed that ran a few inches in length.

“Sorry, man, but the rabbit was right. We don’t sell chimes. Strongly recommend you stop asking about it.” Danny spoke, unfazed by the blades.

The opossum gritted his teeth at the wolf’s denial, finally sick of the runaround the staff gave him. His own temper was getting the best of him and thought hurling a bit of magic would make his intentions a bit clearer. Lily was his first choice as she had given him the most trouble, but something about the wolf gave him a bit of pause. While sizing up Danniel, his eyes grew wide at the sight of the pendant hanging around the wolf’s neck. It was a kite shape with a claw reaching up to three stars. The metal crest was made of silver, and everything around the design was made of precisely cut purple jewels.

“Actually,” the opossum spoke, taking a step back while keeping an eye on the wolf, "leaving may be a good idea. Does anyone have the time?"

"It's, like, like a quarter past five," Isabella answered without looking up from her phone.

The opossum lifted his arm and hurled the three crystal blades at Danniel while stepping back further to create space between the two. The wolf snapped his fingers, and the shards crashed into a shimmering wall of light. Before the opossum could summon another set of crystal blades, Danniel jutted his ring-covered right hand towards him with all his index and middle finger up. The gold rings shined bright, and a lilac orb of light erupted from his palm. It streaked through the air, and the baseball-sized mass landed flush against the thief’s chest.

“Formation Vela.” Danniel whispered while relaxing his hand. The light in the rings on his fingers faded as the runes on the bands shimmered and shifted. Once the markings had finished changing, the magical glow began again. “Velorum.” Extending his fingers toward the opossum, an unseen wall of force slammed into the thief and sent him flying into a nearby bookshelf. Bouncing off it, he and some of the bottles sitting on them came crashing to the floor.

Danniel, Lily, and Isabella watch the opossum's body for any sign of motion. After a tense few moments, the trio shared a sigh of relief as he lay there unmoving. The wolf Then turned to the two women behind the counter. Isabella was utterly unfazed by the spell-slinging, her attention already back to her cell phone.

Lily’s focus was still on the opossum. She leaned over the counter, still glaring at his unconscious form. Instead of the grimace the rabbit sported before, her mouth was curled into a smirk. Looking at the slur-throwing jerk knocked out on the floor warmed her heart.

“Good job, Dreads. Little less worried about the security after that little show.” Lily said while stepping back from the counter.

“Thanks, I guess. Now, did I hear you say something about a chime?”

Lily went on to catch Danniel on the events of the altercation while shoving the guy’s note across the counter. Again, she got confirmation that Starlight did not, in fact, sell chimes. The new girl was confused about why he would ask such a thing, but the wolf couldn’t provide a solid reason, instead just suggesting the guy was a nutjob and trying to change the subject.

The two’s chatting and the bat’s phone keep them from noticing the opossum's stirring. Now, with only a headache to show for his troubles, the opossum decided someone had to pay for the day's annoyances. He tried his best to get back to his feet while trying to avoid both the halo of glass around him and the group’s attention. Despite the opossum’s best efforts, he was spotted by Isabella. The bat reacted quickly and shouted to the wolf just in time for him to react to another barrage of crystal shards.

Without a chance to prep another ward spell, Danniel could only raise his arms in front of his face. The three pieces of crystal embedded themselves in his forearm as the opossum sprung to his feet. Drawing a knife from a sheath on his hip, the would-be thief rushed the security guard. As he moved in front of the counter, a shout brought the charge to an immediate halt.

“Hey, jerk-ass!” was the last thing the opossum heard before he felt two feet smashing against the side of his head. Lily had bounded over the counter and used her powerful legs to deliver a dropkick to the thief. She landed on the other side of the counter while the thief dropped to the floor, out cold. “How's that for a flippin’ hare?!” Lily shouted after scrambling over to the opossum, getting in his face.

Danniel pulled the shards from his arm and moved quickly to bind the thief’s hands, learning from the first time. He had to move between the opossum and rabbit as the new girl continued insulting the unconscious man while slipping a few blatant threats just in case he was still awake. It wasn’t long before the Honor guard arrived to apprehend the thief while getting statements from the staff as well as the few customers who said to witness the scuffle. Customers stayed pretty light for the rest of the day, but Lily stayed worked up for the remainder of the shift.

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