Weaver

Two In One

The bell jangled wildly as Alice shoved through the door angrily, shaking bits of ice out of her hair. The warm air made her fingers tingle almost immediately.

Maya stared at her in shock as she stomped in, "Alice, what were you doing? Who was that woman you were talking to?"

"I have no idea," Alice snapped, "she didn't say anything...well, that's not technically true. She said lots about this thing," she reached around the desk and jerked the bottom drawer open, pulling out the glass box she'd hidden there. Maya watched her as she flipped the top open and they both stared at the silver dagger on the cushion inside.

"What did she say about it?" Maya asked in a hushed voice.

"She said, to keep it on me at all times," Alice stared at it, leaning forward to look at it more closely. She felt the necklace sliding out of her shirt, and tucked it carefully back behind the fabric, remembering the strange reaction the twist of bone had the last time it had gotten close to the dagger. "I don't know how I'm supposed to keep it on me. It's not as if I've got dagger sheaths lying around. And I can't exactly just tuck it into my boot without slicing my ankle."

"You think they would have included something in there, in the box I mean."

"Maybe," Alice took the sides of the blue velvet pillow carefully and lifted the cushion, taking care not to flip the dagger off it. Sure enough, there was a brown leather sheath on the bottom of the case, attached to a belt with a silver buckle, "Ah, that makes more sense."

"Are you going to wear it?" Maya said.

Alice glanced back out the window, her stomach churning nervously, "I think....I think I might." The sidewalks were nearly empty now, only a few stragglers left behind, but she couldn't seem to shake the jittery feeling that the woman had caused. She'd kept repeating over and over "she's coming". She must have meant Athena. Somehow the woman knew that Athena was coming. But when? If the woman was insistent on making vague predictions, couldn't she at least have said when she was coming?

She looked up abruptly, "I think we should leave now."

"What?" Gabriel had just walked into the room, a bagel in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, "now? I've just got my dinner. The warp will have me feeling all woozy."

"Hang your woozyness," Alice snapped, "we're going. Now. Go tell the other's to brace themselves, they've got about five seconds." She laced the belt through the belt loops of her jeans. The dagger rested in the small of her back, and her sweater covered most of it. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but the strange woman had really unnerved her. " I don't think we should..." she paused as the bell jangled over the door, glancing over her shoulder in mild annoyance. The annoyance turned to real irritation when she saw who it was.

Abby was wearing a green knit cap over her chestnut curls today, and she peered nearsightedly at Alice and said cheerfully, "Oh hello, I was wondering if you had some of those fun dancing shoes..." she paused, "something the matter? You look very preoccupied."

"I'm afraid we're leaving," Alice said firmly. The last thing she needed was the annoying woman bothering her while she was trying to get the heck out of town. "I'm afraid I can't sell you anything, because the shop is closed now."

Abby frowned, "that's not very polite, you know."

Alice ground her teeth together and tried not to snap at her, "sorry, but we don't have time to argue about this, I'm leaving now.