Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chapter 9

They stumbled into the gas station, giving the Monster Donut a wide berth. For whatever reason, the beasties there hadn't caught on to their scent yet. Carter wondered if being covered in mud and slime had something to do with it.

The lone cashier at the register jumped when she saw them walk in. They must have been quite a sight, a group of dirty teenagers in armor and carrying weapons of varying historical relevance staggering into a gas station. Fenris squeezed through the doors and immediately headed for the beef jerky. Archie, still in dragon form, followed him muttering something about smoked salmon.

Steve emerged from the restroom with two whole rolls of paper towels and started distributing it to the wet members of the group, before he joined Toby and Claire in perusing the snacks. The cashier gawked at them, just staring, probably wondering what the protocol was for this.

"Fenris, you know we have to pay for that," Carter called, as his dog was poking his nose into a pack of jerky.

"You have to pay for it. Seeing as how I don't have pockets, nor money, I don't have to worry about it."

Carter rolled his eyes. "This is why I don't take you anywhere."

The cashier continued to stare, her blue eyes wide. "Uh—"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Jim said, following Claire and Toby to the cash register as they dumped their assortment of snacks onto the counter. "Long story."

The cashier blinked a couple of times, looked Jim up and down, then blinked some more. She cleared her throat and started scanning the items. "So... King Arthur." She looked up at him, eyeing the sword on his back. "Cash, card, or gold coins?"

From the other side of the store, Douxie laughed. Jim looked flustered. Claire was fighting back her smile, and Toby was snickering into his hand.

Jim said, still a bit flustered. "C— Card." He reached into his inter-dimensional pocket to pull out his wallet.

The cashier ran it, and began bagging the snacks. "You're those guys from Arcadia?"

"You know about us?" Toby asked.

"We get a lot of weird customers in here," she explained. Carter peered at her name tag. Marissa. "Some weirder than others." Marissa shrugged. "You definitely aren't the strangest patrons I've seen. Although, getting a good look at Excalibur for the first time was a bit of a shock."

Douxie appeared at Jim's side, leaning on the counter. "You a wizard?"

She shook her head. "No, my brother is. He works at HexTech. I only hear about all the fun stuff second hand."

Douxie smiled. "Well thank you for your help. Do you perhaps have towels we could use? Some of our friends had a dip in the lake."

Jim shoved at his shoulder. "I should've pushed you in."

Douxie ignored him. "How long has that lake been home to a grendelwylld?"

Marissa blinked. "A what?"

"Did you not know about that?"

"I don't even know what that is."

"A grendelwylld is a descendant of Grendel." He explained. "You know, the giant from Beowulf."

She nodded slowly. "Oh."

"Yeah, if you go out there just steer clear of that lake." Douxie smiled. "Towels?"

"Oh, right." She reached under the counter, handing him a stack of folded towels. "Here."

"Thank you," Douxie turned and handed them out. He tossed one at Jim's head.