Shift

Bonus: Blaze's Birthday Pt. 3

Kayden didn't know what to expect when she stepped beyond the curtain. The first thing she noticed was the current in the air, an almost palpable buzz of magic that made her skin tingle. No wonder they had to hide it behind that spell, she thought.

But besides the feeling of magic in the air, the room was a mass of contradictions, a mix of the fantastical and the mundane. There was a collection of jeweled necklaces hanging from a row of old nails hammered into the wall. Across the room was a wall of clear plastic bins—almost like the ones you'd see in the bulk section of a grocery store—holding common potion ingredients like dried mint leaves and strange yellow powders. There was even a locked glass cabinet displaying what looked like plain old rocks.

"What do you think?" Helio asked, gazing at the room smugly.

"I don't know what to think," Kayden said, her eyes falling onto a stack of brochures set upon an old wooden desk. They were marked with the Apple logo. She pointed. "What are those for?"

Helio's eyes lit up. "Apple integration is finally happening!" he said, picking up a brochure and rifling through it. "All new Apple computers, iPads, and what-not are now POC compatible. Which means I can finally get an Apple Watch!"

Kayden wanted to roll her eyes. Of all the things in the store, it was strange that this was what Helio was most excited about.

I guess everything else in here seems mundane to him, she thought, stepping further into the back room. She couldn't imagine magic ever seeming dull.

Helio plopped the brochure down and hurried to catch up with her. "Any idea what you want to get Blaze?"

"I don't know," Kayden said, eyes trailing over the odds and ends. She was happy there was no one else in the backroom to ogle at her ignorance. She didn't understand what half of the handwritten signs said, since some of them were in Latin and others were written in such cramped handwriting she couldn't distinguish the letters. And she wasn't about to ask Helio to translate everything in the shop.

Her eyes fell on another glass cabinet, this one holding rows of beautiful embossed spell books. "Maybe I can get him a spell book?" she said. "So he can stop stealing his father's."

Helio chuckled. "You can't afford one of those."

Kayden scowled and was about to say Try me when she saw the price on the first volume was $1299. "Twelve hundred and ninety nine dollars?" she breathed. "For a book? Who can afford that?"

"Spell books are an investment. Like laptops," Helio said. "At least the good ones." He gestured at the next bookshelf. These books were not protected by glass, and they didn't look nearly as grandiose. These were skinny little volumes shoved together, like cheap paperback novels you'd find at a garage sale.

"You could get him one of those. Newer editions. Massed produced and a whole lot cheaper."

As much as Kayden liked the idea of getting Blaze a spell book, she didn't know how she felt about getting him one from this used shelf. After all, it was a shitty spell book that had gotten them into a huge mess in the first place.

But she was coming up blank on any other ideas, so she started rifling through the shelf.

"Help me find something on illusion-making," she said, and Helio grudgingly joined in.

Eventually, Kayden found her gift: a used copy of a book called Embellishments. Normally she wouldn't have chosen a book with such a froofy title, but she had recognized the author: Joseph Beckett. She and Blaze had met the illusionist over the summer, and she knew Blaze admired his work. The book had been published in 1999, so it was a bit old, but it was the best thing she could find. So she paid the $10, shoved it into the inner pocket of her jacket, and she and Helio made their way out of the magic shop, through the plant shop, and back onto the street.