What A Day

Diamond
was panting when Alice
caught up with her. The book still in her hands, Diamond just gazed at w:st=\"on\">Alice. w:st=\"on\">Alice smiled and said, "Good thing you
were shouting like that, or else I never would have found you." Diamond
went red in the face, she slammed the book shut and
returned it to the shelf, as if to hide what she had done. Diamond\'s heart was
pounding. Why had she felt like that? She wasn\'t upset before, but when she
read that book...that book. She stared at the spine of "Vengeance"
and let the name sink in. "What is this place?"

"Dunno,
but they have the weirdest stuff. Look" w:st=\"on\">Alice held up a sack. Inside was an
assortment of different colored vials. Diamond looked over the contents and
laughed a little. "Alice,
you do realize that this is just another one of those \'psudo-goth\' stores
right?" Alice
shook a little. Diamond looked at him worried, "what is it w:st=\"on\">Alice?" w:st=\"on\">Alice smiled up at her,
"Nothing, just." He looked a little flushed, "When you said w:st=\"on\">Alice, it was like,
natural." Diamond thought for a moment and sighed. "Alice,
you are a dork" Alice
looked a little defeated. Diamond laughed and pulled on his bag of vials.
"So, any idea what these are?" Alice
beamed and pulled out a red vial, "I never thought I\'d find a store that
sold Pop Rocks anymore. How about that?" Diamond
gave him the same look she did when questioned about his new name.
"What?" Diamond was about to smack him one, when a voice came from
behind. "Not exactly darling"

Diamond
almost tripped over herself. "Wh-who are-"
The voice came from an old man. Looking over his clothes, one would guess he
ran the store. He was bald and had crooked glasses. He hunched a little and his
eyes were dark and mysterious. "My name is Mr. Fu" Yeah, he was Asian
too. He walked over to the bookcase and grabbed the "Vengeance" book
from the shelf and flipped through it. Diamond looked worried, \'did he hear me?
Am I in trouble for reading it?\' Mr. Fu closed the book and put it back in
place on the shelf. He turned to Diamond and looked her over. "Uh...um,
Mr. Fu, c-can I help you?" He continued to look her over, reaching out an
aged hand and gently took hold of her wrist. He was murmuring to himself
"Hmmm, yes...oh I see...yes, very nice...well that\'s in great
shape..." he continued on like this. Diamond glanced back at w:st=\"on\">Alice and motioned for
some help. Alice
set down her bag and went over and looked at where Mr. Fu was looking. Diamond
groaned and glared at Alice.
"AHA!" Diamond shrieked and Alice
jumped. The old man dropped her hand and looked at her intently. "You my
dear, have the gift." This daring and spiritually deep statement was
rewarded with unison, "huh?"

style=\'color:black\'>~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well,
that was weird wasn\'t it?" Alice
said as they walked away from the store. "You\'re telling me; first he
gives me a heart attack by sneaking up on us. Then he feels me up and tells me
I have a gift. Then just lets us \'take whatever you need, free of
charge\'." Diamond was a fiend for finding the best sales and was usually
giddy when such a thing happens. But this somehow didn\'t feel right.
"Well, at least we could get the pop rocks yeah?" w:st=\"on\">Alice was looking through her bag of
multicolored vials. Diamond had to admit, she could get that book that she
looked at before. Plus a few more that Mr. Fu had recommended. She took this
time to look over her stash. "Hmmm, let\'s see now. There\'s \'The rise and
fall of Osiri the Wise\', and \'Wicca Guidance, a truth beyond Myth\'. Oh, this
looks fun." Alice
looked over to the book she held out. Alice
looked over it, there was no title. But there was a peculiar pendant hanging
from the spine. "What\'s this?" Diamond held it in her hand. It was
about the size of a quarter and took the shape of a pentagon. "Hmmm,
dunno, must be a part of the book, like a bookmark or something." w:st=\"on\">Alice turned back to her
stash, "I can\'t wait to get home and try all this stuff out." Then it
struck Diamond, "Shit! Where are your clothes?" w:st=\"on\">Alice looked back at her with a black face.
They took off back to the store, "I hope he hasn\'t closed yet"

They
reached the area where his store once was. I use the term "was" as it
no longer was there. Just a gap between the left and right stores. "N-no
way" Alice
said, awestruck. Diamond, though curious to the whereabouts of the store could
be, was more upset. "Dammit, and that one pink shirt was so cute
too..."