Happy Holidays

The little occult store was more difficult to find than I had anticipated, even though my grandma had described the way multiple times. Instead of being located on a busy or well-known street, it was hidden in a dingy alleyway, closer to the harbor than the city center. We passed empty storefronts, huge trashcans and washed out advertisements for goods that were no longer being produced.

The building we stopped in front of was no better. General store was written in faded letters across a small, barred window, so caked with grime you couldn’t tell what lay beneath it. The heavy, rusty iron door next to it opened up to a bare concrete stairway leading a few steps to another doorway, this one hidden behind a curtain of colored glass pearls. Heading our progression was Jo, followed by me, Colin and Aiden. Stepping through the tinkling bead curtain we were greeted by the overpowering aroma of incense while entering a small, cluttered store.

A dark-haired boy, maybe eleven or twelve years old, sat on a low stool next to the entrance.

“Welcome,” he drawled at the noise of the beads, without lifting his head from his cellphone. He was wearing casual clothes, jeans, sneakers and a black sweater.

No one else was in the little room, even though the store appeared to be open for business. My eyes zeroed in on some dried plants displayed on a low counter: mandrake, verbena, mugwort, peony, ginseng, golden-seal, shamrock, it was a real treasure trove for potion brewing. Even though everything was closely placed together and there was barely enough space for it, the herbs lay in orderly, even piles. I realized the rest of the room followed the same principle; though the mismatched, colorful shelves and counters barely left enough room for walking and were arranged almost haphazardly, the items they held were very clearly labeled and fenced off. One shelf was stacked with books, another with strange little tokens and talismans, ordered by their culture of origin: Eastern Asia, Indian, Native American, Western and more which I couldn’t place. Yet another one, painted red and hidden at the far wall, held animal parts, some dried, others floating in a strange solution; eyes, livers, bones, hooves and anything else which could prove useful. The low ceiling, wall hangings, huge ceramic pots standing next to a low counter, and the mixed interior styles gave the store the impression of a love child between a Chinese mom-and-pop-store and a run-down tourist souvenir shopping place.

“How does your grandmother know this acquaintance again?” Colin asked, sounding almost uneasy. Aiden stepped out from behind him, toward the book shelf, browsing the titles, without touching anything.

Before either Jo or I could answer, a voice sounded from the doorway behind us: “We bonded over a common enemy.”

The woman entering the store through the tinkling, colorful curtain was wearing a red silk cheongsam, a Chinese dress with a high collar and buttons at the front, hugging her perfect figure. Ivory-inlaid chopsticks held up her long, black hair, leaving her slender neck bare. She herself was a strange mixture of old and young, making it practically impossible to tell her age. While her face was almost without wrinkles and her dark brown eyes were clear, her hair was generously peppered with grey. And while her voice sounded exactly like an old woman’s, raspy and dry, her posture was straight, her steps quick and easy as she stepped around our group and behind the counter.

“Eleonora already informed me that two of her granddaughters would be stopping by,” she said in her old-lady-voice, looking at Jo and me alternately. When her gaze fell on Aiden, she seemed to falter for a second, before the self-assured mask slipped back on her face. Addressing the young boy by the entrance, she made tutting noise. “Baobei, why did you say nothing about the threat level? You know I like to be prepared.”

The boy just shrugged, still not looking up from his phone. He seemed to be playing some kind of game on it, though I couldn’t see which from my vantage point.

“We would like to purchase some unicorn horn,” Jo told her, ignoring the little interaction and cutting straight to the point, in her usual manner.

The woman gave a raspy laugh, one hand coming up to delicately cover her crimson mouth. “You sure are brazen, my dear. In different company such a comment could get you arrested.”

Colin and Jo blanched while I flinched a little.

“What?” Jo blurted, looking incredulous.

“Don’t worry, darling, as we are all friends here, I won’t hold your naivety against you,” the woman continued. “By the way, you can call me Ms. Jenkins.”

“Ms. Jenkins, I know we are asking a lot. Such an item is surely hard to come by and even harder to purchase. But we really do need it. I don’t think my grandma would have send us here if there wasn’t a slight chance you might be able to help us out,” I jumped in, before Jo could say anything to offend.

“Oh, yes, dear Eleonora was quite right to send you to me. But just because I might be able to help you out, as you so diplomatically put it, honey, why should I, if you don’t even offer me anything for it?” Ms. Jenkins cut in, leaning on her counter.

“How much money are we talking?” Colin asked, sounding self-assured. He probably wouldn’t flinch at any amount, after all he knew Jo and I would be the ones paying.

Ms. Jenkins gave her rough, old-sounding laugh again. “Aren’t you sweet? This school of yours should really start teaching you some basic etiquette of black market dealings. No, my dear, I don’t want some of that strange paper the humans are so fond of. Instead, I’m ready to trade you some flakes of that special substance we were talking about for something of equal value. So, what are you offering?”

Silence claimed our little group. Jo and I shared a helpless look, when Ms. Jenkins continued, her eyes focused on her bookshelf, in front of which Aiden was still standing. “You over there. I’m sure your services would come in handy. I am ready to trade the flakes for a favor, of my choosing, from you.”

If her tone of voice hadn’t sounded so sinister and instead more flirty, I would have thought she was suggesting a service of a sexual nature. But somehow it felt much worse. It was strange that she didn’t look directly at him. Aiden’s expression shuttered. “My services are not available.”

Colin looked at Aiden with a Come-on-Dude-expression, which quickly disappeared as he met Aiden’s stare. Suddenly quite interested, Colin intensely studied the animal-skin drum he was standing next to, decorated with bones, lapis lazuli and feathers.

Ms. Jenkins sighed. “Pity, that. It would have made collecting debts a lot easier.”

“What about potions?” I cut in, wanting to draw the attention away from Aiden. “I could brew them for you and you could sell them. Until we pay off the flakes.”

Ms. Jenkins pursed her lips, giving me a once-over. “Sorry, honey, not good enough. How about this? You could bring me some snow bees, as my stock has just run out.”

“Snow bees?” I prided myself on knowing a lot of mythological creatures, thanks to my grandma’s tales, but I never heard of such a being.

“Oh, yes, just like the thing you are asking for, they are rare and difficult to catch.” Ms. Jenkins continued. “And as students, you are uniquely equipped to get them for me. You must know that they only appear in certain parts of the winter fairies land - a part accessible through one of the pockets at your precious school.”

She sighed, sounding a bit annoyed. “It’s the only good portal around here, but your school’s security is a lot tighter than you probably realize.”

She hadn’t really answered my question. “Yes, but what are they?”

Smiling she reached under her counter, and I felt an unfamiliar magic brush over my skin. The next second she lifted a glass jar into view, no bigger than one used to store jam. “As the name indicates, little bees made of snow. They travel in swarms and do like to cluster toward their queen. But I’m sure you’ll find some stragglers. Just fill the jar with them - alive specimen, mind you - and bring it back to me. In exchange you will get your precious unicorn horn flakes.”

It was the first time she actually took the word unicorn in mouth.

Colin’s eyes were gleaming. “Catching some stupid insects? You got yourself a deal.”

Jo and I exchanged another glance. I was sure there was more to this, something other than the inaccessibility of the pocket dimension that made her put us to this task, instead of doing it herself.

Colin took the few steps around the multiple ceramic vases on the floor, towards Ms. Jenkins and took the glass jar from her delicate hand. Another tingle swept over my skin. Aiden stepped closer towards me, but nothing else happened.

“What a good boy you are,” Ms. Jenkins said, smiling at Colin, her red lips stretching. “We have a deal, Colin Edward Mitchell.”

He flinched and hastily retraced his steps, almost tripping over the tall vases. “How do you know my name?”

The boy at the door finally lifted his head from his phone, smiling at us. His eyes seemed wrong somehow, such a deep, unnatural black that you couldn’t differentiate pupil from iris.

Aiden took another step closer to me, until his warmth bathed my back. I felt my tense shoulders relax a fraction.

“Let’s get out of here,” Colin creaked, turning tail and rushing towards the beads curtain. Jo nodded and quickly followed him, trying to keep as much distance between herself and the boy at the door as possible. Me and Aiden were close behind.

While the cool glass beads guarding the exit brushed against my face, I was accompanied by Ms. Jenkins raspy laugh. “Pleasure doing business with you, darlings.”