"M-Mr. Sanders?" Katherine called out nervously, not keen on the idea of being anywhere near a ticking time bomb of a candle.
She glanced around the tiny shop to make sure she hadn't missed him between the two rows of fake magical artifacts that lined the small shelving units in the middle of the store.
Katherine turned back toward the candles in time to see the golden one flicker slightly. Her eyes widened at the thought of it extinguishing, she hardly ever worked with candles as it was more common practice with fairy magic but she knew if that candle were to go out it wouldn't be good. She could feel small beads of sweat roll down her back, she pulled at the collar of her turtle neck sweater as panic crept over her like spiders.
"MR. SANDERS!" Katherine called out more forcefully this time. Her stomach turned with every flicker of the candles flame, she thought she was going to be sick if she didn't leave the shop soon. This was not how she wanted to die for a second time especially with how pissed Death was at her.
Katherine didn't have time to be waiting around for either the candle to extinguish or Mr. Sanders to show up. She carefully tiptoed around the counter with her back to the wall to get to the curtain covered door way behind the checkout counter. She pushed the thick velvety black curtain to be greeted by a long dimly lit hallway with glass jars lining the wall on wooden shelves. She wasn't sure what she should be looking for or what the package looked like but whatever it was, she needed to find it fast and get the hell out of there.
Katherine carefully moved the glass jars filled with brown liquid around to check behind them making them softly clink against one another. She picked up one of the jars noticing a black blob that floated through the brown liquid, looking around at the rest of the jars only half of them had the brown liquid with various black objects in them that she couldn't quite make out. She inspected the jar in her hand swirling around the liquid, the black spherical blob reminded her of a dried flower bulb floating through oil. She scrunched up her face in confusion, what could her mother possibly have ordered from a place like this?
"That is an eyeball."
Katherine let out an ear piercing shriek as she threw her hands up in surprise, letting the jar slip though her fingers. Max stood in the doorway by the black velvet curtains but lunged forward with his quick reflexes to catch the jar Katherine had dropped.
Katherine grabbed the front of her sweater trying to calm her erratic heartbeat from leaping out of her chest. She doubled over putting her hands on her knees and squeezed her eyes shut to focus breathing in and out.
"Why the fuck didn't you say anything?" Katherine breathed out through clenched teeth as her eyes bulged in shock.
"I did say something," Max replied with a grin as he shook the jar with the eyeball in it at Katherine, "I didn't take you for the type that startles easy."
Katherine straightened herself up while smoothing out her wrinkled sweater. She gave Max a dry look not appreciating the fun he was having at her expense. The shop gave her the creeps to begin with and she couldn't forget about the flickering flame of the golden candle. How ironic being blown would be seeing how she was in the middle of this mess for accidentally making Ivan explode on the beach.
"Let's just get what we came for and go before we waste anymore time," Katherine huffed.
Katherine had tried to avoid using magic to conserve for their trip back to The Valley but she had no choice. She held her hand in front of her focusing on the magic that flowed through her into the palm of her hand.
"Invenire" she whispered under her breath. A white glowing orb emerged from the palm of her hand. As the orb moved away from her hand its light wavered and warbled before extinguishing itself with a loud pop.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Max asked shielding his eyes from the sudden burst of light.
"It was supposed to find what I'm looking for but I don't think the little stunt you pulled helped with my concentration," Katherine retorted crossing her arms, she was still nervous over the candle situation up front and the fact that this wasn't technically her magic she was using. She was burning through it fast and now it was starting to show.
"Great, so either you have magic performance anxiety or the thing we're supposed to be getting isn't even here," Max complained as he made his way over to Katherine pushing the jar with the eyeball back into her hands, "Keep an eye on this for me."
Max flashed a quick smile and gave her wink. Katherine rolled her eyes as she kept the jar at arms length. How was she supposed to know that the crusty blob was an eyeball? This wasn't exactly her area of expertise, she preferred less gruesome forms of magic like working with herbs or flowers to makes salves and tonics. Her heart ached for the loss of her garden she had worked hard to cultivate over the last ten years.
Katherine was pulled from her thoughts as she watched Max run his hands upwards over his face then comb his fingers through his hair. At first she thought he was trying to look cool in front of her but she realized his eyes started to change. They became dark around the rims and gave off a bright blue glow, it wasn't something she had ever seen before. They reminded her of hydrangeas blooming in the rain on a dreary day, a familiar warmth washed over her skin making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
She opened her mouth to say something but promptly closed it when she looked down at a small glowing light in her hands. Inside the jar the preserved eyeball started to give off a faint blue glow. Katherine's eyes widened in surprise as she looked up to make eye contact with Max, she started to sweat as his glowing eyes seemed to pierce through her soul. Katherine took note of the few jars that randomly started to glow on the shelves with the same bluish hue from the corner of her eye.
Max flashed his devilish grin, and made his way down the long hallway without a single word, no doubt relishing his ability to render Katherine speechless. She puffed her cheeks out as she stomped down the hallway after him. It was just one thing after another with this man, Katherine felt like she couldn't catch a break. She glanced down to inspect the softly glowing eye in the jar when she crashed into Max's back who stopped at the end of the hallway.
"Why did you stop?" Katherine asked scrunching up her face in annoyance. She tried to step to the side to get around Max but he held his arm out keeping her behind him. She flicked her eyes up at him ticking her jaw. She tried to go around him again but this time he whipped around lowering his face to hers while he held on to her shoulders.
"I need you to turn around and wait in the shop for me," Max ordered in a grim tone, gone was his playful demeanor. Katherine's brows snapped together as she used one arm to brush his hands away from her shoulders. He was acting uncharacteristically serious, which made Katherine want to know what he saw up ahead that was apparently not for her eyes.
Katherine pushed past Max with her free arm to continue down the unlit portion of the hallway but Max grabbed her arm to stop her from going any further. Katherine slowly looked at the hand on her arm and then to his pleading face. She pressed her lips tightly together stunned by the audacity this man had.
"There is a small crate up ahead with the initials 'S.D' written on it, but trust me you don't want to see what's next to it," Max pleaded with Katherine.