The sign out front promised whatever someone needed would be here. Did that meant everything had to be here? Jane grinned, wondering if "everything" could indeed be jammed into this house.
She frowned, when it
struck her that the room and the aisles certainly seemed longer than should
have fit into the house. At least, not the size of house she had glimpsed from
the outside. Maybe it was just an optical illusion. With so much crammed in, it
just seemed bigger than it really was.
It wasn't like space
could be stretched to accommodate everything shoehorned in here. Could it?
Sure, some of the members of Hoax had managed to stretch space and even stretch
time when they were under a great deal of pressure, but they couldn't make it
last.
Her wandering brought
her to the main room. Another sigh, as she saw the marble-topped counter with
the brass cash register and shelves full of apothecary jars, just like she
remembered them.
Where was the Wishing
Ball? Panic shot through her, like the first time she rose three feet off the
ground without knowing quite how she did it.
"Welcome to
Divine's Emporium." A woman stepped through the doorway behind her.
Jane turned around
quickly.
Angela, the
proprietor of the shop, hadn’t changed in the dozen-plus years since Jane had
left Neighborlee. The same long waterfall of hair in dozens of shades of gold,
with a hint of strawberry. The same intense, crystalline blue eyes. The same
granny-style dress in a blue handkerchief print. Angela had the kind of figure
that looked good in the semi-shapeless dress, neither model skinny nor buxom.
Just right.
"Uh, hi... I'm—”
"I know you." Angela caught hold of Jane's hand and led her past the counter to a tall, skinny window. The Wishing Ball was right there on the corner, why hadn't Jane seen it?
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