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There was nothing better, Shining Armor decided, than owning a magic shop. He had just finished stringing up a row of red lanterns, setting out bowls of snake bile soup specially ordered from Las Pegasus, and tacking up a banner that proclaimed the "Year of the Fire Snake" over the sales counter. The red and gold decorations made an eye-catching contrast to the bleak British winter night outside. It was the Magic Shop's first Chinese New Year celebration, and it looked as if it was going to be a huge success.
The Magic Shop had had its first Midnight Sale three years earlier, when Shining's father decided it would be a good idea to stay open on Halloween. It had been such a popular move among the local clientele that it soon became a regular event every Halloween . . . Yule . . . Beltane . . . Litha . . . Canada Day . . . and now, Chinese New Year. The latest addition had been Shining's idea.
His friend David had started helping out at Midnight Sales since they met six months ago, but David had been busy for days with a school project and couldn't make it that night. And although Shining Armor's younger brother Twilight had talked their parents into letting her stay up past midnight, too - New Year's Eve being New Year's Eve, Chinese or otherwise - she had nodded off at 10:00 and had to be carried to bed by their father. Alone with his parents, working as both a family and a team, Shining suddenly saw himself as a full partner in the business . . . and it felt amazing.
He wondered what other magic the night would bring.
"I thought being grounded meant having to stay home all day andall night. No exceptions."
"Being grounded means whatever I damn well say it means."
Cadance slouched in the passenger seat of her mother's used Volkswagen, arms crossed tightly over her puffy jacket.
"And if you thought for one second," her mother continued, "that I would leave you home alone at night so that you could sneak out the window . . ."
Kiki tuned out the rest of the lecture. It was nothing she hadn't heard before. Besides, her mother was right: left to her own devices, she would have braved the late winter night, climbed out her window, and escaped to a friend's house until the morning. She had been grounded for the past six days, which had already been enough to drive her nuts, and there was still the rest of the month to endure. Her spirits had actually lifted at the news that she would get to leave the house that night, even if it was to go to the dorky Magic Manor. But it wouldn't pay to seem too happy, she thought.
"I still don't see why we need to be there that long," she grumbled. "Since when does it take you an hour to get your shopping done?"
"It's not just shopping. The Magic Manor is going to have a Chinese face reader tonight, so there will be a line - "
"Chinese face reader?"
" - but I'm sure the owners' boy will be there to keep you company," her mother continued as she pulled up in front of the Magic Manor. "He's your age, I think."
Suddenly it was worse than being grounded. "If you think that I'm going to spend the night talking to some weirdo from the Waldorfschool-"
Cadance's mother leaned over to check her lipstick in the mirror of the passenger sun visor, and Cadance had to stop in mid-sentence so she wouldn't get a mouth full of hair.
But through gritted teeth, she managed to say, "How is anyone going to read your face if there's all that makeup on it?"
Her mother looked startled. "I didn't think of that. Do you think I should take it off?"
Cadance rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Mom."
The store had opened its doors at 11:00 pm, and an hour and a half later, Shining thought the Year of the Fire Snake was looking good. People didn't just admire the new feng shui display, but also bought some ornaments for their homes. The snake bile soup his parents had not been sure about had proved to be the star of the refreshments table. And of course, Shining was having the time of his life demonstrating the use of the I-Ching coins the Magic Shop had in stock for the first time since it had opened. It was hardly the highlight of his evening when his mother took him aside and asked him to keep the world's surliest girl company in the back room until her mother was ready to leave.
"Mom! I'm on a roll here!"
"Think of it as your coffee break. And besides, she seems like an interesting girl."
"But, Mom - "
She held up her hand. "I'm not your mom tonight. I'm your boss. And I'm telling you to keep your new friend company until it's time for her to go home."
Cadance looked up as Shining pushed through the bead curtain that separated the back room from the rest of the shop. How many other thirteen year old boys dressed exactly like their fathers, she wondered. She shot him the most menacing look she could manage, but he didn't even seem to notice.
"So what brings you to the Magic Shop tonight?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Can I show you anything? We've got some really interesting stuff."
"I'm not buying."
"And I'm not selling. But it's going to be a while until the face reader is finished and - "
"Your parents sent you here because they thought I would steal something, didn't they?"
Shining Armor seemed taken aback at that. "I think my mom just hoped we'd be friends."
He looked so earnest that Cadance nearly laughed in his face. "That is never going to happen, Magic Boy. And if you don't believe it, you can consult your crystal ball."
He grinned. "Is that what you've been doing?" he asked, his gaze shifting to a spot over her left shoulder.
Cadance turned to see what he was looking at. Right at eye level, on the shelf behind her, was a row of crystal balls.
She snorted "As if I believe in any of that stuff!"
"You don't believe in the supernatural?"
"I don't believe in what's not real."
"What if I convinced you it was real?"
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever tried an ouija board?"
"Oh, yeah . . . One night, at a friend's house. The stupid board got every question right. Then it turned out it was my friends pranking me."
"I won't prank you. I think this is real, remember? Ask it something I wouldn't know."
Cadance told herself that she was only agreeing to it because she was bored . . . and because he would obviously keep badgering her if she didn't. "If I ever find out you were fooling me, geek . . ."
He smiled as he turned in the direction of the stairs. "Maybe I'll ask it something I wouldn't know."
