“Right,” said Brynne, rolling up her sleeves. “We can take it from here.”
“Okeydoke,” said the cow, wandering elsewhere. “Let me know if ya need anything!”
Aru headed down the aisle where she’d seen the golden glint of Kubera’s eye. Along the shelves, the goods weren’t magical at all, just stuff that was downright gross: moldy cheese and expired yogurt, bottles of yellowish cream, and even a cloudy vial of perfume labeledEAU DE COW.
“This isnasty,” said Brynne. “I hope we don’t end up having to shoplift just to get out of here with the eye.”
“Shoplift?” said Mini. “Brynne, that wasn’t part of the discussion.”
“Doyouwant to work here for a week?” asked Brynne.
“Where’d the eye go?” asked Kara. She rose up onto her tiptoes, scanning an array of generic cereal boxes before pulling one of them down. “I don’t see it anymore…. Uh-oh!”
Kara slipped and stumbled backward. Aru moved to break her fall, but Aiden got there first. He caught Kara in his arms, the movement causing him to dip her gracefully as if they were in the middle of an elaborate dance. Kara blushed as he helped her stand.
“Thanks,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“No worries,” said Aiden.
They looked…good together, thought Aru distantly. They both had this weird glow to them that Aru knew she’d never had.
The row next to her carried a bunch of cheap plastic mirrors with cow horns on the frames, and when Aru turned to catch a glimpse of herself, all she saw was…
A cow?
“AHH!” she screamed.
The milk-white cow had stuck her head through an opening in the shelf and was staring at her. “Hiya!” she said. “Just checking in to see how you’re getting along!”
“Fine?” said Aru.
“Okeydoke,” said the cow, drawing back.
“Okay,thatwas terrifying,” said Aru, turning back to the others.
“Let’s try another aisle,” said Mini.
They crossed into a row with expired milk from various decades. Something shiny winked brightly from one of the lower shelves. Aru rushed forward to snatch it, but it disappeared.
“Maybe it’s behind the carton?” said Mini. She reached down to push one of the dusty gallons out of the way and then jumped back….
“AHH!”
“Hiya!” said the milk-white cow, trying to shove her muzzle through the space between the milk cartons. “Uff da!”
Again?Thought Aru. The cow should really start hollering SURPRISE!
“Don’cha know,” said the cow, “I forgot about our little warning. Now, I don’t think you kiddos would ever be up to any mischief, but do be warned that, in our store, shoplifters get a time-out!”
“A time-out?” scoffed Brynne.
The cow laughed its friendly Midwestern laugh. It was, Aru thought with a shiver, a littletoofriendly.
“Just a place to contemplate greed and the slow death of one’s soul.”
Everyone went quiet. The cow hummed to itself and slowly drew its head back out of the aisle.
“Okay, how is that cow moving around so quietly?” asked Aiden, shuddering.
