Page 46 of The Little Shop of Curiosities, The Music Box Part 2

“Hello to you too, Grumps.” I lean in and kiss his wrinkled cheek.

“Hmm,” he grumbles, but a small smile tugs at his lips.

I remove my jacket and hang it over the back of the chair before taking a seat. “How was the journey?”

“Long, boring, and full of idiots.” He takes another sip as the waitress approaches, and I order myself a herbal tea. “So fill me in on what’s been going on.”

“Honestly, Grumps, I don’t know where to start.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Yeah.” I look up and thank the waitress as she sets my tea on the table, then gives a small smile as she walks away. “I went to Vivienne’s bookshop yesterday, actually inside for the first time. Tristan was given a key and told a cupboard on the second floor had something inside it that he was meant to have. I needed to have a look inside the place because we discovered Vivienne was dosing herself with magically spiked gin.”

Grumps looks a bit startled by that. “Gin? I’ve never thought of adding magic to gin before.” Then he cackles. “Bet that booze packed a punch.”

“You’re not kidding. The others apparently got absolutely smashed on one glass of it and ended up nicking an army tank and driving it over Tristan and Danny’s neighbours’ cars.”

This time he cackles even louder. It’s a wonderful and wicked sound. He slaps his thigh in delight. “I think I’m going to like your friends,” he declares, then makes a motion for me to continue.

“Anyway, I haven’t yet been able to figure out what magic it was spiked with or what it was supposed to do. I mean, I didn’t even think Vivienne knew how to use magic.”

“She might not have.” Grumps shrugs. “It’s possible she purchased it from someone else. Do you still have the bottle?”

I nod. “I sealed it with wax so no one else would accidentally drink from it.”

“Get it to me and I’ll have a look at it.”

My eyes narrow. “You’re going to drink it, aren’t you?”

“Sometimes one must make a personal sacrifice for the greater good,” he says piously.

“The greater good?”

“Didn’t Lazear allow himself to be bitten by a mosquito carrying yellow fever to prove his theory of transmission?”

“He died,” I say flatly.

“Well, I’m not going to die, so what’s the worst that can happen?”

I pick up my tea and sip. “I really don’t think you want me to answer that. Sam ended up in a tutu and sock suspenders, handcuffed to a traffic cone.”

Grumps gives a loud snort, causing the couple at the next table to turn around and eye him suspiciously. “Go back to the shop. What happened there? Something did, I can tell.”

“How?”

He taps the side of his nose. “Ah, ah, I’m not giving away any of my trade secrets. Let’s just say I know things.”

“My life is turning into an episode of Game of Thrones,” I lament.

“It’s lucky you don’t have any siblings then,” he replies. “Quit stalling. What happened?”

“I was watching Tristan retrieve an old manuscript from a cupboard, then I heard this whispering in my ear. Next thing I know, I’m in a different part of the house, surrounded by shadows and staring at a blank wall.”

“Something led you up there.” Grumps scowls when I nod. He scratches his chin. “You still wearing the talisman your parents gave you?”

I lift my hand to my chest to touch the small gold pentagram laying warm against my skin and nod again.

“Hmm, can’t hurt to have some added protection though.” He lifts his hand and pulls his sleeve back, then unfastens the leather bracelet I’ve never ever seen him without. “Here.”