The moment I walked into the shop, I knew this was the right one. Decades of digging through these damned shops and finally, finally I was close. I could practically taste it, buzzing the air like a wooden table under a vibrating phone.
“Can I help you, sir?” The friendly woman behind the counter smiled at me, and I realized I’d stopped just inside the doorway.
“No thanks, I’m good.” Moving on, I started scanning the shelves. I didn’t know what it looked like – that bastard wizard could’ve sealed it in anything – but I did know one thing. It was here.
An old clock. A brass candlestick. Someone’s unwanted doll. A set of dishes.
There. I stared at the small, cobalt blue glass bottle and felt a grin spreading across my face. A perfume bottle. Bastard must’ve lifted it off his girlfriend or something. I picked it up, gently removing the stopper. That’s where he put it – forget the bottle. Someone else can have it, maybe nab a djinn or two.
Dropping the stopper to the floor, I grabbed the candlestick and in one quick motion smashed that damn piece of glass into smithereens. The startled shopkeeper called out something from her station, but I ignored her. I watched as the dark smoky tendrils poured out from the shattered fragments, reaching for me, absorbing back into me.
Back where it belonged.
I grinned at the terrified woman, wings flaring behind me as I opened a portal in the floor. “Sorry to hit and run, lady. I got a wizard to kill.” With a flick of my tail goodbye, I dove through.
That bastard was gonna pay.
