It was customary for the four of them (Alice and Altair and Maya and Gabriel) to go about exploring the new place as soon as they landed. Normally Azura and Shakra stayed to mind the shop, since the older women had seen nearly every city there was to see in their long lifetimes.

This time, however, Maya declined, saying she felt too dizzy to go walking around, and Altair was busy talking on the phone to someone he called “George”, and Alice noted, someone he was yelling at quite a bit. She wasn’t sure if it was his new quest for “honest work”, but she seriously doubted it. She tried to listen in the on the conversation, but he’d locked himself in the bathroom, and all she could hear were odd hisses and grumpy answers like, “no!” and “you’re not coming here”. She wondered if “here” meant Sidney, or her shop, and decided that if Altair was going to bring questionable friends home, they were going to have to have a serious talk.

It ended up being just she and Gabriel that elected to go walk around Sidney, and Alice breathed in the crisp evening air as they walked down the sidewalk, reflecting that it had been a very long time since it had just been she and Gabriel talking. The last time had been when they went to the magical club and met Tricia and Lacy.

It was sort of nice. Like old times, before everything had gotten so complicated.

So messed up with Gods, is what I mean. Alice glanced over at Gabriel, smiling to see that he was completely engrossed in the front window of a little toy shop. There was a little steam engine running in circles around a track in the center, with real steam coming up out of the smoke stack.

“Wow!” Gabriel beamed at it. “That’s so cool.”

Alice couldn’t help laughing. He was nearly as excited as a child would have been. “Want to go inside and have a look?”

“Yeah? You don’t mind?” He looked anxious. “I feel bad for leaving Maya, but she would have just wanted to go into all the magic shops anyways, I mean, the ones that sell spells and stuff.”

Alice shook her head. “You’re dating a witch, and you’re working for a witch. You’re going to be surrounded by magic all the time.”

“I know, and I don’t mind it. But Maya is approaching it with a single-mindedness that’s almost alarming lately.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at the train, expression mournful. “She wants to be you, you know.”

Alice blinked. She stared at the little steam engine as it went in circles, up a steep incline that was littered with green streamers to look like grass and back down, then into a little brick tunnel. The steam engine reappeared around the bend and then went around the loop all over again. “She…said something like that back there. I’m not sure what to think of that.”

Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels. He didn’t look at Alice, they both kept their gazes firmly on the train. “Not surprising, is it? You saved her, you kicked Ambrose’s butt and set her free and now she sees you as her role model.”

“I don’t know…I don’t know if I can be a good role model.” Alice hunched her shoulders, as if she’d been caught in a biting wind all of a sudden. What if she disappointed Maya? She was used to looking up to Shakra and Azura, not to have anyone look up to her. Why hadn’t Maya picked one of the older women to emulate?

“I’m afraid she’s almost more infatuated with you than she is with me,” Gabriel muttered, and this time Alice did look over at him, shocked.

“You can’t mean that…”

“She’s pushing me away,” Gabriel’s voice was grim, almost resigned. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that. It’s not like she’s come straight up and told me that it won’t work, but she doesn’t have to…”

Alice flinched inwardly, wondering if Gabriel was referring to the time Alice had told him there wasn’t going to be anything between the two of them. “I’m sure she’ll become more adjusted to things…to the magic I mean. Things will go back to normal.”

Gabriel snorted, and this time he did look at her, grinning. “Right, like things are ever normal around here.”

Alice laughed. “That’s true enough.” She tapped one finger on the glass as the train did another loop around the tracks. “Want to go in?”

“Yeah,” his smile was back all the way now, and his dark eyes lit up. “I want to see how it works.”

She was trailing after Gabriel towards the door when a bright orange scrap of paper pasted in the corner of the toy shop window caught her eye. “You go on,” she told him. “I’ll meet you in there.”

“Sure, okay.”

The door bumped shut, and Alice leaned one hip against the glass as she read the poster. There was a photo on the top. The man in the picture was very handsome, with straight dark hair and a hundred watt smile. He had wide blue eyes, and they sparkled with a mischievous sense of humor.  He looked as though he’d enjoy a good practical joke.

There was a paragraph below him explaining that he was “Eric Revol, author of the best selling book “Mate Behavior – A Guide to Love in the 21st Century”. Apparently there was a book launch here in Sidney.

Alice bit her lip, trying not to laugh. Maybe she should give the poster to Gabriel and ask if he wanted to go.

That was mean. She turned and followed the elf into the store, amused to find him crouched down beside the train right next to a little girl with curly blonde hair who couldn’t have been more than ten.

“But it doesn’t run on batteries,” Gabriel was saying to her. “It says right on the sign.”

“Steam,” the little girl explained patiently. “It runs on steam. There’s a tiny engine in there.”

Alice had to bite the end of her sweater sleeve to keep from laughing. Gabriel must have heard her come in though, because he stood up fast, cheeks flushing red.

“Erm, she’s explained how it works now,” he said. “So we can probably go to the next store if you like.”

Alice looked around the store, delighted that the insides looked exactly as she would have expected an enchanted toy shop to look at. She wandered further into the shop, watching wind up toys move by themselves. There was a little boy and his mom in the stuffed animal section, and the little boy kept running around poking the plush teddy bears and making them laugh, and the mother kept running after him until she caught him and scooped him up, scolding him for making all that noise.

“This place is wonderful.” Alice reached out to touch a green bucket of silly putty, which attempted to suck her finger in and made a disappointed slurping sound when she pulled her hand back.

“We should probably get back though, Maya will be wondering where we are.” Gabriel was examining a rubber duck, and he staggered backwards when it opened its beak and squawked at him.

“Alright.” Alice turned to the door, disappointed, but aware he was right. Sidney was a beautiful little town, and they would have ages to explore it. She resolved they would stay here until they’d been to every book shop, so that might take awhile.

The door was glass, and they could see the street outside, shoppers walking past, arms filled with bags. It was certainly a different type of city than most. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry, the sidewalks were bustling, but no one bumped into one another, and no taxis crammed the streets, just the odd car or bus went by. It seemed as though most of the residents walked.

There was a flash as someone went by the shop window, an impression of dark gold curls and tanned skin. Alice froze. The dream came back sharply, the damp, humid smell of the jungle and the wild laughter of the masked man. She rushed down the aisle and pushed through the door, making the bell ring wildly.

Standing on the sidewalk, breathing heavily, she looked around, trying to spot the man she’d just seen. But she hadn’t really seen him, had she? Just an impression of him, something that had brought back the memory of the dream. There was no one in the crowd walking by that had golden curls, and certainly no masked man strolling by with shopping bags.

Her shoulders slumped and she let out a breath, feeling foolish. Clearly the dream had affected her more than she’d originally thought. Here she was chasing after imaginary men. Ridiculous.

“What was that?” Gabriel pushed through the door behind her, his  expression was concerned. “Alice? You left really suddenly. Everything okay?”

Alice darted one last look up and down the sidewalk. There was no one there. It’d been her imagination. “It’s…nothing. I thought I saw someone. Ah, someone I know.”

What had she been about to say, “I thought I saw this guy I dreamed about”? Gabriel would think she was losing her mind.

“Come on, let’s get back.”

It was starting to get dark when they neared the shop front, and Alice paused on the sidewalk, watching the front of Threads as the lanterns at the front flared to life.

“I always love watching them come on…” she paused mid-sentence, because she’s spotted something that made her pulse spike. There was a brown paper package sitting on the doorstep, a rectangle shaped box wrapped in yellow twine. Her name had been scrawled on the top in loopy black cursive. Her thoughts clashed together in a near panic. It had to be Altair, was it him? Was this his idea of a joke? Did they order something and someone had dropped it off?

“Alice?” Gabriel had spotted the package too, and he was staring at it with wide eyes, no doubt thinking the same thing she was. Brown paper packages hardly brought back good memories for either of them, and they were certainly not on their “favorite things” list.

“Did you order something to be delivered?” he said.

“No, did you?”

“Not me. Maybe one of the others.” He moved towards it cautiously, then stopped, hand hovering over the package when Alice hissed at him.

“Maybe you should wait…”

“I’ll get Azura.”

She eyed the package. “Good idea.”

Gabriel stepped around it carefully and poked his head in the door, and Alice could hear him telling Azura about the mysterious parcel. The grey haired witch appeared in the doorway, and she quirked on steel colored brow at the package.

“I suppose we’ll just have to do a curse prevention spell. Bring it in, Gabriel, just be careful to keep it level while you carry it.”

The elf looked none too pleased with his assignment, but he reached down and brought the package up to hip level, moving into the shop with one careful step at a time. He placed the package on the table and let out a long shaky breath. “What now?”

Alice looked to Azura, who was busy pulling down a fistful of magic.

“What’s that?” Shakra got up from her armchair by the fire and made her way over to the desk. “Testing spell?” She asked Azura.

“Yes,” Azura laid the magic threads out so they floated at shoulder height in front of them. “Alice, watch carefully. We’ve done this once before on the last mysterious box that was sent.”

“The one that had the dagger,” Alice murmured, and Azura nodded. “Okay, do it again and I’ll watch. Apparently I’m going to have to learn this one myself, since people seem to insist on sending me mysterious gifts.”

“None have been cursed so far,” Azura added. “But lets not take the risk.”

Alice watched intently as Azura wove together a couple of different colored threads.  The pattern was the most complicated one she’d ever seen, so she would probably need to see if a few more times before mastering it.

Azura let the pattern float down and sink into the package. The threads dissolved until there was nothing.

“Step away,” Azura said calmly. “At least five feet.”

Gabriel looked a bit pale, and they all did what Azura had asked.

“You holding a witches pow wow or something?”

Alice looked up to see Altair in the doorway. “Mysterious package,” she explained.

“Another one?”

They all stared at the package intently, and after a few seconds Altair said. “I’m bored. What’s it supposed to do?”

“If it’s clean, nothing.” Azura walked back to the desk and picked up the package, turning it over in both hands. “If it were cursed it may have exploded. Or any manner of unpleasant things.”

She handed it to Alice. “Safe to say it’s…safe.”

Still, Alice pulled at the strings gently, careful not to shake the package too much. “Can the magic detect a bomb?”

Azura frowned. “No, just a curse. People don’t send bombs to one another in the magical world, far too messy. There are much more effective ways of killing people.”

“Right,” Alice muttered. “Comforting.” She set the package down on the desk and tore the corner end of the brown paper, revealing a low wooden chest with swirling patterns engraved on the top.

The box reminded her a little bit of the one that the dagger had come in. Was this another package from her mysterious benefactors?  The memory of the woman standing in the rain came back to her, the one who had been watching the shop. Her cryptic answered had puzzled and annoyed Alice, and she still remembered exactly what the woman had said.

We are the order, we do not exist.

What on earth was that supposed to mean? She stared down at the chest in front of her, and her fingers brushed her charm bracelet almost unconsciously, finding the shape of the little half-moon charm.  Is that what the charm meant? A symbol that she should trust this mysterious order that her aunt had somehow been a part of?

There was a small, rusty creak as Alice opened the lid of the trunk. There, nestled on a black velvet cushion, was a golden arrow. It was shimmering slightly in the lamp light, and Alice reached out one hand towards it, feeling slightly breathless.

“Maybe you shouldn’t touch it,” Altair said.

“I think this is from the order.” Alice wrapped her fingers around the arrow, feeling the cool, hard surface of the metal. She pulled it out of the slot on the cushion and held it up for the others to look at. The point at the end was very sharp looking, and Maya drew back.

“Careful, that thing looks lethal.”

“I think that’s the idea,” Alice murmured.

“Why send you something else?” Gabriel frowned. “You already have the blade they sent you.”

Alice thought about this briefly. She still kept the blade in its box under the desk, but sometimes when she took it out and looked at it, when the shop was empty and quite, she had imagined that it seemed dull. That it didn’t catch the light the way it had when she’d first got it.

“I think maybe it was a one time thing,” she said. “I think the blade doesn’t work anymore. I mean, it had to be powerful enough to paralyze a god once. I’m thinking the spell would wear off after that, or be gone altogether. It takes a lot of power to effect a god in anyway.”

“So they sent you this to replace it,” Azura said. “Whoever they are.” She smacked one hand down on the desk beside the box, expression irritated. “Blast Ruby for being so damn secretive about everything!”

“Maybe she had to,” Alice placed the arrow carefully into Altair’s outstretched hands when he gestured for it, and she noticed his blue eyes lit up brighter than usual.

“I wonder if this is some kind of god artifact…”

“You’re not selling it,” she said, exasperated. Alice snatched the arrow back, and Altair rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t saying I wanted to! I just find it fascinating.”

“Do you think it would kill one of them?” Gabriel asked.

“I don’t think anything can actually kill one,” Shakra walked over to the fireplace and flopped into the overstuffed armchair, she looked tired, and Alice wondered if the woman was as sick of dealing with gods as she was. Perhaps they all were equally tired of it.

“They kill one another, don’t they?”

“Not exactly, no. Paralyze, poison, drive insane…they do all sorts of nice things to one another, but I don’t think any of them can actually die.”

Alice slammed the chest shut with a bang. “Which is why it’s just lovely that I seem to have a new one of those nut cases after me every week!”

“Maybe the arrow isn’t a weapon,” Gabriel said slowly. “Maybe it’s a sign. What god or goddess carries a bow and arrow?”

Altair groaned. “Bad question. Too many of them…”

“What about Artemis?” Maya spoke up for the first time. “Goddess of the hunt.”

They fell silent, and Alice felt a growing lump in her throat. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Let’s pretend this doesn’t mean Artemis,” Altair grumbled. “Because if it does, we’re in a crap ton of trouble…”

“Right,” Gabriel snapped. “Let’s ignore the possibility that it’s a really powerful god that’s coming next, because, y’know, Athena was just a small fish. Couldn’t possibly be a real powerful god.”

Altair glared at him. “You think Athena is bad? Wait until you meet Artemis…”

“Okay!” Alice interrupted them, waving her hands in the air to get them to shut up. “Stop it! Let’s stop talking about how deadly the next god is going to be.” She stared down at the chest, a brown paper parcel that had caused all this worry. “It’s just…an arrow. Maybe it’s just enchanted by something, like, something that will put a god to sleep for a couple days. Maybe the order people are just giving it to me as…I don’t know, a precaution. Just in case.”

They all fell silent. Gabriel crossed his arms and leaned against the desk, brow creased with worry, and Altair had begun pacing back and forth, boots clomping on the floor. Everyone knew it was very unlikely that the package had been sent “just in case”.

“Apollo,” Gabriel was muttering to himself. “He had one too…crap, that’s a terrible god to have after you as well…”

Alice sighed and turned on her heel, and Azura followed her into the back room. She watched Alice put the kettle on and dump a tea bag into one of the brown, earthen ware mugs.

“You know, you could be right. Maybe they’re just giving you something just in case, since they know the power wore off the dagger. If something did happen because you thought the dagger was still powerful it would be their fault for not warning you it was a one time spell. So maybe they’re just moving to prevent that.”

Alice gave Azura a weak smile, trying to look confident. “I know, it’s okay. I’m fine, Azura. Really. We’ve dealt with this twice now. It’ll be fine.”

Azura strode forward and seized her shoulder’s gently, looking straight into her eyes. “Alice, you’ve come through everything, against all possible odds. You’ve saved all of us more than once. Whatever is going to happen next, we’re all here with you.”

“I know.” Her smile was wider this time, but when she turned away at the whistle of the kettle, the expression slipped back into a frown. The others were with her, it was comforting in one way. But on the other hand, what if she got someone hurt or killed? Maya had already nearly…okay, she’d actually died. What if whatever strange attraction she held for the gods got her friends killed?