Chapter Six

A New Acquaintance

            The day before they moved the shop, the backroom coffee maker broke. Alice, who disliked the idea of living without one, volunteered to go out and get another. “I’ll just be a minute.”

            “Take your time.”

             She stood on the sidewalk for a moment, looking up and down the street. She’d been shopping here already, but mostly she’d just been into clothing stores. There was a large red, brick building on the corner, and she could read part of a sign that said, “ool For the Gifted”.   It probably didn’t say “Pool for the Gifted”, so it had to be one of those magic schools Azura had talked about.

            On one side of Threads was a dusty looking antiques shop, the other was a pet store. She blinked, trying to remember if she’d seen that before. Alice wandered over to it, staring in the window of “Francina’s Familiars”. The window front was a room that housed a number of kittens. Four grey kittens rolled about in playful tussles, while two entirely white kittens sat in the corner watching the others with disgust. She couldn’t help herself - she was supposed to go get a coffee maker, but she didn’t think Azura would mind if she just popped in to look at some fuzzy kittens. After all, she was the boss, so she couldn’t get in trouble, right?

            She pushed open the door.  The inside looked like any other pet store.  Cages and tanks lined the walls, and the shelves were full of wood chips and pet food.  Great tangles of magic pulsed and flowed around the ceiling over her head.  The threads writhed, crawling up the walls with eerie, serpentine movements and Alice stared at them, rubbing at her arms. She had goose bumps. The threads of magic seemed to glow in different shades than she’d seen so far. The threads in her shop were vivid, bright and beautiful. These one’s glowed with dull and sickly light, and they never stopped pulsing, even though nobody was working a spell.  The second thing she noticed was the thick layer of smoke that hung in the air, brushing past her skin as she walked, filling her nostrils with a burnt, ashy smell.  As she walked down the first isle she found the source of it. Alice stared in astonishment.  The first cage housed a tiny lizard with a pair of bat-like wings on its back.  It was sleeping, curled on its side with its long tail around its feet.  Its scales were black as pitch, and the surface of the creature shone, reflecting its surroundings. When it exhaled, a thin trickle of smoke leaked from its nostrils and drifted out of the top of the cage.

             “It’s a dragon,” Alice breathed.  She continued slowly down the aisle.  Each cage housed a similar creature. One was a bright red color and she paused to admire its scales.  The cages and the dragons in them were getting bigger and bigger. The one at the end of the isle made her breath catch.  This dragon was awake, starring at her, its yellow eyes slits in the black scales of its face. It was curled up, arms and legs folded under itself as a dog would lie, but it was obvious that if it stood on all fours it would be taller than she was.  Wasn’t it dangerous?  She noticed a sign on the shelf above the cage, “All Dragons Have Been De-Fired”. She snorted. De-fired? Like you would de-claw a cat?

            Alice noted that all the cages seemed just a bit too small for their occupants.  It didn’t look as if any of them could stand comfortably.  It seemed cruel, and she felt a pang of sorrow for them, in spite of how scary they might look. 

She wandered down the next isle. This one held mostly parrots, budgies and cockatoos, except for the cages at the very end, which held several different types of owls. One of the barn owls hooted enquiringly at her. It stared so intently that Alice couldn’t help feeling like she was the one being examined.

            The next owls were pure white, and when they shuffled and flapped she saw flashes of black on their wings and backs. I’m pretty sure these owls are endangered. I don't think this is a very nice place. It was a very large place, though. There was yet another aisle, and this one held even more animals. Several large turtles sat in one tank watching Alice with apparent boredom. They weren’t exciting, but Alice was certain that normal turtles didn’t make that kind of eye contact.  She muttered to herself, puzzled, and walked onwards.  The next cage held several brown squirrels, chattering furiously at her; she moved on feeling like she’d invaded their privacy.

Then, Alice stopped at the last cage.

            In it sat a huge cat, its coat white, black stripes rippling across its back and sides. She marvelled at how huge its paws were, nearly the size of her head! It was so long it looked cramped, even though the cage took up the entire end of the shelf. It was a marvel the shelf even held its weight. Alice looked at the plaque above its cage and wondered nervously if it had been de-clawed. The tag proclaimed it to be a “Siberian White Tiger” and Alice’s hand flew to her mouth in horror. This is definitely endangered!

            The cat suddenly lifted its huge head off its paws and stared directly at her. The force of its bright blue eyes made her back up a step. How was it possible for an animal to look so soulful, so sad?  When it huffed a sigh and lay its head back down, Alice noticed that several white threads of magic had been wrapped around its neck, blending into the tiger’s white fur. She wondered if it had been spelled to keep it from escaping.  She was suddenly overwhelmed by a fierce desire to meet the owner of this shop and give them a piece of her mind! What type of horrible person could do this?

            “I’m sorry,” she murmured. Slowly the Tiger’s tail twitched, it turned its head to one side. “It isn’t right. I wish I could do something for you.”

            The cat raised its head again and goose bumps ran down her arms.  It had to be her imagination. It wasn’t really staring straight into her eyes with bright, intelligent blue eyes.  Human eyes.  

“No way,” she whispered.

            The Tiger opened its mouth and growled, or at least, part of her heard him growl - some other part of her, somewhere in the back of her conscious mind, heard, “You can help me.”

            Alice lurched backwards in shock. “Oh my…”

            “What are you doing?” a sharp voice said, and Alice whirled around, heart beating wildly.  A short, fat man with a black moustache stood with his hands on his round hips. He was flashy from head to toe, dressed in a suit and bowler hat, a brilliant red bow tie tucked under his wobbly chin and his handlebar moustache was shiny and curled up at the corners with great enthusiasm. He had a fat cigar in one chubby hand that trailed odorous smoke.  Upon closer inspection it was obvious that the man was as shabby as he was show-off. The suit had been patched and re-patched, and his shoes were badly scuffed. One even showed a bit of dirty white sock though the toe.

            “I…am looking,” Alice stammered.

            “Don’t look him in the eyes,” growled the man. “He’s a mean one.”

            “Well he is locked in a tiny cage. It probably makes him miserable.” Alice hesitated, and then bravely pushed on. “Plus I’m pretty sure that half of the animals you have in here are endangered. You could get arrested for that, you know.”

            “Listen, little missy - I am Pavlov Francina. I’ve been in business for sixteen years now. Nobody is shutting me down. It’s not illegal when you have as much magic as I do.”

            She stared at him in shock. Her parents had raised her to be respectful to adults, but if she’d ever seen an adult who didn’t deserve any respect, it was the man standing before her. She’d be willing to bet he was every bit as slimy as his disgusting moustache.  

Alice crossed her arms and glared at him. “Well, I think you’re a horrible man.”

            Pavlov Fancina narrowed beady eyes at her. “It doesn’t matter what you think.” He took one menacing step towards her. Alice stepped backwards, her shoulder blades pressing into the bars of the Tiger’s cage.

            “I’m surprised no one has reported you yet.” Alice stiffened as Pavlov stuck his face inches from hers. She didn’t appreciate the close up of his greasy moustache, or the smell of his breath and recoiled in disgust.

            “Let me tell you a secret, sweet heart. Everyone leaves my shop happy, usually after they’ve bought a nice pet. I think a Budgie would do nicely, yes?” he purred. “Don’t worry, all you’ll remember is visiting a lovely little pet shop down the street.”

Suddenly, Pavlov reached up towards the magic, casting a handful of threads at her. The Tiger growled, “Watch out!” and Alice recoiled with a scream, shoving the magic back at him.

            Pavlov gave a disgusted cry and staggered backwards into the shelves, bumping cages, making the birds squawk with terror.  Alice reached the Tiger’s cage and shot both bolts aside; she knew it was rash, but she did it anyways. The door dropped open.  Pavlov gave a terrified yell as the magnificent creature leaped gracefully from its cage.

            “Thank you,” the Tiger growled, turning its massive head to look at Pavlov. “I should kill him.”

            “Please don’t.” Alice backed away from the huge cat. “I’d rather not see that.”

            Pavlov scrabbled backwards, “What are you talking about?”

            Alice stared at the frantic little man. “You can’t hear it?”

            “You’re insane.” Pavlov’s face was stark white as he watched the angry tiger prowl back and forth.

            “You can hear me because I want you to,” the Tiger said. “And I will respect your request and not dismember this scum. Let’s leave this place.”

             Alice turned to the cowering man. “He says he won’t kill you, but only because I asked him not to. We’re leaving now; don’t try to follow us.”

            Pavlov sputtered furiously as Alice turned and walked back down the aisle towards the door, the Tiger following close on her heels.  Although she had a pretty good idea that it meant her no harm, it was still hard to walk forward confidently with the huge creature pacing behind her.  She took a deep, shaky breath as they exited the oppressive surroundings of the shop and entered the natural daylight once more.  The streets of Victoria were busy as ever, but nobody seemed to think much of the large Tiger following her.

            “Why isn’t everyone staring at you?”

            The drivers going past simply looked once and smiled, people passing her on the sidewalk nudged one another and laughed, but nobody seemed alarmed.

            “One of the spells on me makes it so that people see me as a small white cat, you can only see my true form if you practice magic.”

            They walked into Threads and Azura looked up. “Oh my goodness!”  Her hands flew to her mouth. “Alice, what…”

            “There’s a horrible pet shop next door!” Alice blurted out angrily. “He’s keeping all these poor creatures in tiny cages and some of them are endangered!”

            “So you bought a Tiger?” Azura stared at the creature in disbelief.