It seemed to take forever, but finally they were passing right under a long purple thread that glittered in the daylight, and Alice reached up and snagged it.

                Ekile yelled and the slimy feeling of his magic tightened around her throat. Alice wasted no time in looping the purple thread around his magic and yanking it upwards, effectively casting the spell back in his face. She whirled and ran back down the sidewalk, blood thundering in her ears, hearing his outraged scream and then the scuffling of feet close behind her.

                “Alice!” Shakra was racing down the sidewalk towards her, “Alice get down!” She was brandishing something – a large hard cover book – in her hands, and Alice realized in that moment that she meant to throw it. She ducked, just seconds before the heavy volume soared overhead, a trail of glowing threads steering it straight towards Ekile.  The dark wizard tried to dodge out of the way, face twisted in anger and confusion, but to Alice’s astonishment the book struck him directly in the face, made a horrible sucking sound and fell down onto the sidewalk, pages fluttering like they were alive.

                Ekile had vanished.

                “Shakra, what…”

                “Just a minute!” Shakra ran by her and shut the book firmly, forcing the cover shut with a few strong threads that shone brightly in gold and silver. A binding spell.

                Alice could read the cover now, scrolling letters that spelled out Alice in Wonderland. The book Erika had given her.

                “Shakra, that was brilliant,” Alice scrambled off the sidewalk, ignoring her stinging elbows and knees, “I wonder how he’ll handle having tea with the mad hatter.”

“Not well, I’ll bet,” Shakra tucked the book under her arm, “It’s a perfect solution though, because I didn’t want you fighting him. He’s become far more powerful than he was when I was training him. I suspect Athena has something to do with it.”

                “Well, now he’s going to spend the rest of his days with the red queen,” Alice tried to brush the snow off her pant legs as they walked back to the shop, but of course it had already started seeping into the fabric.

                “Off with his head,” Shakra said.

                Alice squeaked in surprise when Altair launched himself at her in the doorway, practically crushing her in a hug, “thank god you’re okay. I was running down the sidewalk to rescue you but ex-tiger lady bashed me out of the way.”

                Shakra snorted unkindly, “Altair, if I had let you face that wizard, you’d be a man-shaped smear on the sidewalk right now.”

                “That’s disgusting,” Altair retorted.

                Alice buried her face in his neck, chuckling at how pouty he sounded. She tilted her head back and narrowed her eyes at him, “you can be my knight in shining armor when something non-magical comes up.”

                They followed Shakra back into the shop, and Altair muttered, “yeah, like that ever happens.”

                “What are you going to do with the book?” Alice called after Shakra, who was disappearing into the backroom.

                “I plan to make a pot of tea, have a nice civilized lunch, and then dig a hole somewhere and burry it.”

                “Poor Erica,” Alice said, “I’d better not ever tell her we trapped an evil wizard in her book and then buried it.”

                Gabriel, who was sitting at the front desk, looked bewildered, “what evil wizard? What was all the yelling about?”

                Alice told him what had just happened, and he grinned, “wow, you mean he’s stuck in…wonderland or whatever?”

                “Yup, he’ll fit right in,” Alice muttered, “being a crazy wizard and all. Now, it’s business as usual. We can’t just keep putting off work whenever there’s an evil wizard attack or someone casts a horrible spell on someone. We’d never get any work done,” she sighed, “I’m going back to unpack the ‘hex in a bag’ shipment that just came in and pretend everything is completely normal.”

                She headed for the back room, Gabriel and Altair’s voices fading only slightly as they began debating whether an evil wizard would work in wonderland or not. She brushed past Shakra, who was at the table making tea and cutting up cucumbers for sandwiches.

                “Alright, Alice? Thought I would make your favorite, since you had a rough couple of days.”

                “Thanks,” Alice stretched up and carefully shimmed a large box off the top shelf, setting it down on the desk, “tea and sandwiches helps everything.” She looked up at the sound of footsteps down the stairway. Azura entered the room, buttoning the top of her sweater. Her hair was messy and lose around her shoulders, “I heard what happened, are you alright, Alice?”

                “Thanks to Shakra, I’m fine,” Alice pulled back the top flap of the cardboard box and pulled out the first hex bag. The cartoon writing on the side boasted it could be used as “trick goodie bags at parties”.

                That was great, Alice thought, if you wanted to make sure you never had any friends.

She pulled out an itching hex, a sneezing hex and a bag that made you laugh uncontrollably for a few seconds after you opened it, and lined them up on the counter.

“These are horrible.”

“I believe Gabriel ordered them,” Azura said distractedly, “so this Ekile character said he wanted Alice? Not Shakra anymore?”

“Trying not to think about that,” Alice stared at the hex bags, frowning. She couldn’t help remembering what the goddess Styx had said about her being a magnet. Is this what she’d meant? A magnet for trouble? Someone that powerful wizards and gods wanted dead?

No thanks…

Shakra glared down at the book on the counter, “that’s what he said right before…well, before it all happened. He said Athena doesn’t want me anymore,” she poured the steaming kettle into the empty tea pot, “gods and goddesses are like children. When they have a shiny new toy to play with the old one doesn’t seem interesting anymore.”

Alice thought about Ambrose, and nodded, “Don’t I know it.”

Azura frowned, “So, what now? We wait and hope that Athena grows bored with the idea of Alice as well?”
                “I don’t know what else,” Shakra’s hands shook slightly, and she slammed them down on the counter, glaring down at her fingers like she was angry with herself for showing weakness, “we could move the shop again. It took her awhile to find us last time…”

“No,” Alice said firmly. She could feel both women staring at her open-mouthed, but didn’t look up from unpacking the box, “I won’t do it anymore. You heard what the goddess Styx said. I’m a magnet for this sort of stuff, for trouble. This isn’t going to stop happening,” she looked up and glared from one to the other, “I can’t keep running. If Athena wants a fight, there’s nothing I can do about it. She’s a goddess for crying out loud, she’ll find me if she wants to.”

No one said anything for a second, and then Alice pulled out on of the bags and discovered it had a hole in the bottom.

“Oh, you got to be kidding…”

The next few seconds were spent sneezing until she was doubled over, when she finally straightened up, both women were staring at her, eyes wide. Shakra was biting her lip and Azura had one hand over her mouth, both clearly trying to fight down laughter.

Alice rolled her eyes and snorted, “Oh go on.”

At three o’clock, when the wave of customers slowed down slightly, Altair slumped against the desk. Gabriel was still arguing loudly with an angry fairy who insisted a potion they’d sold her hadn’t worked and she wanted her money back. Alice shut her eyes and tried to block out Gabriel’s low growls and the fairy’s high, squeaky protests, but it was nearly impossible.

“I want my money back, I gave it to the human and he doesn’t love me.”

“That isn’t from our shop, we’re not giving you money.
                “It is so, look at the label.”

Here there was a moment’s pause, and then Gabriel’s outraged voice came from behind the shelves, “you’ve handwritten the shop name over an old wine label.”

“No I haven’t.”

There was the noise of a cork popping and then Gabriel’s angry voice, “this is seven up and pink food coloring.”

“It isn’t!”

Alice sighed and put her head down on the desk with a thunk, rather harder than she’d intended. She jumped when someone rested their hand on her shoulder and then sighed when she heard Altair say,

“I think you need break time. “

Alice peered at him from between strands of her hair, not lifting her head from the desk, “what make you think that?”

“The look of ‘I’ll kill the next annoying customer that crosses my path’,” Altair chuckled, “it isn’t good for business. I think you need a little fun.”
                She raised herself up on her elbows, and sighed when Altair started to massage her shoulders, “what sort of fun?”

“I’m thinking fun that involves hot chocolate and cookies, and maybe something totally embarrassing for me, like ice skating. You’d get a kick out of watching me fall on my ass, wouldn’t you?”

Alice couldn’t help grinning at the thought, “they say laughter is the best medicine.”

Altair rolled his eyes, “well, you’ll be cured in minutes then. I can’t skate to save my life.”

Alice grabbed his hand and used it to pull herself up, “I can’t wait, let me get my jacket.”