A bell rang as Cormac pushed open the door, echoing as though it were in a canyon in an irregular fashion not unlike someone looping and layering the ethereal tones. Cormac paused in the doorway for a second as he shook his head to briefly consider backing out before pressing onward and holding the door open for Ixia. They were both greeted with an amber light much less intense than what had been shining through the windows, instead giving everything a deceptively comforting glow as little else in the shop was comforting.

“We crossed a threshold.” Ixia said, freezing immediately after setting foot in the shop as her eyes went wide. “I will be fine here, but we must ensure our return takes us to where we left.”

Cormac looked back out the windows as the door closed, seeing only darkness without anything discernible out there despite the powerful amber glow radiating from within. He shook his head and looked away from the sight. “Doors are going right to the top of the ‘wasn’t scary but now it is’ list.”

Ixia slowly began to wander further in with Cormac in tow as they both looked over the shelves. From books bearing no text on the covers sitting on display, to books written in text neither of the pair recognized. Which sat next to mirrors that both avoided looking directly into out of instinct and a shared glance of acknowledgement, next to puzzle boxes of varying sorts, next to mechanical watches, next to things Ixia only slightly recognized.

“Cell phones?” Cormac asked aloud, noting a shelf filled with everything from burner flip phones to more modern smartphones. He leaned in, eyebrow raised as careful inspection revealed they were of no brand he had ever heard of. “So...all of you in the Veiled World...you didn’t invent cell phones or something way back when...did you?”

Ixia shook her head, equally perplexed by their inclusion here.

“Okay good. It’s just a modern scary thing.” Cormac leaned back and looked away, locating a display case with an assortment of carefully laid out pens of all manner from ballpoint to fountain next to a rack of typewriters and laptops. “I don’t know what to do with that development.”

“This is a place that shouldn’t be filled with things that shouldn’t be…” Ixia looked at the logo of a cell phone that looked almost familiar to her, frown growing. “Is this how you have been feeling since you met me?”

Cormac cleared his throat, looking away to a wall of masks in a myriad of designs. None of which he recognized. “No, of course not. I had a beautiful woman running around naked to make all that go down easier.”

Ixia was unable to hold back a chuckle and a smile as she relaxed her shoulders a bit. “I needed that, thank you.”

“Anything else you need?” Another female voice but in from across the store to capture both of their attention. Far off to the side overlooking the shoulder height aisles stood a woman of long black hair and skin paler than Cormac’s surveying the store. “Plenty of things here that are needed. Plenty that are wanted. Some that may aid. Some that may harm. And others...to bring change.”

Cormac put his face in his hands and let out a deep sigh, red hair hanging all around his face. “We’re gonna fuckin’ die.” His voice was muffled by his hands shortly before he dragged them down his face.

The dryad rested a hand on his shoulder, and as he looked up to her she gave a reassuring yet fierce look to show she was ready for anything. Cormac frowned, giving another heavy sigh before finally speaking back to the woman. “We’re just browsing for now, thanks!”

He turned away from her, trying to be casual about looking at a shelf full of magic items that he was certain would spell his doom. Possibly literally in the case of that pen with a skull design on it with an accompanying vial of white ink. Ixia was slower to turn away, keeping her eyes on the strange woman a moment longer after trying and failing to really make out much of her face from this distance.

“I would assume that the bizarre speech is not typical of shop keeps, from what you have shown me so far?” Ixia asked in a low voice, leaning in close to Cormac as she feigned interest in the skull pen.

“Highly unusual, I could swear she sounded happy when she said that.” Cormac spat the cursed word from his lips, as it belonged nowhere near a talk about retail.

Ixia sucked in air through her teeth. “It is...not usually a good sign for Veiled things either.” A worried look from Cormac pressed her to continue. “Not always a bad thing, but a bad thing often enough to be cautious.”

“Alright, cautiously taking a closer look....since we’re here to investigate…” The human gulped, slowly yet casually making his way to the front desk and the woman standing there as he perused the wares on display in between trying to read her face, though he was having some difficulty while pretending to look interested in whatever horrifying curio he was passing by.

Leaning in with a hand to his chin, he gave a mock nod as he inspected a shrunken head. He quickly leaned back as the sewn together eyes started rolling about beneath the lids. “Quite the selection you have here!” He said with a nervous laugh, taking the opportunity to look over to her and see three eyes blinking back at him.

“I don’t see any prices.” Ixia noted aloud, looking for the small numbers that Cormac had taught her were so vital to pay attention to.

“No traditional cost.” The woman’s even tone sent a shiver down Cormac’s spine as he immediately assumed the price for all of these would be paid in souls, preferably his own. “Actions and appropriate trades. And no, we no longer take souls.”

Cormac almost tripped over himself as he wondered if she could read minds, since anything was possible now. Was she reading his mind right now? Was she reading this very thought? “Really?” He said aloud to guard his thoughts. “Well that is...that is something. A real unique take on prices. Hey how long have you been here I hadn’t seen the place before?”

Though he was trying, and his efforts at subtlety were nonexistent, this proved to be a good cover for Ixia to pay closer attention to the items on display. Curiously next to the four armed woman at the desk was a large tank filled with bulbous aquatic plants giving off a soft orange glow.

“I have always been here, perhaps you only finally found a need to come here?” Cormac saw the words emerge from a lipless mouth like a cut reaching from one ear to the other, filled with too many teeth that looked unsettlingly human.

Cormac ran his tongue over his own teeth to make sure none were missing. “Yeah guess I just hadn’t been in the market for…” He pointed to a small mummified rat bleeding from its eyes into a small pool that never seemed to fill its glass coffin. “That.”

Ixia took a chance at this cover story he seemed to be going for. “I had told you, you really should have gotten one of-” She pointed to the rat with a grimace. “-those a lot sooner. How much would that one cost?”

“A pure black rat left to desiccate in salt for four days and four nights in a desert well that has run dry.” The strange woman said too casually as she exhaled through the two thin slits she had in place of a nose.

“Oh wow. That is a great deal but you know we’re fresh out of those.” Cormac said, finally making his way out of an aisle and into the clearing before the old wooden counter with the strange inhuman woman behind it standing at about his height.

Ixia took a few careful steps forward, focusing on the woman’s third eye sitting upon her forehead beneath two small black horns poking out from her similarly colored hair. “Truly a shame indeed.” She said as the other woman never blinked those black beady eyes. “How long have you been running this place? In terms of years.”

All three eyes blinked slightly out of sync as she straightened out her ornate black and yellow dress with her lower set of arms. “Five hundred and sixty three years I have had this collection.” The woman unclasped her hands as she gestured to a shelf filled with what Cormac and Ixia guessed to be items of exceptional quality. “I am certain there is something for you here, at a cost we can agree on.”

She took a step back, and as her expression went neutral her mouth seemingly vanished altogether before her smile returned as she gestured to a few items. “Perhaps it is privacy and security you seek?” She plucked an old flip phone from the shelf and presented it with a slight flourish. When the pair didn’t react, she replaced it on the shelf as her lower arms plucked an old book in unknown text bearing a mountain surrounded by four stars. She got halfway into holding it out to them before her eyes narrowed and she withdrew it to gently set it back on its display stand. “No, you have no need for that one but your eyes do betray your need for something.”

The woman leaned forward as Cormac took a step back on instinct, while Ixia held her ground before speaking. “And should we choose to leave here without purchasing anything?”

“Many people need many things, want more things, and act upon as few desires as they do their needs.” She clasped her lower hands together as she shrugged with the top pair, showing off that each of the upper palms held another small beady eye. “That is their own mistake to make.”

Ixia had been mulling over a question for some time now, before finally vocalizing it. “Are those for...our kind, or are they for humans?” She pointed to random bits of tech sitting next to things more obviously magical.

“They are for whoever wants to buy them.”

Cormac rolled his eyes from behind Ixia, keeping quiet through sheer will over how much this reminded him of talking to management. Then again, if this shop was hers then that is likely exactly what she was. With the added horrors of the Veiled World. He opted for pacing about as Ixia asked her questions, keeping a close eye on the situation to react in some way.

“Even humans?” Ixia pressed on.

“Your human has never needed anything? You should know your situation is not unique, and one way or another any humans finding their way in here have seen beyond the veil.” Her ‘lips’ pulled back into a too large grin. “And at that point, they would absolutely need something to aid them after seeing the world as it really is for the first time.”

Ixia kept her eyes fixed on the woman’s three eyes, taking step after careful step towards the counter. “And who shows them how to get in to begin with?”

The woman shrugged once more. “I don’t know, and it is no concern of mine. Now, did you need that obsidian knife or not?”

Cormac stopped in his tracks, looking over to the strange woman with eyes as wide as Ixia’s had grown.

“You are that surprised that I know your desires within my own domain?” The woman’s head tilted and her curtain of silky black hair cascaded to the side. “You are a strange dryad indeed.”

“I have...been away for some time.” Ixia mumbled as she took a few steps back. “Cormac didn’t you say you had somewhere else to find that knife?”

The human put an arm around the dryad, nodding without looking at her for fear of taking his eyes off the being that seemed to be able to see what exactly they wanted. “Yeah...yeah the price will probably be...well I’ve got a coupon there.” He opted for a polite lie rather than admit to outright fear.

“Why yes,” Ixia tried to play along with the lie, finding it somewhat difficult as she slowly retreated with Cormac. “I too need things at that store. Such as...seeds. Also...pineapple.”

Cormac blinked a bit too long there as he bit his tongue. “Yes, sounds great. We will go get all of that, at the place I have a coupon for.”

“Sounds like they have quite the selection there.” The woman leaned back, resting her hands on the counter. “Perhaps I should be jealous.”

“Indeed!” Ixia forced a smile of her own. “They have many things! Like wood! And rocks of varying sizes!”

“Stop.” Cormac tried to whisper into her ear as he kept up a toothy grin before excusing them out of this cursed place. “So thanks for letting us look around, we’ll be going now.”

The woman gave an unphased blink as she stared down the pair. “I will be here if you should not find what you need in that wondrous shop. Perhaps you may find an old bit of turquoise there in the shape of an eye with three notches in the iris there.”

Cormac had to drag Ixia along as her brows pressed together and her mouth hung open in a question answered by the memory that they were in this strange woman’s domain. Their wants and needs were hers to peruse.

“Hey now don’t go spoiling my birthday present for the lady!” Cormac forced another laugh as he finally made it to the door. Flinging it open and sounding that ethereal bell again, he poked his head through and confirmed that he could see his truck off in the distance. Seeing the faded blue under the high lights of the parking lot, he gave a final wave to the strange woman and dragged Ixia through the threshold to close the door behind them.

Ixia stood in front of the door for a moment as Cormac caught his breath, concern growing as he noted the sadness in her eyes. He tapped at her shoulder as she woke from a trance and looked at him.

“I didn’t want it to be that easy to make me consider a foolish action.” She lamented, as she forced herself to turn from the door and begin walking back to the truck.

“That eye wasn’t some item of vast power that we actually do need to go get, right?” Cormac asked, casting a worried glance over his shoulder at the place that shouldn’t be and the edges of reality that hurt to look at. “Because I accept full responsibility if I fucked that up for us.”

Ixia shook her head while hanging it low. “Just...sentiment.”

Cormac scanned the bed of his truck, ensuring everything they had earlier purchased remained there still before unlocking and climbing in. “Sentiment is a good way to hurt people. Don’t let that monster hold that over you.”

The dryad climbed in, softly shutting the door behind her and sitting in the dark and quiet for a moment before placing her hand on Cormac’s. “It has been a long day, and there is much to do while you sleep. Let’s head home?”

She silently hoped that he wouldn’t press this issue any more for the day, and the human understood well enough that they both needed their rest and drove them home. Filling the silence with idle conversation to put their troubling experience behind them.