Legends End Chapter 2

 

Raven watches Becca leave and takes several deep breaths. She has this sudden urge to run to the door and lock it. As if a huge well of terror had just suddenly opened up around her. Somehow, though, she knows it isn’t hers. She glances out the windows of the shop at the retreating back of her friend, and knows that it is her terror. She can’t explain why, she just knows. 

Wow. She really is afraid of what’s going on. Raven thinks quietly to herself. She turns back to the rest of the shop and closes her eyes for a moment. She takes several deep, cleansing breaths and thinks about a wall going up between her and the outside world. The fear vanishes and she opens her eyes. Things like this have been happening more and more often. Like the world is trying to tell her something. Or maybe, trying to tell everyone something. Oh well. I can only take care of myself. Maybe my sibs, too. The rest of the world will have to fend for itself. 

She picks up her coffee mug and takes a sip. The still mostly hot coffee tastes wonderful. She reaches under the counter and grabs a small tool box. Inside it are all the pieces of jewelry that need to be repaired. She pulls out one of the most damaged and gets to work. She always feels better with something productive to do. 

She loses herself in the work for a while when something pulls her attention to the front of the shop. The door opens as soon as she looks up and her brother and sister come flying in the door. Tammy practically flings herself over the counter at Raven to hug her. Her brother walks a little bit more calmly around to give his own greeting. Raven holds onto her sister for a moment, then reaches a hand out to Tim as well. He grips it tightly, the only sign that he is as upset as his twin. Knowing him, he was trying to stay strong and confidant for her. 

She pulls away from her sister as she hears her dogs come barreling down the stairs. They had heard people in the shop that they knew and were coming to say hello. She glances over at the stairway door just as it bursts open and Freki and Geri come pouring out. They each pick a sibling and begin bouncing around them giving small, but still deep, yips and barks. The twins faces relax slightly as they reach down and scratch behind the ears of the two hounds. The few times that her bother and sister had come over to the shop, the dogs had always behaved the same way around them that they did around Raven. The twins were the same way. The fact that her brother had been bitten by a dog when he was little and had been afraid of them ever since, never showed when he was around Freki and Geri. Both of them seemed to know that they were family to the animals. 

“Ok you two,” Raven says into the growing silence, “Get your bags and take ‘em upstairs. You know where to put stuff.” The two dogs bound away from the twins and thunder up the stairs as though they know they’ll get more attention when the humans get up there. 

“I’ve got to run the shop for the day. Feel free to watch T.V. or read or come help me down here if you really want. I have jewelry and a few blades that need to be cleaned that I could use some help with,” she motions to the display cases as she talks. Two of them contain her silver jewelry and the one right next to the register contains several small daggers, pocket knives, and some throwing stars. It’s the most popular display in her shop. Tim and Tammy look at each other as Raven talks and then look back at Raven. 

“I think we’ll come back down once the bags are put away,” Tim says quietly. “I don’t know about Tammy, but I want to be around people.” He looks over at his twin, begging her with his eyes to agree with him. Tammy nods her head in agreement and grabs her bag off the floor. Sighing in relief Tim snags his bag, too. They head to the stairs, and Raven watches them go. 

Once again, her mind drifts to the past. The first time the twins had shown up on the door step of her shop and begged to stay over for the weekend. It had been one of the times that she was closing the shop for a small festival that she was helping to run on the college campus. She had welcomed them in and told them her plans for the weekend. Given the fact that it was a pagan gathering didn’t seem to bother them in the least. Her two dogs had already been taken down to the site to help guard the supplies. When the twins had first seen them, Tim had turned ghost pale and started to turn to leave. Freki had whimpered at him and belly crawled over to his feet. He had stared down at the large beast and started to smile. The dog’s tail had started wagging as Tim reached down and scratched lightly behind his ears. They had been best friends ever since. Her sister had latched onto Geri as soon as he had come into her view. She had always loved animal of all kinds and was rarely afraid of them. Geri had followed her around all weekend like her own personal bodyguard. Come to think of it, Freki had done the same with Tim. 

She frowns at her twisting thoughts and shakes her head. Too many strange thoughts and memories running through her head today. Grabbing a feather duster, she meanders around the shop while she waits for her sibs to come back down. Not too much dust at the moment, but she still runs the duster along all the shelves she passes just in case. She makes it all the way around to the counter before she hears the twins coming back downstairs. 

She smiles as she looks up at them. They had never judged her the way their parents had. She was their big sister and they didn’t care about silly things like what she chose to believe in. She had never hurt them and would kill to keep them safe. And they knew that. Tammy reaches the bottom first and looks over at her sister. 

“You have a weird cat, sis. She doesn’t seem to like chasing birds,” she says as she walks to the counter. “She was sitting outside on one of the benches and these two huge ravens were sitting right above her on the railing and she just ignored them. At least, she did until she saw us watching her. Then she leaped at them and hissed. They took off after that.”

“Ravens, huh?” Raven sighs. “That’s the third time this morning that those blasted birds have been on my patio. Maybe I need to get a scarecrow or something. The dogs were chasing them when I woke up.” Or had they? She couldn’t really seem to remember if they were chasing the birds before or after she had looked out at them. Oh well, she thinks to herself, I just have strange pets I guess. Nothing I didn’t already know. But those birds could get annoying really quick.

She heads to the small office space she has at the back of the shop and grabs the large box of items needing to be cleaned and set out. She brings it back to the front of the shop and sets it on the floor near the weapon case. She looks up at Tammy and Tim and motions them over. 

“Ok you two, you offered to help me out today, so here’s your first task. Everything in this box needs to be cleaned up and put out on display. Don’t worry about putting prices on anything. I’ll help you do that later. Just do all of the knives and such first. They may be more dangerous, but they are easier to clean than the jewelry.” She pulls out a plastic bag from the box and stands up as she speaks. “The cleaners are in the small drawer behind the counter with clean cloths.”

She walks back behind the counter and opens the plastic bag. Inside it are the new silver rings that she had ordered. They were badly tarnished so she had gotten a good deal on them. No one likes to buy dirty stuff, but she had no problem cleaning it before putting it out for sale if it meant getting a better price on it. She snags a small jar of cleaner and starts pulling out the tiny Ziploc bags that the rings are all in. She pulls out a small ring holder to put the freshly cleaned items on when she’s done with them. She looks over the counter at the twins and sees them hard at work. She smiles to herself and, looking back down at the items in front of her, sets to work herself. 

Author's Note

Ok...I personally think that this needs some work, but I can't step back enough to see where. any advice would be appreciated.