"This is insane," Lina muttered. She was pulling Amy by the collar back to the magic store. People that passed by gave the girls odd stares, but Lina was too furious to feel embarrassed. When they reached the shop, Lina marched straight to the counter, with a quiet Amy in tow.
"Is there a problem?" the old man looked at Lina through a small pair of spectacles.
"You bet," Lina scolded. "What's the big idea giving away stuff without telling people what they're supposed to do? My friend just turned into my slave, and we can't get the damn collar off!"
"Oh," the old man said, sounding bewildered. "You didn't know what it did?"
"How the hell were we supposed to know? You haven't got anything around here labeled!"
"I see, that's the problem," the old man muttered, stroking his long beard. "I suppose that's why there are so many accidents."
"What?" Lina asked.
"Your friend's collar there is enchanted with a permanent obedience charm," he said, getting back to the matter at hand. "The wearer becomes a slave to the person that put it on them. For security reasons, it's also enchanted never to come off so that other people won't steal it and use it themselves."
"You mean it's stuck on her forever?" Lina gasped.
"Well," he replied in a lower, more serious voice. "There are three ways it can be removed. It will come off if the slave dies, or if the master dies..." he paused. Lina gulped, hoping the third way was much less grim. "Or it will come off if the master disowns the slave."
"Sounds great," Lina said as she turned to Amy. "I disown you."
Amy remained still, dull eyes looking at Lina in expectation of orders.
"It won't work like that," the old man said. "You need to disown her in your heart. You need to feel that you will never, ever in five thousand millenia want to see, talk or event think of her again."
"What?" Lina yelled. "She's my best friend! I care about her more than anyone, and right now I don't want her chained to me for the rest of her life! She needs to do her own things, make her own way. I'd never wish this kind of life on her!" Lina threw an arm out toward Amy to point out the collar. She stared daggers into the man's eyes, but he didn't even flinch.
"Then you will never be rid of her, and she of you," he sighed. He began to write some notes in the book on the counter, deciding that was the end of the conversation.
Lina wanted to say more, but she was so angry at the situation she couldn't find reasonable words. She looked at Amy, hoping that some part of her could still feel and think like the Amy she used to know, and hoping her words would mean something to her. "I'm sorry."