"Excuse me," Derek said to the woman at the cash register of the empty CYOC Store. "You probably remember me from yesterday," he began. The woman's face showed that she recognized him. "Listen, that statue cursed my girlfriend and I was wondering if you had anything that could help us."
The woman simply frowned for a moment. Derek raised his eyebrows expectantly.
"I told you never to come back," she said in her antiquated English accent.
"And I'm not going to just give up and let my girlfriend turn into a pig."
"And what of yourself?"
"I'll stick by her," he said plainly. "I love her and I'm going to help her through this whether you can help us or not."
"You've been cursed as well," she said. "Don't ye see?"
Derek looked at his hands and came to a realization. They were unusually thin. His arms had lost most of their muscle tone. His clothes were just a bit baggy. And he remembered that the last thing he had eaten was the half-foot sub from yesterday. The thought of eating anything now actually disgusted him.
"You've gotta be kidding," he said flatly. "She's becoming a fat pig like the statue...and I'm getting thinner?"
"May God help ye," the woman said. "I must ask you again, leave. The curse you carry is disrupting the magics of this store."