Jeff and his girlfriend Beth were out at the west side mall. Jeff had never been all that interested in shopping but was always willing to go with her. She must have noticed how disinterested he was and pointed out an unusual shop situated between two clothing boutiques. She planned to visit the store on the left to find a new blouse and suggested that he check out the mystery shop rather than wait.
At a glance he guessed that it was some gimmicky place where you could buy celebrity cutouts and replica swords. As he stepped closer it became clear that it wasn’t the usual retail hole in the wall. A wooden sign simply read, “The Magic Shop.” It was dusty and made a hard transition from the smooth tile to an old wood floor. Whoever set it up must have spent a small fortune to renovate the commercial space like that. He stepped through the curtained doorway into a small space with dim lights hanging from the ceiling. It wasn’t big but there were plenty of products strewn about.
After seeing a mostly random assortment of goods in and out of packages, he came to the conclusion that it was an antique shop. It was out of place in the middle of a mall, but he was glad to have something besides cloths to look at. He looked towards the counter to see if there was anyone he could talk with, but found it vacant. He observed that the rest of the shop was just as empty.
With a shrug he began to investigate the products. There were cloths along the back wall. Nothing particularly modern looking. Along one isle were several pieces of jewelry. Oddly enough, none of it was locked behind glass. He had no intention of stealing something but didn’t think the owners of the strange shop were very bright for leaving valuables exposed and unattended. The next row held soaps and fragrances. He wasn’t especially interested and kept moving.
Each end cap held inexpensive items such as polished rocks or incense burning kits. He slipped past a cookware isle and entered the row that held games and toys. He noticed some card games and moved closer to investigate. Lots of antique looking decks along with unusual board games and dice packs. Just about everything had some sort of magic theme. As he reviewed the selection and noticed something that seemed out of place.
Sitting alone on the bottom shelf was a relatively large box labeled e-Transformations. The box was glossy and had no real decoration. Just the name of the game in bold and a small tag line that read: Hundreds of transformations, thousands of possibilities. He picked it up and tried to find a price. There were no hanging tags or stickers. The shelf wasn’t labeled either. He was intrigued and decided to take it to the counter...