The walk down Central Waterfront was always a little hazardous. Horns honked, echoing from the overpass as cars, usually tourists, tried to maneuver into the correct lane. This early in the morning the water in Puget Sound was still dark, as if it harbored a monster in its depths. Boats rocked peacefully in their moors and the giant Ferris wheel was silent. Gulls fought over scraps left by careless fast foodies and vagrant men lay in the haze of legal marijuana smoke on the pier by the fountain.<br/><br/>Lexi Davis liked this time of day, before the hustle and bustle turned Pike’s Place Market into a carnival. The black Chuck Taylors with the white rubber toes had seen better days but Lexi couldn’t really be bothered with trying overly hard to be glamorous. That was clearly not her thing, obviously, she thought, glancing at the hole in the knee of her jeans. Definitely not designer ripped, she thought with a smile at the statues of pirates, fishing boat captains and roughly dressed men who were frozen in the action of panning for gold. The army surplus jacket and backpack were almost standard dress of the bohemian youth of Seattle. Of course, she had never been a sorority type and she liked looking the part of an Anarchist.  The only bit of vanity about her was the skin tight tee shirt she wore, the one today was cherry red and of course, her white blonde hair that spoke of Nordic heritage.<br/><br/>Looking around, she noticed some people, probably had come from one of the cruise ships in harbor, a woman, Asian and two men. Lexi noted that the blond man was hot and had the air of attitude that she normally found attractive. As if, she thought, taking the keys from her pocket. She opened the door to Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, Established 1899 and stepped inside.  True to her morning ritual, she stuck her tongue out at the various heads of dead animals, antelope, buffalo, as well as skulls of other horned animals. She had begun this practice when she became the key holder to the place because the skulls put her in mind of satanic rituals and really creeped her out.The place was overrun with junk and oddities and an air of voodoo hung over the store, but the owner paid twice of what anyone else on the Waterfront did so she stayed. Not many other 25 year olds could afford the high rise apartment she had that overlooked the sound. Now, all she needed was a raise to afford a car too.<br/><br/>She locked the door behind her and slung her drab green jacket on the stool behind the counter. Keeping the lights down low, she brought out the money trays and loaded the cash register with change and about twenty dollars in bills. They never were robbed but the owner, Sid, said to only keep twenty and change in the till so who was she to argue? Most people paid with their card anyway. She was eager to indulge in her guilty pleasure.<br/><br/>Lately, Lexi had been reading some of the old tomes about magic and witchcraft. Mostly she had laughed at the spells and rituals until she had run across a very dusty, very thick, incredibly old book tucked away in the far back corner of the story room. When she opened it, she could hear whispering and it seemed like all the animal heads moved from the corner of her eye. She had slammed it closed and tucked it under the counter. Much like a potato chip addiction, she couldn’t leave the book alone, but daily would venture to open it and read. The crawling sensation had stopped but a sense of foreboding seemed to settle over her when she turned the pages.<br/><br/>In the hazy darkness, Lexi settled down to read by the dim daylight that filtered through the filthy plate glass display window. Her heart was pounding and she found herself holding her breath, as she read with morbid fascination at the incantations written in archaic spellings. Following her finger across the page, Lexi didn’t register the gentle tapping on the door. They weren’t open anyway so she ignored it as she read about the magic of an atheme.  Cannon explosion knocking jarred the windows and Lexi gasped, looking up to see the three people, the two men and the Asian woman standing outside her store.<br/><br/>She gestured that they were closed and tapped her wrist to indicate it wasn't time yet, but something about the blond man's stance made her blink. Something about his dont fuck with me face, made her consider calling security, they were quick to respond to all the businesses. But still, there was that, something and she unlocked the door.