Lemon

  There weren’t many places in the cave system of a black market that Lemon could reasonably escape to before the set of merchants that had claimed possession over her discovered she was missing. That greatly limited her possible plans of escape. Lemon always had been good at being invisible, ducking down the roads with the least number of people, hiding in little nooks before anyone saw her. That was simple for Lemon.

  The problem mainly lived with how cramped and overpopulated the black market was and how the exits were not only guarded by individuals but also by magic. Making it unlikely she could escape for long without notice. On the other hand the shop keeps were too diligent, too aware of every person that ducked in.

  They fluttered around trying to sell bigger and better devices, in-depth curses and potions the buyer only probably had a vague understanding of at prices that would make a master wizard gawk. Even shop keeps that trusted there items to leave the shelves by simply existing stood cross armed looking around for any that might dare to break the code or steal their wares.

  Honestly, though it made her life difficult, the concern she couldn’t blame much. If she owned a store she might be the same.

  Lemon just might have lost hope if she hadn’t stumbled upon a store in the center thrall but tucked off in a strange divot of mostly black stone wall. Not much called attention to the store. It didn’t have huge windows looking out just one decorative stained glass pain that showed the image of books and artifacts. Above the door sat carved into the stone a dragon.

  When she ducked in it looked as if no one was there. Lemon though was never one to allow a false sense of security so she’d taken her time looking over everything in the shop as people ducked in and out. It only took two days to notice someone far stupider then her to think empty meant unguarded. They hadn’t even gotten past the decorative swirls that welcomed people in once again with the emblem of a dragon before a spell with a shattering energy pulled the thieving fool to the ground. The thief tried to move but their body wouldn’t even budge.

  That was the first time she’d seen the shop keep.

  She’d noticed the balcony space and noticed the stairs that led up to it with a chain asking to not be disturbed. But she’d not seen any sign of life from there until the man stepped to the edge his hair a russet shade pulled back lightly glasses sat on the nose he glared down from holding a book.

  He was the biggest dissuasion from using this location. Not because of fear. Actually, she was pretty sure if she didn’t steal anything the man wouldn’t even notice her existence. But that energy, if the spell had been tempting dammit all it almost made her foolish, knowing how good it would feel in the moment.

  Lemon though had more self-control then to take the risk of taking on that much energy strait from the source. It opened the door to, too much. Like being discovered, the chance that if noticed and the individual was capable enough her own energy being torn from her body and even poisoning by a defensive spell. And that was only related to outside forces not the side-effects of her own abilities. No possible power of escape no matter how tempting was worth those risks.

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  The tempting energy became even more concerning to her when she’d noticed the signs of rippling flames cracking through the man’s skin.

  It made her wonder if the emblems weren’t branding but warnings.

  Dragons though were rare and from what she’d learned from her many hours of sitting and studying spell books and other information’s useful to the daughter of a less than honest businesswoman dragons were not conducive to holding a human form for long periods of time.

  Then again, the merchandise itself was also strange and extremely rare. Actually the only section of the entire store that didn’t read as rare and unusual was a single table filled with different smooth energy stones over flowing from different cups on a table with different hearty chests that could be used and reused hundreds of thousands of times but held no magic to them.

  Something she’d noticed about the shop too was she didn’t disagree with most of the prices and what she did were because the shop keep was undercharging his merchandise. Leaving her to believe that either he didn’t have to spend much on the items for whatever reason, he never had to worry about money in the first place or maybe he just didn’t understand what he had.

  It took her only a week of watching the area for her to make a plan, hurried by the announcement that she’d make them a pretty penny in three days’ time, but not any less thought through.

  Today her hair was favoring a shade of pink. Naturally her hair was a mix of pale orange, a bold darker orange and shades of a peachy tone. Seeing as her hair did have more then one tone to it often she found it easier to just enhance and tinge one color over the others when she needed a disguise it took less magic and didn’t confuse as much if she ever slipped. It left her more magic to focus on glamouring her eyes so no one who looked at them would see the same color twice. The same she did with her robe only the change was slower so no one would really catch that one moment it might be blue and the next it was green.

  If anyone went looking for her? Well, who would have the correct description?

  As for her energy signature?

  As she’d snuck her way around the market, she’d ensured from the beginning to drop various levels of her presence. Some would feel older and distant others would feel as if she’d just been there. As for the dragon shop of course she wouldn’t leave it without her presence oh no. She walked over to the hundreds of little stones and like she’d had since she’d found the shop let her energy sink into them along with all the rest of her stolen energies.

  She set it up so whoever found them would think she was playing with them.

  When they searched for her, they’d get overwhelmed because she’d been everywhere.

  Lemon sucked in a shakey breath heart pounding, she knelt and crawled behind the chest she’d shifted the day before and crawled behind it pulling it back into place.

  She was hidden. Her energy was everywhere.

  Now for the riskiest part.

  They hadn’t taken the necklace that hung around her neck for years now. Her mother hadn’t warned them because not even she knew what it contained. Too little of the concoction and she’d be a sitting duck, too much of it and she’d be dead but if it was the right dose, her energy would dull to feel like the other areas older. She through back the spell and gathered herself in a ball hoping that when she woke up, she had her chance at escape.