The next days lazily stretched into weeks, and things settled into a comfortable normal.

  I got to see the store eat a few extra customers who thought something cost free-sixty-free.

  That was pretty great.

  I did wonder if thinking it was great was me, or if the goblins had finally corrupted me.

  I didn’t spend too long wondering.

  I worked another night shift, too—though I didn’t get to see Tink, which made me sadder than I expected.

  I also decided I really liked Matilda.

  Apparently, she started a bet among the night staff once she heard I’d be working.

  Something about whether or not the store would eat someone to protect me again.

  Turns out she was the only one who voted yes.

  And she was right. Too bad for the unbelievers.

  I was diligent in my store cleaning.

  We also never found the receipt for that one obnoxious lady.

  Ok…perhaps we didn’t exactly bother looking again.

  But hey, maybe they found her - and maybe they didn’t. Maybe I should have been more worried about someone going missing after making Vaarg angry.

  All I can say - she shouldn’t have tried to return something to the Goblin Store.

  The good feelings came to a pretty abrupt halt when I walked in this morning.

  ——

  Asset Procurement? I asked incredulously.

  The schedule had me down to work with the AP team again sometime next week.

  Just…why.

  “Vaarg - ,” I began, as the schedule scurried away.

  Well, it didn’t scurry away.

  The beleaguered rat it was taped to did.

  “Why am I assigned to your procurement squad again?” I asked.

  He cocked an eyebrow.

  “Why not?”

  I sighed.

  “Do I have a choice?”

  He took a sip of his goo, looking at me over the rim of his mug.

  “Would it make you feel better if I said yes?”

  I slumped.

  “I’ll be in Aisle Three,” I mumbled. Dang Tyrant.

  I got to my Aisle and smiled.

  After much work and effort, it was finally clean. No dust, no cobwebs.

  No broken items.

  The store had even grown an extra candle to help out with light.

  Ok, ok. Stupid had asked the store to grow the candle, and I was astounded when it did.

  It just reinforced my desire to stay on the store’s good side. Plus, I could tell both the night shift and the customers were extra careful to keep the Aisle looking nice - because it took a lot less work to fix up in the morning than it used to.

  I liked to think it was because they liked me. More likely, it was because they were afraid of being eaten by the store.

  Oh well, a win’s a win.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  On the note of the Aisle, I couldn’t do anything about the tentacles growing out of the pots, but they were at least pruned and organized.

  I also couldn’t do anything about the ever-present shadows behind the shelves…in which I was 99% sure something (or somethings) still lurked.

  When I asked Stupid about it, she just smiled happily.

  I decided it was one of those drop it and leave it alone things.

  As long as the shadows and its denizens left me alone, I left them alone.

  It was also kind of funny to see the cloaks from Aisle Two peek around the corner to my Aisle occasionally, before scurrying away in fear.

  They were afraid the cleanliness would rub off on their Aisle and make the store mad.

  I knew because It told me while snickering.

  “Beeg!” Stupid chirped happily.

  “Hi Stupid,” I smiled. “How are you?”

  “Stupid is happy! Stupid likes to talk to Beeg!” She beamed. “How is Cleaning Aisle?”

  I stared at her.

  “Stupid…there are no cleaning supplies on this Aisle at all?” I responded quizzically.

  She giggled.

  “No Beeg! Not the Cleaning Supply Aisle - we don’t has one of those! The Cleaning Aisle!” She clarified happily. “If Stupid forgets some dust here, it disappears,” she gasped. “It is the coolest mageek Stupid has ever seens!”

  I stared. The tiny goblin menace who launched invisible cannonballs when she sneezed thought my dusting was a cool magic.

  “So that’s why it is Cleaning Aisle!” Stupid finished with a happy chirp, pulling me from my daze.

  I blinked a couple times, nodding along numbly.

  “Ok Stupid,” I mumbled.

  “Bye-bye, Beeg!” she said, running up to give me a hug—and depositing some dust and dirt on my leg in the process.

  “Bye Stupid,” I patted her head and shooed her off.

  She happily flailed down the Aisle, her ears knocking a pot to the ground.

  Something reached out from under the shelf and pulled the pot into the shadows.

  Which answered my earlier fear.

  I also wasn’t sure how to account for that pot in inventory.

  I’d check for something along the lines of Stupided later.

  I got to work cleaning up the remainder of the mess - which was made all the more fun since the cloaks-next-door started whispering something about me “getting us all killed” as soon as I started.

  The store groaned and opened a hole in the floor for me to dump the garbage in though, so I figured it didn’t mind.

  I nearly flew through the roof when I stood to find It standing one foot away.

  I can hear the cloaks whispering an Aisle away, but can’t hear It approach, I sighed once my heart stopped trying to blast its way out of my chest.

  Come to think of it, I don’t think I had ever seen him approach.

  Only arrive.

  I squinted at him.

  He promptly stuck a roasted lizard in my face.

  “Roasted Newt?” he asked.

  “I’m not a goblin…why would I enjoy eating a blackened lizard?” I asked, genuinely curious.

  He looked at me, clearly offended.

  “Goblins aren’t the only ones who enjoy Roasted Newt, Beeg,” he admonished, brandishing the thing at me.

  “This is actually considered a special treat. I was being kind offering it to you,” he huffed.

  I felt myself blush.

  “I uh…I didn’t mean it that way. Thank you for offering…I just don’t know if that kind of food is good for me…” I finished lamely.

  “What? Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked, genuinely surprised, pulling out another one to munch on.

  “Uh…I’m not uhh,” I stumbled.

  “Yes, we are all aware you aren’t a goblin, Beeg,” It said, finishing his newt enthusiastically. “But you don’t have to let yourself be defined by your tragedies. Try one, ok?”

  There was so much wrapped up in that statement I just ended up cocking my head quizzically.

  “…Tragedy?” I muttered.

  It reached up and grabbed my hand, forcing the newt into it.

  “Eat the newt, Beeg,” he said, shuffling off down the Aisle.

  I stared at the thing for a moment. Nothing about it was appetizing.

  It looked like one of those sorry frogs that tried to cross the cobblestones before drying out—crispy, blackened, and stiff.

  I can’t believe I am going to do this.

  I gingerly took a tiny bite from the tail.

  And promptly dropped the lizard.

  Ugly careened around the corner, scooping up the newt before scampering off laughing maniacally, “It’s mine now!” echoing down the shelves.

  I didn’t care. I was frozen.

  The newt.

  It tasted…

  Good.

  Really, really good.

  And, see, that scared me a lot. It made me wonder if I was being corrupted in more ways that I realized.

  If maybe I was being turned into a goblin.

  I stared down the Aisle to see It under a shelf. All I could see were his yellow eyes.

  Watching.

  But I could also tell he was smiling happily.

  Then he blinked and I was alone.

  And yet somehow, this felt like a peaceful day.

  Which, knowing my luck, probably meant something was about to blow up.