In The Shadows

Chapter One: Phantoms & Emeralds

Present-day

The windows of Julian's Antiquities glittered with ice and fog, the temperature outside a huge contrast to inside. Elowen paused her dusting to draw a heart on the glass with her finger. She frowned when it quickly fogged back over, albeit leaving a slight impression of her heart. The sound of her boss coming out of his office made her return to the ancient vases on display, surreptitiously wiping her wet finger on her jeans. The vintage Italian decor was in need of more dusting than she would admit anyone. Julian had yet to say anything about it but she started cleaning out of boredom.

"You missed a spot," he said without looking up from the paper he read. He had been in the office most of the day, filing paperwork and making sure things were all in order for the new year. With only one employee and one shop, there wasn't much to do.

Elowen looked up and down the blue vase in front of her face, unsure of where exactly he meant she missed a spot. There were a lot of things to dust on the shop's floor and she had been dusting for the better part of an hour. She wasn't perfect but she hardly half-assed anything.

"The window," Julian answered the unspoken question. "If you're going to swipe your grubby fingers across it then you might as well clean the whole thing. You know where the window cleaner is."

He finally looked up then as he dropped the paperwork onto the sales counter. A sly grin rested on his small lips, his triumph from catching her shining on his face. Calling him her boss sometimes felt a little odd to Elowen who, at 20, wasn't much younger than Julian Foster. At least, she guessed because she had never asked. He couldn't have been very much older than twenty-three or -four, not with his looks. Even so, he owned the antique and was, thus, her boss.

It initially struck Elowen as odd that a guy like Julian, all luscious chocolate-colored hair, a white dazzling smile, and fair wealth ran an antique shop. He always shut her down with a shrug whenever she asked him. He liked it was all he ever said and who was she to complain. He had fair hours, paid well despite their general lack of customers, and gave her days off whenever she asked (though rarely). It was by pure chance that she got the job and she hadn't hesitated on taking it. It was, after all, her lifeline until she could figure out whatever the hell she was doing with her life.

"I'm stepping out," Julian said, drawing her attention from the fading window heart. "You can start to lock up near closing and I'll be back in time to unlock the safe for you." From the handsome coat rack by the front door (not for sale, in case anyone were to ever ask), Julian grabbed a mustard-colored coat and black scarf. Elowen saluted him and bid him farewell as he left. Cold air billowed in behind him and she shivered in her turtleneck.

A couple of hours remained until closing so Elowen finished the dusting and begrudgingly cleaned the windows. She would never admit to Julian that, much like the vases, they had needed cleaning for quite some time. Though the shop was relatively small, the windows were huge and took over an hour to clean as thoroughly as Julian appreciated. It was a quarter to eight when she finished and took a seat behind the counter to clean out the register and write in the ledger. It was a bit annoying how old fashioned Julian ran his business. Everything was on paper and handwritten and then tucked away in a safe in the back of the store. No matter how many times she had suggested online options, he said he preferred the paper route. It was interesting, if not a little risky, to say the least.

The Christmas jingles in the shop next door went abruptly silent next door when the clock struck eight. Elowen let out a dramatic sigh of relief to the empty parlor, exhausted from listening to the same twelve songs on repeat since noon. If only they wouldn't start up again the next day. In the reverberating silence, she went to turn over the open sign before returning to the ledger. Most businesses on the block closed early and she could see lights blinking off across the street.