"Hey..." Blake said thoughtfully, scratching his chin, "If they left in that big of a hurry, maybe there's still money in the register,"
Sandy shook her head "Doubtful. A shutdown like this was probably a tax thing. But a lot of stores keep the really cool stuff behind the counter so you have to ask for it..." she sauntered around behind the counter, idly running her hands over its cool marble surface.
I sighed as I followed her behind the counter, trying not to think about my imminent arrest "Well if we're going to be looters lets at least try not to be vandals while we're at it. See if you can find a key for these display cases," the area behind the counter was closed off with a curtain that presumably led to the stock room and the employee areas.
Blake was examining the register, "Hey man, these buttons aren't in English. What is this, Arabic?" He tried a few at random, with no apparent effect "Oh yeah, no power..."
I blinked at the cash register. It definitely wasn't Arabic... "Weird, it looks sort of like the Elven writing from the Lord of the Rings movies..."Blake and Sandy both groaned the word "nerd" in perfect unison. I'm positive they'd practiced this, they did it often enough.
"Wait... waaaait... YES!" Sandy emerged from under the counter holding an apron that read "Rezzo's Magic Shop: Enchantments For All Occasions". Sandy reached in and fished out a large set of old fashioned skeleton keys. She tried a few on the cash register and it eventually popped open, "Okay, now that's weird..." she said, looking puzzled. The cash register was full of weird foreign coins and small... glass beads? Gems?
I picked up one of the gems, presumably made of cut glass. It was pretty, I supposed, but definitely not any kind of money, "Where exactly did you hear about this place, Sandy?" I asked warily. This was starting to look like some kind of weird prank to me.
"I didn't," Sandy replied distractedly, trying the keys one by one on a display case behind the counter, "I just kinda noticed it on the way home from work last month. I watched it for a while and didn't see any sign of life, so I figured it would be a fun place to hang..." there was something about that answer that bothered me but I couldn't put my finger on it...
Sandy finally managed to get the big display case open, "Okay. This ought to be the good stuff..." she said, taking a step back so we could all see. I swept my cellphone's flashlight over the case slowly. There were several unlabeled items, but one of them immediately caught our eye.
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