Taylor double-checked the invoice. 47 cases. "Everything's here, Suzie." Taylor eyed the small box with no label and tossed it to her coworker. "But this is number forty-eight." Suzie turned over the box to see a single hand-written line on the back of the package: Ms. Claire Roland, c/o Sensible Chic.

"Tay, did you see this? It's addressed to Claire." Taylor nodded.

"You and I were the only ones back here today other than the delivery guy," said Taylor. "He's kind of cute, but he's engaged. I've seen the ring." Taylor took the box back from Suzie and looked closely at the writing. "It's really formal handwriting. I don't know about it, though...we would have seen someone else come through the back, right?" Susan nodded at her. "Then unless the girls up front are playing around or something, it has to be him. Maybe he's a two-timer. Maybe we shouldn't let Claire find this until we know what's going on."

When Claire arrived at work, Alison was already there, pricing the stock and trying to get ready to open the store up. When Claire walked in, Alison took a double take. Claire always dressed well at work, but this time it seemed to Alison that she went all out. Well dressed was on thing, but Claire's outfits usually weren't as attention getting as this.

"Hi, Claire." Alison looked up at her. "Nice outfit." Claire tossed her keys on the counter and headed to the back room.

"Thanks." Claire responded a little too quickly to Alison and disappeared through the door. She saw that the back seemed to be mostly cleared of the order. Claire jumped a little when the sash on her jacket began untying itself. She grabbed the ends of the sash and held them before untying them herself. "You can't do this," she said quietly to her clothes in the back room. "At least not until I tell her what's going on. Nobody moves unless I specifically say so, got it?"

Claire was opening a register when the door to the back room creaked open. She turned to see the last 5 cases of clothing from the new shipment hovering onto the retail floor, followed by Alison. She snapped her fingers, and all five boxes popped open.

"Alison, are you nuts? Suzie could walk in any minute!" Alison grinned at Claire and waved her hands over the cases.

"Be quick, ladies." Out of two of the cases came jeans, out of another, turtlenecks. Alison directed them toward a display island. Pajamas and nightshirts marched out of the remaining two cases. The door to the back room opened again, and a stack of hangers flew toward the sleepwear. In the display, a pair of jeans stood paired up with a turtleneck. The clothing fell loose around a stiff form, not moving at all.

Sunny wandered around Extreme Fashion, sorting through racks of clothing. Already tall, she stood 6 feet in her boots. She was clad in a plaid skirt, white leggings, and a white button down. Alison walked into the empty store and up to the counter.

"Hey sexy, what’s up?" Sunny looked back at Alison.

"Hi Ally. Making myself look busy. Is it working?" Sunny grabbed a vinyl corset off of the rack. "Isn’t this hot?" Alison nodded.

"Very. You’ve got the boobs for it, too." Sunny grinned at Alison and set it on the counter. She read the tag.

"Alison has to have it," Susan said to Claire. "You've got to relax. You've had a long two days and you've been working since 9AM." Susan and Claire stood in the back room.

"But I haven't seen it since this morning. I thought I just put it back in purse; I swear I did." Claire huffed and turned around. "I don't lose anything, Suzie. I can't believe I didn't ask Alison about it before she left."

"You didn't think about it. That was the whole point this morning--to step back from it and get it out of our heads for a while." Susan tried to make the best of the situation, but she knew Claire had a right to be upset. If Alison didn't have it, they were really in trouble. Susan sighed. It was almost as if it had never really happened. Susan had tried to use the power a couple of times already, but it was really locked out. Whatever they did that morning prevented the power from being used. "We need to get a hold of Alison, that's all." Claire pulled her purse out and looked through it again.

It was fifteen minutes after 10PM. Claire and Susan sat in Claire's living room, listening to music. Anxious for Alison to arrive, they sat and stared at the eerie red amulet, which was now contained inside an ominous black jeweler's box.

“But it was sent to me,” said Claire. “It was sent to me at the shop.” Susan shrugged at Claire and took a drink.

“Did anything strange happen before you got the necklace?” Susan asked. Claire shook her head. “Well, did you meet any eccentric people at work lately?” Claire squinted her eyes for a second.