ALEXIS
The moment I stepped into Angelo's shop, reality shifted sideways. The air hit me like a wall of pure magic - thick with a thousand competing scents that made my head spin and Sasha press closer to the surface of my mind. Sweet herbs, bitter roots, the metallic tang of rare minerals, and underneath it all, the electric crackle of contained power that made my teeth vibrate. Bottles lined the shelves in impossible configurations, some occupying spaces that shouldn't exist, others looking like they contained entire galaxies in their depths.
"Death magick clings, leaves a stain, re-infects," Angelo said, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. He stepped out from behind a shelf that definitely hadn't been there a second ago, his silver hair catching light that had no sou
