I had made a mistake.

  Silly me, I had taken a day off.

  As such, Aisle 3 was filthy.

  It took me so long to clean, the sun was falling below the horizon by the time I finished.

  Which meant shift change. I scrambled my way to the front, but by the time I made it to Vaarg, haggard, frustrated and covered in tentacle slime and gremlin dust, he was already getting ready to walk out the door.

  Top hat and all. Which was weird. Not the top hat — although I had never seen him in one before.

  But if I found out he was part of the Top Hat Mafia, we were going to have a problem.

  No, the problem was that he was leaving, an occurrence I had yet to witness in all my time here.

  Vaarg was either in the store, or he wasn’t. There was never transition.

  Which should have been my first clue something was wrong. Instead, I was so desperate to ask him about the book I sprinted up to him.

  “Vaarg, wait!” I cried.

  He turned to look at me. “Shift’s over, Beeg. Go home,” he grunted.

  “Sigils. Questions,” I gasped, bending over and grasping my knees. “I wanted… to ask you some questions,” I finished, struggling to catch my breath.

  Vaarg raised an eyebrow. “Mmhmm. Why did you wait so long?”

  “I had to finish my work,” I gritted my teeth. He knew this. He never spoke to me unless I finished everything that needed doing first. Why else would I have waited.

  Miserable Tyrant.

  He hmphed, as if surprised. Or maybe he read my mind. I have no idea. It didn’t seem impossible anymore.

  “Well, it seems it took you longer than usual,” he observed.

  I stared at him incredulously.

  “Yes, I am so very sorry I took a day off and the Aisle got dirty,” I rolled my eyes.

  Vaarg chuckled. “Oh, I’m not upset about the dirty Aisle,” he smiled sweetly, the warts stretching across his face.

  Then he dropped his voice, drilling me to the ground with his eyes. “What I am confused about; however, is why you felt it was ok. To go to the Library. With most of my staff… When you were supposed to be here.”

  He continued to stare at me.

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  “Working.”

  I gulped. But I wasn’t the same kid who walked in all those months ago. The one who was too scared and desperate to stand up for himself.

  “There was nothing to do,” I argued.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Seems like there was—“ here, he gestured to my general person, covered in filth, “plenty”.

  “Are you serious right now?” I exploded. “Cleaning isn’t even part of my job! My job is to ‘Stock. Shelves.’” I gesticulated wildly. “You spent the first three months trying to stop me from cleaning. Three Months, Vaarg!”

  Vaarg materialized a mug out of thin air, already filled with steaming goo. He stuck a finger in the liquid, gently stirring it, before proceeding to enjoy it, with much exaggerated mannerisms.

  It was absolutely infuriating.

  “Well, Beeg.” He began with a satisfied smack of his lips. “I am not one to stop you from doing extra work for no extra pay,” he said. “But once you have done that work,” he shrugged, “I sure in the nine-hells am going to continue making you do it.”

  He looked at me.

  “It’s not my fault you volunteered to clean,” he scoffed. “But now that you have, it is officially part of your job.”

  With that, he spun on his heel and waddled out the door.

  ____

  I puddled onto the floor, a depressed heap of ooze, snot, and apparently, free-labor.

  Stupid happily plopped down next to me, giggling when her ears bounced. She proceeded to stand back up, just so she could plop down again.

  I couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips.

  “Hey Stupid,” I grinned.

  “Beeg,” she beamed back.

  We settled into comfortable silence, watching the street slowly come to life as the night aged. The night shift would be arriving soon.

  “Guess I’m pretty dumb, huh?” I said to no one in particular. “Doing extra work for no extra pay.”

  Stupid nodded along, as if in agreement. I snorted — she was probably the worst treated one here.

  I sighed. Honestly, I had no idea why I was so upset. Vaarg paid me well, even if I did risk death by some form of magical accident on a daily basis.

  I think it was how callous he was about it. That… or something.

  I huffed.

  “Does you wants mine, Beeg?” Stupid asked, looking up at me with her huge, round eyes.

  “Your what?” I responded, confused.

  “Stupid can gives you her money!” She chirped happily.

  She looked so earnest. Not a hint of deception. Just… love.

  I found my heart didn’t know what to do with it.

  “No, Stupid,” I exhaled, patting her head awkwardly. “I don’t want your pay, my friend.”

  She positively beamed when I called her my friend.

  Literally. Her face started glowing as she turned to look back outside.

  I chalked it up to “Goblin Magicks".

  She happily pushed her head into my hand, enjoying the head rub.

  “Is you sure, Beeg?” She asked after a moment. “Stupid haz extras right now!”

  She turned to look back at me.

  “Boss used to help Stupid with taxes every month, so her bed didn’t get too big!” She giggled. “But… he hasn’t helped Stupid with taxes since Beeg started,” she finished sadly.

  I stared at Stupid. Vaarg… wasn’t stealing her pay back in “taxes” anymore? He stopped because of me?

  I just… I. Every single time I started to hate him. It just wasn’t fair!

  I yet again felt my world crack.