William Warren made a show of how tired he was of the current customer, but they weren’t getting the picture. Leaning over the glass counter, his round head was propped on his cheek and brown eyes heavily lidded, giving a show to the other customers to let them know he was as annoyed as they were. Running a hand through thinning gray hair, William cleared his throat loudly.

  Rings, bracelets and necklaces of all kinds glittered on display as the customer, Kyle, glanced slowly back and forth, a hand on his chin and a sustained “hmmmm” on his tongue. He ignored all of William’s more subtle gestures to move aside. The younger client was in his early twenties and trying to get himself something cool or flashy, but had no sense of style or taste. His black hair was cut close to his head and he maintained a short, patchy beard.

  “You know I have other customers,” William said, sighing and looking up at the line of five others behind Kyle.

  “I know, I know!” Kyle said quickly. “I just want to make sure it’s perfect.”

  “Care to make your selection by stepping aside and coming back when you’ve decided?” William asked.

  “Wait, wait, I know what I want!” Kyle said, hovering his hand over a ring. Slowly, his hand drifted to his chin. “Hmmmmmmm.”

  Rolling his eyes, William looked sympathetically at the next customer. She checked the time on her phone. Gritting his teeth, he glanced back to Kyle who had moved from the rings back to the bracelets.

  “Hey, seriously, hurry up,” William said, his customer service voice gone.

  “Okay, for real this time, I want that black ring with the red stone.” Kyle pointed. “Just to try on,” he quickly added.

  William sighed, but unlocked the display case and pulled out the ring, happy to show any progress with this customer. Handing it over, Kyle hesitated even before sliding it onto his finger.

  “This will run you 200 dollars,” William said as Kyle slowly put it on, glancing at it skeptically.

  “200? Isn’t that kind of expensive for a Ruby?” Kyle asked.

  Breathing in sharply with disdain, William had to close his eyes before a snippy remark shot out.

  “It’s quite the opposite. A fair market value for a synthetic gem,” William said, reopening his eyes.

  “Hey!” Kyle shrieked, shaking his hand. “Hey, what is this?”

  William took a step back and other customers took cautious moves away from Kyle as he gripped his forearm tightly. William spotted a teenager raising their phone, recording the scene.

  “What? What is it? Are you okay, sir?” William asked quickly with all the poise he could muster. Subtly, he shot a sidelong glance at the phone. He was determined to prevent any damaging articles or broadcasts from Kyle’s outburst.

  “Why does it feel like this? What did… Whoa, I…” Grimacing, Kyle clenched the hand wearing the ring.

  “What are you doing? Are you hurt?” William asked, the camera catching every exaggerated expression.

  “It feels like… What did…”

  Kyle knelt down, putting both hands on his head. Quietly, he remained kneeling. The customers collectively turned from Kyle to William.

  “Don’t look at me!” William said. “I just gave him the ring!”

  They all turned back to the young man, just in time to see his hair bloom. Stretching out like putty, it grew five inches and turned red. His beard remained black, but filled in, the patches disappearing. Sighing with relief, Kyle stood back up, scratching his head and looking at the ring again.

  “Yeah, that definitely didn’t sit well with me,” Kyle said nauseously, scratching at his finger.

  “That ring made you activate your power?” the female customer asked, interested.

  “Power?” Kyle asked.

  “Your ability. Whatever you call the Awakened creation,” she clarified, circling a hand at his face.

  “Huh?”

  William scrunched his face at Kyle, then picked up a hand mirror and held it up to him.

  “Oh!” Kyle exclaimed, first taking a baffled step backward, then stepping toward the reflection for a closer look. “Whoa! My beard! It’s fixed! My hair is a little…”

  Giving his own reflection stink-eye, Kyle focused until his hair started receding back into his head, shifting from a ruby red to a more muted brown. He gleamed.

  “Were you not Awakened before you walked in?” William asked loudly, lowering the mirror with wide eyes.

  Kyle opened his mouth, then took a second glance at the ring he was just about to remove. Blinking a few times, he smiled slightly and dug into his pocket.

  “I think I’ll take it,” Kyle said, pulling out his wallet and handing William a credit card.

  As William took the card slowly, he scanned the floor of customers. They all stared at Kyle with wide eyes, lingering on the ring he wore. The recorder lowered his phone, his mouth open as he started tapping away at his screen. After William gave Kyle his receipt and card, he heard the audio from the clip replaying from the phone, likely already posted online.

  As soon as Kyle walked out, changing the length of his hair and admiring his ring, William was hounded by the others.

  “Is it just Ruby that Awakens people? I’ll take the same gem he took!”

  “What was the ring made out of? I’ll take three of those bands, one with Ruby!”

  “Do you have any real Ruby, as well as the synthetic?”

  William widened his eyes, not sure what question to answer first.

  “Folks, I can’t guarantee that any of my wares will Awaken anyone. That may have just been a…”

  A platinum credit card slapped onto his counter, a woman in a business suit looking him in the eyes.

  “I want to see your inventory of Rubies, synthetic or otherwise. And those bands for the ring, too,” she said firmly, as though ordering someone at a company.

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  William couldn’t prevent the grin from snaking its way across his face. Kneeling, he rummaged around and dumped things into a single box. Pulling it from under the counter, he opened it under a display case to reveal dozens of ruby gems and black bands, some connected, some independent.

  “This is everything I’ve got. These are real and these are synthetic. Each real gem will cost you…”

  “Just run it on the card. I think this one’s got a 50,000 dollar maximum. I can run another card too if this doesn’t cover it,” she said, looking in her purse.

  “Hey, wait!” the teen shouted. “I’ve got…” He pulled a wad of bills from his wallet. “What is this… Like, three hundred and twenty-two dollars? Cash is better than a card, right? What if she has a scam credit card, and it steals all your money?” He waved the money desperately.

  “That’s not how credit cards work!” she snapped.

  “I’ll take cash before cards, but all money is good money,” William said, moving to help the teen first.

  The woman huffed in astonishment and dug desperately in her purse as the other customers scrambled to find their loose bills and change.

  Minutes later, William was cleared of anything on display that was either red or black and thousands of dollars richer. Tucking the cash away in a safe behind the counter, he checked what other stuff he had in inventory to put on display. The door chimed as another customer rushed in.

  “Is this Hammerton Village Jewelers, where the guy got his hair Awakened?” she asked as they approached the counter, cash in hand.

  “This is the place. But it may be that he just happened to Awaken while he was in here,” William said, putting dozens more ruby rocks and black bands on display.

  “I’m not dumb. I saw the video online. The guy put on the ring and then he got power. Just give me what he bought,” she placed her money on the counter.

  William smiled and rang her up, sending her on her way with more of his wares. Hour after hour, the relentless stream of customers surged through his shop, a volume usually seen only over the course of a month. The usually cold, air-conditioned shop filled with constant, warm chatter and the rhythmic clink of gems and his cash register.

  Thousands of dollars in sales, anything with red gems or black bands. From red necklaces, to black bracelets to tiny stoned earrings. William was quick to remind them all that he never suggested that he was selling Awakened powers, but no one was interested and he wasn’t trying to convince anyone not to buy from him.

  When night came, he could finally lock up, despite a small line of people waiting outside.

  “Tomorrow!” he promised with a wide smile over the dozens of complaints. “We’re open again tomorrow!”

  Chuckling to himself, he set up his two layers of gates to secure his shop and walked into the back room with all the cash to count it out. As soon as he was out of sight, he laughed loudly upon seeing Kyle lounging in a chair.

  “Did it work?” Kyle asked eagerly, looking up from his phone.

  “Boy, did it work!” William said, flashing the thousands in cash. “We’ve never seen a day like this before. Add all the holidays together and multiply it a couple times, and maybe you’ll get close to what we sold today. And no one asked for a discount!”

  Kyle whooped and ran to William to get a better look at the money. Thousands. And that was just in cash.

  “Can you believe EUE wanted to hire me for barely over minimum wage?” Kyle asked.

  “HUE?”

  “No, the other one.”

  “Well, I’m happy you stuck with your old uncle either way.”

  William and Kyle took their time counting out the money, organizing it into their own piles, and rubber banding anything that was over ten thousand dollars. Almost salivating, William looked over the piles. There was easily a hundred thousand. With a similar amount in credit card sales.

  “We got a problem with a line of people outside. It’s been a few minutes, but I suspect some people are staying overnight to be the first inside tomorrow. We’ll have to go out the back,” William said.

  “Then I probably shouldn’t look like this,” Kyle said, placing a hand on his head. His face morphed, his nose shortening, his eyes changing colors, his lips thinner and his chin sharper. He also grew a massive amount of hair, covering himself like a lumberjack merged with bigfoot. “Better?”

  “I wouldn’t recognize you myself,” William nodded.

  “Man, it’s warm,” Kyle said, pulling at his collar.

  “Probably because you just grew a fur coat. We can run this game again in a few weeks. Let the hype for red gems die down a bit and we’ll move to quartz and diamond,” William decided, storing the cash into a briefcase.

  “Yeah, and run the AC next time, because I was sweating under the pressure, Uncle Will. I’m still sweating.”

  “You did great, Kyle,” William promised him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, he noticed sweat dotting his hand. “Hold on… I never turned off the air conditioner.”

  Feeling the heat radiating from a specific source, William spun in place and stared at the door to the back room which was glowing a furious red. Kyle stepped in front of William defensively as the door melted down halfway, a figure in a dark mask and black swimming goggles on the other side.

  “Your money and your life,” the masked man said, crouching through the melted hole in the door.

  “Don’t you mean ‘or?’” Kyle asked.

  “Huh? What did I say?”

  “You said ‘your money and your life.’”

  “Oh, my bad. I mean your money or your life. Sorry, this is my first robbery,” the man said.

  “It’s fine.”

  William nudged him.

  “We already sent the money away in an armored truck,” William lied, panicked.

  “Dang, I knew I should have come earlier. Okay, then give me all your Awakening gemstones. And that suitcase,” the masked man said, pointing.

  William gripped tightly to the day’s cash in the suitcase.

  “There are no Awakening gems! It was just a marketing tactic!” William confessed.

  “Yeah, right. I saw the video. Put on a ring and the kid gets power? Really convenient timing,” the masked man said.

  “Really! And we sold out anyway!”

  “Dude, seriously? I didn’t realize I was that late! Give me the suitcase, at least! Oh! My bad, I forgot to back up my threat.” Glancing up, the masked man scanned the shelves in the back room.

  Leaning forward, a fine line of green lasers blasted out of his goggles, melting a box of diamonds, papers, and the cupboard it sat on in seconds. “Okay, there. Give me the suitcase and something worth my time and you’re next. My bad, I mean or you’re next.”

  William and Kyle stared at the ashen pile of documents, heat radiating from the sludge that remained.

  “Did he just melt diamonds?” Kyle whispered, terrified.

  “Here, take it,” William tossed him the briefcase.

  The robber checked inside and gasped.

  “This was left after you gave the money to the armored truck? Dang, must have been a big money day, huh?”

  Neither Kyle nor William spoke, William eternally grateful that the burglar somehow still hadn’t caught on to his lie.

  “This should be fine, to be honest. I’ll leave the stones since you already sold out of anything worthwhile with Awakening potential.” He turned around and walked through the hole, turning around when he was halfway through. “Oh, and I’m gonna burn the place down to make sure I don’t leave behind evidence. You should leave. If you want to live.”

  Continuing to walk out, Kyle and William could see a distinct green shine of his laser burn in the front area of the store, followed by the orange light of flames. Moving automatically, Kyle and William made their way out the back door and stared in shock as their entire establishment burst into flames. Flames and shadows danced across their faces as the fire spread to the business next door as well.

  “At least we still have all the money from credit cards, right?” Kyle asked.

  “Unless people issue chargebacks,” William murmured.

  They listened to the flames crackle, and the quiet, faint scream of a fire truck in the distance. Super-heated glass exploded within. Shelving collapsed. The building radiated warmth and the uncle-nephew duo took a few more steps back.

  William dragged a hand through his wisps of hair. “I can’t help but think we might have deserved this.”

  “Why? We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Part of the roof collapsed inside, the chorus of flames crescendoing.

  “We can try again when insurance puts you back together, right?” Kyle asked.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think this grift is gonna keep working. I think you should take that job offer from HUE,” William sighed.

  “It was EUE.”

  “Yeah, whatever gets you into something that has people that can protect you from things like this happening.”

  William turned around with a protective arm over his nephew, leaving the business behind.