'For sale; baby shoes, never worn' the sign read. Those were the ones. I handed the money over to the man behind the counter and stuffed the baby ballet shoes into my handbag. I then spun on my heel, walked out of the town halls doors and headed down the stairs to the underground. Then my phone began to ring.
"Blaise, where are you. Crystal is getting reeeeaaaallllyyyy impatient," my friend Izzy said down the line. I laughed.
"Of course Crystal's getting impatient. She gets impatient over everything Iz. She kicked Ferris outside for an hour the other day because he was 47 seconds late and only let him back in because she needed him for something."
" Wait, Crystal kicked Ferris out the other day. How does he cope dating her?"
"Hades knows Izzy!" I laughed, "Tell Crystal that I'm on my way back from the market now would you?"
I heard her tell Crystal I was on my way and I also heard Crystal tell her that that wasn't good enough. I rolled my eyes at that last remark. That's typical Crystal. Has a go when everyone else is late but is generally fifteen minutes late herself – at the least. Then the line went silent. I looked at the phone screen – Izzy had hung up on me.
Five minutes later I was stood outside our 'house', staring up at the ornate decorations surrounding the doorway – dragons, pixies, werewolves, vampires, demons and more all carved from gold. Let's just say that Crystal doesn't settle with small, family sized houses so instead we ended up with a mansion. I knocked on the door.
"Who goes there?" a male voice said.
"Vir bellator ab inferno," I answered. The door swung open and stood in front of me was Felix, Ferris's younger brother. He looked like he had just climbed out of bed despite it being three in the afternoon– his brown hair was stuck up in all directions and he was still in his pyjamas. He smiled at me and then ushered me inside and banged the door shut behind me. I walked through the double doors and into the kitchen. Izzy barrelled into me and pulled me towards the countertop. She swung herself up onto the marble surface – if Crystal saw her she would freak out, but then again her and Ferris were probably too busy making out somewhere – and turned to face me.
"Did you find any shoes that will do?" she said. I nodded and then pulled them out of my handbag and handed them to her. She took them and jumped down from the countertop before skipping over to the doorway where Felix was stood. He laughed as she said something, and then they walked off chatting. I shook my head. It was so obvious that the two of them liked each other, but they were both too afraid to admit it to the other.
A few hours later – after I had suffered from the wrath of Crystal – we were all sat in the living room. I was sat in the armchair next to the window, Crystal and Ferris were sharing the armchair next to the fire, whispering to each other, Izzy was sat on the window seat reading, and Felix was sinking slowly into the beanbag in front of the TV. Felix had asked us all to come there as he needed to talk to us.
"So," he started, "Blaise brought me the shoes earlier today, and I have just finished installing the bomb."
Yep, you heard correctly. Bomb. We may seem all sweet and innocent, but really we have been put in charge of destroying the human world. Izzy, Crystal, Ferris, Felix and I were sent from Hell. Yep, you heard correctly again. Hell was dying and it was apparently the entire human races fault. They were pushing our realm further away from our life source, and without it we can't survive. The Demon Council thought that the best way to deal with it was to destroy Earth, so they dispatched us five to do the work as who would suspect a bunch of kids. Izzy's mum worked on the council and as she was so good with technology, Izzy was secured a place on the team; Ferris and Felix were the king's nephews so were sent without their consent; my mum was friends with the head of the council; and Crystal only came because Ferris refused to go if she wasn't with him. Somehow Crystal took charge despite not even being asked to come.
Crystal shot up when she heard the words bomb and shoes – she had been mithering Felix for weeks to get the bomb installed – and immediately demanded to see them. Felix looked at his brother for help, but Ferris just laughed and pulled Crystal back into the armchair.
"You heard the woman Felix. Go and get the shoes," he laughed. Felix rolled his eyes and trapesed out of the room and towards the workshop. After a few minutes of us waiting, he re-entered the room, tripping over Crystal's Doc Martens and Izzy's trainers on the way in. Izzy giggled as he fell face first into the beanbag
"Could you girls leave your shoes in a more un-helpful place?" he asked, sighing and brushing himself off. Izzy giggled whilst Crystal said nothing and stuck her hand out for the shoes. Felix placed the ballet shoes into her hand and continued to sink into the beanbag. Crystal stared at the shoes for a minute then handed them back to Felix.
"Good job," she said, "Now we need to do the job that we were sent here to do."
" I just need to link the bomb to the detonator and then it will all be ready." Felix mentioned. Crystal nodded. Ferris can you go and set the computers up for later in the computer room please and Felix go and help him. I need to try and work out an escape route for us. Blaise, come with me." Oh god. What have I done wrong now? Izzy headed towards the kitchen, and the boys headed up the stairs and towards the workshops. Crystal grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me towards the dining room.
"Blaise, I need us to be able to get back home when we blow it up, so I'm leaving that to you. All of the equipment to create a doorway is in the basement." I nodded, showing Crystal that I was willing to do it. I then walked out of the room, leaving Crystal hunched over the maps of the shopping centre.