Mutant Enemy Television, Inc. owns pretty much everything within the Angel/Buffy universe. My use is in no way meant to challenge any established copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned or any other copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons, either real or fictional, is unintended.

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III – Help Wanted

Janna wasn't entirely sure what she'd expected when she walked into The Magic Box, but she had to admit that she wasn't too surprised by what she found. The bizarre (monkey's paws, eyes of newt, and shrunken heads) mingled with the predictable (a rack full of crystal balls, various candles and incenses, and star charts) and the academic (rows upon rows of books). The front room had a vaguely musty smell that Janna attributed to the plethora of obviously old tomes, though there was a definite undercurrent of spices, most notably cinnamon and cumin. She stepped lightly from the entryway and began to look around, noticing that besides herself and her plainly uneasy mother, there was only one other person present.

The other customer was an old woman, slightly stooped over and dressed in the bright, distracting colors of a carnival fortune-teller. Janna immediately recognized Mrs. Jacoby, the "gypsy" who ran the tarot reading shop at the end of Main St. Tourists visiting from the big cities sought her services all through the summer and swore by her uncanny abilities, honed, they claimed, in the secret temples of Czechoslovakia (parts of which were formerly Transylvania). Janna had always found it funny – she went to school with Mrs. Jacoby's granddaughter and knew for a fact the woman had grown up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and had never been outside the northeast, no less the country.

"I don't know if this is the right kind of place for you to work," Janna's mom muttered, clearly keeping her voice low enough to prevent Mrs. Jacoby from overhearing her. She knew it just wouldn't be proper to offend anyone who might believe in this new age stuff, no matter how inane she herself thought it was.

"It's sorta cool, actually," Janna answered, deciding to take a closer look at a glass jar filled with slightly opaque, pink crystals.

"Hi, can I help you?" a man's voice called out as a young man – Janna assumed it was Graham – stepped out from a curtained room behind the register.

"Uh, yeah… what are these for?" Janna asked, pointing to the jar.

"For eating," Graham answered with a smile. "It's rock candy."

Janna giggled, but her mother remained focused on the task that had brought them inside. "You work here, then?" she asked ever so politely.

"Yes, I'm the manager," Graham answered.

"You don't happen to be hiring, are you?" Janna asked immediately, before her mother could somehow sabotage Xander's plan. Part of her wondered why she was so willing to follow along with all of this. She'd never really believed in magic… or even ghosts, for that matter. She'd been raised to be very well grounded, believing only that which was provable. As a child she'd learned to laugh at stories about Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, and the Bermuda Triangle while all of her friends were completely in awe of the world's unexplained mysteries. Now here she was accepting that she was a vampire slayer while she looked for a job in a magic shop.

"Well, as a matter of fact we are hiring," Graham answered, "though since we just opened I don't know what kind of hours I could offer you."

"Well my daughter will be in school in just a couple of weeks," Mrs. van der Haas explained, smiling as she absent-mindedly brushed her hair back with a flourish that caught Janna's attention. Oh god, don't tell me my mother's flirting.

"You're daughter…" Graham muttered, almost as if he was tempted to say he was surprised that a woman who looked like Janna's mom could have a daughter Janna's age. He kept the comment to himself, though, and Janna thought the restraint was somehow even more effective than lobbing out a cliché compliment. As absurd as the situation seemed to her, though, she found her mother definitely seemed comfortable around the shop owner. Xander was right, Janna decided, Graham makes a good first impression. "Well, a few hours on weekdays might work out well," Graham commented, "along with maybe a few hours on the weekends. It's likely that the high school crowd will be some of our biggest customers – they always are, you know – so when school starts up the early evening and weekends'll be when I'd need the most help, anyway."

"So you cater to high school children?" Janna's mom asked, her tone suddenly suspicious. Janna knew that voice well – it's the same one her mother had used when she talked about Mitch Robbins – the son of some of the family's Bed and Breakfast's yearly customers – playing D&D. Mrs. van der Haas had the same well-developed mistrust of the occult that all Catholic school educated adults had.

"Well, you know how it is," Graham replied with a conspiratorial wink. "Mood rings, magic eight balls, ouija boards for slumber parties… and you know what, these crystals are a huge seller," he added, pointing to another glass jar that was filled with small, multi-colored beads.

"What are those for?" Janna's mom asked.

"Well, lots of things, actually," Graham explained evasively, "but teenage girls happen to love gluing them onto various clothing items, and that's why they move so well."

"Is that so?" Mrs. van der Haas asked, smiling once again.

"It's a business, you have to know the customer," the manager answered. "Sure, lots of this stuff was seen as magical back in the day, but this is the 21st century. See those up there?" he asked, pointing to some old, cracked-leather-bound books on a shelf on the second story of the store. "Those are supposedly old spellbooks containing curses and various other witchcraft stuff. And you know who buys them?"

"Do tell," Janna's mom asked, back to her anti-occult voice.

"Historians and linguists, mostly," Graham answered. "Historians are always looking for references to centuries-old mysteries, and those handwritten books are considered original sources. The linguists, on the other hand, are always hoping that one of the books will contain phonetic pronunciations of some of the Latin terms, since no one alive knows exactly how Latin was pronounced back in Roman times. Oh, and you know what, there was a writer who special-ordered some of my oldest books a few years ago… he was writing some kind of Blair Witch rip-off movie and wanted to incorporate some genuine-sounding magic mumbo jumbo."

"Magic mumbo jumbo?" Mrs. van der Haas asked.

"You know, the spells and such," Graham answered.

"So you don't believe in any of this?"

"Never saw a woman flying around on a broom," he quipped. "I'm not gonna pull a Mr. Dursley and refuse to even hear the word magic – especially with the profit margin stores like this have – but you won't find me dancing naked around a cauldron on the solstice, either." That bit put it over the top – Janna's mom was grinning broadly again.

"Well thank you for your candor," she said graciously. "So is there an application or something…"

"I haven't written one up yet," Graham admitted. "This is actually just our first day open here. Umm… what's your name?" he asked Janna.

"Janna van der Haas," she answered, stifling a giggle when Mrs. Jacoby let out a shriek when she realized the rubber snake she was holding wasn't a rubber snake.

"Please don't handle the animals without some supervision," Graham called out casually, as if he was used to getting that response from customers. "Well Janna, why don't you come by around noon tomorrow. I'll have you fill out some kind of information sheet. You know the deal – address, phone number, social security number. You'll also need to bring a photo I.D. and some kind of proof of citizenship, either a social security card or birth certificate. We'll fill out the paperwork and get you shown around, how's that?"

"Sounds great."

"I can only start you at minimum for now, but if business gets good, our company always remembers the employees who've been with us longest."

"You're a company?" Mrs. van der Haas asked.

"Well, we used to have just one store in Sunnydale, California," Graham answered. "But when there was that earthquake and the whole town fell into the fault, the owner opened a new store in Cleveland. Then he got the idea of franchising. This is the third store – we're in Cleveland, L.A., and now here."

"This isn't exactly like your other markets," she commented.

"People are people," Graham answered with a grin, "and we go where we think there'll be demand. This seemed like a good place."

"I see."

"Oh, and in the interest of plying my wares, you'll be able to enjoy your daughter's employee discount," Graham added.

"I don't think…"

"For our spices, I mean… in case you cook a lot," he explained. "We doubtlessly have the freshest spices in the area, and we get some of the best in the world. Oh, and we also carry Blue Hawaiian coffee. That's probably a little hard to find around here." Janna thought that last bit was the perfect touch, especially given her mother's preoccupation with the Bed and Breakfast.

"That all sounds very interesting," Janna's mom commented, seeming increasingly convinced that Graham was just a normal businessman and not a closet occultist waiting to corrupt her daughter with the subtle influences of Satan. As much as she tried to control herself, Janna could hardly wait to come back the next day.

To be continued…………………………………………