The next day, Shadow came into the bakery again, but Amy hadn't been the one at the counter. She and Cream had both been baking in the back, and Vanilla was working with the customers today. This was a relief to Amy. Some customers were absolutely great and wonderful to talk to, and others were decidedly not.

Amy heard Shadow's voice requesting oatmeal raisin cookies--chocolate chip is clearly superior, thought Amy--and the cash register ding as Vanilla tucked his money inside, exchanging it for coins.

"Is Rose here?" he asked. Amy's ears burned and she nearly dropped the dough she was kneading on the floor. She stopped, trying to steady her suddenly spiking heartbeat. Nope, no, not dealing with this right now.

Cream came over, tilting her head and crinkling her eyebrows in concern. "Miss Amy, are you alright?" she asked. "Do you need to take a little break? You look a little queasy."

"I'm fine," Amy said, though as the words left her mouth her hands started to shake, and she tore the dough she'd been kneading moments before. She smiled sheepishly, but it melted at Cream's worried expression. "Really, I'm fine, Cream!" she said. "I just got startled by something, that's all."

"Is everything okay back here?" came Vanilla's voice from around the corner. Cream continued to look at Amy with furrowed eyebrows, but Amy was already starting to calm down as Vanilla appeared in the doorway.

Amy smiled. "Yep, just need to fix this." She held up the torn blob of dough and laughed nervously. It wasn't even a big deal--it was easy to mush it back together--but her heart was still thumping from hearing Shadow asking for her.

Vanilla nodded. "Well, Mr. Shadow is here and he just asked if he could steal you away for a little while if you were alright with it."

Amy's eyes widened. What could he want that couldn't wait until later? "Are you sure you guys would be able to handle it without me?" she asked.

Vanilla nodded and smiled, waving her hand dismissively. "You've been working much too hard lately, my dear," she said. "And it's partly my own fault. Go take a day for yourself. You've been looking a little wilted lately as well. I think you need some time to relax and perk back up."

"Well, if you're sure..." said Amy. "Thank you, Mrs. Rabbit." She turned and gave Cream one more reassuring smile, which finally earned a smile back from the young rabbit, then she headed out to the front of the bakery.

She was still covered in flour, powdered sugar, and a multitude of other cake and pastry ingredients. And she hadn't had time that morning to brush her quills, leaving them a pink pokey mess that she tried to cover with her winter hat as she put it on, tying her scarf and shrugging into her coat.

She felt her cheeks go warm, and her stomach wobbled in an all-too-familiar way that she immediately tried to bury. Not dealing with that, she insisted again as she approached Shadow. "You asked for me?" she said.

"Figured now was as good a time to talk as any," he said. "Besides, I found a place I thought you might like to visit."

Amy was taken aback by his thoughtfulness, although the shock wasn't as acute as it would have been a week ago. "That's... that's actually pretty sweet, Shadow," she said, a shy smile spreading across her face. "What kind of place is it?"

Now it was Shadow's turn to smile, a small, almost snarky experience on his face. "You'll see when we get there," he said. "In the meantime, let's talk."

He walked out the door, holding it open for her to pass through, making her stomach flip against her will. It's so weird when he's being so nice, she thought. But maybe it's not such a bad thing.

They walked down the sidewalk, quiet at first, neither of them seeming to know how to start this conversation. Eventually, Shadow finally asked a question. "What were you getting ready to do about Sonic before I intervened?"

The truth still didn't quite want to come out on its own, and Amy had to force the words past her lips. "I found a love spell... I just felt... cheated, I guess. Like I had spent all that energy on him for years and I... I don't know. I still feel like that. Like it should be me that he's with and not Blaze."

Now that she had started she couldn't seem to stop. "And that makes me feel bad too because I like Blaze, even if we're not that close. And... they look so happy together..."

She sighed. "I shouldn't step on it--they're my friends--but I just feel so... I don't even know how to describe it..."

Shadow was silent for a moment, as if waiting for her to say more. When she didn't, he began to speak. "Now it makes sense why I found you in the occult shop, and your emotional state then," he said. "I didn't know you were into witchcraft."

"I'm not," said Amy. "Not really. I just... wasn't thinking clearly."

Shadow frowned in thought. "Perhaps that's true," he said. "But I think there's a little more to it than that. Might I make a suggestion?"

Amy raised an eyebrow, but nodded, curious of what he had to say. Whether or not she would listen to his suggestion however depended greatly upon what it actually was.

"I know you said you weren't really into witchcraft," he said. "But what about tarot cards?"

"What about them?"

"If you use them right, and get the right deck, they can be really good tools for self-reflection." Shadow looked right at her. "I think that might be a better alternative to making someone fall in love with you. And who's to say that love would be real if you actually cast the spell? Assuming that it worked, would you really want to manipulate Sonic like that?"

Amy looked down, her ears drooping. "That's a good point," she admitted. "I... hadn't thought about that. I don't know about the tarot idea though."

"You don't have to use them if you don't want to," Shadow said. "I'm just saying, love spells aren't the best idea, assuming it would work in the first place."

"Have you ever tried to cast one?" Amy asked, and Shadow shook his head. What surprised her most about the way this conversation was going was that Shadow seemed to actually be taking her seriously. And he seemed to know more about magic than she did.

"I've never done much spellwork," Shadow said. "But I do use tarot occasionally. Mostly I meditate, if I'm able to. Depends on... my mental state." He trailed off after that, his expression darkening.

Amy didn't say anything after that, afraid of making it worse like she has yesterday. But within a few moments, he was talking again.

"The reason I was acting weird yesterday..." Shadow said quietly. "Maria had always loved the look of snow, but she never got to experience it for herself. It just... hit me kind of hard yesterday. That's all."

Amy was silent for a moment. "I'd forgotten about that," she murmured. "I guess... with how little we actually talked until recently, and how long ago the Arc fiasco was... it didn't even occur to me that it still hurts for you."

Shadow shrugged. "It's... gotten better and easier as time has passed," he said. "But I still have... bad days."

He stopped walking and gently grabbed Amy's arm to stop her. He pointed to the shop on her right. "This is the place," he said.

It was a little boutique full of clothes of all kinds, but there was a dress much like the one she'd always worn when she was a kid. And there were several other objects that caught her eye, and she itched to go inside and try things on.

But instead she turned around to face Shadow. "I mean, not gonna lie, I would love to go in, but why did you bring me here? I didn't think this was your scene."

"Oh, it's definitely not," Shadow agreed. "But I know very little about you overall and I would like that to change. This was just the only thing I was sure you wouldn't mind me stealing you from work for."

Amy smiled. "So it was just an excuse to talk to me?" she teased.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Rose," he said. But a little smile turned up the corners of his mouth.