•Antique Shop•

The shop wasn't too busy, people did trickle in and look at some of the things he had for sale, and it was honestly kind of funny to watch them try to haggle with Uncle.

Alex just really stayed out of the way dusting, sweeping or even rearranging the items, which was alot more difficult than one would think.

Especially since you have to be very gentle with some of the antiques.

Like right now for example, as Uncle asked Alex to bring out a vase from the store room, which he thought would be easy, i mean its just a vase, right?

Boy was he wrong.

"Aya! Be careful, that is a priceless vase from the Qin Dynasty!"

He set the surprisingly heavy vase down on a small table, letting out a huff of exhaustion as he popped his back, which let out a loud 'pop' sound.

"Ugh..i think i threw out my back.."

"You've done a good job today, i'm impressed."

The younger man smiled abit, rubbing the back of his head.

"Thanks Uncle."

Uncle yawned, stretching his arms out, during which they popped and cracked.

"Aya..i am going to go count sheep.."

"Ok, i'll lock up for the night, go get some rest."

Uncle headed upstairs, the sound of a door opening and then closing following a few moments after.

Alex locked the front door of the shop, turning the "we're open" sign to "Sorry, we're closed", and hit the light switch, turning off the lights.

"I'm impressed, mortal."

"And here i thought you went mute."

"I can't exactly be myself when so many of you humans come and go, can i?"

"Fair point, i suppose."

"So, how was doing work for that old dottering fool?"

"He's not a dottering fool, he's..odd, sure, but definitely not dottering or a fool."

"Could've fooled me."

"Besides, i'm sure you've done manual labor plenty of times before you became like this."

The statue's eyes flared up again, and the man assumed it was in anger.

"You watch your tongue!"

it made him flinch hearing the venom in its voice from that, apparently that was an insult.

'I guess i hit a nerve there..'

"You are lucky i'm trapped in this form or else i would destroy you."

The man's eyes widened at a sudden, if unintended, realization.

"So, you weren't always like this?"

The statue went quiet, as if it bit its tongue, if it even had one.

"No..i wasn't."

It was a start, at least.

"Then, what are you?"

The man began to walk away, putting a hand on the staircases banister, giving a turned head glance back towards the statue.

"Something you can't even begin to comprehend."

Alex felt a chill go down his spine as his eye's widened, making him go quickly upstairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him.

He took a breath to calm himself, before he took off his clothes, setting them in a nearby hamper, before getting into bed, setting his glasses on the nightstand next to the bed.

He couldn't keep this hidden forever, and he knew this. Uncle or Jackie were bound to find out eventually, and then what would happen?

He didn't know, but it scared the hell out of him nonetheless

The man would need to think of something, but that could wait till tomorrow.

Once again it came rather quickly, Alex himself was a somewhat heavy sleeper most of the time, but he could never say he wasn't well rested.

Surprisingly, or rather not so surprisingly was that Uncle was awake before he was, and was reading from some kind of book, but the younger male was unable to tell what exactly it was about.

"Ah, good morning, Alex."

"Morning to you too, Uncle."

Alex began to dust and clean the artifacts out on display, using a dust rag or in the case of delicate objects, a feather duster.

While he was cleaning, he did notice Uncle glancing up from his book every once in a while, but was unsure of what exactly he was glancing at.

Regardless, he continued cleaning, if it had an inside, as in a vase or a box, he made sure to clean that too.

After a while, he noticed Uncle had left the room, and had took the book he was reading with him.

But that left the front desk open, so he decided to overlook it till he got back.

The bell that signaled the door rung, and the man looked up to see who it was, but saw no one, until he looked down in front of the desk and saw a young girl with a few large suitcases, pink in color.

The one thing that he could tell over everything else was the fact that she seemingly did not want to be here.

"Um..hello..?"

The girl didn't respond, but looked up at him, so at least she heard him.

He'd have to get Uncle on this one.

"Uncle? I need you out here!"

After a few moments, and some loud shuffling, the older man stepped out.

"Aya, what is it? Uncle is trying to do research!"

"There's a little girl here, i don't know-"

Uncle walked up to behind the desk, peeking over it to see her.

"Ah, good, she made it."

The younger male raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You know her?"

"She's Jackie's niece, she'll be staying with us for a while."

"Does he know?"

"No. I'll tell him once he gets back, but can you help get her suitcases upstairs?"

Alex nodded and got them upstairs, and was about to head back downstairs, before a question made him stop.

"How do you know my uncle?"

The man turned back around and saw her standing in the hallway, her looking up at him, so he got onto one knee, that way he was near her height.

"I'm his assistant, i help him with whatever he needs me to."

Though, technically he worked for the university, as did Jackie, the assistant part came with the job.

"Ok, but how did you first meet him?"

"Oh, well i was a former student of his from the university."

Before he graduated, he went to his professor's to say his goodbyes, as most students did, and Jackie had told him that if he came back into town one day and needed help finding work, to give him a call.

A few years had passed, none of which he wanted to even think about, but here he was now.

"But enough about me, what-?"

"Alex, i need you down here immediately!"

"Oh, guess we'll have to continue later, but if you need me just let me know."

He headed downstairs, getting back to work, and Uncle headed back to do research on..well, whatever it was, the girl decided to head downstairs as well, taking a look around the shop, Alex having to steer her away from some of the more delicate artifacts.

'This is..interesting. Maybe i can take advantage of this..'

The statue's eyes glowed lightly as it watched over the shop, a plan formulating in whatever kind of mind it possessed..