Chief'sface immediately started dripping blood before he got his arms up to protecthimself. The rest of the diners dropped to the floor, but thankfully we werethe only ones sitting by the window.
"Whatthe fuck was that?" He got up and ran to the door.
Whateverit was had been far enough away to spare the diner any real damage. It had to have been one ofthe closer stores. I tossed the steak on the glass filled plate and gingerlygot up, not wanting to slide my ass across any shards on the seat.
"Dot…"
"What?"
"Bookstore,"he said morosely and ran through the door.
Myheart throbbed in my chest and I followed, glass crackling beneath my feet as Islipped trying to gain traction.
Thefront of the store was concealed by a cloud of black smoke as fire poured outof the massive hole in the front of my building. Throbbing in my chest ceasedwhen my heart stopped beating. Putting one foot in front of the other, I forcedmyself to cross the street. "No…no…nooo…nooooooo," I wailed.
Bythe time I got there, the fire was out, and the smoke drifted away from thebuilding. Closing my eyes, I prayed that the store wouldn't be littered withbodies. In the distance, I could already hear the warble of the fire enginesirens as they started.
Thesmoke cleared enough for me to see Chief run through the front door into thestore. Panic overwhelmed my dread as I took off after him.
Thestore was filled with people. People and undamaged books and shelves. Peoplestaring at the glowing wall of magic inside the store separating the smoke,fire, and damage. My ward wall. I choked out a sob of relief. "What thehell happened?"
Jasonshook his head, standing next to the two new cashiers.
"Iseverybody okay?"
Helooked around the store. "I think? What the hell was that?"
"Youtell me. I was across the street."
Chiefwas walking closer to the wall, slowly reaching out his hand and pressing itagainst the magic barrier. As soon as he touched it, it sizzled and faded fromview. There was a blast of heat, but it quickly dissipated as the damage cameinto view.
Somethinghad blasted a hole through the front window of my store. Some of the displaymaterials in the window were still smoldering, but that was the extent of thedamage.
"Well,I think we can rule out a gas leak." He rubbed the toe of his shoe overthe fire blackened floor at the base of the window, flipping a metallic ringcovered in tiny fins over. There were several other mangled pieces lying aroundthe site of the blast. "And that's something you don't see every day."
"Whatis it?" I moved closer and stood next to him.
"Lookslike the tail piece of a rocket, but I'm no expert." He looked over at me,giving me a questioning glare.
"Somebodyshot a rocket at my store?"
"That'swhat it looks like."
"Whothe hell would want to blow my bookstore up with a rocket? The OWLs?"
"Youknow how much one of those costs?" Jason had moved closer to survey thedamage.
Ilooked at the customers inside the store. Normally, a scene like that wouldhave caused people to scream and scramble for safety, but there they all stood,too shocked to move. "Uh…folks? We're going to be closing early today.Take what you have and just head home. My treat. Sorry for the…boom."
Anelderly lady closest to the register nodded, smiled, and headed for the frontdoor, pausing to rub her hand over my shoulder before she left. "Thankyou, dear. And thank you for saving all of us."
"Wasn'tme. It was the store."
Shewinked and headed out the front door, the rest of the customers slowly followingher lead. More than a few of them offered words of thanks and comfort as theypassed. I waited to do or say anything until only my family and staff wereleft. The two newbies at the register looked like they needed to change theirunderpants. "You guys can go, too if you want."
Thetaller guy looked ready to bolt but stood his ground when his shorter femalecounterpart made no motion of leaving. "Well, at least go grab a coffee."
Ilooked up to see Josie and Candace standing at the entrance to the coffee shopfrom the bookstore. Josie raised her eyebrows at me and tilted her head. "Whatthe hell happened?"
"Wegot blowed up."
Shejust shook her head and led the kids into the coffee shop.
"That'san RPG," Jason said as he bent down to inspect the piece of explosive onthe floor.
"RPG?"
"Rocket-propelledgrenade."
"Andyou know this how?"
"Videogames."
"Seriously?"
Henodded solemnly. "Somebody wanted to turn this place into Last Moon Books."
"Funny."I rolled my eyes, anger overshadowing the fear that had been weighing me downlike a wet blanket. "Who the fuck would blow up my store?"
"Myuncle," Yuki said disapprovingly from the door. I hadn't even heard heropen it.
"Uh.It's almost noon. Couldn't have been your uncle."
"Youthink he would shoot a rocket himself? Hell no. He'd hire some dumb human to doit."
Shehad a point.
"He'slucky he didn't do any real damage."
"Thanksto your wards and shields. Holy shit, Dot. I don't even think I could stop abullet, let alone a rocket." Chief had a tinge of awe in his voice as helooked around. "If you hadn't had that strong of a shield over this place…"
"Yeah.Let's not think about it. I kind of want to throw up." I started breathingheavy and leaned against the counter, bracing myself with my hand and tryingnot to hyperventilate. Things could have been exponentially worse. A rocketlaunched into a building with that many people in it… The death toll would havebeen tragic.
Herubbed his hand over my back and the rest of the guys moved closer to supportme. "Your shield is probably why we felt it so bad at the diner. Theexplosives didn't have anywhere to vent but out. Hence the gigantic shock wave."
"Shit.I need to go make sure everybody is okay over there."
"I'llgo," Yuki answered and took off.
"I'llgo fix the windows and give your apologies," Jason said solemnly andfollowed her.
"Paymy bill, too!"
Hewaved over his shoulder while I tried to get my breath back.
"Well,first thing's first. Let's get this place fixed up," Chief said and gentlylet me go after
