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Here comes trouble. And there he goes. Jack is being sent to a sort of trinket store where the items inside are comprised entirely of bones, human and animal. There he must pick five things he likes best and put them somewhere around his house.

Jack had managed to slip away from Duncan at the downtown library, using the usual trick of a bathroom trip. He didn't honestly believe that the older boy still fell for it so much as he didn't care to question. With his backpack slung over his shoulder he slid down the stairway railing and made his way out the door. It was a smog alert day, and the air felt heavy in the city, made worse by the traffic flooding the streets. There was something going on in the arts district, and despite not liking people much, he was interested. The toddler pushed his way through the crowd, finding himself in the midst of an open market, bustling with various forms of contemporary and antique art. He quickly dodged a massive sculpted hand, though his interest stayed on it as it was carted of. Some of this stuff was really cool, he decided, but none of it seemed practical. Where were the dishes? The knives? Where was the furniture? He walked along the sidewalk, stopping occasionally to examine some trinket. One thing in particular caught his eye, set apart from the bustle of the outside. In the window of an old shop stood a figurine of a fierce snarling coyote, giving off a strange pallor. It didn't look like any material he had ever seen.

"You like her," a silky voice asked from just inside the doorway, catching him off guard. "No, it's stupid," he snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "Her name is Mirella. She used to guard my family. Now her bones guard this shop," the voice continued, as if its owner hadn't heard him. An old woman in Peruvian dress stepped out into the light of the street, holding her knit shawl tight around her shoulders. "Would you like to see more?" she asked softly, gesturing inside. Jack hesitated, placing his hand on his knife as he glanced back at the statue. There was something about it that gave him a thrill, and frankly he liked it. "Yes. Please," he told her, having to force the words from his mouth. She had already gone inside, leaving the door open for him to follow. The interior of the shop was lit by a tinted amber lamp, strung above a row of hides. Some he could still recognize. A deer here, a brown bear there. But some belonged to animals he had never seen before, and stripped from their forms he couldn't so much as make a guess. The shelf along three sides of the room held more figurines like the one in the window, but almost some objects of a more sinister nature. The woman now sat behind the counter, plying intently at a knot of some exotic fiber.

Jack was entranced by the place. At first notice it smelled almost like a fresh kills, but a peculiar undertone made the statement that time had long since passed since the animals had walked the Earth. He felt a compulsion to touch nearly everything he passed, feeling the different textures. Some seemed to be bone like the woman had mentioned, but others felt more like stone. One thing caught his attention out of a crowded shelf, a necklace that seemed to be wrought from the bones of a large creature, a horse or some sort of bison. He ran his fingers over the worn surface, feeling an excited shiver rise up his spine. He could also see the last days of the beast. It couldn't have been very old, the bone was still dense, but perhaps it had been cornered by some vicious predator. Jack took a moment to swallow the saliva that had pooled in his mouth, then searched for the price tag on the item. It had been marked at fifteen dollars, but Jack considered it priceless, which to him meant that it must therefore, become his by any immediate means. Seeing that the woman had dozed off he stuffed the trinket into his jacket, tucking it safely in the inner pocket. This too gave him a thrill, and he wanted more.

Another section of the shelf held what appeared to be tools, carved in some form or another. From this he lifted a sharp knife, seemingly tipped in a shaped black resin. It was strange; it almost looked like the handle would be sharper than the blade. He turned it over in his hands. He looked back to see if she had woken up, but she still sat in her chair with her head slumped over. Feeling a sort of high from his newly acquired possessions he continued to explore the place, nearly missing something wonderful.

Hanging on the wall beneath a large set of buck horns was a dingy colored mask, roughly the size of a child's face. Forgetting his need to be subtle he lifted the ornament down and held it to his face, inhaling its scent deep. It wasn't like anything else he had seen here, a wonder shaped delicately to cover a child's face as if for a morbid masquerade. Despite its beauty the piece had an almost revolting quality, which excited Jack all the more. It had to be his. He wasn't sure what it was about it that was different from the rest, but had he known he would have fawned over it. It was carved from the skull of an unidentified murder victim as a ceremonial relic. Gruesome to some cultures surely, but not unheard of. Jack wasn't interested in the history of the piece however, but rather in finding a way to fit it into his jacket such that it would be unnoticeable. Eventually he found one, securing it in place beside his boar knife.

There was a wealth of other things on the higher shelves, and Jack began to use an overturned crate to get a better look. There was a little ball joint doll, and in a moment of clarity he decided that Tangia would like it. He scaled the shelves, unwittingly making enough noise to wake the woman from her slumber. "Get down from there!" she shouted as she attempted to pull herself out of her chair. Jack nearly fell, grabbing a pair of old dice as he jumped down from the crate. She was mumbling obscenities as she made her way around the counter, but by the time she was steady Jack had already torn out of the store. His heart was beating in his ears as he ran full speed down the road, a tingling sensation emanating from the things that weighted down his coat. Hopefully Duncan would be waiting for him.