A few minutes passed with Anise standing rigidly, lost in her thoughts. It wasn’t until someone spoke her name that she remembered where she was. The girl’s head snapped upward, then over to see who was addressing her. She loosened her grip on the doll and did her best to hide the worry from her face, but she couldn’t quite hide the surprise at who she saw.

“Mr. Badd!” It wasn’t that it was strange to see him approaching her; it wouldn’t be the first time for that. But the old man looked pretty out of place in a shop full of toys and candy. She glanced around as if to confirm that this was indeed the toy store, then looked back to the man curiously. “Um, what brings you here?”