The Price
Luke would never be handsome. He had known this his whole life.
He wasn’t the forgotten, plain child in a family of beautiful siblings and agreeable parents - nothing as dramatic as that. Everyone in his family was unattractive. Sure, he had grown into his wide and down-turned nose, into his moles and freckles, into his long legs and slight frame - his bushy red hair though, he would never grow into. It was the same with his older brother and little sister, all lanky and spotted, generally hairy, with moderately crooked teeth. Knowing what he was all along didn’t make growing up any easier, though.
Ugly.
There was no space between fair and dark, no room for other beauty or even ugliness. Not in this world. Women were lithe instead of lanky. Men toned and muscular and exactly six foot four. The only spots were beauty marks, and there was zero hair except atop one’s head. Don’t meet those standards? Well, there was always magic.
Luke didn’t blame the people who resorted to magic to improve their lives. Society’s growing emphasis on superficial qualities in a partner drove people to extremes in their quest for love. And it wasn’t only the lonely who used magic to their advantage.
Say you had your eye on a big promotion and wanted to impress the boss with a fancy dinner party, but couldn’t cook to save your life. Just pop round the corner to your nearest apothecary and pick up a bottle of Liquid Chef(TM). Drink it an hour before it’s time to cook and let the magic be your shortcut to success. Big final for school in the morning and can’t seem to sleep? No problem - sleep through the night by taking a dose of Sleepy Time(TM) fifteen minutes before bed.
He wouldn’t use it though, magic. He’d spent his life learning how to brew the potions and charms his family kept stocked and sold from their apothecary shop. His parents took turns teaching each of their children the recipes until they knew them by heart. Had them test each brewed spell until they could distinguish between a good one and a failure. To experience the potions in order to advise each customer on what to expect.
Thus, he’d become intimately familiar with the side effects of magic as well.
The side effects were a topic discussed privately, never in public. Sure, Liquid Chef(TM) allowed you to make delicious food, but it also obliterated your sense of taste for a week. Sleepy Time(TM) may put you to sleep for the night, but you’ll have nightmares and wake up out of sorts. All magic carried a cost, positive spells with an equal negative, and negative spells the reverse. The Price, apothecaries called it behind closed doors.
And Luke knew the Prices for beauty were the worst. They were the ones that made you insecure, had you questioning your worth. Masking a mole on your cheek may make it disappear, but that would draw attention to the redness of your face. Even out your skin tone and then your nose is wrong. Then your entire face shape. The greater the change, the better you appear, the worse you feel, and the more changes you require.
Magic didn’t just have side effects. It could also be addictive. Week after week, he witnessed customers craving more more more. Watched as they deteriorated before his very eyes.
Luke made peace with being ugly instead.
The bell above the door chimed. Luke remained slouched at the counter, although he looked up from the magazine he was reading and eyed the newcomer with initial disinterest. Thursdays were always boring in the shop; too soon for the Weekenders stocking up for parties, and too late for Midweekers and the Monday crew looking for Wednesday pick-me-ups and hangover cures, respectively. At times, the shop would experience full days of no customers.
The young woman today, however, didn’t seem like the normal customer. Folks usually grabbed what they needed from the shelf, paid, and fled the shop as quickly as possible. No one wanted to admit they needed magic, after all.
He observed her light brown hair, freckles, and the circles under her eyes, and figured her to be shopping for either beauty or sleep magic. He waited patiently for her to grab what she needed and pay, and frowned when she remained at the door instead. Her gaze swept over the aisles, as if she didn’t know what she was there for. He couldn’t remember the last time a customer lingered like that.
“Can I help you find something?”
Bringing her eyes to his, she smiled and moved towards him.
“Hi, yes. I’m looking for a spell for a friend. Something to do with fast travel, but I can’t remember what.”
He stepped out from behind the counter and met her halfway, guiding her to the shelf under an obnoxious neon blue sign that read TRAVEL.
“We’ve got a few different options, brewed fresh this morning.” Her gaze bounced around over the labels, and Luke could see the hope on her face that if she just saw the name, it would come back to her. It didn’t seem to work, however, when she turned to him with an embarrassed shrug.
“What kind of travel are they looking for? For a round-trip visit there’s Get-Me-There, or MEBegone for a one-way journey. You can also banish house guests, family, and other unwanted pests with it.” She laughed while picking up a bottle of Get-Me-There(TM) from the shelf to read the label; he swelled with pleasure. No one ever laughed at his jokes. No one lingered long enough to hear them.
“This seems the most like what she was talking about, so I guess I’ll get it. See apothecary for side effects? What side effects?”
Luke took the bottle from her and led her to the register. As she followed behind while listening to him explain, she absentmindedly pulled her purse from her shoulder to remove her wallet.
“Get-Me-There’s side effect is motion sickness every day of the trip.”
She stopped digging in her purse to meet his gaze, a disquieted expression starting in her brown eyes and rolling down to her thin lips.
“Excuse me?”
“The price - the side effect of this spell. It’s motion sickness.”
Horrified, she picked the bottle back up, studying the words on the label and weighing the value of her friend against its price. He stood silently, watching as the conflict warred across her face. Finally, she set it back on the counter and single-handedly removed her wallet.
“Steep price for gratification, but if it’s what she wants, who am I to judge. Is all magic like that?”
“Well, yeah; have you never used magic before? Thirty-four ninety-nine.”
Passing him her bank card, she picked up the bottle again.
“Once. I didn’t like how it made me feel, so haven’t used it since.”
That startled him. He’d never met anyone else that was apprehensive about using magic outside most apothecaries; and even they have a hard time resisting the pull.
Transaction cleared, he handed back her card with the receipt. After storing them back in her wallet, she shoved both it and the spell quickly into her purse.
“Thanks for your help.” She punctuated it with a genuine smile, and Luke felt something in him shift. A paradigm being challenged. She headed towards the exit, and with a final thank you and wave, she was gone.
Alone in the shop once more, Luke felt discombobulated and wondered. If she could live without magic, maybe he could too.
