Carey and Karissa spent the first five minutes since they left the hotel arguing over which one of them was going to call their friend Lee and his grandfather Chang, who owned the store they were heading to. They found Chang to be their unofficial mentor, as he was very knowledgeable about magic since he spent several decades studying and practicing it. He was also not someone who liked to be disturbed in the middle of the night no matter how often it seemed to happen, and was certainly never fond of Carey’s “attitude” towards him at times. Still, Karissa had insisted he should be the one to inform Chang of their impending arrival; Carey countered that Chang liked her better, which meant that coming from her the news would have less of a negative impact on his mood. Carey won out in the end and Karissa called Chang, who suggested that they do a bit of research in the books in his expansive library before they headed off on their journey, though he doubted it would do them any good at this point.

They finally came to a small storefront called "Chang's Imperial Dragon Imports". Carey opened the red wooden door and walked in first. On the left was a long wooden counter with a glass front that displayed various bronze, brass, and silver objects. Behind the counter sat several tall sets of shelves fully stocked with jars of all sizes, each holding various strange substances, plants, and powders. Carey walked behind the counter and began to scan the shelves, while Karissa looked around at the items on the tables. She picked up a box and examined it closely, paying careful attention to the engravings on the top and the sides.

"Don't be scared, Chang keeps anything that could bite in the back room." She explained to them as they all apprehensively walked around and looked at the items scattered on the tables and shelves around the store, careful not to move too closely to anything.

"I don't need a lawsuit..." a short old man with a trimmed gray beard said with a heavy accent as he walked down the stairs and opened the door in the corner by the counter. "I also don't need to be robbed! What are you doing back there?!" he said, walking up to Carey.

"Relax, Chang, we need a few things. You know how this works by now." Carey said, taking a jar off of the shelf and putting some of its contents into a pouch he brought along.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you can come back here and take them!" he said, grabbing the jar and placing it back on the shelf.

"Come on! You've known me for years!"

"Speaking of people we've known for years,” Karissa interrupted, knowing exactly what direction the conversation was about to go in and not wanting to be around to witness it, “Where's Lee? He might actually be able to help us."

“He’s upstairs sleeping.” Chang motioned to the stairway behind him which led to a big black door. “You all go up there; we’ll try to do some research to make sure you bring everything you’ll need with you." He turned back to Carey, “Since Carey is already here and in the mood to grab things that don’t belong to him, he can help me gather the books we need from the basement.”

Karissa laughed. "Okay, Chang, I'll wake him up. Come on, guys." She walked up the stairs, letting the sounds of Chang and Carey's arguing drown out as the others followed her. As they walked into the room, they heard snoring and saw a young man with short black hair wearing a band t-shirt and jeans sleeping on a couch, in front of a coffee table that had take-out boxes and soda cans all over it. The room was dark and the only light came from the TV that had been left on.

"Lee? Lee, its Karissa." she said as she walked over to him. He continued snoring and mumbled something in his sleep, abruptly turning over onto his other side, his back now facing the room.

"Is he alright?" Brian asked with a frown as they all watched Lee from a distance.

"If he wasn't snoring, I'd be worried. But since he is..." she trailed off, the glow of the TV showing her annoyance. She kneeled on the floor next to the couch, in front of where Lee was asleep. "Lee, wake up.” She grabbed his shoulder and pushed it down towards the couch, throwing him down on his back as she hovered over him. His eyes slowly opened and he grinned as he realized who had woken him up. “I need your help."

"Sexual frustration?" he asked wearily, still smiling.

"I'm not desperate, and we’ve been over this a thousand times already." Karissa said, standing up and walking through the wide archway that led into the kitchen/dining room and tossing her coat on the back of one of the chairs. "Take a seat, you guys." she said, motioning for Aaron, AJ, and the others to come over.

"Come on, K, we both know you want to." Lee insisted, apparently not noticing they weren’t alone in the room.

"Gee, have I been that transparent all these years?" Karissa said sarcastically, looking over at the guys and rolling her eyes to make it clear how she really felt. She walked back over to the door and looked downstairs. "Lee's awake!" she yelled.

"We'll be up in a moment!" Chang yelled. "Not that one, Carey!"

"I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING, I'M NOT 7!!" Carey hollered.

"DON'T TALK THAT WAY TO YOUR ELDER, BOY!" Chang screamed back.

"Hello, can you boys grow up and get up here?" Karissa yelled down.

"Yes, we'll be right up! Don't you and your brother ever listen?"

"WE LISTEN OLD MAN, YOU DON'T!" Carey screamed.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?" Chang yelled.

"YOU HEARD ME, OR DO YOU NEED TO TURN YOUR HEARING AID UP?" Carey yelled back. Karissa let out a deep sigh and slammed the door, muffling the screaming downstairs.

"I swear, it never ends..." Karissa said, shaking her head. "Will you get up off that couch? Your grandfather is right, you are lazy."

"Am not, I'm just really tired." Lee argued, his legs now hanging over the edge of the couch although he was still practically lying down, as his head and shoulders were barely upright against the back couch cushion.

“Trust me, Lee,” Karissa sighed, walking over and standing in front of the TV to obscure Lee’s view of it, “You couldn’t possibly have had a rougher night than we all had,” she motioned to the others in the room, “So I can’t say I really care that you still can’t get laid.”

"You know, if you'd lighten up, you could help me with that problem." Lee said with a sigh. “Now please move out of the way of the TV or take something off to distract from it.”

"How about you never say any of that to me again and I forget you ever even dared to, or I’ll make you wish you were never born? Or at least that you were born a girl.” Karissa warned.

“Come on, Kariss, can’t you take a joke? You know I don’t have a death wish…” Lee whined, sitting up and switching off the TV. “You used to enjoy my sense of humor. What happened?”

“She hit puberty, then you hit puberty and started hitting on her.” Carey stated, carrying five large, heavy books up the stairs. “So for the last time, man, give it up. My sister is never going to fuck y-OW! Watch it!" Carey exclaimed as Chang shoved him in the back with the stack of books he had.

"Watch your language!" Chang said.

"Oh please, I've heard you swear in Chinese!"

"That’s different! You don't know what I'm saying!"

"Okay, break it up! We have work to do and not that much time to do it in." Karissa said, taking two of the books from Carey and putting them on the table. She opened up the one on the top of the pile while Carey sat down next to her and opened one of the books in his pile.