A half hour passed while Giffen pored over bracelets and Tegwen noted that the jewelry store was supposed to close quite a while back. The majority of the store's lights had been extinguished nearly ten minutes earlier, yet nobody had come forward to help the remaining customers nor to lock up. The owner was still no where to be found. Finally, Giffen whistled.

"Hey!" He snapped impatiently. "Is anyone here?"

Tegwen glanced around. Still, the only three ducks in the darkened store were Tegwen, Beitiris and Giffen.

Okay, this is getting really creepy. She ran her hand through her long hair nervously, curling it around the tips of her fingers.

"Hello?" Beitiris followed up Giffen's call upon hearing some muted noise coming from a back room. "Can we get some help?"

"I t'ink ya need ta leave," a cold voice snapped suddenly. Tegwen peered through the crack and saw something which made her blood run cold instantly. A shiny, metallic beak, reflecting the subdued light of the display cabinets. Unusual, to say the very least of it, and horrifying. Try as she might, Tegwen couldn't find an angle where she could actually see who was attached to the monstrous prosthetic.

"We just wanted to get our daughter a hatchday gift," Beitiris said, her voice growing thin.

"Well come back tomorrow," the tin-plated beak warned. "Or some other time. Ya need to get outta here!"

"No," Giffen said stubbornly. "It needs to be tonight. I don't want my gift to be late!"

"Please go!"

"Not without a bracelet!" Giffen squared his shoulders. "Look -- where's the owner?"

"He's indisposed. I really t'ink ya oughtta leave before I have to do somet'in' we're all gonna regret."

Giffen and Beitiris exchanged glances. "I think we should call the cops," Beitiris told Giffen quickly.

The metal beak emitted a sigh. "I'm sorry but I can't let ya do dat."

They stood their ground and Tegwen watched the scene before her unfold as if she were watching a video in slow motion. A knife came down, meeting with Giffen's shoulder. Beitiris screamed, attempting to fight off their assailant's knife, now coated in Giffen's blood. She received a stab in the chest and immediately collapsed to the floor, completely limp.