Free Shimmerlight by Jill Myles

Chapter One
    "Wow, he sure is, um, naked," Chloe Sorenson said, clipboard clutched to her chest as she stared up at the statue.
    "He sure is," sighed the old woman next to her. "But if we want to be accurate in the description, he's not actually naked naked. He's got a fig leaf. Go and look."
    Chloe circled around the statue, blushing when she saw the object in question. "Yes, that's definitely a fig leaf," she said, hating how strangled and awkward her voice sounded. "You were right, Ms. Muffet."
    "Please, darling, call me Muffin," said the old woman, then waved a hand at the statue. "Make sure you get him up on the website tonight. His auction is set for early next month and we want to make sure people have plenty of time to peruse the goods."
    She could have almost sworn that the old woman waggled her eyebrows, which just made Chloe
    blush harder. "Of course."
    "Now my dear, let me show you around to the other items that will be going up for the big auction. We have a lot of Roman artifacts for this one, so you're going to have a lot of work to do."
    The old woman showed her around the messy art gallery storage room. Boxes and crates were
    strewn about, stray foam peanuts on the floor. Wads of packing material overflowed in the garbage cans at the back of the room, and the shelves were half-full with objects thousands of years old. Precious, expensive objects that Chloe had been hired to catalog and put up on the website.
    "Are you sure you want me to work overnights, Ms. Muffet? I'm sure I could work just as quickly during the daytime hours, if it wouldn't bother you." It seemed odd that the woman wanted to lock her in the art gallery every evening, but that was exactly what the job entailed. "I just don't want you to think I'm going to run off with an urn or something."
    "Nonsense," Ms. Muffet said. "It absolutely has to be overnights." She stared at the statue thoughtfully. "It won't work otherwise."
    "All right," Chloe said brightly. "Well, I don't mind if you don't mind. And the security guard is out at the front desk, right? I can always have him check my pockets before I leave every day just so you know you can count on me."
    Ms. Muffet blinked rapidly, and Chloe could have sworn the old woman was wearing false
    eyelashes. One looked loose, like it was going to crawl off her eye. "Don't be silly, my girl. You're not going to steal anything."
    Well, it was good that her new employer had such faith in her. Chloe smiled awkwardly,
    wondering if the old woman was senile. Something about this didn‘t strike her as…right. Sure, it was a terrific job – her first one after going back to college and getting her degree in web design. But she knew nothing about art or art history, and the fact that Ms. Muffet was so very willing to leave Chloe alone overnight in an art gallery filled with incredibly expensive objects? Made her a little concerned for her employer‘s sanity.
    That, and the woman was a little odd in appearance as well. She was a hundred if she was a day, and wore a lime green beret perched atop her fluffy white curls, false eyelashes, and a bright pink sundress covered with a glittery gold shrug, and bunny slippers. She looked like she‘d been let out of the nursing home without her meds. Still, she was spry and alert and her shrewd eyes missed nothing – even with the fake lashes somewhat obscuring her vision.
    For the next half-hour, Muffin showed Chloe around the art gallery, all the while people waved goodnight and exited the building. Soon there was no one left but Chloe and Muffin and the security guard, and Chloe had written down a lengthy list of tasks that Muffin had asked her to take on.
    ―Think you can handle this, my dear?‖ The old lady said at last, her keys in hand as she stood near the door.
    Chloe hugged her clipboard closer. ―I‘ll be just fine. Updating the website should be a snap and I think you‘ll like the results. We can set up the auction on a dedicated server