Shock didn't look up as she gave Agnes the new merchandise, let the little witch write down the inventory, and trade out for the empty jars and bottles stored under the counter that Halloween Town citizens brought back in for re-use once their contents were diminished. The witches did it [i]solely[/i] to avoid having to turn their backs on Shock. They trusted her wares. Her, not so much. Shock carefully packed the empty jars in her bag.

"I'm not using the wheelbarrow to haul [i]glass[/i], Carver," she said upon hearing the pumpkin creature's muttering. "If I wanted to risk breaking something, I could always haul them in the bathtub."

She went back to her quiet exchange with Agnes while keeping an ear out for Barrel and the other witches. So far, so good, but...weren't they supposed to be discussing potions?

Whatever. So long as he held their attention. As soon as Lock got here, they could proceed as planned.

Barrel let out a small sigh of relief that Aggie took the hint. He made sure to give the older witch his sweetest smile as he listened to her "advice". His smile started to deflate when Aggie asked for payment on the spider eyes.

"Um...hold on."

He quickly checked his pockets, but he didn't have much to exchange with.

[I]Bones[/i]. He wasn't expecting to actually [i]buy[/i] something! Thinking quickly, Barrel turned to his older sister.

"Um, Shock? Could you...?"

Shock quickly shot a glare at her little brother. Barrel gave her an uneasy smile.

"[I]Seriously[/i]?" Shock said, with immense irritation.

This was neither part of the plan, nor her problem.

"I-I'll pay you back!" Barrel said quickly. "Please?"

Shock moved a hand to her forehead so she could rub her temples. She should have counted on Barrel screwing [i]something[/i] up, and took a moment to mentally talk herself down from strangling him then and there.

[I]Think of the plan. Think of the plan. Think of the plan...[/i]

"Yeah, you will," Shock muttered under her breath. She turned back to Agnes. "Can we trade you one of the jars of scorpion claws?"

Agnes pondered it over, knowing as well as Aggie that they had an opportunity to bargain.

"Hmm..." she said with air of an experienced haggler. "Those [i]are[/i] the high-quality spider eyes...harder to harvest and come by. And they require [i]far[/i] more spiders to fill it up. You understand."

Shock glared, but if this kept Agatha and Aggie out of her hair long enough for this to work, it'd be worth it.

"Fine. You get one of the [i]small[/i] vials of black scorpion venom in addition," Shock said. She matched her tone and expertise with Agnes', with a bit more bite to show this was the final offer. "They don't give a lot of venom, and I can't extract them every day. It's not good for their health. You [i]understand[/i]."

Agnes knew not to push her luck. The oldest trickster was being generous, and her patience had already been tested. If it were Lock or Barrel, she might be able to bargain for a little more, but Shock was the vengeful one, as well as the one who did most of the work. As a fellow entrepreneur, Agnes was willing to level with her on the implied time and energy it took to produce her wares. She set a jar of claws aside, and looked for a small bottle.

"...I don't see any of the small bottles," Agnes said.

"What?"

Shock looked at the collection of jars and bottles on the counter, more for show. Of [i]course[/i] the one item she needed had to be the small bottles Lock would "notice" she left behind. She looked at Carver, knowing to keep up the ruse until Lock got here. If anything, if they played their cards right, they'd alleviate more suspicion, and that was all the incentive Shock needed. She grabbed Carver's arm, but only squeezed a vine with her thumb in a secret code to play along.

"I thought I told you to grab them!"

Barrel awkwardly hung back, as he couldn't yet tell if this was part of the plan or not.