Page 94 of The Book of Lost Enchantments
“Better?” she asked with a smile.
“I’m not sure I will ever get used to that,” he said, grinning widely. “I love you, my magical little lass.” He beamed, squeezing her hand.
“I love you too,” she said, looking up into his bright green eyes.
Just then she heard their names. “Nora, Alistair? Thanks for meeting me here,” a tall, well-dressed woman said as she strolled up to them.
“Caroline, how are you?” Nora greeted her.
“I know you must think this is a bit odd, meeting here instead of the listing address. There is a good explanation, though. It doesn’t have an address,” she said with a laugh.
“What do you mean? It must have an address,” Alistair said.
“It really doesn’t. Somehow the city never gave it one, and it’s between 108 and 109. Here, let me show you,” she said as she walked ahead of them, her high-heeled boots tapping away at the cobblestone street.
Nora and Alistair followed until they came to a place that Nora recognized as the wine and spirits shop where she had purchased the wine for the recreation of Gram’s photo. As they walked down the street a bit farther, Nora felt an electric pulse of energy surge through her. Her magic was on edge.
Suddenly Caroline stopped and turned toward a thin building that sat snugly between the larger shops to the side of it. A teal door with large paned windows on each side faced them. Nora’s heart caught in her throat. The bookstore!
“Weird. I have walked this street a hundred times, and I’ve never seen this place,” Alistair said.
“Let’s go in, and I can show you around,” Caroline told them, unlocking the door and turning the large brass knob. The interior was dark with the only light coming from the windows, but Nora knew right away it was the same place where she had found the book a year ago. Caroline flipped on the overhead tin lights, and they filled the room with a warm glow.
“Supposedly, it was a bookstore in the forties, but it has been abandoned for at least forty years,” Caroline said, picking up a book off a small table near the window. “Looks like there are a few remnants still here,” she said, wiping the dust off her hands along the side of her jacket.
How could it have been abandoned since the sixties when she had just been in here a year ago? The shop was now just a large empty room with a counter in the back and the beautiful art deco iron staircase spinning its way to the second floor. Even though the books and shelves were gone, she could still feel their echoes in the air around her.
“There is no way this place is in our budget,” Alistair said, walking over to the staircase and running his hand on the banister.
“My client said she would like to see it being used again, so she’s letting it go cheap as chips.”
“What kind of steal?” Alistair asked.
“The kind if you guys weren’t my friends, I would buy it and sell it for a lot of money. She only wants fifty thousand pounds for it.”
“No way. You’re joking. Caroline, that shit isn’t funny,” Alistair said.
“I’m deadly serious. I couldn’t believe it myself. She is quite old and doesn’t have any children. I think she just wants to see it end up in the hands of someone who will take good care ofit. When I told her what you wanted to do with it, she seemed thrilled and told me the price.”
Nora picked up the book that Caroline had set down when she first came in.
“She doesn’t happen to have one blue eye and one brown eye, does she?” Nora asked.
“Yes, how did you know?” Caroline said, stunned.
“Just a wild guess,” Nora said, looking over at Alistair and holding up the bookThe Unfortunate Travellerby Thomas Nashe.
Alistair smiled at her from across the room. The Cailleach had been helping them and guiding them all this time and even now was watching out for them. The thought made Nora’s heart skip a beat.
“Please tell me you guys are going to take it?” Caroline said.
“Just so happens that is exactly what we have in our savings,” Alistair told her, walking over to Nora.
“I have the paperwork right here if you want to sign the agreement.”
Caroline handed them a pen, and they took turns signing the paper on the old countertop where stacks of books had once been. The ring on Nora’s finger caught the light as she signed her name, sending a spray of prism light across the paper as if magic sealed the deal.
“We will have an official closing in a few weeks. Congratulations! I will give you a few minutes,” Caroline said, walking out the door.
“Can you believe this?” Alistair said, picking Nora up and spinning her around, sending dust flying up from the floor and raining down around them.
“Literally nothing surprises me anymore,” she joked, leaning down and kissing him.
“What are we going to call our printing press?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. What do you think?” she replied as they walked toward the door.
Alistair looked back over his shoulder and said, “What about Darrow and Campbell?”
Nora smiled. “It’s perfect.”
