Obviously they’d already guessed that something had happened; otherwise the fire ceremony would’ve been an even bigger shitshow than the earth ceremony. But they hadn’t dared to hope that I’d found magic.
Indeed I had.
But even with my newfound abilities, I’m still dragging my sorrow around like a piece of toilet paper clinging to my shoe. No matter how much I try shoving what happened with Feylin to the back of my mind, it’s impossible to ignore the massive hole in my heart. And right now my heart’s sawed wide open and bleeding.
It shouldn’t be this way, because as soon as I enter the Bookshop of Magic, everything feels different.
The shop’s empty; in fact most of the town is. It’s barely after nine in the morning, and most of the stores don’t open until ten.
Mama waves her hand, and the lights wake up, slowly brightening the store as if on an invisible dimmer. The shop looks exactly as it always does, with shelves stuffed full of books, and the smell is the most comforting in the world.
As the lights flare to life, the books awaken too. They clatter and chitter, trembling and shaking on the shelves.
It’s a bit too much excitement for comfort. I step closer to my mother and farther away from them. “Is everything okay? No guard books are going to come out, will they?”
No, I never told her about the whole guard-book debacle. Better to save some dignity than none.
“No. The guards went to sleep as soon as I entered.” A slow smile spreads across her face. “The other books are happy you’re here.”
I frown. “You sure about that?”
“Yes, this is what happened when I took over. Come.” She grabs my sleeve and pulls me to an empty lectern. “Stay here.”
Then she approaches a shelf, the books still grumbling. “Oh, be quiet, all of y’all. You’ll get your turns. Be patient.” It’s literally the most Mary Poppins moment I’ve ever witnessed from Mama. But before she breaks into song, she runs her finger down a line of books. “Aha! There you are.”
She tugs one from the shelf, and the others immediately stop chattering as she brings the book over and opens it on the lectern.
“I thought for your first time sending me into a book, that we’d do something easy.”
“So you’ve picked theComplete Tales of Winnie the Pooh?”
She shrugs. “They’re very friendly inside.”
I stifle a laugh. Who would’ve thought that my mother, a woman who can literally jump into any book she wants, would prefer that she do so with Winnie the Pooh?
One side of her mouth ticks up into a smile. “The shop hasattached itself to you. The books all know you, even the guard books.”
That’s a relief.
“Do you feel it?”
A low hum of magic washes over my skin, caressing me slightly. “Yeah.”
“Then you’re ready.”
I grimace, because now that I’m faced with doing what should come naturally, I’m scared to death that I’ll screw it up. “How do I do this?”
She takes my hands and presses them between her cold palms. “It’s easy. Call your magic, wind it around me, and drop me into the book.”
“How will you get out?”
“Pull me out. The magic works the same way. You’ve seen me do this plenty of times.”
“Yeah, but seeing and doing are two different things.”
“No, they’re not, my darling, not for you.” She releases my hands and cups one of my cheeks. “You can do this. Are you ready?”
“Sure.” Not really, but let’s just say that I am. “Wait. What if something goes wrong?”
