“So you read a poem from some book and you think that’s what changed Anna?” Ariana looked skeptical, her dark, tightly knit braid bouncing against her toned upper back as the two girls made their way toward the bookshop.
“Okay, so you just saw a girl grow a foot and become supermodel gorgeous overnight, and you think it’s somehow less likely that a magic book did it than that it just spontaneously happened?” asked a clearly exasperated Tara.
“Well, yeah,” Ariana said with a shrug.
Tara shook her head, a wry smile tugging at her lips. “Trust me. Something happened with that book when I read it. I just know, okay?”
Ariana looked unconvinced, but the small, athletic girl didn’t argue the point further.
After a few more minutes of thoughtful walking, the two girls arrived at the entrance to the shop. Pulling the tarnished bronze handle of the oak-framed door open, Tara marched inside, eyes scanning the interior of the room to find it empty. Its owner was nowhere to be found.
What luck! Tara could waltz right in, take the book, and use it to figure out what had happened to Anna.
Tara motioned to her friend, gesticulating emphatically in the direction of the bookshelf that contained The Burgeoning Book. When she paused before the spot where she had last seen it, however, she saw that the book was missing. In its place was an empty hole, a light sheen of dust at the back of the shelf, behind where the thick tome had rested.
Tara’s heart fell. Where had the book gone? Had someone stolen it? It seemed unlikely, though if it truly had the power to alter reality, it would certainly be valuable enough to attract that sort of nefarious interest.
The shopkeeper had, however, caught sight of Tara with the book the previous day, clearly intending for it to remain locked. Perhaps the woman had simply removed it from the shelf to prevent another unknowing soul from stumbling upon its power. Perhaps the shopkeeper knew exactly what it could do and simply wanted to prevent an occurrence of a reality-changing event like what Tara had done to Anna. As Tara considered the notion, the more likely of the alternatives it seemed.
So the question became: where would the woman have put it?
Tara straightened, casting about the room. Her eyes settled on the cashier’s counter. Hurrying over to it, Tara noticed Ariana giving her a puzzled look.
“What are you doing?” the compact-but-fit Latina asked. “Where’s the book?”
“That’s exactly the question I’m trying to answer,” Tara said, ducking her head beneath the counter to search for the book. “Yesterday, it was on that shelf over there where I first checked. But it’s gone.”
As she finished checking beneath the counter, Tara bit her lower lip in concern. “It’s not here either!”
Ariana seemed disappointed, extending her hands in a resigned shrug. “Oh, well. At least Anna got some benefit out of it…”
Tara, however, was less inclined to give up. More than a little eager to try the book out on herself, she was not about to leave this shop without a thorough search. She turned, pulling aside the threadbare curtain behind the counter to open the way to a small storage area filled with stacks of books and boxes. She wandered into the area, taking care to step over the numerous towers of leather, paper, and cardboard that littered the floor.
After a moment of searching around the room, she spotted it! It was in the back corner, atop a leaning pile of other valuable-looking tomes. Before she could get there, however, she heard a flushing sound coming from her right. She turned, noticing, for the first time, a narrow wooden door to her right.
Instantly, her mind put things together. That must be the shop’s bathroom! That was where the shopkeeper had gone! As the faucet began to run, Ariana knew that she was rapidly running out of time. Nimbly, she hopped over books and boxes to the back corner of the room, pulling the heavy volume from the top of the stack and turning…
...just in time to see the bathroom door opening!
Tara dropped into a crouch, thankful for another large stack of books that lay between her and the bathroom, obscuring her small form from the shopkeeper’s casual view. Ariana gaped at her friend from just beyond the counter, her eyes wide as they darted between Tara and the shopkeeper.
The middle-aged woman picked her way through the narrow corridor between towers of books until she reached the doorway to the shop’s main room, giving the curtain, which was still drawn to one side, a questioning look. However, before she could finish her examination, her eyes found Ariana on the other side of the counter.
“Oh! I didn’t see you there, young lady! May I help you find something?”
Ariana looked startled anew, her eyes shifting from those of the shopkeeper to find Tara’s face peeking out from behind her protective stack of books. Ariana made a churning motion with her hand, indicating for her friend to play along. Ariana gave the redhead a subtle nod.
The shopkeeper seemed to notice Ariana’s distraction, turning to look inside the storage room. Luckily, Tara had had the presence of mind to duck behind the tower of tomes, slipping out of sight just as the middle-aged woman’s eyes zeroed in where her face had been a moment earlier.
“Um, yes,” said Ariana, clearing her throat. “I was wondering what this one was. Over here. In the farthest back corner of the room…”
Ariana strode to the far corner, the shopkeeper turning to follow. Wasting no time, Tara seized her opportunity to escape, thankful for her friend’s impromptu diversion. Silently, she rose, dancing furtively through the paper-strewn room to duck behind the relative safety of the cashier’s counter.
Peeking out from the side of the counter’s oak paneling, she saw that the shopkeeper’s back was turned to her, giving her a free path to the door. Letting out a thankful breath, she crept along the floor toward the door, cringing as a plank of the hardwood floor squawked unexpectedly under her modest weight.
The shopkeeper began to turn toward the source of the sound, when Ariana, to her credit, shoved a nearby book into the woman’s hands, distracting her with a stammered question about how old it was.
Smiling as she examined the book’s cover, the older woman began to opine on the book’s lengthy history. Tara, now not even daring to breathe, made her way silently to the door. Carefully slipping her fingertips over the dull brass knob, praying that it didn’t make a sound, Ariana successfully twisted it open, slipping outside with the large, locked tome tucked safely under her arm.
She closed the door behind her, then hurried away, only daring to breathed again once she’d scurried out of sight.
A few minutes later, Ariana emerged from the shop, looking from side to side until she spotted Tara plastered against the brick wall just beyond the bookshop’s window.
“Oh, my God! That was so freaky!” Ariana said, her voice an animated whisper. “I can’t believe we stole something! It was like straight out of a heist movie or something!”
Tara merely frowned. “We’re not stealing exactly. Just borrowing! I mean, this book changed our friend, right? We sort of have a right to figure out what it does.”
“Suuuuuure,” laughed Ariana, her eyes falling to the book that lay within Tara’s relaxed grip. She took advantage of the opportunity to swipe the book from Tara’s unexpecting grasp.
“Hey!” Tara cried as her friend spun away, tearing heavy volume from her slim fingers. “Give it back!”
“Sure!” Ariana said, flashing her friend a mischievous grin. “As soon as I read one of these poems for myself...”
“Ari! No!” Tara pleaded. But her friend was determined, wiggling loose the worn lock to open the book.
With a nefarious grin, she lowered her eyes to the page and began to read...
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