Eustace looked uncomfortable. “Well, she was worried too.”
“Right.”
Lana flashed a glossy, cherry-red smile. “Let’s have a look at the place, shall we?” Her high heels tapped loudly over the worn cedar floor as she made her way over to the green velvet curtains. She stopped and turned to Eustace. “Coming?”
“In a minute.” There was a bite in his voice as he removed his glasses and cleaned the rain off his lenses with a handkerchief. Something he always did, regardless of whether it was needed, but more often when he was ill at ease.
Intent on keeping Lana from exploring, Fate stepped around Eustace. “Uh, it’s a total mess out there. Lots to trip over.” The last thing she needed was Lana discovering Brune’s stinky undead corpse near the front of the store. “It’s not going to work here. I say we head back to Seattle.”
Lana’s mouth dropped open in horror. “We can’t leave. Your fans are on their way right now.”
“What? How?” Fate looked at her father. “You couldn’t have known I was even here.”
Eustace returned his glasses to their proper place and smoothed his thick silvery bangs off his forehead. “It would appear your movements today were carefully monitored.”
“By who, Sherlock Holmes?”
Lana waved her cell phone. “No, that would be @InAnguish. A rather depressing person who loves complaining about being sad, but who was extremely determined to follow you along I-5. That is until your taxi got lost in thick traffic.”
Overwhelmed by this bizarre development, Fate stared at Lana. After surviving six long months in a deadly world filled with magic and monsters, this place and everyone in it, seemed more unreal than anything the Book of Fables could throw at her. Her old life as a writer and author felt even more alien. It didn’t matter that writing had been her passion since she’d first learned how to spell. She hadn’t had a single writerly thought from the moment she’d been trapped inside the Book of Fables. Unless she counted the times she’d used the Words of Making to conjure something, but that had only been out of pure necessity.
“Who exactly is this stalker?” Fate asked.
Lana tapped the screen of her phone and showed them a picture of a cosplayer dressed as Anguish, the dark foreboding angel from her book.
She suddenly remembered the cosplayer she’d run into when she’d snuck out of her book signing. She hadn’t known it at the time, but Brune’s summoning spell had kicked in, forcing her to come to the bookstore. At the time, she’d blamed her desire to leave on a major skirmish between a warlock and three demon goblins in cosplay. She’d been so excited about her readers dressing like her characters from Magic Brew, but also unsettled by how much they’d thrown themselves into their roles. The most disturbing of the bunch had been @InAnguish.
Fate wrinkled her nose at the picture. “Ew, what a creeper.”
“Indeed,” Eustace agreed. “But when Lana told me where your were last seen–”
“Through the hashtag I made: Find Fate Floyd,” Lana chimed in.
“I knew where you were headed,” Eustace finished.
“You let her leak the location to everybody and their dog?”
“That’s what you pay me for.” Lana cheerily typed on her phone. “The whole thing’s trending as we speak.”
Eustace shook his head in disapproval. “I didn’t want any of this–”
The delivery door banged open, interrupting him. “Is she here?” Jessie quickly closed the door to the foul weather. When she put her back to the door, Fate noticed the annoyance in her friend’s frown. Jessie hated being wet, messy or windblown, which was exactly the uncomfortable condition the trek between the car and building had put her in. When her gaze landed on Fate, her warm, hazel eyes rounded with surprise. “You’re here!”
They met in the middle of the room, bending forward over some boxes to hug.
“Yeah, just playin’ a little game of hide and seek.” Fate tried to match her best friend’s radiant smile and failed miserably.
Raindrops beaded over Jessie’s skin, the color of coffee with cream. Being part Malaysian and Swedish had given her the exotic, natural good looks of a Hawaiian girl enjoying sun and surf all year long. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jessie shied away from outdoor activities, unwilling to share space with bugs, dirt and the cold northwest coastal weather. Many a day had been spent with Jessie in the safety of home watching cartoons, beading bracelets, doodling and daydreaming. Something Fate had always been quite fine with.
Until now.
As much as being around Jessie and her dad made her happy, and somewhat eased the pain of missing Finn, an urgent sense of duty was growing inside and getting stronger by the minute. Fate glanced at the Keep Lock anchored on the janitor door. She needed to go.
“What made you come here? And what’s with the warrior get-up?” Jessie eyed her up and down.
Fate sighed in defeat. “Lana guessed it. I wanted to have the convention here.”
Jessie gave Fate her lie detector squint, but before she could start the inquisition, Lana jumped in. “Oh! Your fans are almost here! They organized this whole crazy convoy, and the ones who rented the limo for you have been going on about what an awesome ride it’s been. The Twitterverse is blowing up!” She messaged them back. Looking up with a triumphant grin, Lana slipped through the velvet curtains before Fate could stop her. “Follow me everyone,” she called out. “Let’s have a look at the rest of the place.”
Fate’s heart thudded with panic. She was rapidly losing control of the situation. What would Brune do when they found her? What if she used the Orb to hurt Eustace and Jessie? She’d never forgive herself if anything happened to them.
Fate moved to go after Lana, when Eustace caught her by the arm. “Hold on, what’s really going on here?”
“Oh my god!” Lana shouted from inside the bookstore.
He let go and Fate bolted from the storeroom, terrified Lana had discovered Brune. When she entered the bookstore, she skidded to a stop. The lights were on, casting a warm glow over the tall bookcases and cozy reading nooks. There wasn’t a cobweb or speck of dust in sight and the rounded cashier’s counter now gleamed with a fresh polish. The boards nailed over the front doors and the big windows were gone, allowing full view of the brightly lit parking lot outside.
It was as if the spirit of the bookstore had been breathed back into the place. Fate had always assumed Gran had been that life spark, but this miraculous transformation indicated otherwise.
“This place is gorgeous!” Lana twirled around as she gestured at the brick walls. “Rustic yet elegant. It’s absolutely magical!”
“Something like that,” Fate muttered as Eustace joined them.
Eustace gave Fate a questioning look, but before she could offer any sort of answer, the publicist bustled over and pulled him into the center of the store. “They don’t make them like this anymore, do they?” she crooned, tucking a hand in the crook of his arm as he glanced around in confusion.
Fate grabbed a few random books off one of the shelves and shook them for paper dust. They were completely intact. What had happened in the last few minutes? Had all the old and rotting things been restored to new? She could only hope so as she looked for the zombie in the room.
Seeing that Lana was hauling Eustace off to look at something else, Fate rounded the bookcase over by the stairs to see if Brune was still seated in the reading chair she’d left her in. She was gone. And so was the Book of Fables. She didn’t know if she should be relieved or worried.
Jessie appeared behind Fate. “Time to spill. What’s going on with you?”
Fate jumped and gasped. “Jeez, lurk much?” She peeked around the bookcase to make sure Lana was still keeping Eustace busy.
“Boy, are you jumpy. Whatever this is, it must be huge.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
Jessie rubbed her hands together in excitement. “So tell me. I’m dying to know. This armor
is crazy cool by the way. Did you buy it when you were in New York? It totally makes your boobs look way bigger than they really are.”
Fate glanced down at the molded breastplate. “Really?”
“And your hair’s way longer.” Jessie stretched one of Fate’s long auburn tresses out in front of her. “Are these extensions?”
“No.”
“A clip on?” Jessie gave the thick ringlet a sharp tug as if she expected it to come loose.
“Ow, stop that! It’s not fake.”
Letting go, Jessie stared where Fate’s hair hung at her waist. “Okay, that’s weird. Nobody’s hair grows that much in one month. Start talking. Tell me everything.”
“I, uh–”
“Wait.” Jessie dug in her purse. Drawing out a bag of corn nuts, she popped the salty snack in her mouth, her eyes wide with anticipation, like she was eating popcorn at the movies. “Okay, go ahead.”
“I’ve been–”
“This involves a guy doesn’t it?”
“How’d you know?”
“Because only a guy could make you take hair-growing drugs and take off out of town without saying a word. Did you come out here to meet him?” Jessie looked over her shoulder. “Oh my god. Is he here right now? Is he hiding?”
The dull hollow ache Fate had grown accustomed to intensified to a gaping wound. “No, he couldn’t make it.”
Jessie looked horrified. “He stood you up? Who is this jerk?”
“He’d be here if he could, but I totally blew it.” Fate blinked back the rise of hot tears. How could she possibly describe her relationship with Finn? Jessie would know his name of course, but trying to explain how she’d met him unleashed the most excruciating pain.
Fate grabbed at the ribbon around her neck–the one Finn had given her–once white but now gray with the stubborn stains of a horrifying experience. Her fingers trailed down the silk until she touched the pouch of Finn’s holy blend tobacco tied to the end of the ribbon. Squeezing it, she inhaled the earthy scents wrapped inside the soaped leather. The soothing smells fooled her senses into believing he was near, at least enough to help her get a grip on her emotions.
“Okay…” Jessie said, munching on another salty bite with much less enthusiasm. “Then what’s–”
“I want to tell you everything.” Fate chewed worriedly on her bottom lip. “But first you have to promise you won’t repeat a word of this to Eustace. And don’t ask any questions until I finish, no matter how insane I sound.”
“Lips are sealed.”
“I left the book signing and came here because I was under a spell.” Fate paused for Jessie’s reaction, certain her friend would end the conversation there. Instead, she kept her expression carefully blank and remained quiet.
“When I got here, this place wasn’t all clean and new with the electricity running. It was dark, dusty and dank. And the Fables sign, which has always hung on the outside of the building for the past one hundred years, was over there by the stairs. It’s gone now, but–”
“It’s on the building. I saw it when the lights came on.” Jessie made a face, obviously feeling awkward she was already punching holes in Fate’s story. “Sorry, keep going.”
Fate’s frustration increased. Her only piece of evidence to prove the truth of her story was drilled into brick and hanging thirty feet off the ground. How had the Book of Fables gotten back onto the building? Obviously, magic was afoot. She wondered if she should be watching for house elves sneaking around the bookstore. Fate shook her head. Maybe it was best. That big bad book was dangerous to anyone ignorant enough to open its cursed pages and read them out loud.
“Either way, it doesn’t matter. The Fables sign isn’t a sign. It’s a real book with real pages full of stories. Eight to be exact. And they’re like Grimm’s fairy tales before Disney got hold of them and added cheerful songs and birds that help you get dressed every morning. I know, because I didn’t just read them, I was in them, and my only escape was to turn them into happily-ever-afters. Which I did. Walt would’ve been proud. But I had to do some horrible things to make that happen. It was one long, terrifying nightmare.”
Disbelief formed plainly on Jessie’s face.
Anger flushed hot in Fate’s cheeks. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“It’s just that you’ve told me wild stories before,” Jessie hedged. “It’s what you do. You write about stuff like this all the time. Listen, you’ve got to be tired after your book tour. You probably just fell asleep and pulled an Alice in Wonderland.”
“That’s what I thought at first too. But I’m telling you, it wasn’t a dream, Jess. I was really there. I swear. I’ve been gone for over six months!”
“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s only been a few hours since you left Seattle.”
“Time passes differently in Oldwilde.”
“Oldwilde?”
“That’s where I was. The stories in the Book of Fables take place in Oldwilde. There was a time when it was part of this world. It’s where all our myths and legends come from. But then science and religion edged out magic and some sort of divide separated the two worlds. Now the only way to cross the divide is through portals like the Book of Fables.” Fate fell quiet, her thoughts turning to the Keep and its promise of gateways back into Oldwilde. Urgency coursed through her limbs with renewed fervor. She needed to go there. But first she had to figure out how to get everyone in the building to leave.
“Well, I guess that would explain why your hair’s so much longer.” Jessie bit her nail, visibly deciding whether she would deem Fate completely bonkers or not. “Okay, call me loco but I believe you.” Excited, she popped another corn nut in her mouth. “That’s where you met this guy you’re so hot about, isn’t it? Oh! Was he a prince? Please tell me you fell in love with a prince!”
Fate relaxed a little. Finally, Jessie was on side. She could count on some help now. “He’s a prince at heart,” Fate said, allowing her friend to assume she’d met one of the characters from the Book of Fables. Jessie would have a million questions the moment she mentioned Finn’s name, and there wasn’t time for that.
“Did you kiss?”
Fate closed her eyes. When she allowed herself to be open to the pain of remembering what once was, she could feel the ghost of Finn’s kiss on her lips. Warm. Sweet. “Yes,” she breathed the one word.
“Wow, I always thought I’d be the winner. You were always so much pickier than me, since no one could live up to your perfect dream boy,” Jessie said, referring to Finn and their who-would-get-the-first-kiss-first contest. A pathetic pastime for two fantasy geeks who hadn’t made it a priority to cultivate exciting social lives.
“Do you want to hear about my trip to Wonderland, or not?” Fate needed desperately to change the subject. The more her thoughts revolved around Finn, the more the gaping hole in her heart ached.
“Shoot.” The package of corn nuts crinkled as Jessie dug for more.
Fate hardly knew where to begin. So much had happened. “It was wild, Jess. When I first got there, I was on this sorceress’s island, where all the animals could talk and were part human. It was so Island of Dr. Moreau, only without the getting eaten part. I even became best friends with a winged snake.”
“Ew, gross.”
Fate smiled as she pictured Sithias. She missed him terribly. “He was a beautiful ivory-colored snake when I first met him. But I conjured a glamour so he could shapeshift. Most of the time he was this adorably clumsy human. You would’ve loved him.”
Jessie gave her a doubtful frown. “I don’t know about that. But tell me more about this conjuring business. Were you a witch?”
“No. I had the power of the Words of Making–something that happens to the Reader who comes into Oldwilde through the Book of Fables. Anything I wrote down and spoke aloud instantly happened or appeared out of thin air.” She curled a lock of hair around her finger, thinking back to a night when she’d wanted to look irresistible to Finn. “That
’s how I grew my hair so long.”
“Oh, that’s off-the-hook.”
“Yeah, I thought so too.” Fate grew quiet. But I made a terrible mistake. I wasn’t careful enough, she wanted to say. Swallowing her grief, she continued. “I even gave myself the power to fly.”
“Whoa! What was that like?”
“Super convenient.”
“What? That’s the best thing you can say about your Peter Pan impression?”
“Well, after awhile it was as normal as walking.”
“Show me. I want to see you fly!”
Fate shushed her. “No way! Not here. Later. I promise. But that was nothing compared to the wicked kick-ass powers I got from a war goddess. I was totally indestructible and Spiderman strong. I even had a sword super-charged with lightning and a killer wind shield.”
“Wow,” Jessie whispered in awe. “Did you kill anyone?”
Guilt squirmed in Fate’s stomach. “What makes you ask that?” she snapped. “Do you really think I could kill someone?”
“Whoa, chill.” Jessie pouted. “I was only asking.”
Eustace rounded the bookcase they were hiding behind. “Asking what?”
“Uh…what character she’s playing,” Jessie blurted.
“I was going for Lightning Farron, but I think I missed the mark.” Fate glanced down at her armor to avoid her father’s probing stare.
Eustace crossed his arms. “Mmhmm.”
Lana poked her head around the corner. “Hey, your fans are here. Let’s open the doors and get this party started.”
Fate whipped past her father, feeling his stare burning into her back. She would deal with his questions later. Right now she had a large group of cosplayers waiting to be let in so they could meet her.
Lana unlocked the front entrance and stepped to one side, allowing the boisterous crowd to flood into the bookstore. Suddenly a building that had stood empty and silent for the past seven years was filled with sounds of life and laughter. In her old life, Fate would’ve been overjoyed by the idea of so many people going nuts over what she’d written, and she would’ve been thrilled to have them milling about her grandmother’s bookstore after being vacant for so long.
Fate's Keep (Fate's Journey Book 2) Page 3
