Chapter Four Hundred and Six — Bookmouse
Chapter Four Hundred and Six — Bookmouse “I can’t believe that just... worked,” Amaryllis said.“Really?” I asked. “Did you think we’d have trouble?”We were walking along the sidewalk. It was actually a bit past mid-day, and I suspected that a number of the people on the road were off from work already. Hopefully the bookstore wouldn’t be closed when we got to it.“Broccoli, we almost always get into some sort of trouble,” Amaryllis said.“Not... uh... hmm,” I said. “Okay, maybe, but we never faced any trouble that we couldn’t handle.”“Because of luck,” Amaryllis said.“No, because of the magic of friendship,” I replied.She rolled her eyes. I think we’d had this exact debate once, and Amaryllis was adamant that there was no such thing, and that if there was, then, someone from a magicless world like me would certainly not be able to prove it.“I think that was refreshing,” Awen said. “Um, not having to fight, or run away, or sneak out, or blow up a wall or something to escape.”“Did ny’a ever have to blow up a wall to get outta something?” Calamity asked.“Not yet,” I said.“Yet?” Caprica repeated.I considered it for a while, then looked at Awen. “Could you?” I asked her.Awen blinked back, caught a bit flat-footed by the question. “Blow up a wall? Um ... hm. I'm a Mechanic, not a Demolitionist. I mean... maybe I could? I made explosive arrowheads for my bolts, I guess, but that’s not the same thing.”I turned back to Caprica. “It’s basically inevitable,” I said.“You know, my intentions when leaving home were to see more of the world and to accelerate my advancement. Not so much to do crime in literally every place we visit.”“We didn’t do any crime in Codswood,” Calamity said.“Oh... so we didn’t. I stand duly corrected,” Caprica said magnanimously.We chatted about this and that and not much at all as we continued down the road. I noticed a lot of eyes glancing our way, but we weren’t even the only group from Mitytea Academy, so we didn’t stand out that much. Besides, of all the places I’d visited, Inkwren was one of the ones with the greatest variation in species present. All the big ones were around in decent numbers, harpy and sylph and grenoil and cervid and of course lots of humans, seeing as we were so close to the western side of the continent.But there were dwarves and elves and more mousefolk, and some ostri people too. Not to mention catfolk and buns and even some drolls and some people whose race I’d never seen before, but I didn’t have time to stop and gawk.We did have to stop and ask for directions, and I chose to ask a very nice walking flowerpot. The bonsai-like tree above it pointed to an intersection a bit further down with a branch and I thanked it kindly before heading that way with my friends.I had a certain image in mind for what Pecorina’s bookstore would look like. It would be something like the homes around us, all brick and mortar, maybe in the basement of an apartment building. Something tight and cozy and warm, with lots of books and an owner that loved to read.Instead, Pecorina’s was its own building. It was jammed in between a butcher’s shop and a small store that seemed to sell candies and pastries, but the bookshop was so large that it looked ready to burst, like it was only the brick and stone that made up the building keeping it from exploding out onto the street.It reminded me of a bag of luggage packed so full that someone had to sit on it to clasp it closed.A sign at the front simple read “Pecorina’s” in big, bold letters, and the windows probably didn’t let in much natural light since they were blocked out by stacks and stacks of books.“Well,” I said. “If we can’t find something for Booksie here, then we’re not going to find it anywhere,” I said.I tried the front door, found it unlocked, then opened it up for my friends to slip in.The entrance was surprisingly pretty clear of books, with a small area with a pair of low tables surrounded by comfy, plush couches. A counter was to the left, with a register sitting proudly atop it before a wall of carefully stacked books. The counter actually had a miniature catwalk-like set of ramps in front of it, all sized so that a mousefolk reader could climb up to see over it.For some reason, the ceiling was actually quite low, and the tips of my ears were almost brushing the beams above.One of the clients glanced up at our arrival, but they went back to reading quickly enough.“Okay,” I said as I took in a deep breath. “How do we do this?” I didn’t feel the need to lower my voice as much as I did in a library, but it still felt wrong to talk too loud. People were reading, after all.“Search the stacks until we find something good?” Caprica suggested. “Only... Calamity and I haven’t met this Booksie friend of yours. We won’t know what to look for.”“Perhaps I can help with that.”I jumped, then looked down. There was a mousefolk person walking our way from around the back of one of the couches. They were towing a tiny handcart behind them, painted a bright red and with a few books stacked onto it.“Hi,” I said before squatting down to be at the lady’s height. She might have been small, but she seemed older than Cottage by quite a bit, with some white around the whiskers, and she was dressed very sensibly, in a teeny knit sweater and skirt with large glasses perched on the tip of her nose. “We’re looking for something special for a friend of ours.”“Are you, now?” she asked. “What sort of special?”Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.“Well, we’re looking for a book for someone who really loves books. Her name is Booksie, and she’s getting married, so we wanted something to get her as a gift.”“With a name like that, I’d hope she enjoys books,” the lady said. She bent down herself, then leapt up into the air, gaining a surprising amount of height. Then one of the books on the cart behind her shot up and forwards, coming to a dead stop right under her just at the apex of her jump so that she landed on it with a dainty step, then the book continued to rise, and so did I, standing from my crouch as she came to my eye level. “I’m Pecorina, the owner of this shop. I hope you understand that no matter what you say, I don’t give discounts to academy students.”I glanced at the spine of the book she was standing on. Impressing Others with Casual Magic — Fifth Edition. I had to hold back a giggle. It had certainly worked on me!“So, what kind of books is your friend into?” Pecorina asked. “And if you don’t know that, what can you tell me about her?”We followed as Pecorina started to float deeper into the store, standing straight and poised atop her book.“Um, well, she’s a bun, about... how old do you think Booksie is?” I asked Amaryllis and Awen.“Early twenties, I’d guess,” Amaryllis said. “Maybe a bit older. It’s hard to tell with buns and humans, they don’t have big changes in their plumage that gives away their age.”“Um, I’d guess later twenties?” Awen tried.“Okay, so around that age,” I said to Pecorina. “She’s a bun, like me.” I wiggled my ears for emphasis.Pecorina nodded. “I see. I see, anything more? Preferences? What does she do?”“She runs a bookstore in Port Royal,” I said. “It closed down for a little while, but it’s running again. And I think it’s doing well. Or I hope it is! It’s very cozy and small though. Um... she’s not much of an adventurer, but she is adventurous. She’s marrying someone called Rhawrexdee. He’s a dragon.”Pecorina paused. “You mean that metaphorically?” she asked. “A large man, maybe?”“No, I mean that literally. He’s, uh, about thirty paces long. Not counting his tail. Big wings. Claws. I don’t know if he can breathe fire?”Pecorina blinked a few times. “And this Booksie friend of yours is... about your own size, give or take?”“Yeah, about,” I agreed. “Why?”Pecorina shook her head. “No, nevermind,” she said. “Let’s just find something suitable for your friend.” Pecorina’s book continued floating into the maze-like stacks at the back of the store.Pecorina’s selection of books was as vast as it was eclectic, with ancient, dusty tomes slotted in next to shiny new books. All the paper and leather around us did a great job of muffling the noise, though the floor did creak, but it was less a dangerous creaking and more the comfortable sound of an old home settling in place.“Your friend sounds a little difficult to shop for, but I think I have an idea of something she might enjoy. It’s a book that I’ve never quite been able to find a buyer for. The Art of Being Majestic. By Shemikholun Khlozing Paren Thesys.”“That’s a mouthful of a name,” I said.Pecorina nodded. “They’re a rather famous anthropologist. A dragon one, of all things. They travelled the world, took notes about various cultures and peoples, then ate them. The... latter part is a little distasteful, admittedly.”Calamity snorted. “Distasteful, heh.”Amaryllis swatted him with a wing. “That’s interesting. A book written by a dragon, of all things.”“There are a few copies floating around, but what I have is the original. His actual, unedited notebook which he kept with him on his travels and which he eventually gave to one of the Academies of Inkwren in order for them to turn it into a book.”“That must be fantastically rare,” Caprica said.“It’s certainly unique. The contents of the book are interesting, though no more than the edited, more popular version. It’s the book’s pedigree that makes it worthwhile.”I could almost hear the coins clinking together as the cost added up.After a few twists and turns, Pecorina stopped in front of a locked glass cabinet. She rummaged in her pocket and withdrew a large (for her), antique key which she used to unlock the cabinet. Inside, carefully cradled on a plush pillow, lay a thick, leather-bound notebook.It was the size of a bed.“Um,” I said. The book was as wide as my armspan, and half a foot thick, though the pages looked particularly thick already. “That’s a big book,” I said.“Do you have any idea how much space this takes up?” Pecorina said with a huff. “I’ve been trying to sell it for some time. It’s too valuable to let go for nothing, but too cumbersome for most collectors.”“Sounds expensive,” Amaryllis said, sounding a bit guarded.Pecorina smiled. “I have cheaper options of course. But the price of this one’s reasonable. It’s-”Just as she was about to reveal the price, and as Amaryllis prepared to bargain, a loud crash echoed through the bookstore. We all turned towards the noise to see that a whole stack of books was spilling to the floor with a wash of old dust.I almost covered my mouth against the dust before remembering my Cleaning magic and whisking it away.“Oh, not again,” Pecorina grumbled. She waved, and a few books came flying up and around her. I had time to read one of their titles as it zipped by. A guide to Proactive Self-Defence. Then she paused and eyed us. “How would you like a small discount?” she asked. “In exchange for a bit of easy ghost hunting?”
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Chapter Four Hundred and Seven — Off the Books
Chapter Four Hundred and Seven — Off the Books “What can you tell us about this ghost?” Amaryllis asked.Pecorina frowned and gestured vaguely towards the fallen stack of books. They rose up, and the books carefully slotted themselves back into their spots on the shelves. “This has been an issue for... well, some time now,” she said.“You’re haunted?’ Caprica asked.“I’m not haunted. The store is,” she said. “And by a very persistent and clever ghost.”“Aren’t ghosts usually easy to get rid of?” Calamity asked. “Smack them with something magical and they’re done for, no?”“That’s usually the case, yes,” Amaryllis said, before turning to Pecroina. "And you're clearly not lacking when it comes to magic. So, why is your store still haunted?" she asked, her tone turning a bit leading.Pecorina crossed her arms. “This isn’t a normal ghost. Obviously. If it was, then I’d have squished them between two books long ago. Everyone in Inkwren knows better than to try and mess with my store. Even the academies respect me.”“Are you that strong?” I asked.She grinned. “I’m a Bibliomancer. The more books I have, the stronger I am.” She made a little gesture to the stacks and stacks of books all around us. “It’s a rather uncommon class, though there are a couple of us in Inkwren. We can pull magic and enchantments directly from the books themselves. I have a million books and ten thousand spells as long as I’m in my shop.”“Wow,” I said, genuinely impressed. It did sound like a very cool class.Not one for me, though. It sounded like she’d need to lug around all of these books with her if she ever wanted to go on an adventure, and that seemed terribly inconvenient. I couldn’t imagine myself dragging a heavy chest full of books through a dungeon or something."So, you are strong," I said. "But I guess that's not enough to banish this particular ghost?"Pecorina rubbed her little nose. "Correct. It won't die," she said. “I’ve smashed it, fired a library of spells at it, and even found books on exorcism and ghost hunting and cast spells specifically designed to get rid of more powerful undead. But it keeps coming back.”“Is it harmful?” Caprica asked. “Other than knocking down bookshelves?”"Knocking down bookshelves is harmful," Pecorina contested. "New books lose value even from something as minor as a scuffed corner, whereas old books are fragile and can't take the abuse. Mashed pages, split bindings, I've even had covers break off entirely. This ghost is costing me money, to say nothing of the fact that someday, one of those bookshelves is probably going to fall on someone."I considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “We could try, I guess.”“Especially if it means a discount,” Amaryllis added.Pecorina snorted. “I’ll drop the price on whatever you purchase today by half. How does that sound?”That sounded like a fantastic deal. “We’ll do it!” I said. “Amaryllis, do you think my magic would work? I could hit the entire store all at once.”“Whoa now, wait one moment,” Pecorina said. “You won’t be getting any discounts if you blow up my store. What sort of magic are you talking about here?”“Cleaning magic,” I said. “I have it at Master, or S rank. It’s really strong!”“Master-ranked Cleaning,” Pecorina said. “That’s a new one. Not the first Master Rank magic I’ve ever seen, but definitely one of the stranger ones. I suppose that won’t harm most of my books. But, at the same time... I’d rather you didn’t just go around blasting it without a care. Some of my books here are ancient, and they might not take kindly to any magic, others have intricate spellwork woven into them, which might fray if exposed to overwhelming amounts of cleaning magic.”I nodded along. I didn’t know enough about magic to tell if that was entirely correct. I could somewhat direct my Cleaning magic to target some things and not others, so I was pretty sure I could avoid damaging anything-but would it work on crumbling, possibly suspicious magic? I wasn't sure. Besides, it would probably be rude to second-guess the expert on ancient books.I looked to my friends. “I’m down for a bit of ghost hunting,” I said.“Sure,” Caprica replied. “We don’t have much else planned for the rest of the day.”“If we don’t succeed in a reasonable amount of time, then we might have to give up and just buy the book outright,” Amaryllis said.Awen just nodded, happy to help, and Calamity shrugged. “I’m a decent hunter, you know. But I’d never hunted a ghost before. Let alone hunted in a bookshop.”Pecorina seemed happy with our choice, which is when she dropped her ultimatum on us. “Well, I can’t have you five gallivanting around my shop all day. You’ll be bothering my actual clients. So how’s this, if you can’t find and rid me of the ghost, then I’ll increase the price on the book instead.”“That doesn’t seem fair,” I said.She shrugged. “My shop, my rules,” she replied.I pouted, but she was kinda right, even if it was patently unkind of her to increase the price just because we might not be able to hunt the ghost down.Pecorina wasn’t entirely unfair though. She led us up to the second floor where there was a section on ghosts and the supernatural. (Which was weird. Why was magic by itself was not considered supernatural, but ghosts and such were?) She said that we could peruse it at will, and Amaryllis and Caprica immediately started doing just that.“Ah, I think I’m just going to wander a bit,” Awen said. “I think she might have some books on mechanics and airships that I might want to look at. I have a few on the Beaver but sometimes I wish I had better references to work with.”If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.“Okay,” I said. “In that case, I’ll wander around too. Maybe I can corner that ghost on my own, then blast it with Cleaning magic.”“I’ll see about hunting it down myself,” Calamity said.And with that, we split up, exploring different sections of the store. I went upstairs, eyes darting between dusty tomes in the quietest corner of the maze-like store where I had to hold my ears down so that they wouldn’t get caught in the cobwebs. It was hard to resist the temptation to just Clean everything.As I navigated the maze-like store, I felt a sudden chill run down my spine. Turning around quickly, I saw a book floating in mid-air before it dropped to the floor. "I think I found our ghost," I muttered to myself, and started to charge my Cleaning magic, focusing on not damaging the surrounding books.The ghost might have sensed my intent, because it immediately fled, disappearing through the shelves.The chase was on!Well, it was on at a slow and respectful pace. I wasn’t going to start running around and screaming while in the middle of Miss Pecorina’s shop. Instead I walked in the direction I’d noticed the ghost moving in.As I walked deeper into the labyrinth of books, I could feel a distinct shift in the environment. It was colder here, the air felt denser. A book lifted itself off the shelf and dropped to the floor right in my path. Somewhat hesitantly, I knelt down and picked it up. The title was How to Deny Home Intruders, A Guide, which might have been a message.I paused, my heart pounding. "Hey there, ghost," I said, trying to keep my voice steady and non-threatening. "I'm Broccoli. We need to talk. I promise, I won't hurt you." I’d hurt an undead friend once. It wasn’t going to happen again.For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the book I was holding was yanked out of my hands and flew back onto the shelf. A moment later, another book flew off the shelf and smacked onto the floor just before my toes.The book opened, then the pages started to flick by, faster and faster until all of a sudden, it stopped and the book came to rest, opened for me to see.The page it stopped on had a chapter titled, The Importance of Mutual Respect. I couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, then," I said. "Let's have a respectful conversation. Um, I’m guessing you can hear me, then?”Nothing happened for a long moment, then the temperature in the room dropped until I was shivering. A spectral head emerged from the bookshelf, icy blue and semi-transparent. It looked at me with glowing eyes, its expression unreadable. It was just the vague outline of the top of someone’s head, as if they were peeking out from around a corner. The form was too blurry and translucent to really make out any details, but there was a slight hint of glasses on the face, and something about the size suggested that they were young.Or maybe it was a non-human-like race, and my guess was all wrong."Are you... um, the one who's been causing the trouble?" I asked, my voice shaky. I wasn't afraid, but I did feel a bit nervous. My experience with ghosts had mostly revolved around them trying to kill me. Well, most of the time. I’d met at least one nice ghost, and Orange was a spirit cat, which kind of made her ghost-adjacent.The ghost didn't respond verbally, but it did move. It took a step back into the bookshelf, then a book flew off the shelf. Confessions of a Misunderstood Spirit. I took that as a yes."I see. So, you're not trying to cause problems, you're just... misunderstood? Alright, I'll try to understand then," I said. "Maybe we can be friends?"The ghost slipped away, back into the bookshelves, but a moment later I saw it peek out to stare at me again, further away this time.Curious, I started to follow it. I had to let my friends know too, but it was hard enough communicating now when it was just me and the ghost. I made sure my Cleaning magic was well-restrained and followed the ghost deeper into the stacks.I continued to follow the spectral figure, moving deeper into the maze-like bookstore. The ghost seemed cautious, perhaps even a bit wary, but it didn't try to scare me off or attack me. Instead, it continued to lead me through the aisles, often disappearing into the shelves only to reappear a few steps ahead of me after a short pause.After what felt like an eternity, we finally reached a particularly dark and musty corner of the store. The spectral figure hovered near a bookshelf filled with ancient, leather-bound volumes. It swayed, and a dozen books spilled to the ground.“Uh,” I said as I started to read the titles, but these were all textbooks on different subjects, and unless it wanted to talk about math...Then the ghost reached into the shelf with a spectral arm and pulled out a single book that didn’t seem to belong. Not a leather-bound tome, but instead a notebook that looked much younger, and more beaten.I picked it up slowly, then flipped it open. Lavinia’s To Be Read List, the first page read.Then there was a list.A very long list, it went on for the first thirty or so pages of the notebook, with several dozen of the titles crossed out. Some even had little reviews, like “Okay,” or “Re-read when I forget,” and one said “Convince Thorne to read, she’ll cry.”The notebook seemed pretty mundane otherwise, except for one thing. Some of the titles were crossed out with something that wasn’t ink. A faint, glowing line of something ghostly and spectral.I looked up, searching for the ghost, but it was nowhere to be seen.
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