Page 28 of The Vanishing Bookstore
‘You have to work; you have to, Dora.’
Dora stared at him. ‘I have no idea what’s going on. What do you mean,thislifetime? We are born, we grow up, we live, we get old and we die, end of story.’
Lenny shook her head. ‘That’s not technically true, at least it isn’t in this family. It’s not been that way for the English women for hundreds of years. Don’t get me wrong, most mortals do exactly that.’
‘Mortals?’
Her aunt waved her hand in the air dismissively, her blasé attitude to all of this making Dora a little perplexed.
‘If we are not mortals then what are we?’ Dora held her breath, afraid of what her answer would be.
‘Immortals. And I’m not discussing this any further until tomorrow. It’s been a hell of a long day.’
‘What about me? I’m not tired, I just had the world’s longest nap.’
‘You will sleep once your head hits the pillow. I’m afraid Sephy was a little too generous with the valerian root and lavender.’
‘Lenny, am I dreaming or am I going mad? Because I don’t understand what’s happening.’
Lenny’s face softened in the glow from the warm light above her and she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Dora to catch up to her.
‘No, Dora, you are not going mad, at least not this time. Although you did a very long time ago and that was a terrible time for you, but right now you are as sane as I am. I can’t speak for Sephy though, she’s always been a little out there, you know.’
She opened her arms and Dora fell into them. ‘I’m scared that I can’t remember all of this.’
‘You will, a little helping hand from me and Sephy when the time is right is all you need. For now, I want you to relax the best that you can. I know this has all come as a huge shock to you but, trust me, you can handle this and everything else that is going to get thrown in your direction the next couple of days. For tonight at least, let’s just enjoy being here. Why don’t I take you for a little walk down Essex Street, that will take your mind off things and the fresh air will do you a world of good. For all of its faults, Salem is a wonderful little town. Who knows, they might be showingHocus Pocuson the common, it’s your favourite film.’
Dora laughed. ‘You know, you remind me a little of Winifred Sanderson, probably the same amount of grumpiness but you save lives, not steal them.’
Lenny grinned at her. ‘Funny you should say that. I think those Sanderson sisters were probably based on the English sisters, only we didn’t and never would steal children’s souls to make ourselves look younger, not when there is Sephy’s magic cream.’
‘Are you saying that the English women really are witches?’
Lenny rolled her eyes. ‘What do you think? We come from Salem. Sephy has the oldest apothecary in the city, you have a pet crow that talks to you, and you come from a strong bloodline of English women who were far too ahead of their time for those Puritan bastards who ruled with an iron fist yet were the biggest hypocrites of all. I’ll let you work that out for yourself, Dora. Now, come on, I’m getting cabin fever. I need to walk those cocktails off and clear my head before you ask me a gazillion more questions.’
Dora smiled at her aunt. She loved her more than anything and she loved Sephy the same even though she’d only met her a few hours ago. Lenny was right, she felt as if she’d known Sephyforever and maybe she had. She had to trust both her aunts. Everything would be fine. She had all the time in the world to work this out. Didn’t she?
17
Salem was alive, the air practically fizzing with excitement, and Dora could feel the energy as she walked through the pretty streets, her boots crunching on the fallen leaves that covered the uneven red-brick sidewalks. The crowds of people dressed as witches, ghosts and ghouls outnumbered the people dressed like her and Lenny. She felt positively underdressed. There was a queue thirty people deep outside a black house with a wooden sign swinging in the breeze that read ‘The Witch House’.
She glanced at Lenny who didn’t even look in that direction, purposely keeping the pair of them on the opposite side of the street. ‘What is that place?’
‘It’s the only surviving house in Salem from the witch trials. And the bastard that lived there.’ She stopped herself from saying anything more, but Dora couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. They continued down Essex Street, past a Pennywise, a huge Frankenstein and lots of witches. There were so many shops selling all manner of witchy things that Dora knew her mouth was open in awe at the sights and sounds. They reached what Dora knew, or at least suspected, was the common. The large expanse of grassy park had trees lit up with thousands of orange fairy lights and a huge bandstand in the centre, with lots of smallwhite tents with vendors selling their wares. There was a large hotel called The Hawthorne just before the common with blue and gold canopies adorning each ground-floor window and a giant golden eagle above the entrance. As they walked among the stalls, Dora spotted one selling broomsticks.
‘Look. If we are what you say we are, we could get a couple of those broomsticks and fly around.’
‘Besoms, Dora, we don’t call them broomsticks and, unfortunately, flying’s never been something any of us could master. It would be perfect when the streets are this crowded, I’d forgotten how much I dislike other people’s body odour mingled with scent of popcorn.’
Dora could smell popcorn, toffee apples and hot dogs but not anything else. She stopped in her tracks as a terrifying Pennywise walked towards her and Lenny, his mouth all bloody, jagged teeth and a handful of red balloons clutched in one fist. Lenny hissed, ‘I hate that clown.’
Pennywise stopped in front of them, then did a theatrical bow to Lenny who shook her head. He offered Dora a balloon which she took from him, and he smiled.
‘Well, it’s been a while, Ms English, how are you keeping? I’ve missed you.’
‘I was good until I saw you, Brandon. A scary clown, really?’
Lenny shook her head and he threw back his and laughed so loud the people around them stopped and stared, shocked to see Pennywise laughing so hard.
