Page 36 of The Vanishing Bookstore
‘Okay, it was basic, and we lived rough, but there was nothing other than our love for each other and living our daily lives the best way we could and helping those that needed our help.’
‘What did it get us though, that helping out the needy?’
‘Well, if you hadn’t teased that man, it might not have ended the way it did.’
Lenny looked at her sister with her mouth open, her green eyes sparkling with fury.
‘Teased that man? I did no such thing, he followed me everywhere and I disliked him back then although nothing compared to how much I hate him now. What would you have me do, go back in time and marry him, live a miserable life as his wife? It wouldn’t have stopped him, Sephy, he would have still hunted them down, tortured and hanged them because that’s the sort of man he was and still is. I can’t believe you said that. Is that what you and Lucine think, I should have shacked up with that misogynistic maniac to save our own necks?’
Sephy rushed over to Lenny and wrapped her arms around her.
‘No, of course not. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that to come out how it did, and you’re right, he would have still done it regardless. I guess some people are born evil, time and time again, just like some of us are born good every lifetime.’
They both looked up to see Dora standing there, her hair mussed and rubbing at her eyes.
‘Morning, is it morning or is it afternoon? I have no idea, and I had the weirdest dreams.’
Sephy straightened up. ‘We weren’t arguing.’ She glanced at Lenny unsure of how much Dora had heard.
‘What, oh I wasn’t listening, I just came down to get a drink. My mouth is so dry, I feel as if I spent all night at a bottomless prosecco party.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry, that’s my fault, I got carried away with the valerian root. Apart from a sleep hangover, how’s your sickness?’
‘I haven’t got any, I feel great, sort of – or at least I will when I get a drink.’
‘Help yourself. There’s a jug of freshly squeezed grapefruit, pineapple, pear and mint in the cooler. It will revitalise you and give you a spring in your step. You should have a glass too, Lenny, might be better for you than pure caffeine.’
Dora poured herself a glass of the ice-cold juice and took a seat at the table. She looked at the charcoal and salt.
‘What are you doing?’
‘Making some black salt, dear, it’s wonderful for protection and you’re going to need it. I was thinking that maybe if you had a wander around town on your own you might get a feel of the place. See if it brings back your memories. Perhaps pop into the apothecary – I have an assistant at the shop who can help you collect a few things for me.’
Dora smiled at her aunt. ‘I’d love that, of course I will.’ She finished her juice and rinsed her glass under the tap, placing it on the draining board. ‘Do you not want me to help you make the salt?’
‘Maybe you could help me with some protection jars when you get back, I need this to be powerful so I’m infusing it with mine and Lenny’s magic. And then I’ll work on this finders’ spell. When you’ve had some fresh air, we could work on your memory a little too.’
‘I’d like that. Of course I will anything I can do to help.’
But Sephy had another reason to send Dora out into Salem on her own. She hoped that the first memory that came back to Dora this time would be the location of the journal they needed so badly. Might she be drawn to it if she wandered around looking for memories? Sephy hoped so. She could create this finders’ spell, but she knew Dora was their best hope of securing it.
She took a notepad and began to write down what she wanted from the apothecary. She wondered if Dora might find Ambrose in town, it was Margo her other assistant’s turn to openthe shop today. He had been waiting for her for much longer in this lifetime than he’d ever waited before. Ambrose would surely help Dora and perhaps together the pair of them could find where she hid that blasted book. She clasped her hands and said a silent prayer to Hecate, asking her for her help.
‘How’s Lucine this morning?’
Sephy dropped the pestle into the bowl, a look of pure panic on her face.
‘Oh my, I forgot to take her breakfast up, I was so busy making salt. She’ll be starving.’
Lenny stood up. ‘Let me, I have some catching up to do and when I popped my head in, she was fast asleep.’
Sephy nodded, the worry that was etched across her face smoothed itself out and her shoulders relaxed. She smiled at her sister and niece, so glad to have them home even if the happiness would be short-lived. None of them knew when Corwin would make his move and come back to Salem, but she hoped this was the lifetime where they’d break the curse.
21
Dora stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and saw the tiniest glint of silver running through the front of her hair. Carefully parting it, she took hold of the strands and looked at them in the light. Had they been there before she came here or had they appeared since she’d arrived? It was hard to say. She didn’t think there had been any silver strands when she got ready for the airport, her aunts had the most beautiful silver hair, so she didn’t mind if hers eventually turned the same colour, but surely not yet. Although if they were right she only had two years of living left to do so what did it matter? She pushed those thoughts away. She needed to focus on the here and now. Stopping Corwin. There was so much that she didn’t understand, but if her aunts told her she needed her memories back, then she knew she had to focus on that. She hoped the streets of Salem would help. And she felt a strange pull to be out there. To that name: Ambrose. Applying her eyeliner and a hint of the palest pink lipstick, she backcombed her hair a little to give it some life and got dressed.
When she’d finished lacing up her boots she glanced in the mirror and smiled. She had been this way since she could remember. Always wore black, no matter what the weather. Hadshe known somewhere deep inside of her witchy connections or was she just a born Goth? Either way it didn’t matter. Or did it? There was something niggling at the back of her mind. It was if there was a tiny box tucked away inside a corner of her head and inside it contained all her past memories. If her aunts were telling the truth this wasn’t the first time Dora had lived, she had been around for hundreds of years, yet all this information was locked away and she had no idea where the key was to open it and let it out. She could only recall little snippets: her love of flowers, the memory of bathing in an icy-cold forest stream. If her aunts could remember each life, why couldn’t she?
