Page 58 of The Vanishing Bookstore
‘We teach Dora everything she needs to know.’
Lenny shrugged. ‘Of course, we’re grieving and always will be, but we have no time to lose. I’m ready to do this, are you, sister?’ She held out her hand and Sephy took hold of it, clenching it firmly.
Sephy nodded. ‘Let’s do it.’
Then she stood and rushed into the small conservatory attached to the side of the kitchen where there was a huge pine dresser filled with plants, herbs, bottles and candles. Opening the bottom drawer, she pulled out the huge black book Dora had brought back. She slammed it onto the pine kitchen table and looked up at Lenny. The book was striking to look at and Dora felt a quiet determination building inside her. They were giving her strength, and she would take everything they could give her.
‘The old ways always were the best,’ Sephy said. ‘We’ve tried all the modern stuff, and yes it works to some degree, but we need strength, we need to reignite our power that we buried long ago and bring it all back into force.’
‘Lucine’s book… your father’s book.’ Lenny looked at it with trepidation.
Dora watched her aunts. ‘I thought that Sephy was the most powerful out of you all, she has the shop, she gives out the spells, makes the tea and potions?’
Sephy smiled at her. ‘I’m good, but I was never as good as your mother.’
Dora’s mouth was agape.
‘But I thought you’d all been hanged for being witches when you weren’t in the first place?’
Sephy sat back down at the table. ‘We were healers, Dora, at one with nature and good-hearted enough that we would not watch another soul suffer when we could help them. We can turn on the lights without touching a switch, stir our coffee without touching a spoon, we can shut doors, open them, cloak ourselves so people don’t see us, anything not too strenuous. But when it comes to the real stuff out of fairy tales… we never used proper magic. Your father gave your mother this book of real magic.’
‘Then why didn’t she put a stop to Corwin herself?’
‘We think it was always meant for you.’
Dora let all of this new information settle in.
‘You need to strip him of his powers and bind him to this earthly plane where he will no longer be able to travel through time and space to hunt women like us. We’ve always had an inkling that there are lots of us dotted around the world. In every country there are immortal women and some men like Ambrose. But that’s a story for a different time.’
Dora opened the heavy book. Despite their age, the pages felt like the softest velvet against her fingertips, and she marvelled at the words, the spells to bring back a loved one, the soul of someone dearly departed, eternal youth. There was a small note tucked into the spine that she pulled loose.
I love you dearly, Lucine, I promise we will be together again. Never lose faith and keep this book safe for inside these pages is the key to my heart.
Tears pricked at Dora’s eyes. To think her father had written this centuries ago, declaring his love for her mother, was beautiful.
She nodded. ‘I’m ready.’ A loud squawk from outside the kitchen window made all three of them jump, and they turned to see Hades watching them from the windowsill. Dora stood up and opened the window to let him in.
‘You came back, darling, thank you for taking care of Lucine.’ She stroked his feathers, and Hades bowed his head.
‘Lucine is home, Dora is home.’
Sephy let out a sob and Lenny also bowed her head. Dora held out her arm for Hades to jump onto.
‘Yes, thank you. I’m home and so are you; we have work to do, are you ready?’
He jumped up and down.
‘I’ll take that as a yes. Will you help me, Hades?’
The bird puffed out his chest and stared at Dora with his small, sparkling black eyes.
‘Hades is here.’
‘Good, then we have everything we need – or almost everything. Do either of you know where my grey linen dress is, the one Sephy made for my sixteenth birthday?’
Sephy stood up. ‘I do, but we can’t get it back, dear. It’s in the conservation department of the Peabody Essex Museum.’
‘Why is it there?’
