“These aren’t the friendliest sort of people,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean for them to come here tonight, and now I’m just trying to get them to leave, which will be much easier if you’re upstairs.”
“Excuse me, I see you’reverybusy, but could youpleasekeep your animal under control?”
Aurelia turned to see Biscuit approaching the women, with Blanche pulling her skirts up as though he might contaminate her. Aurelia’s heart stopped: if Julia saw Biscuit moving around them, she’d see them shifting back and forth between letter-strewn mist and solid forms—
“Holy shit!” Julia shouted.
Too late.
18
Biscuitwaswalkingincircles between and around the ladies, enjoying their shouts and gasps as his tail and nose sent their dresses into words flowing over parchment-colored clouds before rematerializing again and again.
Julia was crouching behind the spiral staircase, which didn’t provide much cover through its open risers and ironwork railings, though it did allow her to peer through at the women. Aurelia turned toward her, recognizing that the characters would survive Biscuit and that all her energy had to go into reassuring her frightened niece.
“It’s alright, Julia,” she said as she squatted beside her. “Everything’s okay, I promise you. They can’t hurt you. It’s weird, and strange, but… well, there’s something special about this shop. Magical, really!”
“What are those people?” Julia asked, her voice quavering.
“I know this is hard to believe—it took me a while to believe it myself—but they’re… they’re characters from books.”
There was nothing for it, now; Julia had seen the women shifting back into mists, she was wide awake, and was now officially in on Aurelia’s secret.
Julia momentarily stopped staring at the women, who were still trying to escape Biscuit’s attentions, and looked at Aurelia.
“It sounds mad, but it’s true.” Aurelia tried to sound more calm and collected than she felt. “They’ve appeared to Aunt Marigold, Lucy, and Cristobel, too. It’s something to do with this shop and the Recommended Reads table.”
Julia continued to stare at Aurelia, so she pressed on.
“You remember howJane Eyre,Cranford, andPride and Prejudiceare there?” Aurelia asked, pointing at the table. “Well, each of these women are from those novels.”
“Aunt Aurelia,” Julia said quietly, disbelieving.
“Look at their clothes and listen to how they speak. They’re just the way their authors described them in their books.”
Aurelia couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice.Finallyshe could share all of this with someone else. And as much as she’d been wanting that someone else to be Oliver, he couldn’t see or hear the characters like Julia could. Aurelia had discovered that over the time they’d been together, when the characters would vanish as soon as he stepped into the shop. Now, with Julia face-to-face with them, Aurelia didn’t have to prove anything at all, or worry that Julia that wouldn’t believe her, once she understood.
Julia looked over at the women again and slowly stood, her hands still gripping the ironwork of the staircase. Kitty was focused on Biscuit, but Blanche and Mrs. Jamieson drew closer, clearly listening in since the shop was small enough for Aurelia’s and Julia’s voices to carry.
“Every night they come to the shop from their books in a sort of fog with words on it, just like you’re seeing now.”
She and Julia looked over at Kitty, who—after her initial distress at Biscuit’s arrival—was now laughing as she skipped around the shop floor while Biscuit wreaked havoc with the bottom of her dress.
“Why haven’t I seen them before? Other than that first time,” Julia asked, a smile at the corner of her mouth as she watched Kitty.
“They always arrive at midnight, and then they leave at dawn. They never show up in the shop during the day. That’s why you caught me down here the other night—I was visiting them.”
“But those were different people.”
“They were different characters, yes. And that really was Jane Rochester, fromJane Eyre.”
“I have asked you not to speak that woman’s name!” Blanche shouted as she stomped her foot.
Her delivery was just histrionic enough to make Julia snort with a repressed laugh. Seeing Julia relax made Aurelia do the same.
“I rather like this dog,” Kitty said suddenly, somehow oblivious to Blanche’s outburst.
“Oh, you would, you simpering little—”
