“Aunt Aurelia thinks it’s too shocking for them to see us in ‘tiny clothes,’” Julia said, rolling her eyes.
“It’s not just me who thinks that,” Aurelia said. “Everyone had a thing or two to say about your outfit the other night.”
“I mean, I was in my pajamas. What did they expect?”
“A full-length nightgown,” Aurelia said, laughing.
“Can you two stop? Please?”
Antonia was shaking her head, looking from one to the other.
“Sorry,” they said in unison, quick to mollify her since they knew she might change her mind at any moment.
“Why don’t we head down?” Aurelia suggested, leading the way.
At the bottom of the stairs, she and Julia slid on their shoes, and Aurelia opened the door into the darkened shop.
“Oh! There’s usually a light that comes on when they appear. After midnight, look under the door and you’ll see it.”
“You could very well turn the lights on while you’re in the shop.” Antonia sighed.
“No, it’s different. Look—I’ll show you.”
Aurelia walked onto the mezzanine, which was dimly lit by the streetlamps from the square outside, and closed the door to the flat. From the other side she called out, “I’m turning on the shop lights now,” as she flipped the switch. “See? The light under the door is bright, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” came Antonia’s voice.
Aurelia turned the lights out again and opened the door.
“When the light comes on after midnight, it’s dim, like candlelight. The shop lights don’t have a dimmer, so you’ll know it’s not us turning them on.”
Aurelia hoped this new fact would join all the others and eventually add up to some sort of sense in her sister’s mind.
“Fine.”
“We’ll ask them to come upstairs, near the door, to make sure you can hear them,” Aurelia added.
“Mrs. Jamieson won’t like that,” Julia said.
“No, but Cuff won’t mind.”
“I bet Kitty will help us too.”
“These are characters?” Antonia asked.
“Yes, they’re from—” Aurelia was about explain which books they were from, but Antonia waved her hand to silence her. “Okay,” Aurelia continued. “Well, I think it’s nearly midnight, so we should close the door.”
She looked at her sister, who was staring back at her with an unreadable expression.
“I really hope you can hear them, Tonia.”
“I hope you can too, Mum.”
“You know what? I actually hope so, too.”
Antonia closed the door, and Aurelia and Julia filed down the spiral staircase to the shop floor. They stood at the Recommended Reads table and, just as the clock began winding up to strike the hour, Julia took Aurelia’s hand.
Having tried to convince Antonia for several hours of just how real the characters were, how they really did appear in the shop at night, Aurelia had started to doubt herself. It came as a relief, then, when the mists began to appear above the table and the soft light that always accompanied the characters began to brighten the shop.
