sanctuary | on hold indefinitely

one | split

"I know, I know," Greer sighed as she stumbled into the bookshop, her red hair piled in a messy updo on the top of her head and her hands covered in paint. She had been in too much of a rush to wash it off, and she was sure that if she searched hard enough, she would find a paintbrush in her hair. "I'm late. I'm sorry."

The bell above the door rung as she stood in the threshold, closing it when she found Shyla standing with an unimpressed expression behind the counter.

"And what was it today?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Behind him were shelves filled with classic books that were too expensive to put in reach of customers. "Your grandfather burnt your breakfast? The squirrel you usually play with on your way to work wasn't there? Or, no, maybe you forgot to set your alarm again."

Greer avoided eye contact as she hung her coat on the hook by the door and swapped it for a black apron. "None of the above. I was up all night painting. I couldn't sleep." She paused, biting her lip. "It was her funeral yesterday."

Shyla's face reddened with guilt, his shoulders shrinking as he adjusted his eye-patch awkwardly. He didn't really need it, having two perfectly healthy eyes, but they hid the fact that his eyes were two different colours: one green and one blue—one a Protector's and one a Healer's. Recently, Greer noticed, he had stopped taking it off when he closed up to go home. "Greer, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot."

"It's okay," she said quietly, grabbing a stack of books that had been brought out of the stockroom. "You weren't to know."

"How are you doing?" His voice was soft, knowing. They had been best friends for years and he didn't really need to ask. In fact, the last time he had asked was when her parents left.

"I'm okay, really." She reached out and grabbed his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be okay."

Shyla shifted immediately, straightening up as his mouth turned up at the corners in a half-grin, half-grimace. "Good, because there's someone in the back for you. She was waiting outside when I came to open up. She's a little ...," he made a gesture with his hands that reminded Greer of rainfall, "mysterious. Couldn't get much out of her."

Greer frowned. "You couldn't see to her?"

"She wanted to see you. She was very insistent."

Her frown deepened as she untied her apron and folded it on top of the books she had been about to organise, glancing quickly across the store to make sure there were no customers listening to the conversation. As usual, though, the only living thing apart from themselves was the dust moats floating across the strips of light that flooded in from the mid-morning sun. "Alright. I'll be back soon."

Shyla nodded and she headed towards the back corner, where colourful beads hanging from strings divided the store from the back corridor. They tapped together as she went through them, casting rainbows on the wall as the light bounced off them.

Despite the guest, Shyla hadn't lit the hallway, nor turned the heating on, and she made a mental note to mention it later. She hated the cold.

Turning the handle of the first doorway, Greer could see what Shyla had meant. The woman was dressed in all black, a hood slung over her head so that her face was hidden by shadows. She was sitting in an armchair in the corner, skimming through a book on witchcraft taken from the shelf adjacent. She seemed not to have noticed Greer's entrance.

The lights had not been turned on in here, either, the only illumination coming from the barred set of windows on the back wall. Greer reached to the switch beside the door when the woman stopped her.