Heart's Price (MxM)

Chapter 19

"I'm sorry... I think there's been a mistake," I say, uncertainly. "I don't have an appointment or anything. I just saw the sign in the window..." I gestured behind me, across the labyrinth of bookshelves towards the unseen door.

"That is what makes you the one I am waiting for," the woman replies. "It can be very difficult to find the right person these days, you know. So instead, I have the right person find me. It's a simple spell of selection and attraction. Only someone with the qualities I'm looking for is able to see that sign at all."

"Oh, r-really?" I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or alarmed. "And what, exactly, are you looking for?"

The woman—Shanti—moves around the desk and comes to stand in front of me. She's a few inches taller than I am, though her long black dress covers her feet and I can't tell how much of her height might be heels. I get the impression that she's quite beautiful, but it's hard to see details in the dim, orange-tinted lights that hang on little strings from the ceiling above. There's also a faint, strange odor about her—like incense with an undertone of fish.

"Someone special," she says, smiling. "Someone with a sharp mind, and a strong spirit. Someone with a good heart. Most of all, someone who needs this place as much as I do."

"This p-place?"

"Yes, this shop. It is not the usual kind of shop, as you can see."

She gestured with her hand, a sweeping motion that invites my eyes to travel the entire, chaotic space.

"It was my papa's shop before it was mine," she says, "though then it was in London; and it was his papa's shop before that, though then it was in Bangalore. Now it is my shop, and it is here."

"I... see," I say, although I'm not sure I do. "Your family is in the business of books, then."

"In the business of knowledge," she corrects, "which is often found in books."

"Occult books?"

She nods, wide eyes widening further still. "People think 'occult' means black magic, witchcraft—things like that. What it really means is 'hidden,' or 'unseen'—secret—that is all. The knowledge is here for those who seek it—those who need it—to find. Just like this shop."

"So... what kind of help do you need?" I ask, intrigued despite my unease.

"Help selling the books, of course," she answers, wandering past me and going to a nearby shelf, where books of every size are crammed unevenly, and trails her fingers over the ridges of their spines. "People find the shop when they need to, but they often confuse what they need for what they want, and that is where they run into trouble. They will find what they need, but it may not be what they want, and then they won't recognize it. All you have to do is help them see what they are looking for."

I look around me at the labyrinth of shelves, and the pandemonium upon them, and wonder if it's actually possible for anyone to find anything in here.

Seeming to read my mind, Shanti interrupts my thoughts. "It is not difficult. You will see."

She returns to the desk and beckons me over. "What hours do you prefer to work?" she asks, leaning over the open book with the script I can't read and picking up her pen.

"Oh... um... but aren't you going to interview me first?"

She looks up at me. "Do you want me to?"

"Um... well, isn't that... the usual way?"

"Very well." She straightens with a sigh. "What is your full name?"

"Noah Hunter."

"Do you wish to work in my shop?"