“No.”

“Come on, Mom, please?” I pleaded.

“No. We are not going to buy a book.”

“I only asked to go to a bookshop, though.”

“Aura.”

“Okay…”

I slumped onto the bed as I watched Mom’s figure slowly disappear down the stairs. It had been roughly four years since my reincarnation, and I could finally form proper sentences. It’s also been nearly a year since I had first asked Mom to bring me to a bookshop, but she had been unsurprisingly resilient in refuting my requests.

“Damn it,” I muttered as I banged my head on the soft mattress. I had been tempted to sneak out, but I doubted I could find the store myself. And when I thought of the worried and disappointed expressions on Mia and Mom’s faces…the thought was immediately ejected into the deepest depths of my mind.

“How am I going to get her to let me out…” There really seemed to be no way for me to convince her. Down below, I heard the sound of the door opening. I propped myself to an elbow as I heard conversation begin. There was an unfamiliar voice, manly and gruff, yet so warm at the same time. The other was from my Mom, but her voice was higher pitched than usual. That was weird, she never lost her cool.

I ventured down the stairs and peeked into the living room. Mom was speaking to a man near the door, but Mia was nowhere to be seen. He was a olive-skinned man who had short hair full of gray, and long creases below his eyes. His body was strong and burly, like an unmovable fortress. But his movements were slow and weary.

The two were locked in a heated argument. Mom’s fists were clenched, and her cheeks were flushed red, her body trembling. While the strong man wore a sad expression, his arms lay limply at their sides.

“-I’m telling you, Olivia, you cannot neglect him of-”

“I can, and I will.” Her voice quivered. “Do you know how much it hurts, Cedric? To have your loved ones torn away from you? To watch them turn into a lifeless husk? To never see them again…Do you have any idea?”

Her voice went soft. Tears came whether she wanted them to or not.

“I already lost one…I don’t want to lose another one.”

…

…

“…I lost a brother, too.”

Silence encroached on the air.

“Take them,” Cedric whispered as he produced three mysterious blue stones. They glowed a magical blue, illuminating the surroundings in dim blue light. They were cracked, as though unstable, and occasionally sparked. “They’re yours.”

Mom’s lips quivered, as though wanting to say something, but stopped halfway. Without another word, she took them and clutched them tightly within her hands. I shifted uneasily. I wanted to go up to her, hug her, and cheer her up, but this was not the time.

The man turned to leave. “I’ll be taking Mia for a while, is that alright?” He stopped, awaiting her response.

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“Yea…”

“Alright,” He turned the door handle. I peered my head out to get a better look and somehow stumbled on myself. A resounding thud echoed through the silent household, drawing everybody’s attention to me. Everybody, including Mia from outside the door.

Mom glanced at me, but her attention was still mostly on Cedric’s turned back. Cedric, on the other hand, was staring at me with unnerving intensity. Mia peered into the situation from the slit of the doorway. I hoped she was as lost as I was.

“Uh, hi,” I could feel my face burning up.

Nobody spoke for a moment, then Cedric decided to break the silence. “Hi, Aura.” That’s weird, he was calling me by my nickname. “Who are you?”

“…A friend,” He said, barely a whisper. He looked at Mom, “Olivia, you wouldn’t mind if I borrowed your son, would you?”

Mom opened her mouth to object, but when she saw the look in his eyes, she closed it and nodded. Those eyes were almost pleading, begging her. Like a puppy’s.

“Come here, Aura,” He said as he swung the door open. “I want to show you something.”

I moved, with rigid and slow movements, to Cedric. I glanced toward Mom out of concern. Her brows were furrowed, eyes squeezed shut, teeth biting into her lips. I felt a little guilty. Here she was having a difficult time, yet I was taking the opportunity to leave. I should console her, say some kind words. But didn’t know the next time would get this chance again.

With my gaze downcast, I stepped out of the door. The outside was chillier than home. Mia was leaning against the wall next to the door, humming a strange tune. “Mia, let’s go.”

“Yes, Uncle Cedric.”

Uncle? I had an uncle this whole time? Why did nobody tell me? I kicked a stray stone from the wide road. It was constructed from dirt and stones, but the stones were displaced and in disarray, jutting out from the ground like sharp spikes. It looked like a winding rose thorn.

As we took Cedric’s lead, I took notice of my surroundings. There were many houses, but few that were occupied. No footsteps rang on the streets. No laughter or conversation emerged from the various houses. Nobody peeked out of their doors or empty windows in curiosity.

My gaze landed on a dilapidated house. Moss had colonized the house’s walls and curled itself around the remains of the shattered remains of the fallen door. It looked as though somebody had smashed through it.

Then I turned to our house, one of the few houses that held light. It stuck out like a torch in total darkness. Unnaturally warm in this cold atmosphere. So this is why Mom never wanted me to leave the house. A thought crossed my mind. Did Mia have to travel this road every time she left for the Plaza? I shivered. It wasn’t the definition of safe and secure.

I scrunched my nose as a musty smell assaulted me. It must have come from the rotting wood. I stared into Cedric’s back, as though doing so would uncover some deep dark secrets. Why did he want to bring me along?

We walked in silence, only the crunching of dirt under our boots breaking the silence. To my surprise, I had to lower my pace as I followed him. It was as though he was taking purposefully short steps. At least I didn’t need to speed up.

After a painfully long walk, we eventually arrived in front of a wooden building — a store. This part of town looked much better. Livelier. Villagers greeted and spoke, purchasing goods, playing, smiling. But there was this underlying sense of weariness. A similar, but much more diluted feeling that Cedric naturally exuded.

A few stopped and greeted Cedric, to which he waved in response. Was he someone influential? Following Cedric’s lead and entering the store, I gasped. Books. Actual books that lined the shelves —shelf, to be precise — there was a multitude of them, storing a variety of items. From weird gizmos that subtly glowed to common items.

I could hardly contain my excitement, Cedric must have seen the expression on my face because he smiled and said: “I heard you liked books, Aura.” Mia probably told him that. “Yeah,” I replied, my eyes fixated on the covers of the books.

He chuckled heartily. It was one of indescribable warmth, similar to Mia’s, but years of experience and age had muddled with it. Like an old grandpa.

I skimmed through the covers in search of anything — anything that could be related to magic. Herbology? No. Fables? Maybe. More fables? And more? Just how many fables were there in this store? I sighed. Maybe they were located on a higher shelf that I could not reach. Damn, my shortness.

“What are you looking for, Aura?” Cedric said. He had been oddly silent, observing me, and had finally decided to speak up. I thought of those glowing blue stones he had given Mom. “Those glowing rocks. Blue ones. What are they?”

Cedric held his mouth for a few moments, then spoke. “Gifts. Gifts for your mom.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Gifts she doesn’t want to accept.”

“Why?”

“She…” His voice trailed off, and his eyes had this distant look in them.

“Uncle Cedric, what did you need us for again?” Mia said as she swiped some dust from a shelf. Effectively changing the topic.

“Ah, yes.” His demeanor changed abruptly, he must have been desperate for that opportunity.

“There.” He pointed near the entrance of the store. “I want to show you where you can set up your station. So you can get prepared for when you move.”

“You’ve already spoken to Mom about this?” Mia looked at him excitedly.

“Of course. She was reluctant, but eventually agreed,” Cedric proclaimed with a smile.

Mia leaped forward and hugged Cedric tightly. “Thank you so much, Uncle!” To my knowledge, Mia had previously sold her wares on a dirty old blanket in the Plaza. I looked out the windows of the store, where the furnace of a sun was blasting the ground. I’d be happy too.

Cedric smiled. When you looked at them in one picture, they looked like father and daughter. I shook away that thought. Because Cedric resembled Mia in not a way slightest.

“So, what about me?” I questioned.

“…I just wanted to see you,” Cedric said as he pulled me into an embrace. I couldn’t lie. He was warm.