Eccentric Circles

Chapter Four

After washing up, Malraux asked, "Would you like to see my mine, where I work digging out ... stuff?"

"Work!" Piper looked around in dismay. "I've got to get to work! I'd completely forgotten, I've got a job to get to. What time is it?"

"Time?" Malraux shrugged. "Probably about noon."

He led the way out of the cavern and up the hill. The thick forest of verdant trees thinned out as they climbed, proving that the sun was high overhead.

Piper looked at Aelvarim. "I've got to get back to Grandma's house."

"But I thought you wanted to see my home." It was a statement, but Aelvarim said it as if it were a question.

Oh, yes. She remembered now. She'd planned on returning him to his keepers. Piper looked at Malraux, who was looking at her expectantly. Unfortunately, Aelvarim's keepers were as crazy as he was. She was standing on the gentle slope of small, impossibly green grass-covered, hill, looking down on a verdant forest of a type never seen in Colorado. Well, when in Rome .... "Sure. I think I've got time for that."

Malraux begged off, claiming pressing duties in his mine.

Aelvarim led her through dappled forest paths until they came to a stream. Here the water had carved deep into the forest floor, creating small cliffs on either side of the stream. Trees and shrubs clung to the tops of the cliffs, leaning precariously over the water. Piper guessed it to be about ten to fifteen feet from the top of the cliffs down to the stream. Rocks and roots exposed along the sides would allow climbing, but it didn't look safe. Aelvarim walked confidently to an enormous fallen tree. Someone had partially hollowed it and put up rope railings, so that it would serve as a bridge.

A small hill rose on the other side. At the top was a small, quaint, thatch-covered, white cottage. A faint shimmer in the air around it blurred and rounded the edges, making it look strangely out of focus. Aelvarim waved his arm, and half bowed. "My home."

There was great pride in his voice as he said it. It reminded Piper in many ways of Grandma Dickerson's house, picturesquely sitting surrounded by what appeared to be a forest. "Very nice."

Wildflowers ran riot over what would have been the front lawn. She followed as he led her around the small hill where the house stood. The stream split around the hill; Piper wasn't sure if that made it an island or not, but it gave a sort of moat feel to the stream. The bridge they'd crossed was the only path across the stream.

Tucked on the other side of the hill were a variety of berry bushes. Past the berries, the trees and shrubs thinned out. Piper could see a valley below them, marked out in the tans, browns, and faded greens of what she thought of as an ordinary Colorado spring. They appeared to be standing on a mountainside. Beyond the valley stretched a plain of patchworked colors, fading into the distance.

Piper's breath caught in her throat, as it always did when she looked out over gorgeous vistas. Living in a place, seeing it every day, made forgetting how very beautiful it was far too easy.

"Worth the walk?" asked Aelvarim.

"Yes." Piper couldn't help grinning. "It's wonderful." She'd forgotten he was there. His voice had reminded her that she didn't know exactly where she was. The vista below looked to belong to Colorado, but the overly green forest behind her was out of a fairy tale. Looking to the top of the hill, she could see his house, only now, rather than a small thatched cottage she saw what looked like a long house, made of sod and stone with an arched roof. It had the shimmer around it, and looked somewhat out of focus.

"Do you believe in Fairy yet?" he asked.

She smiled. Better to humor him, until she got home. And there was the strangeness with his house. The land he lived on. His friends. "Sure. Why not?"

He frowned skeptically.

"I really need to get home," she said, starting back toward the tree-bridge. Before she crossed she looked back to find a small, shimmering fortlike castle in the place where the cottage had stood. In all, she decided she didn't want to ask.

They saw no sign of Malraux, Larkingtower, or the fairies on their way back. Aelvarim pointed out the paths to her, showing her how to find her way and what landmarks to look for. He stood by the gazebo as she walked to the back doorway. "Mind the door. Remember to think clearly about where you want to go before you leave the house."

"I promise." She glanced back to wave at him.

"Piper?" Aelvarim was biting his lip, looking thoughtful, when she turned around. "I thought you said you were a writer, but you implied you had to go somewhere for work?"

"Until I get published, I work wherever I can. Aunt Nellie arranged for a job at Independent Books for me. It's a bookstore."

Aelvarim nodded. She waved, again, and headed into the house. Piper looked back through the screen door, but he was no longer standing by the gazebo. She snorted a laugh, shook her head at her foolishness.

The clock on the wall said it was 1:50. She had over an hour before she had to be at work. She headed for the bedroom. She lay on the bed, staring up at the canopy, trying to make sense of the day.

Perhaps she'd dreamed it all. It was merely a lovely dream, and she'd only just now awakened. Except that she was dressed already, in clothes, she realized, that weren't appropriate for showing up on the first day of work. She rolled out of bed and began sorting through her clothes.

As she stood under the shower, she wondered if whatever Aelvarim had was contagious. She'd never heard of communicable insanity, but it might be possible.

Not likely, she thought as she dressed in black slacks and a muted floral button-down blouse. Piper was still having problems believing Aelvarim was real. For one, he was far too good-looking; that mix of beauty and masculinity just wasn't natural.

Picking up her purse and keys, she reflected that she'd wasted the morning completely. She still needed to get groceries, dust rags, and cleaning equipment for the house. Clothes baskets. Boxes to pack books in. Lemon oil for the furniture. A vacuum sweeper.

Piper raced out the door, thinking of the roads she needed to take to get to Independent Books. She hoped they hadn't changed, or the bookstore moved, in the two years since she'd been there.

Independent Books hadn't moved, and the roads hadn't changed. Sitting across the street from the Foothills Mall, facing out onto a main thoroughfare, surrounded by restaurants, Independent Books had grown as the stores around it grew. It had expanded, adding on a trendy coffee shop, and a burgeoning used-book store, called the Independent Annex. Other than being larger than Piper remembered, it hadn't changed. And she'd managed to arrive fifteen minutes early.

Inside smelled of books and roasting coffee beans. Three register counters guarded the big, double doors. The counters had been set up on a six-sided dais, allowing the clerks working there to overlook the store and coffee shop. Five-foot-high bookshelves divided the large main room. Four small cheap tables and a myriad of chairs huddled by the coffee counter in the corner. A stand of large plastic plants separated the books from the coffee and snacks. Other plastic plants had been scattered throughout the store, possibly for ambiance.

No one stood behind the coffee counter. A bedraggled, college-age, bleached blonde amazon stood by one of the registers. Over half a dozen bangly bracelets clinked against each other on each of her arms. All of her fingers had at least one ring, and her ears were pierced multiple times in rows going up the sides of her ears. She wore a short black-leather skirt, and blood-red silk blouse. The tag on the pale blue, Independent Books vest over her blouse said, HARMONY.

"Excuse me." Piper consulted quickly with the business card Aunt Nellie had given her. "I'm looking for Mr. Martin Gumble."

The amazon nodded, standing on tiptoe to look out over the store. She extended her arm, bracelets jangling, to point to a spot midway back along the right wall. "In History. Short guy. Balding salt-and-pepper hair. Face like a bulldog."

"Thank you.

Mr. Gumble did indeed bear a resemblance to a jowly bulldog, but he could only be considered short by someone very tall. Piper introduced herself.

He shelved the book he was holding, and said, "Come on." He pushed the cart to the registers. "Stock these, would you, Harm? I'll be in the back office." He led Piper to a plain door at the back of the store and waved her inside. A desk huddled in one corner, with two rickety chairs; the rest of the large room was stacked with boxes. He opened a drawer, pulled out several forms, and motioned her to sit at the desk. "Fill these out. When you're done just leave them there, get a vest from the bottom drawer, and come find me. We'll get you started stocking the shelves."

"Uh ... Thank you." Aunt Nellie had said he'd give her a job, but Piper'd really been expecting an interview first.

"So, what's your relationship with Nellwyn Fletcher?" Mr. Gumble asked, sounding nonchalant, but looking nervous.

"Aunt Nellie? She's my mother's sister." Piper grew nervous at the sour look on his face. "I, uhm. Can I ask how you know her?"

"Nellwyn Fletcher is a one-third owner of this store, and a usually silent partner in the business." He turned to leave.

Ah, the boss's nephew syndrome. Piper cleared her throat. "If it makes you feel any better, she'd be more likely to harass me than anyone else."

Mr. Gumble paused as he left the office, long enough to say, "We'll see."

She filled out the paperwork quickly. Proving herself at work was nothing new. It came with the start of each job. But this was the first time she'd been the boss's niece, with a whole load of other baggage against her.

Surprisingly, the vests were neatly folded in the large drawer. Piper put one on. Its light blue color unfortunately didn't match well with her floral blouse. She left the office to find Mr. Gumble back in the History section, shelving books. He took her around, introducing her to the other employees that were working that evening, Harm and a tall twenty-some young man named Jim.

They seemed friendly enough. Mr. Gumble showed her how to shelve the books and left her with two boxes of books. It wasn't difficult, just tedious. She made quick work of ten boxes, filling books in the History, Biography, Philosophy, Psychology, and Self-Help sections.

After that, Mr. Gumble put her in the back office to sort though boxes of used books, arranging them into categories.

As Piper sat on the dirty floor of the office sorting boxes, the blonde amazon, Harm, came in. She wound her way though the stacked boxes to a refrigerator hiding behind a large stack of boxes. Then returned to the desk, carrying a brown bag. "He's got you sorting the used books? I hate that."

Harm set her supper out on the desk. The forms Piper had filled out had miraculously disappeared. They chatted casually, while Harm ate and Piper sorted.

As they chatted, Piper discovered that Harm was getting her master’s degree in history at a local college. Harm's parents were military and had been stationed nearby when she graduated high school, so Harm had stayed for college here, while her parents had been transferred out to Alaska. She had two brothers and too many boyfriends to keep track of.

Piper told Harm a little about her family and inheriting Grandma Dickerson's house, but was reluctant to mention anything about handsome elves or her trip through Fairy that morning.

Later, shelving the used books she'd sorted, Piper thought about Aelvarim and her morning. It had been fun, in a strange sort of way, and Aelvarim was delicious to look at, but either it was all a figment of her imagination, or she was insane. Given a choice, she'd rather it all be a figment of her imagination.

She didn't want to talk to anyone about it either. She didn't want to appear insane. The best course appeared to be to pretend it never happened, forget about Aelvarim, never mention it to anyone, and get on with her normal life.

The image of her brother barefoot at the funeral, Aunt Nellie leading the wake in a drinking song, and the look Sherlock had given Uncle Clem's outfit drifted through her mind. A normal life. All she'd ever wanted was a normal life. She didn't need fairies and elves and wizards and dwarves messing it up; her own family already handicapped her. Piper pushed a book roughly onto the shelf. A shadow fell across her, and she looked up guiltily.

Harm's hand was groping for her shoulder, but Harm was looking away. "You have to come see this guy. He is unreal."

Even standing and looking around Harm, Piper couldn't see anyone that unusual. "What?"

"There's this guy in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Incredible." Harm had a good grip on Piper's sleeve, and hauled her to a point where they could look over the shelves at the Science Fiction and Fantasy section. "I could hardly breathe when he walked in the store. I didn't know they were made that good-looking. There."

Piper gasped.

Dark, dark red hair, a familiar profile, and tight tunic shirt – it was Aelvarim.

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