Jamie selected two other books and then paid. This vendor wasn’t one who dealt with vintage books, fortunately; otherwise, it might have cost her a small fortune. Taking the cloth bag, she thanked him before we continued on our way.
“What are you looking for?” she inquired of me.
“Nothing in particular,” I admitted. “I just enjoy browsing and discovering new titles. And the selection at these faires is always so much more diverse than you’ll find in a bookstore.”
Lifting the bag in illustration, she agreed. “I’ve already proven that. I’ve not seen these three books before, which is why I bought them so promptly. Is there anything you’d like to find?”
It was a good question. I had to think about it for a moment.
“Another good mystery wouldn’t be amiss. And if you see any history books, alert me.”
“That I can do.”
I linked arms with her again, lost in another one of those perfect moments. They came more often than I’d anticipated. Our lives weren’t perfect or without stress, but this remarkable woman had a way of giving me these special times. Moments when I was perfectly, incandescently happy for no particular reason.
I liked to think I gave her the same sort of happiness in return. She certainly sought out my company often enough and gave me those blinding smiles to indicate she liked our change in relationship. I dearly hoped our emotions kept in step with each other. My heart sometimes seized in fear, dreading it wouldn’t always prove to be the case.
The fear never lasted long, however. Jamie always seemed to sense it and would give me one of those bone-melting smiles.
Her pad chimed, and she drew it out of her handbag, lips pursed. Then she sighed.
“Ellie again?” I didn’t even need to read the screen.
“I really shouldn’t have given her that Kindle,” Jamie mourned. “She was just so excited.”
Sherard, Felix, and I had recently poured our magical energies together to perform a short transfer of objects from Earth to Kingston. I’d sent Jamie’s journal to her family, and in return they’d sent several electronic devices to her. Three of them were electronic books that held thousands of titles in their slim packaging. It had been a technological marvel, truly, seeing the many books a single Kindle could hold. I’d been initially stunned, then aggravated, that so many books were outside my reach.
I’d immediately started in on a translation spell so I could rectify the situation. It had not been going well. The stubborn devices refused to cooperate with magic.
The reminder of my failed attempts last night made me burn with frustration.
Jamie patted my arm consolingly. “You’ll get it, Henri.”
“It won’t even take magic, not even a base coating like a protective ward,” I complained.
“Have you talked to Sherard about this yet? The two of you seem to work best when you bounce ideas off each other.”
I hadn’t. Simply because I hadn’t had much time to work on this puzzle. We’d only had the Kindles a few weeks, after all.
“Not yet, but I will later today, I think. I’ve run out of immediate ideas.”
She nodded in encouragement. “Do it. You know how he loves a puzzle, and you two have fun working together. I might be stuck reading something to Ellie this evening, anyway. She’s going cray-cray.”
I blinked at her, not understanding. Only context and tone hinted at the meaning.
“You mean she’s going crazy trying to decipher something?”
“Yeah.” Jamie made a face at the pad and then scribbled back a response. “One of the manuals has caught her undivided attention. She’s really keen on building a better telephone. I can almost hear her banging her head against the table in frustration. The numbers are thwarting her.”
Ellie was worse than a child in a candy store. She kept bouncing between projects, lured in by the Kindle’s many shiny ideas. These frustrated messages to Jamie were frequent and often coupled with a demand for help deciphering the pages. Some of them had diagrams and illustrations, which helped, but the rest were incomprehensible to the engineer. And the frustration showed.
I empathized. Or I would have if she wasn’t constantly demanding I do something to fix the situation.
“Granted, the world will improve if she can build these things here.”
Jamie snorted. “And then some. I’m really looking forward to some of the things she’ll build me, which is why I’m willing to help. Alright, I’ve placated her for now. Let’s continue shopping.”
We did. I hadn’t seen anything that caught my attention in the first tent. When we entered the second, I spied something immediately: a lovely, beautiful edition of a book I’d not seen since my grandparents died. I immediately went for it, shifting Phil up onto my shoulder. He went readily, freeing my hands to lift the book.
It was a first edition manual of rare botany that could be used for both medicine and poisons. An incredibly rare find; they’d only made a few hundred copies. The information alone was priceless.
I lifted it to my nose and inhaled deeply. Ah, the perfect scent of aged paper, and not a hint of mold. The illustrations were legitimate, drawn with slightly crude lines. This was not a forgery, but an original.
“Henri, do I need to be jealous of the book?”
The teasing broke into my admiration and I shot Jamie an exasperated look. “Don’t be absurd.”
Her dark eyes twinkled with repressed laughter.
“I don’t think you realize what a picture you just made. I thought you only reacted like that to fine chocolates. For a second, I thought you’d start kissing the book. Or licking it. I take it this is something you’ve been looking for?”
The vendor also seemed worried I might do something rash. To a book. Absurd, both of them. I fell into an explanation, my voice rising in excitement.
“I’ve not seen this book since my grandparents died and their estate was liquidated. It’s an excellent volume of botany used for
