Page 7 of Shannon in Sombra
It wasn’t some big moneymaker. We made enough to keep the lights on and have a roof over her head and food in our bellies. It was enjoyable, though, and I loved it. Going back to run Turn the Page after a small vacation where I gave birth in Sombra was one thing I was looking forward to after Alana was born.
But, obviously, plans changed. Thankfully, I thought ahead early on in my pregnancy and paid the rest of the year’s rent for the store and the apartment out of my 401k. I guess, part of me was preparing that something might happen and I might not be going back to Earth anytime soon.
It took two weeks into motherhood before I accepted that this is it. Unless we got the prophecy hanging over our heads out of the way, and Alana somehow developed some kind of glamour that made her look more human, returning to Jericho wasn’t in the cards. By then, I was so stinking enamored with my baby as she was that I didn’t evenwanther to be any different.
Though, if I could stop worrying about the damn prophecy, that would begreat…
But that left the question: what would I do here? What would be my purpose? I’m the type of chick who needs one, and considering the best I can do when it comes to art is stick figures, it’s not like I could be a clan artist with Malphas. However, Kennedy and me… we could run Turn the Page here in Sombra.
It was a crazy idea. Absolutely nuts.
I fuckingranwith it.
Now, nearly four months after I went to Lilith and asked if we could have Loki conjure us a building to house as many books as the guys could slowly relocate from Turn the Page to Sombra, the Earth Library—or, as I call it, the EL—is the draw of Nuit. Open for a handful of hours, five days a week, it gives me something to do that isn’t trying to convince Sombrans that it totally makes sense to measure time in days and weeks instead of just cycles, though they have a seemingly endless amount of it…
I didn’t want to call it the Earth Library. I liked Kennedy’s name for the store and was totally ready to name this one Turn The Page II. However, when the only people who could read English were me, Kennedy, and our mates thanks to the essence exchange, it was inevitable that the villagers would smile and nod and say, “Oh, yes, the Earth library,” and, well, the name just stuck.
Note that I say:were. Turns out, there are plenty of demons and demonesses who were curious to learn more about the mortal realm. And though Loki and Mal got their English courtesy of a magic download to their brains, between running the EL, taking care of Alana, and helping Kennedy prep for her baby’s arrival, we’ve been teaching curious Sombrans and their mates how to both speak and read English.
So many of the demonesses have their own native language, with Sombra being one that we all can understand. Using that as the common tongue—and with Lilith’s help as a clan teacher—we’ve made alotof progress over the months. In fact, after only our second one ‘in business’, we already have at least two demons and four demonesses who are proficient enough in reading English that they are comfortable borrowing our books.
Because,surprise: immortal demons have a knack when it comes to picking up a language. I shouldn’t have been so surprised about that. Kennedy’s told me a bunch of times how, without Loki being able to do the essence exchange between them at first, they couldn’t communicate since he only knew Sombran and she only knew English. Realizing that he wasn’t letting her get away, she made it her purpose to teach Loki enough that they could communicate.
Of course, her intent had been to convince him to open a portal and bring her back to Jericho. By the time she tamed the feral beast enough to understand that, as his one true mate, he planned on keeping her for forever, she didn’twantto go home again. She was fond of her beast, and how hard he worked to understand her, to honor her, and to please her.
He might’ve ended up healing enough from his fully demonic state to share his essence with Kennedy and take hers in return, becoming suddenly fluent in English, but she was impressed at how quickly he picked up as much of the language as he had.
With half of a bookstore filling up the EL, our students learned evenfaster.
No surprise to anyone who knows anything about the publishing industry, but nearly all of our new readers veer right to the romance section. And maybe that’s because it’s the section that Kennedy and I are the most familiar with so we can make recommendations to their requests, but I think it’s something more basic than that.
I mean, who doesn’t love ‘love’, right?
It’s funny, though. Back at home, it was hard to keep books in stock in the fantasy romance, paranormal, or even monster smut section. Here? The demonesses smile politely when I offer stories about the fae, wolf shifters, or—my personal favorites—shadow daddies while wondering if they could possibly read about cowboys or doctors or regular ol’ average human dudes.
It only hit me much later that that makes so much sense. To a demoness, wouldn’t a regular ol’ average human dudebea fantasy?
It’s been a slow day today. Alana cooed and babbled and waved at the two demons who came in to have a lesson with Kennedy and Lilith; I learned early on that while I’m great at talking about books and shelving the EL, I don’t have the patience to teach. Kennedy left around lunch to eat with Loki while Lilith stayed to play with Alana until it was time for my baby to go down for a nap. Without any other lessons planned, she went home to check in with Apollyon before plotting her next lessons for the village’s children.
Since I knew Mal was busy with a project today, I ate a couple of ash cookies—named because they’re baked in the ash, not made from it… though their less sweet taste makes me wonder sometimes—and stuck around the EL to see if anyone wanted to browse our stacks.
We only have eight. Eventually, I’m hoping that we can relocateallof Turn the Page here, but we didn’t want to do that so quickly. Mainly because I want to keep the shop locked up tight in Jericho until my lease runs out and, if someone notices that the store’s been closed for months and books are moving overnight without anyone seeing who is doing it, that might beg a couple of questions. Last thing I need is the Jericho PD shutting down Turn the Page and closing the one entrance into Jericho that we know is safe for Mal and Loki to pop in and out without any human possibly catching sight of them.
Still, it’s a start. And since one of the stacks has a couple of Sombran books that Lilith donated, we have something for everyone even if we’re the Earth Library.
In the back corner of the library, I have a handmade playpen that was a gift from Kennedy and Loki after she was born. During some of the many trips back-and-forth in the early days following Alana’s birth, Malphas brought back everything we had accumulated that a halfling baby might need. Cloth and disposable diapers, bottles, nipples, clothes, blankets, baby-safe dishware and toys, plus some of the bigger items: a pack-and-play, a changing table, and a car seat. While I’m too bougie to go completely demon—though I can’t complain that the trash systems… similar to the waste system… in Sombra makes disposing of dirty diapers a breeze—there’s something sweet about using something that wasmadefor her.
Like her cradle, and this playpen, and all the blankets that the sweet seamstresses made for her.
She’s sitting on one now, showing off how advanced she is. Her thumb is tucked between her budding fangs, her golden eyes pretty and happy and content as I read one of the children’s books we have to her during the downtime.
Just when I’m thinking that I can close up an hour or two early and snuggle with Alana at home, the door opens, letting in a rush of hot air.
I glance over at the front of the library, smiling when I recognize the demoness entering it. “Hey, Yvette,” I say in English. She insists so she can practice her grasp on it. “What’s up?”
Yvette is from Brille Rouge. She’s mated to Ferron, one of the best cooks in Nuit. When he shares his meat stew with us, it’s delicious, I don’t even question what the chunks might actually be.
The first time I said that, the sweet demoness paused and glanced up at the ceiling. She knows better now that it’s just a human saying, and in response, she waves.
