Effie
Mentally applauding herself for managing not to berate her sister the whole ride over, Effie unlocked the library’s side door and ushered Bonnie and Theo into the elevator. The elevator whisked them down, and Effie felt a stomach-twisting sensation that might have been due to the elevator’s movement or to the way that Theo’s hand grazed her arm. Or maybe the fact that half the town was hopped up on Bonnie’s wayward magic. How many times had Effie reiterated that it was dangerous to use magic on people!
The elevator came to a jarring halt, its doors sliding open to reveal the dim basement area, which was presently lit only by a few exit signs and the light of the moon pouring in from the glass bricks set into the ground around the library’s foundations.
Effie flicked a row of switches by the elevator doors, and rows of antique light fixtures and lamps slowly hummed to life, casting the basement in a soft golden light, and revealing endless orderly stacks of storage boxes, overflow shelves for the big folio-style books, and the antiquated card-catalogue cabinets that Effie couldn’t bear to part with.
‘This way,’ said Effie, leading Bonnie and Theo through the stacks and towards a small room off to one side of the basement – the one she secretly called her Speller Cellar, but whose unassuming metal sign read ‘Storeroom’. Rather thanbothering with her keys, she pressed a hand against the lock instead. The green crackle of her magic lit the air, and the door swung open.
‘Um,’ said Theo, impressed, but clearly a little unnerved. ‘Cool.’
Effie ushered the others into the Speller Cellar.
‘Don’t bump anything – you could cause an explosion. And we have the books to think about.’
Theo hugged himself, keeping his hands safely around his sides. ‘Noted, Oppenheimer.’
‘Wow,’ said Bonnie. She poked at a stack of dusty spell books that Effie had purchased from an estate sale and was slowly putting into the library system. ‘I never took you for such a hoarder.’
Leave it to her sister to find a barb with which to poke her when Effie was cleaning up yet another mess of Bonnie’s.
‘It’s nothoarding,’ said Effie, slapping Bonnie’s hand away from an ornate hourglass filled with ground amethyst. ‘It’s collecting.’
Bonnie perused a stack of hammered-metal spice jars decorated with lunar symbols. ‘Spoken like a true hoarder.’
Theo jumped as he bumped into a pot filled with crow-feather quills. ‘So, um, not to be that guy, but it would be really great if someone could explain what’s going on.’
‘Effie’s amazing at womansplaining,’ said Bonnie.
Effie shot daggers at her sister. ‘Shouldn’t you be more contrite, given the entire reason we’re here is because you erased the memories of everyone in town for, what was it again? A kickback from Uncle Oswald?’
Bonnie cast her gaze downward. ‘I didn’t mean to wipe everyone’s memories. They were miserable with all their New Age stuff. You saw them. It was information overload. All the lunar cycle apps and horoscopes and tarot cards and crystals – it was all too much to handle.’
‘So what?’ said Effie. ‘We live in an overwhelming world.We’re bombarded with news and horrors and new technology and a constant need to be available. Is it ideal? Not at all. Believe me, I’d rather be reading.’
‘According to your shirt, anyway,’ said Theo.
Effie glanced down. He was right. But she wasn’t done. ‘Just because people are poor at dealing with something doesn’t mean that you simply take away their ability to parse what’s going on. You teach them critical thinking. Media analysis. You steer them towards resources and skills that might actually help them deal with the problems they’re facing.’
‘Like your crystal display,’ mused Theo.
‘Exactly.’
Bonnie threw her hands up. ‘But you use magic all the time!’
‘On little things! The laundry! The book return chute! The elevator close button! Never on someone’smemory.’
‘Yes, because you don’t havedebt. Do you know what it takes to run a small business?’
Effie gritted her teeth. Typical Bonnie. Even with the consequences of her actions blazing in front of her face, she tried to defer responsibility.
‘I do, actually. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been head librarian here for three years now. Managing the budget is one of my key responsibilities, and I do a damn good job of it.’
Theo stepped between them. ‘Holy shit, you two! Look, clearly you have some stuff to work through, and I appreciate the open dialogue – and I have a great psychologist if you need one – but should we maybe deal with the situation at hand before we try to tear each other’s throats out?’
Effie caught herself. Theo was right. This wasn’t just a Bonnie problem. If Bonnie hadn’t felt scared to come to Effie earlier, this whole situation could have been completely avoided. She could have helped out with a business plan. Shecould have helped Bonnie apply for the small business loan she knew Bonnie had been rejected for.
Or honestly, she could have justgivenBonnie the money, because she had it, and what good was having savings if you didn’t use them when they were needed? She could bang on about fiscal responsibility all she wanted, but maybe sometimes it was better to be empathetic than right. Besides, Bonnie was trying. Perhaps a bar wasn’t the business that Effie herself would’ve staked her inheritance on. But Bonniewasstriving to make something of it. And she was continuing Mom’s legacy in her own weird way: the brownies on the dessert menu, the patio film nights, the paintings on the walls of the landing.
