Thief in the Woods

Chapter 6: Booklore

New Haven. October 4, 2006.

Tatyana whined at Sam as he studied the bookshelf.

"Yes, I know you'd rather go for a walk," he told the Russian wolfhound. "And it's a beautiful morning, but everyone else is working. Shouldn't we as well?"

Maia and Chloe were in the stillroom poring over their grimoires. The only breaks they took were to go to the orchid grow room and mutter about colors and shapes. Astrena used orchids in practically all of her potions but she rarely identified them by name. She preferred nicknames that were understandable only to herself. Who knew which orchid was a starchild? A tiny flirt?

Dean and Bobby were working in the cave. Sam had offered to help but after he banged his thumb with a hammer, Bobby declared him a menace and banished him.

He'd retreated to the library. For the past month during odd moments, he'd been preparing an inventory of Astrena's book collection. Many of the books were in foreign languages, making the process much more laborious. But Mozzie assured him it was worth the effort. First editions and autographed copies were among the treasures. And who knew how many were enchanted? The netsukes were a valuable lesson on why they couldn't take anything for granted in the Mystery Mansion.

Astrena had shelved the books in no detectable order. Next to a book on Monet was a slim volume bound in navy leather. The letters in the title on the cover were Cyrillic. The first word began with what looked like a backward E. The second word started O-H. Maia might know what the meaning was. He vaguely recalled reading that Russian was related to Greek, or had he dreamed it? Sam crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them to refresh his eyes. He'd stayed up late last night cataloging books.

At the sound of footsteps, he jerked his head upright.

"Sorry," Neal said. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," Sam said quickly. Or had he? That woman ... Had it been a dream?

"Are you all right?" Neal asked, looking at him with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said hurriedly, trying to rip his thoughts from the woman. "Did the police fall for your tale?"

Neal smiled. "We made their day. The neighborhood association had been up in arms about the thefts. Sara and I made an inventory of the jewelry before placing it in the maintenance shed. I monitored the shed when she went to the police station. We didn't want to risk someone showing up to do pool maintenance." He took a seat at the table. "Sam, are you sure you're okay? When I walked in, you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

"I think so." Sam hesitated. Neal, of all people, would understand. He'd experienced similar impressions. "You remember that woman in a spider veil I'd dreamed about before we knew we were linked to Astrena?"

Neal winced. "That was when I was dreaming about Mozart and a blonde. We didn't realize at the time Astrena was responsible."

"Once the link was severed, I never saw her again ... until now."

Neal gazed at him, startled, and moved a stack of books to one side. "Do you think Astrena has reestablished a link?"

"I don't see how she could, but get this—a week ago at the Mabon festival, I had a strange ... I guess you could call it a vision or some sort of premonition. Sam described the three women by the lake. "I haven't told anyone else about this."

"You're worried Dean will overreact," Neal said, giving a knowing nod.

"Yeah." Sam didn't need to explain further. He'd already told Neal about the visions he'd had after his former girlfriend Jessica was killed. "Have you had any recurrences?"