This was going to be fun after all, James thought when he saw the pretty, petite blonde stop in front of him and Jake, the driver in the airport.
He didn't know much about the Bibliophiles' Society either, but from what she had said, he was sure that he knew more than she did. Unlike Siena, James had been expecting the phone call and the letter for quite some time, and he knew that whatever the society would ask him to do, should he agree, he would get a partner.
Apart from that, the Bibliophiles' Society was a whale of an intriguing mystery for him, just like the Lochness Monster. The knowledge he had about it came from not perfectly clear bits and pieces of his parents' whisper-shouted, late night conversations, or rather arguments, which he had overheard years back, when he was a child.
From what his imaginative, young boy's mind managed to piece together, James understood that the Society's Headquarters in London, and the business trips, or rather quests, were those places where his father used to disappear sometimes for a few days, other times for a couple of weeks, several times a year. They were the reason why his parents had divorced in the end, and his mum had vanished from their lives.
James was sure that all this mystery had something to do with his lineage. That's why he had been expecting the Bibliophile's Society to contact him ever since his dad passed away two years ago. His theory was now confirmed by Siena mentioning her grandmother... It was all so fascinating.
And so was she. Siena De Angelis. How ever had he imagined his possible partner, it wasn't like this, so petite and delicate looking... On the outside, she was just what he had always looked for in a woman... and the rest of her was yet another tempting mystery to solve.
Taking his eyes off the blurred world behind the glass of the moving car, he looked at the young woman sitting next to him inconspicuously.
She sat turned away from him, looking outside. James could not see her face, only her long, wavy, blonde ponytail... and her legs. Legs so incredibly long for someone as short as her.
He grinned as he recalled her wide smile and the twinkle in her warm brown irises when their eyes first met, as if he reminded her of someone she liked... Right before she put herself in check and started to build this... invisible wall between them. Could it be because of...
"Do you mind my music?" he asked, not failing to notice how she jumped when he put his hand on her knee to get her attention. As if his touch burned her.
James switched his player off after she replied. He observed her looking outside as she tried to avoid his gaze for the rest of their journey, the obscure Society that had summoned him to London from the shores of his beloved loch replaced in his mind entirely by the conundrum of Siena De Angelis.
James was stirred back to reality when the car stopped in front of an imposing, white, Victorian mansion surrounded by a large garden some time later, and he watched Jake coming to open the door for Siena, blinking groggily. Apparently, he had dozed off during their journey and so had she, judging by those brown eyes of hers looking confusedly at him for a few moments, before they focused on Jake as she turned towards the door again and got off the car.
Following her outside, James heard as she asked, "Where are we, Jake?"
"South London, Miss Siena. Richmond."
He walked to the back of the car, wanting to help Jake with the luggage, but the driver called to him, already headed back to his seat, "Just leave everything here, sir. I'll be taking you to your place later."
"Our place?" James asked, then looked at Siena, who shook her head, shrugging, when their eyes met.
He smiled when he noticed how very unconvinced and untempted she seemed by the idea of 'their' place. James offered his arm to her and, quite surprised that she accepted it, led her under a tall, black, wrought iron gate, down a gravel path meandering across the wild, unkempt garden, to a white, wooden door which opened for them before they could knock.
The interior of the old house was in stark contrast with the wilderness surrounding it on the outside. It was unexpectedly bright, modern, and minimalistic.
"Welcome to the Bibliophiles' Society," a well-dressed, middle-aged man greeted them at the door.
After they all shook hands, and the man introduced himself as George O'Neil, the Society President's First Secretary, he led them down a long, well-lit corridor lined with multiple doors, towards another tall, closed door.
He knocked before opening it, then beckoned them to walk inside even as he announced, "Miss De Angelis and Mr Boyd have arrived."
Siena's grip on William's arm tightened; she didn't seem to like this place one bit. Meaning to reassure her, he patted her hand soothingly, but it had the opposite effect-- she let go of his arm and took a step away from him as if she only remembered now that he was there.
He gave her an inquiring, raised-eyebrow look, but Siena only shrugged in response. She was definitely puzzling him.
"Welcome. Take a seat, please." A voice reached them from across the vast room they had entered.
A room containing a long table made of bright wood situated in its centre, with six people already seated behind it. There were several other similar tables buried under clusters of strangely looking objects, machines, and other weird, scientific equipment placed along the room's white walls. It wasn't an office, but it was not a laboratory either.
Two empty chairs were arranged in front of the table in the middle of the room, and while George rushed to his own seat, the man who had spoken before pointed those seats out to Siena and James.
They sat down, and Siena did not object when William pulled his chair closer to hers. Whatever was about to pass, they were in it together.
"My name is Christopher Wilkinson, I'm the current President of this Society. Just like your father, William, and your grandfather, Siena, had been before me," the man, maybe as old as George the secretary said, smiling at them.
"Wait, I remember you! I was with dad a couple of times when you two met... but it was a long time ago, I was no older than ten!" William called, making Siena look at him curiously.
"That is correct," the President smiled. "Unfortunately, the two of us have never met before, Siena. You were only just born when your grandfather passed away, and even though your grandmother continued to work for us, together with James' father, she never permitted any of us to meet you. However, you are both here now, and we hope you'll continue in their steps," Mr Wilkinson concluded.
"What is this Society about?" Siena asked cautiously, not wanting to commit to anything before she understood. She let her eyes travel over the people at the table in front of her, then the objects clustered on the tables lining the walls. She wasn't sure about this.
"We are getting to it, Siena." The man smiled at her.
"You are just like your grandmother," the only woman seated at the table spoke suddenly, "we were very close friends, she and I, you might know my name. Alicia Waterstone."
"I... do. Grandma did tell me some things about a certain Alicia, her friend..."
"That's me." The ancient woman giggled, her wide smile adding yet more wrinkles to the infinity of those criss-crossing her kind, open face. "You wouldn't believe how much fun we used to have..."
"I'm sure that you two can talk later, Alicia. Right now, we should give them the explanations they're waiting for."
"Of course you're right, Chris," Alicia spoke to the middle-aged president in a motherly tone, making him look like a little boy who needed to feel important. "Explain away."
'Chris' nodded his head covered with thick, salt and pepper curls to her thankfully, then turned to Siena and James. "Have you ever thought that you were different?"
The two young people exchanged a quick, puzzled look before William asked, "Different how? What do you mean, exactly?"
"You both read exceedingly. You, Siena, chose to study art history, but it's fiction, the worlds contained in books that interest you more than anything else, correct?" an old man, sitting at the table next to Alicia, asked.
Siena nodded, observing his shock of white, wild hair making him look a little like Einstein, wondering just how he knew that about her.
He smiled, then turned to her companion. "And you are just the same, James. You are a journalist, a very clever inventor, and a skilled painter, but it's books, the fictional worlds that really attract you. Between you two, you've already read more books than most scholars do during their entire lives."
"Fine, you might be right," Siena admitted. "So? What does it mean?"
"It means that you are our next couple, if you'll agree, of course," Christopher replied.
James thought that the conversation was, somehow, flowing around in circles. They have been here for at least half an hour now, but he was none the wiser than before. He was just opening his mouth to complain when Siena beat him to it.
"Look, Christopher, Alicia, all of you, I did not come here all the way from Florence to find out that you know that I like books. And I'm sure that James did not need to hear that either. Will any of you finally tell us something that we don't know? Please?"
He couldn't have said it better himself, James thought, smiling at Christopher's surprised expression.
But the man collected his wits fast. "Think about the many-worlds theory, Siena. Parallel worlds constantly branching off from each other, nanosecond by nanosecond without intersecting or communicating. Take that towards philosophy. Add possible-worlds theory and fiction theory, and you'll understand what our Society does," he said seriously.
James heard Siena take a deep breath even as she leaned a little more into him before she asked, "Are you... talking about multiverse?"
She was lost. James did not understand everything Christopher had said, but he could help her understand at least something before the others would decide how to explain the rest.
"Not exactly, Siena. Multiverse pictures many self-contained universes in... different regions of space and time. The many-worlds theory sees them all at the same level." James spoke softly so the much more complicated terms of those talking at the table could finish the picture for her.
"Very well said, James," Alicia's voice reached them, making Siena, who was completely absorbed in James' words, start. He actually managed to make it all sound interesting to her.
"Thank you, Alicia, but what about the fiction theory? What does that have to do with this?" James asked her.
Alicia nodded, then turned to the other members of the Society, "Silence, please. I'll explain the rest."
Once they all quieted down, the old woman spoke to Siena and James. "Let us direct this argument a little more towards philosophy. Think of our many worlds, as possible worlds. Possible fictional worlds, existing in those books you love to read. What if every single one of those imaginary worlds is real? And what if you two, working together, might have a chance to change them? To create happier lives for many, many unfortunate and tragic characters? It would not change the books for the readers in our world; you don't have to worry about that. You would only make their lives better in their own universes."
After a while of perfect silence, which followed the old woman's explanation, Siena and James asked in unison, "How?"