They treaded their way around the white house and the wild vegetation concealing it from the curious eyes of the passersby, the muddy puddles of the riverside path turning into waterlogged gravel as they walked along the side of the villa, and finally the cobblestones of the pavement as they reached its front facing the street.
James pushed the tall, ornate, wrought iron gate open, and they walked through the garden, reaching the front door even as it was opened for them.
"Well, hello," Alicia greeted them, smiling brightly. "Here you are, just as I thought you would be. They were all worried when you didn't call, but I knew you'd turn up in your own time. In you come, the rain's awfully cold."
The old woman pressed a grandmother-like kiss to Siena's cheek, surprising her, then stood on her tiptoes in front of James, waiting for him to bend down to be able to repeat the gesture, making him laugh.
"Did you sleep well? Have you had lunch before coming here?" Alicia rattled on, indicating a place in the corner of the gloomy hall for them to leave the dripping umbrella and damp jackets and the large doormat they were standing on to clean their shoes.
Siena shivered as she removed her jacket, this house felt colder than their cosy garden flat. She smiled to herself, realising that she had already fallen in love with the flat, with the entire idea of being a Bibliophile and a Book Traveller, and the companion they had chosen for her. It was all so incredibly exciting.
"We are great, thank you, Alicia,"James replied for both of them after he glanced at Siena, seeking permission to speak in her name too. She smiled; it almost made them look like a couple.
"Are you all here?" Siena asked as they followed the old woman down a gloomy corridor lined with opened doors offering glimpses of empty rooms which looked like a cross between laboratories and offices, into a large, homely looking sitting room.
It was beautiful, much nicer than the office they were received in the day before. The décor was Victorian, matching the old building perfectly. The wild vegetation from outside seemed to have spilled within at some point, and sat in large brass pots that created spots of warm, reflected light in the shadows next to the window and between the pieces of furniture. A small, golden-and-cream coloured sofa was placed in front of the window with an armchair close to each end, surrounding a glass top coffee table, and a love seat stood next to the fireplace where a small fire burned, banishing the humidity of the rain flooding the world outside.
When Alicia sat down into one of the armchairs, Siena chose the loveseat, revelling in the pleasant heat of the flames, the exquisite feeling taken to a whole new level when James came to sit next to her without the slightest hesitation, as if it was where he belonged, close by her side. She knew well that he could hear the hitch in her breathing and the thumping of her heart every time he came this close to her, and it made her blush, but she liked to hear his own heart speeding in response. It was so unexpected, pleasant, and distracting at the same time, she had never met anyone with whom she had this much chemistry...
Alicia smiled contentedly at seeing them, and Siena recalled that one of the Bibliophiles mentioned yesterday how it was important to find an appropriate couple, two people who would get along well and be able to work together. Well, she and James seemed more than suitable this way. It was only a day since they had met, and it seemed like they couldn't stay apart.
James smiled at Siena, who didn't realise she was staring at him until this moment, his smile making her faint blush deepen. He would give anything to know what she was thinking.
"Are you all here?" he repeated Siena's question that somehow got lost on their way to this room, turning to Alicia and finding her looking at them, her eyes filled with mysterious joy.
"Christopher was here the whole morning, and so were George and Jake, now it's just me and Albert. But I can call them right now..."
"No," Siena said, glancing at James for confirmation, "we were actually hoping to speak only to you and your Eins... Mr Albert first."
"We just want to know the specifics about how this works before we decide on a book. There is so much we need to know before we jump into this," James continued.
"Of course. All right, let's just have a chat before we call the others. Albert! We have guests!" Alicia called but there was no need, the old man just appeared in the doorway carrying a huge tray laden with tea-- a steaming white-and-golden teapot embellished with tiny pastel coloured flowers, four matching cups, and two plates filled with scones and biscuits of several sorts and flavours.
"Wow, thank you," Siena beamed at the old, white-haired man, jumping to her feet, taking the heavy tray from him and carrying it to the low coffee table standing between hers and James' loveseat and Alicia's armchair. She found the old scientist intimidating yesterday, his looks hinting at his great intelligence and the knowledge of things Siena knew she would never entirely comprehend herself, made him feel like an unapproachable superior being. But today, in this less official and more friendly sitting room, he looked like the Doc Brown from the Back to the Future film, rather than Einstein.
"You are welcome, my dear," he said, sitting down on the sofa and smiling at Siena who, following Alicia's silent gesture, took it upon herself to pour out the tea and set the cups and biscuits-filled plates on the coffee table where everyone could reach them.
She sat back next to James then, shivering as the heat of the fire caressed her bare forearms after the cool air of the room, not protesting in the slightest when James noticed and drew closer to her, flooding her with his heat redolent of cedarwood, grapefruit, and rain.
A contented sigh escaped her, only audible to him, and as if it was the permission he had asked for, he wrapped his arm around her hips in a way their two companions could not see, before he addressed the old man who was looking at them expectantly from above the rim of his dainty tea cup.
"I don't even know where to start, I have so many questions... For instance, you said that the moment we walk into the world of our chosen book, it will start drifting away. That's why we'll have limited time to fix it, and once it's fixed, it can't be done again, and so we must choose a book that wasn't fixed yet, correct?"
"That's what I told you, yes. But it's very simplified," Mr Albert replied, excitement turning his brown irises into spots of faint light within the grey penumbra reigning in the room. "Do you know enough about the matter, James, for me to take this explanation further, I wonder? No Book Traveller that I met before you two did, or at least they didn't care enough to try to push the limits of what we already know."
"You spoke about the Many Worlds Theory, and I wonder why it should not apply to our book worlds," James interrupted his musings. "If every decision we make creates a new universe, it should mean that the moment we step into a book universe, we cause it to branch into a new world and only that one world would start drifting away, leaving the original untouched. You said that yourself, indirectly, when you told us that the events in the original story won't be changed by our actions for the readers. So, hypothetically speaking, if we won't manage to improve the plot at the first attempt, we can always retry..." James trailed off.
The old man set his cup on the table, looking at James with an obvious admiration, wringing his hands in his lap excitedly.
"Are you as brave as you are clever, young man? It does sound perfectly possible, doesn't it? But it has never been tried, so it's only a theory, a potentially perilous possibility."
"It has never been tried?" Siena asked, her eyebrows drawn together with worry and confusion. It didn't sound safe before, but now it seemed outright dangerous. She set her empty cup down, her trembling hand making the cup and saucer rattle and clink as they touched the glass.
"You are only the sixth generation of Book Travellers we monitor here, Siena, and we only take one pair at the same time. Only a couple of generations back this venture was far more complicated than nowadays, just think about the transport in the past, the difficulty of creating the costumes for the book worlds during the war, and the jewels themselves were very unsafe and imprecise before the Victorian times when they were greatly improved. And before that, there were fewer books and people able to read, and so on and so forth. It's all very new for all of us," Alicia said, putting her own cup on the table and refilling the cups for everyone.
Siena nodded, reaching for the cup, thankful for the distraction. "It makes sense," she muttered.
"How do the jewels work? How much time do we get to stay within the books, how do we get in and then back?" James muttered, sipping at his tea, his arm wrapped around Siena strengthening its grasp unconsciously, making her realise that he was worrying that something could go wrong, and something might happen to her just as she was worried for him.
"I swear I don't entirely understand that myself," the old man admitted somewhat dejectedly. "The jewels take a drop of your mixed blood each to activate. After that, the stones seemingly click with whatever there is in your genes, and they can pull you into the parallel world of any book you choose whenever you are ready. If it had ever been understood better in the past, the knowledge got lost before we took over the Society," Albert mused, looking from Siena to James thoughtfully. "Once activated by your blood, they'll always work for you until they are cleansed and passed on to a new couple. You'll feel each other through them in this world as well as inside a book-- they'll feel warmer and brighter the closer you are. But they'll only be able to pull you back within a certain amount of our time. You'll see the passing of time-- they'll glow initially, then start fading with time, and distance. Make sure to transport back before they run out of their light entirely," he concluded, looking at Siena again.
"Our time?" she asked.
"Oh, yes. Time seems to run differently inside the book worlds. It all depends on the particular plot and also on how many times you'll move within the plot using the jewels. You'll just have to keep an eye on the stones and see."
"And how do we move in the plot?" Siena asked again, placing her cup on the table and closing her hand around her pendant.
"Just like to go in, you'll need the book open on the page you want to visit. Later on, you'll be able to do it even without the book, if you remember the plot well enough," Albert replied patiently.
"All right, that's clear enough for now," James said, looking at Siena rather than at the two people he was addressing. "May we do The Little Prince first?"
"That's a perfect choice for your first quest!" Alicia called. "Give us twenty-four hours to prepare your costumes, we already know your sizes, of course," she said, winking conspiratorially. "Come back at the same time tomorrow afternoon, and we'll send you in. So, shall we call Christopher now? Would you like to talk to him?"
"Not really," Siena and James, who were still looking at each other, replied in unison, then laughed and turned to Alicia and Albert.
"I mean, he won't tell us anything more, will he?" Siena said, not wanting to sound impolite.
"No, I suppose he won't," Albert replied.
"Then don't call him, we'll see you all tomorrow afternoon," James concluded, standing up, ready to go home and think everything they learned through.
"Legend has it..." Alicia whispered mysteriously as she and Siena followed James' example and stood up.
"Oh, come on, Alicia, don't you start confusing them with that nonsense," Albert interrupted her.
"You confused them with your scientific babble, now let them hear facts," Alicia said smugly, winking again at the two and preceding them out of the room, leaving Albert to collect the dishes.
Siena had to suppress a laughter when she caught him shaking his head and scowling at Alicia's back when she turned to say her goodbye before she and James followed Alicia towards the door.
"Legend has it," Alicia started again once they were out of the old man's earshot, "that the jewels were brought into our world by the very first Book Traveller who, somehow, dreamed herself inside a book she was reading and found two ruby red stones-- mind you, not rubies, we don't know what they are exactly-- in the palm of her hand upon awaking the next morning. They might be magical, otherworldly... I find it easier to accept that they are imbued in magic than all the stuff Albert told you, and the others here believe."
"Me too." Siena admitted, thinking Alicia's words through, then giggling at herself; and James found himself having to fight an inexplicable urge to wrap her in his arms protectively and kiss her, kiss her until she would melt under his touch and never want to leave him...
He shook his head to clear it of the wayward thoughts and walked towards their rain jackets, helping Siena into hers before he donned his own and picked up their umbrella.
"Shall I call Jake at least, so he'll drive you home? It's still pouring with rain," Alicia proposed, peeking through the pane of stained glass set into the front door.
"No, thank you, Alicia, we like walking in the rain," Siena said, offering the old woman her cheek for a kiss.
"Off you go then, I'll see you tomorrow," she agreed, opening the door for them after James, following Siena's example, let her kiss him too.