chairs to the left of the counter.
Eren sank down into one. It was so huge it felt like it swallowed her up, and it was very comfortable. So comfortable in fact, she was pretty sure she could sit here and read War and Peace without feeling the desire to move. From the content look on Aiden’s face, his chair was just as cozy.
“I didn’t expect the store to be so huge,” Eren marveled as her eyes scanned row after row.
Zolin’s eyes followed hers and he got a proud, almost paternal look on his face as he looked at his books. Yep, Eren was definitely worried about history class now. So much for breezing through because she knew the teacher.
“It’s more than just a bookstore. I’m the keeper of the town’s history. The back room is just as big and is filled with books from each of the four original Societies,” he explained.
She didn’t quite understand. “Books from the original Societies?” she asked.
“History and writing from each culture dating back to the time we all migrated here, some even older,” he said.
“When did we originally migrate here?” Eren asked.
Zolin smiled, obviously pleased at her interest. “The four original Societies came here in 1758, before Colorado was even a state,” he told her.
Eren did the math in her head and her mouth dropped open. “That’s some really old books,” she mused.
“Most of the old ones are scrolls actually, but a few are books. We have druid scrolls that escaped the European burning, Mayan scrolls from the days when Yaxchilan was a thriving city, scrolls from the time when Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet, and books from when Wallachia was its own country,” he said, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.
When he described it that way, with such passion, it made their history seem much more interesting. From her dad she had learned that England and Ireland had been at war for over seven hundred years. Her mom had taught her enough of Mayan history that she knew Yaxchilan was considered ancient ruins now. Could books and scrolls really survive so long? This brought many questions to Eren’s mind.
“Are we immortal?” she asked.
It sounded so unbelievable that she felt stupid asking, especially with Aiden listening.
“I was wondering when you’d get around to that. No, we’re not. We’re hard to kill and we live a long time, but we can die. We are connected to the Earth more so than regular humans. If it suffers so do we, which is why we live as close to nature as we can,” he said.
There was such an intense look of pain and concern in his eyes that it rendered Eren speechless for a moment. Feeling as though he expected some kind of indication that she understood, she nodded.
“We are especially sensitive to iron, that much of legend is true,” Zolin said.
Eren raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“We age too, though differently from others. We live to be about five hundred and don’t start looking like I do until into our four hundredth year. The excitement of so many viral years fades after you realize how often you’ll have to move so people don’t figure it out,” he went on.
A numbness spread through her that she had to concentrate on to banish. That was going to take a while to sink in so she just filed it away to think about later.
“How old are you?” she asked in a soft voice.
Zolin smiled, looking as though he had expected that question too.
“I’m 393.”
Eren was so stunned she couldn’t move, couldn’t even change her expression. Her first instinct was to laugh it off as unbelievable. What rational person could believe such a crazy thing? Then again, what rational person could jump fifteen feet straight up into a tree, or pick up a hundred and fifty pound rock and toss it like it was a volley ball? Looked like her life no longer fit the rational mold.
“Then the Zolin Yaretz that wrote that book was…was you?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
He smiled and nodded, leaving her stunned.
Eren sank down into one. It was so huge it felt like it swallowed her up, and it was very comfortable. So comfortable in fact, she was pretty sure she could sit here and read War and Peace without feeling the desire to move. From the content look on Aiden’s face, his chair was just as cozy.
“I didn’t expect the store to be so huge,” Eren marveled as her eyes scanned row after row.
Zolin’s eyes followed hers and he got a proud, almost paternal look on his face as he looked at his books. Yep, Eren was definitely worried about history class now. So much for breezing through because she knew the teacher.
“It’s more than just a bookstore. I’m the keeper of the town’s history. The back room is just as big and is filled with books from each of the four original Societies,” he explained.
She didn’t quite understand. “Books from the original Societies?” she asked.
“History and writing from each culture dating back to the time we all migrated here, some even older,” he said.
“When did we originally migrate here?” Eren asked.
Zolin smiled, obviously pleased at her interest. “The four original Societies came here in 1758, before Colorado was even a state,” he told her.
Eren did the math in her head and her mouth dropped open. “That’s some really old books,” she mused.
“Most of the old ones are scrolls actually, but a few are books. We have druid scrolls that escaped the European burning, Mayan scrolls from the days when Yaxchilan was a thriving city, scrolls from the time when Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet, and books from when Wallachia was its own country,” he said, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.
When he described it that way, with such passion, it made their history seem much more interesting. From her dad she had learned that England and Ireland had been at war for over seven hundred years. Her mom had taught her enough of Mayan history that she knew Yaxchilan was considered ancient ruins now. Could books and scrolls really survive so long? This brought many questions to Eren’s mind.
“Are we immortal?” she asked.
It sounded so unbelievable that she felt stupid asking, especially with Aiden listening.
“I was wondering when you’d get around to that. No, we’re not. We’re hard to kill and we live a long time, but we can die. We are connected to the Earth more so than regular humans. If it suffers so do we, which is why we live as close to nature as we can,” he said.
There was such an intense look of pain and concern in his eyes that it rendered Eren speechless for a moment. Feeling as though he expected some kind of indication that she understood, she nodded.
“We are especially sensitive to iron, that much of legend is true,” Zolin said.
Eren raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“We age too, though differently from others. We live to be about five hundred and don’t start looking like I do until into our four hundredth year. The excitement of so many viral years fades after you realize how often you’ll have to move so people don’t figure it out,” he went on.
A numbness spread through her that she had to concentrate on to banish. That was going to take a while to sink in so she just filed it away to think about later.
“How old are you?” she asked in a soft voice.
Zolin smiled, looking as though he had expected that question too.
“I’m 393.”
Eren was so stunned she couldn’t move, couldn’t even change her expression. Her first instinct was to laugh it off as unbelievable. What rational person could believe such a crazy thing? Then again, what rational person could jump fifteen feet straight up into a tree, or pick up a hundred and fifty pound rock and toss it like it was a volley ball? Looked like her life no longer fit the rational mold.
“Then the Zolin Yaretz that wrote that book was…was you?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
He smiled and nodded, leaving her stunned.
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