No in between existed for Maya Csendes. Her days rocketed between too busy to eat and borderline lonely. She had two boys to take care of in her life and both were currently at school. She owned a little boutique book store, but with the hire of a responsible manager named Gretta, a slug-like woman with an infallible constitution, Maya had essentially maneuvered herself out of the store's day to day happenings.

Business owners across the US dreamed of Maya's position, to reap the profit with little input from herself. It was sure proof of her skill (or luck) in business that the little shop prospered without her there every day to micromanage.

Today was no different. She showed up to work at open and Gretta was already in place, prepping the cash drawers for the day. Maya had followed the line of responsibility down until finally, she discovered that she wasn't needed at all today. Not even to sweep the floors.

Rather than go home and be lonely, Maya poked around until she found a book to keep her company. Like so many other patrons, she found a cushioned chair, put her feet up and settled in to read. She wedged herself firmly in the front corner of the store so she could greet loyal patrons she knew. She could at least do that.

Kate walked out of Dowling Music with a bag full of crisp new sheet music waiting to be played. She must have had enough music for the entire month. She slowed closed her eyes and raised her face to feel the warm sun beating down on it. She took a deep breath filling her lungs with the smell of the city. Most people would hate the pollution filled air of the city after living in the county their whole lives, but Kate couldn't get enough of it. She loved the exotic mixture of smells that filled her nose every time she inhaled. She squinted at the sun, opening her eyes and looking around for her car. She had arrived in a black Bentley that seemed to be no where to be found at the moment, and honestly it was not a car to be missed. She contemplated the situation she now found herself in. She could go back in and spend another 300 dollars on sheet music or...

Kate walked up to the checkout desk where the middle aged clerk sat reading a Tom Clancy novel. "Um, Excuse me?" Kate smiled at the woman tentatively. She didn't want to make her mad by interrupting her book again. Kate knew the pull of an exciting mystery novel and the familiar annoyance when someone tried to pull you away from it.

The woman looked out over her reading glasses and, to Kate's relief, smiled at the young woman, "How can I help you dear?"

"Can you please tell me how to get to Central Park from here?" Kate had recalled driving through it on the way to this very building earlier in the month. They had exited the park and arrived only moments later, so it had to be close by. Hopefully within walking distance.

She smiled at Kate's tentative politeness, "Well, go out the door and take a left. Once you get to 6th take another left and it is all the way down at the end. It is about 2 blocks from here, you can't miss it."

"Thank you." Kate exited the shop and turned left as she was instructed. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number of her driver.

After her first venture out into the city she had discovered she was going to need a driver to get around. There was a lot to see and do in this city and she didn't want to miss out because she had to call the car service all the time. So, she asked David Morganson, who had driven her to the mansion in the first place, if he wanted a better paying job. They talked it out over coffee, tea in Kate's case, and he became her personal driver and escort around the city. Usually he hung around and kept an eye on her while she ran her errands, either standing at the car or waiting at the entrance of the particular store she happened to be in. He had figured out very early that she was a rather naive and innocent individual. He had told himself he wouldn't let anyone take advantage of such a sweet girl.

Kate put the phone up to her ear just as she arrived at the corner of 6th and W 57th St. She looked at the various businesses while it rang softly into her ear. That was how she noticed it. Tucked smack dab in the middle of a large building with a day spa in it and a dentists office was a book store. Kate didn't even hear David pick up as she stared at the piles of books in the large windows that read, FULL CIRCLE in large letters.

"Miss. Finch-Hatton?"

"Oh sorry David."

"You okay?"

"Yes, I am fine. Sorry, I just wanted to tell you that I left the music store and have moved down the road to a little book shop called Full Circle. Can you pick me up there in about an hour?"

"Not a problem Miss. Finch-Hatton."

"Thank you very much David. I will see you in an hour." With that she hung up and made her way across the street.

Kate entered the shop and was greeted with a smile from a woman sitting behind the desk filling out some papers. Kate took 5 paces into the shop and stopped, not noticing the woman sitting next to it's entrance. There were just so many books that she had no idea where to even begin.

Cell Phones for Dummies was an interesting read. It was teaching her all kinds of things. Like how to control when it rang or vibrated. She was even reading now that she could customize her voicemail message. These things were really fancy.

Ghost's finger slid along the line instructing her on how to make a text message. This one was addressed to Sebastian which was great because he would have no idea how to make a message back to her. Hehe! It would just trill in his pocket all day as a constant reminder of her.

How R she jabbed at the keys until the U came and went. Blast! She would have to get it on the next go around.

The door bell chimed and Ghost glanced up from her phone, back down and then immediately up again. Nawwwww. It couldn't be.

"Uhhh excuse me, ma'am?" Ghost shot up out of her seat upsetting the book. Every inch of her stepped up toward the new comer awkwardly as if she hadn't quite thought this through entirely. "Can I help you with something?" She wasn't wearing one of the store's kelly green aprons, but she had dressed this morning for work. Except that there really was no taming that willful white hair at this length. Maybe shorter was better...

>>Uhhh excuse me, ma'am?

Kate turned to see a nicely dresses woman with slightly messy white hair.

>>Can I help you with something?

"Um." Kate looked around thinking if there was anything she actually wanted to read now, "Not at the moment. I really just want to look around. There are so many new books I haven't read. I really don't even know where to begin. Thank you anyway though." Kate gave her a winning smile to be polite before turning back toward the stacks. Where was she going to begin. There was fiction, non-fiction and everything in between.

After some time for deliberation she decided to just walk around and pull out any interesting titles. Where was her knight to help her through the piles when she needed him?

He bounced down the street, his earbuds nearly bouncing out with every step. With an expert shake of his head- in time with the music, of course- he managed to keep them in place, only to repeat the process each time he put the next foot forward. Life was treating Kai and his ipod pretty well at the moment. At least as long as he had it in and was blasting Journey songs.

He reached his destination, a quaint book shop, and flung open the door right as the guitar solo started. He rocked out for a full 15 seconds including air guitaring whilst standing in the doorway. When he was done, he opened his eyes and realized that there were other people around. Kai calmly hit pause on his ipod, removed his head phones so they hung around his neck, and made his way to the classical literature section as a blush started to color his face.

Red hair, British accent... if this was ten years ago, though, this girl was likely too old to be who Ghost thought she was. But still...

"You don't happen to know a fire elemental, do you?" Or was Volcana technically something tectonic? And if this really was her wouldn't that mean that she wouldn't like Ghost? Here she was blocking this woman's way expecting— expecting what? A hug?

"Sorry, I think I had you confused with someone else. My name is Ghost and I'm the owner. Just let me know if you need anything." Time for a hasty, ill-planned retreat.

She turned toward the door and just about ran over someone who was pulling off his headphones. "Whoa- Hi. Uhm. Can I help you?" Classical literature seemed as good any aisle as any to hide in.

>>You don't happen to know a fire elemental, do you?

Kate turned and looked at the woman with confusion blatantly reading across her face. How did she know that Kate was a fire elemental just by looking at her? Could people really have such a mutation that would let them know others mutations? Frankly Kate would not have been surprised with some of the odd things she had seen so far.

>>Sorry, I think I had you confused with someone else. My name is Ghost and I'm the owner. Just let me know if you need anything.

"Oh it's very nice to meet you." Kate held out her hand for Ghost to shake, "My name is..." She would have added her name but she was interrupted by a show.

A boy walked in and decided it was a great idea to rock out in the door of the rather empty shop. Kate just stood there with her hand still ready to be shaken, watching the usual display.

>>Whoa- Hi. Uhm. Can I help you?

The problem with ducking your head and "booking it", so to speak, was that it meant that you weren't particularly paying attention to where you were going. Or who else might be occupying that space. This was one reason why Kai seemed to run into people- literally- fairly frequently for someone who was kind of shy. In this case he nearly collided with one of the ladies who worked in the shop.

"Oh!" He squeaked in surprise. "Sorry! I was looking for..." he was going to say 'something similar to the Odyssey' and ask what her recommendations would be. But then he saw that she was currently with a customer. Kai's face, already very warm flushed even more at this point. "Uh, I guess I'll just look around a little."

And though he fully intended to do just that, he found that he was rooted in place, awkwardly standing next to the shopkeeper and another girl. She was most likely a fellow bookshop patron and appeared to be close to his age. And pretty, of course. Why is it that I always make a fool of myself in front of pretty girls? He brooded silently as the moment stretched longer and longer and wished that he could sink into the bookshelves.

>"Uh, I guess I'll just look around a little."

"Yep. We have some of that over here!" It didn't matter what he said and it eas a bit obvious that Ghost wasn't listening.

She looped her arm into the kid's and pulled him aside and behind a stack of books. She didn't know him. But despite what she thought she knew about the other woman (who had just so nearly introduced herself) Ghost didn't know her from Adam. Somehow a stranger who was strange seemed a whole lot asfer than a stranger that seemed familiar.

Especially if she really wasn't a stranger. Volcana would rip her a new one in her own store... or burn it down. Oh please don't burn it down.

Hiding out seemed the... logical course.

"I think I just made a fool of myself." She whispered to the kid with her back to the stacks.

Kate watched as the book store seemed to somehow go from normal to weird in about 30 seconds. This boy about her age entered nearly collided with the owner who then preceeded to drag him off in some random direction. Kate was left standing alone and confused at the front of the store. What had that all been about?

After she got over the initial shock of the moment Kate turned to face the stacks. Choosing to ignore the odd she headed into the fiction section and her nose was immediately filled with the smell of books. She knew the world was all about digital but to her nothing would be the good old spell of paper and ink.

>>I think I just made a fool of myself.

Kate was close enough to hear the whispered comment and was kind of confused. She turned the corner at the end of the stack and faced the owner and the teenage boy, "Why would you say that? You were being perfectly polite before you walked off with him."