Page 43 of The Blairville Legacies

A massive wooden pier, to which large and small sailboats were moored and from which a long pier led out to sea, joined the promenade. The surface of the water shimmered under the sun’s rays, but the next moment, one of the fat storm clouds pushed in front of it and cast the entire city in a gloomy shadow.

Immediately, I wondered if it was possible to go to a beach somewhere here. The water was probably icy, but it would be a welcome refreshment in these unusually high temperatures at these latitudes. It had to be around twenty-eight degrees because it was pleasantly warm. The heat in California would have been too much for me now, and yet I missed it—just as I missed Larissa.

She had finally read my old message and texted me when we had been on our way downtown.

Yet she knew I hadn’t been in any relationships since David.

I answered a bit enviously, and then we had arrived.

Later, we would continue texting.Hopefully.

I stood on a stone staircase that led down to the sprawling marketplace, which was bustling with a surprising number of people. Around me, apartment buildings alternated with small shops where residents and tourists went in and out. I couldn’t exactly tell them apart, but some had different accents and an older man had asked us for directions to a place calledLola’s Diner. I didn’t know where it was, but luckily, I had my mother with me. She knew her way around here surprisingly well, which made me wonder if she had ever been away.

“It’s good to be back,” Mum sighed with a smile, as if she had read my mind. She stood next to me, looking over the stall-filled square as if we were in paradise.

“Why did you move away then?”

She had probably left for further study.

“You know there aren’t the best job opportunities here. At least, there weren’t back then.”

Obviously, there were better job opportunities now. And the fact that Mum had an official permanent position at theDeLoughrey Science Center, orDLSC, didn’t make it any better for me. On the contrary. The chances were not good that I would be going back to California anytime soon.

In theory,yes, I could move out and do whatever I wanted, especially since I would be eighteen in two days. But I lacked the financial means to do such thing and so I was at the mercy of my mother’s plans until I got my desired university degree and a steady job. Which meant I was pretty much screwed. And I wasn’t Larissa, who would have just done that.

I wonder what she was up to right now. I’m sure she had hooked up with one of those countless guys who were always following her around, and was using him as a photo object on the beach. Two of her weaknesses in one sentence.

Mum winked at me encouragingly, and together we strode down the stairs that led us directly to the market.

Colorful stalls, mainly those of fruit and vegetable vendors, lined the square.

We turned into a row of stalls selling old stuff. Colorful jewelry, cute pendants, and abstruse items filled the tables.

Next, we entered an aisle with slightly fewer people.

Beaming with joy, I looked at Mum.

She returned my smile.

“Look around here all you want. I’m two rows over by the fruits and vegetables.”

Before she had spoken, I was at the first stall.

I found myself in an aisle that was almost teeming with books. At this stall, there were however rather older copies, which must originate from the 19th century.

Interested, I rummaged through the books in front of me. These were mainly old town histories of Blairville.

I raised my eyebrows.

A wonder you could fill pages with something like that...abouta town like that.

The old lady behind the booth smiled kindly at me before turning back to her knitting.

I tried to ignore the black raven on the wooden post of the stand and let my eyes wander further over the books – there were really a lot of nice ones – until I got stuck on a brown one.

The cover had to be made of leather and I could see a kind of seal in the middle of the cover. Instinctively, I reached for it to run my finger over the fine details. They were vine-like ornaments that formed a circle around a dragonfly located in the center. Its eyes were made of tiny blue stones and reminded me of the necklace Mum had given me for my sixteenth birthday.

It had to be somewhere in my jewelry box because I didn’t like wearing it that much. The fear of losing it was too big.