The Looking Glass Book Store

[Draconia St George]

Situated conveniently close to the New Salem Maul, The Looking Glass is a must-visit book store for any literate monster. Books from all eras line the shelves, which rise up almost impossibly high. New comic books are stocked every Wednesday.

Stay away from the dark, ominous Forbidden Tome corner of the book store, though! It houses many powerful, secret books and is magically protected.

Up above the book store, the owner, the Jabberwocky himself, and his niece Draconia St. George live in a small, book-filled flat.  

[Draconia St George]

Draconia pulled the key to the front door of the Looking Glass out of her purse and unlocked it. Stepping inside, she turned the sign from 'Closed' to 'Open,' and held the door for Chase, Whinnie, Colt and Marceline.

She took a deep breath. There was nothing in the world quite like the smell of old paper, dusty leather, musty manuscripts and just a hint of magic like the Looking Glass. It was her favorite smell of all time...if she could, Draconia would wear it like a perfume.

"Glen will be catching up with us in just a mo." Draconia went behind the counter and put on her work apron. The store was a touch disorderly, to her chagrin. With uncle Wocky gone in Wonderland for an indeterminate amount of time, Draconia was trying her best to balance friends, preparations for school and watching over the store, but it was still a lot of work for one ghoul.

"Would anyone care for a spot of tea? I can put the kettle on."  

[Falconnie Hawke]

Falconnie had always wanted to see the store that her brother called 'The Looking Glass,' apparently where his friend Draconia worked and lived.
Falconnie, loving to have a good book, always wondered what was inside. When she was on her way to the maul, the noticed that the store was open. She hoped that Draconia wouldn't mind he walking in to take a peek at what kinds of books this store had.
As soon as she opened the door, her eyes widened. Books, everywhere! All organized in sections. It was a paradise for her!
Somehow ignoring that other monsters were there, she dived right into the fiction section.  

[Marceline LaGhede]

Marceline was, for a moment too long, mesmerized by the incredible amount of books in this store. She wasn't one of the most intense readers, but apart from educational purposes she enjoyed the occasional Young Monster series, and perhaps a moan-ga or two. She snapped back into reality when she realized Draconia was waiting on an answer from her.

"Oh, sorry... Yea, tea would sure be nice, thanks ghoul."

She couldn't help her eyes from wandering upward again, trying to figure out just how high these shelves rose above them. She heard the fluttering of wings and saw a blur of pink and gray whip past them, and assumed it was Falconnie, Dashner's sister. After Draconia, no other ghoul loved books as much as Falconnie. She thought for a second to follow after her and say hello. Fal had a rough time fitting in last school year; but thanks to that Marceline was sure she wanted some time alone, and allowed her that.  

[Draconia St George]

"Splendid!" Draconia put the pot on and chose a nice Scream Tea. When she turned back around- "Er...where did Chase go?"

Whinnie pointed in one direction. "Hextreme sports magazines."

"Ah." Draconia looked left and right again. "Where's Colt?!"

Whinnie pointed in the opposite direction. "Scary Tales."

"Oh, okay. Wait! Where are you going?" Draconia called out as Whinnie took off in a third direction.

"Farmer's Harmenac!" Whinnie trotted off, leaving Draconia and Marceline by themselves. Draconia shrugged.

"They...don't get off the farm too often." She noted by way of apology by proxy to Marceline for the Q clan running off. "That's all right! Tea for two is just as nice as tea for a dozen. Though, I do wonder what's taking Glen so long..."

Draconia's train of thought was derailed by the sound of the teapot whistling. She eagerly pulled it off the stove in the reading alcove that the Comic Book Club often co-opted for their weekly meetings, and motioned for Marceline to have a seat in one of the plush chairs. She handed Marceline a cup of boiling hot tea.

"You may want to let it cool a bit," Draconia cautioned as she sipped. "Most creatures don't enjoy the tea quite as hot as we dragonfolk. Now."

She set her glass down with a clink.

"We were interrupted earlier. Is anything wrong? Anything I can help with?"  

[Marceline LaGhede]

"It's... Dashner." Marceline sighed, doing a quick scan to make sure his sister wasn't listening in. "Things are... compl'cated, t'say the least."

Her hands gripped the white-hot teacup, as if trying to draw strength to elaborate further. Another heavy sigh and she continued.

"He's sweet on me, that's f'sure. And I thought I was sweet on him too. But the more I think on it, the less I feel that way. He's my beastie, and I know how he is with ghouls... It'd end up ruinin' a perfectly good fiendship and I don't want that.

"So I've just been avoidin' him for awhile, but a new scaremester's about to start and I won't be able to keep it up for long. Jeepers, if I had known romance was this annoyin' I'd wouldn'tve even thought about it!"

She figured it would be safe by now to try and sip her scream tea. While it was still much too hot for her liking, she found the tea to be a wonderfully delicate flavor and impeccably brewed, and thought to herself that she should remember to brew tea at home more often.

"Anyway." Marceline chuckled gently. "I'm sorry for buryin' you in my troubles... Your sister should be here any minute now! That's more exciting than my silly little unlife dramuhh!"  

[Falconnie Hawke]

Falconnie continued to flip through book after book. She had now heard that other monsters were in there, so she decided to stay quiet and not bother.
The next book that she wanted was on the tip top, so she fluttered up silently as Marceline and Draconia seemed to be having a moment. Se took the book.
"CRASH!!!"
Some books fell sideways, thwacking the shelf. Others fell onto the floor. Falconnie gasped and flew to the ground. She tried putting some back, but she wasn't so secretive...
"Oh my ghoul..."  

[Draconia St George]

"HEY!" The door to the Looking Glass flung open and a professionally-dressed, perfectly-coiffed dragon stepped through. She pointed a flawlessly-polished claw right at Falconnie. "You think this is a diebrary? Buy something or GET OUT!"

Without missing a single beat, Wyvernia St. George strode in and immediately took center stage. She scooped up a handful of books and tipped them back perfectly on the shelf, flipped open her iCoffin and texted her producer and turned to Marceline and Draconia with a camera-perfect smile.

"World Famous Reporter Returns to her Roots, Story at 11! Draconia!" She held her arms open wide and Draconia hopped up to hug her sister.

"Wyvernia! Oh, it's so grand to see you!"

"I bet it is, look at this place! It's sheer chaos!" Wyvernia already had a broom in hand and started sweeping Falconnie out the door. "Good thing I showed up or you'd end up like Uncle Wocky did 50 years ago - trapped under a mountain of his own books!"

"Wyvvie, that's-" Draconia started to say something as Falconnie was helplessly being swept by a Wvyernia who was also rearranging the magazine section alphabetically and texting her producer.

"WHAT! Oh, sorry, Drake. That 'what' wasn't for you. My producer just texted that Catty Noir canceled for the premiere episode of my news show!" Wyvernia threw down the broom, picked up a mop, took Marceline's tea from her and took a deep drink of it. "Wh-bleah! This isn't my double chai boolatte! You're fired!"

"Er. Wyvernia...that's my friend, Marceline. She's not a go-fer."

"Oh, of course, so dreadfully sorry. I'm a little slow on the uptake right now. Jet lag!" Wyvernia apologized as she finished mopping the floor and pulled out the week's reorder list with one claw while texting back her producer with the other. "Normally I do things MUCH faster."

Draconia grinned. It was so nice to have her sister back!  

[Falconnie Hawke]

"W-W-W-W-Well, I would buy s-something if I-I could pick my favourite!"
Falconnie shivered as as she apologized to Draconia for the wreck she made.
"S-Sorry, Draconia. I was just trying to stay q-quite and then, well... T-That happened."
Falconnie turned to the other dragon. She Didn't like meeting new monsters, because it caused her to chicken out. But something clicked in her mind...
"H-Hey! You're that r-reporter on that s-show!"
Falconnie, for some reason, couldn't think about what show this familiar face had been on. She had, afterall, just blew through four books, trying to see which she wanted to buy most.
"I'm F-Falconnie Hawke, I attend Monster H-High with Draconia and Marceline."  

[Draconia St George]

"Are you buying something or not!?" Wyvernia picked up the broom and swept Falconnie out the door again, since it apparently didn't work the first time. "Drake, sweets, you'll never turn a profit if you just let everyone come in here and browse through all the books!"

"Erm-" Draconia wasn't sure how to respond to that. Uncle Wocky had always seemed just fine with allowing monsters to look around and check out all of the tomes in the store. Wyvernia apparently had a very different idea of how to do business. "Well, you see, some monsters like to preview-"

*EEEEEEE EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE EEEEEEE EEEEEEE*

"What is THAT?!" Wyvernia clapped her hands over her ears as Draconia gasped and put her claws over her mouth.

"That's the Forbidden Tome section alarm!" Oh no! Draconia felt her ruby heart skip a beat. What could have happened? In a mad dash, she ran over to the distant corner of the store, followed closely by Wyvernia, who was yelling into her iCoffin at her producer about a possible story developing right before her very eyes.

"Stop right-Colt?!" Standing in the middle of the Forbidden Tome section, looking scared and a little guilty, was Chase's itty bitty little brother. He had an old, dusty-looking book in his hands.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I thought it was a story book!" Colt dropped the book and ran over to Draconia, hugging her midsection and crying. As soon as he dropped the book, the alarm stopped.

Whinnie and Chase rounded a corner, wondering what all the commotion was about.

"Shush now, it's all right." Draconia scooped down and gave Colt a hug. "That was just the Forbidden Tome alarm. It just lets us know if someone is not supposed to be in there."

"A-am I in trouble?" Colt asked, his lower lip quivering. Wyvernia looked up from her iCoffin.

"Darn right you are, I thought there was going to be a story here! "Little Manster Tries to Read Book" isn't much of a headline." Draconia gave her sister a 'quiet, now,' warning look and led Colt over to his siblings.

"No, everything is going to be just fine. You didn't hurt anything, see? The alarm magically goes off when a monster without permission enters this section." Colt sniffed.

"So a normie could go in without the alarm going off?" He asked, curious now that his fear was being assuaged.

"No, it wouldn't go off for a normie. It's a monster book store, so the alarm isn't keyed for normies." Draconia explained, just like her uncle had explained to her a few months ago. "But all of the books in this section are enchanted, you see. If a normie TRIED to read them, all they would see is Riddlish. Pure nonsense to them!"

"Oh! I see now." Colt was much brightened up after his scare and rejoined his siblings happily. Draconia turned to Marceline and Wyvernia.

"That's the first time that alarm has gone off in....well, blimey, since Glen tried to sneak in th-GLEN!" Draconia clapped a claw to her face. "What has happened to Glen?!"  

[Glen da West]

Well that's a cue if one was ever to be written!

The bell over the entrance door of the Looking Glass 'dingled', letting those within know that someone else had just set foot inside the store, and that 'who' being the aforementioned Glen.

He was holding his phone to his ear with one hand and 'jazz hand'ing with the other. Despite the fact he was having a very animated and candid conversation with the person on the other end, he readily made a beeline straight for the small group of monsters huddled just out of the way of the Forbidden Tome section.

"But mooooom! They're totally cramping my style! They follow me everywhere and always getting in between me and any fun to be had! You know just now at the maul, Vralok actually tried to stop Chase from stealing a smooch...?"

Glen came to a halt and glanced up, finding all eyes on him ... and Chase had a very goofy grin on his face.

Glen's green cheeks flushed a healthy glow, making his 'pinchable' cheeks resemble something akin to a Christmas light.  

[Draconia St George]

For once, Glen's arrival actually calmed things down instead of making them explosive. The Q family were actually on a schedule, having to be back at the farm before suppertime, and Glen was happy to drive them back (despite Whinnie's objections). Draconia loaded Marceline up with half a dozen of her favorite Groanmance novels to help soothe her tortured heart, and together she and Wyvernia worked on straightening up the shop as the day wore on.

Wyvernia worked like a monster possessed, tearing through the store on a manic cleaning spree that only a 3-time Boolitzer Prize-winning journalist could manage. Draconia concentrated on tidying up the Forbidden Tome section; when Wyvvie was on a tear, it was often beast just to stay out of her way.

"A place for everything, and everything in its place." Draconia quipped to herself as she picked up the book Colt had grabbed, causing all of the chaos in the first place.

"Hm. 'Mezmer's Memoirs: Manificent Malifications and Magical Moments.' I guess that sort of sounds like a storybook." The book was heavier than it appeared, and it kicked up a lot of dust as Draconia hoisted it back onto the pedestal it was supposed to be situated on.

"*cough* *cough" Draconia did her best to hold in a sneeze. Dragon sneezes were unpredictably 'flamey,' and Uncle Wocky would probably not appreciate it if she accidentally obliterated anything in the FT section. "Sorry, Mr. Mezmer. I'll be sure to come and dust your book off more often."

Draconia exited the Forbidden Tome section to find exactly what she had expected - finally, Wyvernia had crashed, falling asleep mid-text with her chin leaning on the store mop. She snored as her fingers dangled over a half-opened box of magazines. With a half-smile and a sigh, Draconia eased her sister into one of the plush reading chairs by the fire and put a blanket over her.  

[Hagetha Mistie]

"Bah! Such sentimental drivel."

The tender scene pulls back into the swirling mists of a crystal ball with the same man and woman from the maul hovering over it, their eyes glued to the developing scene in the Looking Glass.

"But it paid off. I told you if we kept a close eye on that ghoul, we'd find what we were looking for."

"That you did Madam. Are you certain that is the tome we need?"

"That I need, and yes. I am quite certain. Are you certain you got a good look at it?"

"Hard to miss anything covered in that much dust, but yes. And it can get us what we need?"

"You heard the dragon. The tome is the memoirs of that silly wizard Mezmer. Worst selling book by any witch or wizard since...?"

"Yours?"

"Cute. But this tome has a few handy spells in the appendix. Ones for reasons why it's even in that Forbidden Tome section."

The man rubs a finger alongside his chin.

"Madam, I do believe things are coming along quite nicely."  

[Shadeaux D Gloom]

It's nighttime now and all good monsters are where they should be -- in bed.

Well, most of them. Some of them? Okay, the non-nocturnal monsters are snuggled up in bed, dreaming random spooktacular dreams.

The others, like a certain Son of the Sack Man, are up and about, and might even be a young monster on a mission.

A downstairs closet (or cupboard) in the bowels of the Looking Glass slides open with only the most gentle of creeks, and Shadeaux aka Shad to his friends (he has friends!), peeks out verrrry slowly and verrry carefully. His eyes hidden behind his shades to stave off the light, glance about to make sure he got it right.

He nods.

"Wow. First try."

He whispered and carefully stepped out and shut the closet door behind him with an audible *click*.

"Shhh!"

He hisses and then turns around and looks about and takes a step forward and accidentally stubs his toe on a book shelf (they're EVERYWHERE in this place!). He claps a hand over his mouth and whimpers pitifully, holding his foot and biting his bottom lip... poor Shad!

Well no wonder! He is still wearing his shades! He can see perfectly well in the dark, but wears the shades almost habitually because any form of light hurts his eyes. It's night now, and hence there are no lights on in here.

He peels the shades off of his face and reveals his black and crimson red eyes and glances around.

"That's better."

He steps out from in between a maze of book shelves and slides carefully along the wall, using every tactic his old man taught him. He then turns his head and looks into a mirror...

"WHOA!"

And claps BOTH hands over his mouth!  

[Draconia St George]

Upstairs in her flat, Draconia's left eye fluttered open momentarily before closing again, sending her drifting back into a dream about the first day of school. She was having a rather intense vision of Glen offering to drive her in his SUV from class to class, mowing down scores of slow-moving zombie kids as Draconia kept protesting 'but it's a DELUXE SUV! It's too wide for the hallways!"

Meanwhile, down in the main foyer of the Looking Glass, Wyvernia cranked out a particularly loud, honking snore as she turned over and fell back asleep.