It was a bad habit of mine, my lecturer had told me. I could feel that bad habit locking my hands to my side and tensing my mouth into an upturned pout as I scanned the lines of artbooks before me. Not a single one called out to me. Despite art being my life’s work, my obsession, my passion…I simply had no interest in the greats.

There were plenty of artists I admired and plenty more who inspired me. And not one would yet be found in the history books or a dusty old gallery.

Giving up my search for inspiration among the repetitive tomes before me, I decided to return to Magnus. Though we had agreed to meet on my floor, the man hadn’t arrived yet, and I didn’t much like the idea of standing around waiting like a lost puppy.

After a few breathless charges up and down the central stairs, I eventually caught sight of a glimmer of silver chains and a flash blond hair disappearing behind one of the tall, black bookshelves. I crept along after him and peered around the corner.

Magnus had his back to me and was scanning the shelves in front of him. Across the top of the bookcases were plain black and white labels that categorised each shelf beneath; the one Magnus was perusing was marked Spiritualism.

I stayed behind the corner of the bookcase for a moment, watching as he squatted down and pulled out a large, hardback book. He then straightened up and began to leaf through it with more purpose than to be just browsing.

“You’re supposed to buy ‘em if you want to read them,” I said by means of greeting, emerging from my partial hiding spot. Magnus jumped and turned, a startled clarity bringing a wide, cyan-eyed look over his shoulder.

“Oh…ha, yeah,” he mumbled. He snapped the book shut with one hand and crouched down again, slotting it back in its place. But he didn’t straighten up again immediately. Instead, Magnus remained squatted, one finger trailing on the top of the book. I cocked my head to the side, trying to subtly shift myself into a position to be able to read the title of the book without Magnus noticing. But instead, he pulled the tome back out and got to his feet. “Actually, this might help.”

He faced me then, tucking the book under his arm and giving me another Cheshire-cat grin. “Are you getting anything?”

I did my best impression of someone who hadn’t been attempting to snoop. I bucked my hip to the side, becoming very interested in the vibrant display banners and soft toys advertising children’s books to my right.

“Nah, I’m good,” I said to Magnus while stuck in a staring competition with a large, fuzzy cryptid that looked like it had been sewn together from parts of every child’s craze over the last two decades. “I’ll just hit the uni library when I’m back home.”

I wouldn’t.

“You sure?”

Magnus began to wander off with one last look to silently confirm I didn’t want anything. I loitered after him, hanging around awkwardly by the till as he paid for his book. I only caught a brief glimpse of the off-white dust cover and black inked creatures that formed a frame around the front cover before the cashier slotted it into a paper bag.

Dammit.

I made a gargantuan effort not to let on that this hidden book nonsense was bothering me. Though I had followed his work for years, I had only truly known Magnus for just under a day. Still, I was getting a distinct impression that the man may very well be a professional wind-up merchant. As such, I did not doubt he was going out of his way to stir up my now well-known weakness for wanting to know everything.

I caught his eye as he came to meet me, paper bag in hand a twinkle in his eye that seemed to glitter across his whole expression.

“Sightseeing, shopping,” Magnus hummed, his attention wandering around the bookshop then returning to me like a haughty cat. “Only one thing left to do for a true city break experience, right?”

“What, go back and clean bedsheets?” I smirked back. I half expected him to get upset at that, but it only seemed to aggravate the mischief etched in every line of his face. He waggled his eyebrows at me.

“Rock and roll. But no. I had something better in mind.”

***