"HELLOOOO!" 

I can't help but immediately cover my ears in shock at the sudden loud voice. After spending the past few hours in near silence, the sudden crashing voice made my head ring. Before I could get my bearings together, a peppy young woman peeked out from one of the back bookcases, grinning from ear to ear. Black curls framed her pale complexion, the skin only broken up by the dark circles under her eyes and the amber irises darting up and down as she looked me over. A small black top hat accented with yellow ribbon teetered haphazardly to one side of her face, and small earrings with smiling ghosts dangled about from her ears. She finally walked out from behind the bookcase, walking up to me and holding out her hand. 

"I've heard a lot about you from Matteo, he always loves chatting about you. I know he mentioned that you looked like your mother, but goodness, the resemblance really is uncanny!" She smiled again, the kind of charm in her expression that one might expect from someone who loves their work almost too much. 

"You knew my mom?" I asked curiously. My father refused to tell me much about the woman he once loved, the party-hungry succubus of a person that seduced him only to run off after I had been born, not wishing to be burdened down by the idea of a family. To think that this woman before me could hold some of the answers that my father had constantly hid from me? Well, it made this summer job seem just a little more interesting. As I continued this train of thought, the mystery woman was bobbing her head up and down in an exaggerated nodding motion. 

"Can't say that I knew her well, but I remember a few things from the time I spent with her. Truly a remarkable lady in many ways, but anyways, we're getting off-topic," she looked at me again, holding one of my hands tightly, "My name's Serina Von Richter, and starting today I'm your boss for the next three months!" 

I nodded and managed a nervous grin. Apparently this was enough of a confirmation for Serina as she pulled me by the arm and led me through the shelves to an area too far back into the store to be seen from my quick peek in from the outside. It was a nice lounge-type space with several chairs and a long couch all completely surrounded in books. As I looked about, it was clear that this was a commonly used space, with the lack of dust and the dozens of books strewn around the place. Serina offered me one of the seats, so I placed my bag by one shelf and sat down. I couldn't help but feel my muscles tensing up. This was a big moment for me, finally meeting the phantom friend my father had spoken so highly of. I rubbed my hands together, trying to wipe away some of the sweat building up on my palms. 

Serina took a seat opposite of me, her smile still radiating but her gaze seeming a bit...distant. I almost wanted to wave in front of her face to get her attention, but whatever she was stuck on she snapped out of to look at me. 

"You honestly won't have to do too much around here, just tidy shelves, deal with customers, restock when we need it. It's no biggie. I have a lot of other... things to handle, so you'll be manning the store by yourself most of the time, but it never gets that busy so you shoudn't have any problems. There's rooms upstairs so you can bring your stuff up there if you want!" Serina smiled at me, as if she was asking me if I had any questions without opening her mouth. I just nodded quickly. I found myself a bit intimidated by this woman's seemingly boundless amounts of energy. 

When she realized that I wasn't going to reply to her, Serina jumped up. Her earrings bobbed around her face as if the ghosts were sharing in her excitement. "Well there's no time like the present! I have a job outside, so I hope I can trust you to keep this place from falling down!" My eyes widened. She wants me to start five minutes after I showed up?! 

Before I could even voice a complaint, Serina was out the door and gone from sight. I watched her curly hair bounce off in the distance, then sighed. 

"What have I gotten myself into..."