The Other Place

The independent book store Rosa led Holly into didn't look anything out of the ordinary at all. It wasn't full of dusty old tomes written in strange looking languages and covered in hieroglyphics. In fact, the first book that caught her eye was the Let Them Theory, which she had been meaning to read and was now considering picking up after whatever business it was she and Rosa had here concluded. She figured, since they had spent more than two hours driving to Charlotte specifically to visit this place, she would prefer not to come away empty handed.

The man behind the counter did have a slightly other worldly look about him. He was intimidatingly large, had a long, well groomed beard, wore vintage half-framed glasses and dressed in a style that could have been viewed either as old fashioned or bohemian. Still, he didn't look anything particularly out of the ordinary for the kind of mildly eccentric literary type who might choose to run their own book store. He recognised Rosa immediately and smiled broadly.

"I didn't expect to see you here Rosie, I thought you preferred life out on the West Coast?"

"I do, generally. But I found something here I enjoy even more" she gestured to her partner with a smile "This is my girlfriend Holly, and I have decided she is going to be the person I will share the rest of my existence with"

"Wow, it's great to meet you Holly. You must be something special to have tied this one down" the store owner told her with genuine surprise, before turning back to Rosa "So does that mean you are planning to..."

"Yes, we are going to be bound, but it's a little more complicated than that. I'm going to need to visit home, and I want to show Holly where I'm really from so she will be coming with me"

"You want to take a regular mortal to the other place?" the shop owner folded his arms and looked a little uneasy.

"I do, Alby. It's such a big part of who I am that I want Holly to see and understand it" Rosa insisted "This kind of thing has been done plenty of times before. And this isn't just anyone, it's the regular mortal I'm in love with"

Alby paused for a moment before shrugging and chuckling "Fine, I'm sure you know what your doing, just don't tell anyone I sent you both there. And you already know what I want in return"

"Of course" Rosa nodded.

"Okay then, will you two lovely young ladies follow me please?"

Alby led the pair through to a lockable storage room at the back of the store. There seemed nowhere to go from here and a very confused Holly, who had remained quiet up until now, could no longer maintain her silence..

"I'm sorry, I'd assumed we were coming here to pick up a spell book or something. What is this other place I'm supposed to be visiting?"

"It's a different realm, where I first came into being" Rosa started to explain"You know how in the story books you read as a kid there were all these magical, mythical lands full of castles, and fairies, and leprechauns and stunning scenery with magical waterfalls. and enchanted forests"

"Yeah, I know the kind of place you are talking about" Holly nodded excitedly.

"Right, well it's nothing like that" Rosa grinned, pleased with her fake out "It's more like going back in time a few hundred years"

"It's actually quite a quaint little place" Alby assured Holly as he handed Rosa a plain, black cloak "You'll be fine as long as you stick with Rosie. And don't eat anything you find growing there"

"What's that for?" Holly nodded at the garment.

"I can't really go there wearing what I am now, I'd look as weird as if I walked around here wearing the cloak"

"Don't I get a cloak then?" Holly asked.

"Actually, that brings me neatly into explaining one more quirky little tradition we'll need to observe while we are over there. As a non magical being, you will be expected to travel naked"

"What?!"

"It's really a show of good faith, to demonstrate you aren't hiding anything and to show due reverence to those with powers you don't have" Alby explained "I'm not fond of that kind of snobbery myself, but things aren't as progressive there as they are here"

"I swear to both of you, if this turns out to be a prank on the gullible non witch and I end up just being naked in a bookshop.."

"You won't, you'll be naked in another plane" Rosa smiled, looking like she would be equally happy to have Holly be nude in either place.

"And you're both sure I'm not in any danger, being nude and non magical and surrounded by witches and wizards?" when she said that out loud, Holly felt crazy for even considering this.

"The chances of randomly having a spell cast on you in the other place are roughly the same as being mugged in a quiet rural area in this world" Alby attempted to allay her concerns "You'll be fine as long as you don't do anything silly"

"Like walking around butt naked?" Holly raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I really don't want you to tale this the wrong way Hols, but you walking around there naked will seem as natural as a dog being unclothed here" Rosa told her girlfriend bluntly

"Is there a right way to take that?" Holly sighed "I really don't know why I'm agreeing to this. We don't even need to go there for the other thing do we?"

"I do for my preparations, and I want you to keep me company and see the other side of my life. This is important to me, Hols."

"Fine, I'll come with you this once" Holly sighed "I suppose it would pretty boring of me to turn down the chance to visit another world"

"Perfect. Then stand back ladies and I will open the portal"

Holly now almost felt like she was actually in an episode of Supernatural as Alby waved his arm up and down and made a long, shimmering light come into existence, before parting it into something around the size of a large doorway. He then bowed and exited the room to allow his guests to undress.

"Once I get my powers back, I'll be able to do that in our lounge" Rosa gestured at the gateway to a different reality.

"I don't think I'd want one of those in our lounge" Holly answered as she undressed and took her partners hand.

"We'd better head through quickly before I wimp out of this"