Chapter 52 A Bright Flash of Light

Kat continued to hug Lily for a while. Reassuring her friend that it would work out. After calming down Lily slowly separated herself from Kat and said "Ok, thank you. I needed that, a lot. I think I'm still going to look through these books. I think I'll find the cheapest textbook for the subjects I'm interested in" said Lily.

"Ok, I'll come and look with you" said Kat patting her friend on the head.

The girls spent a bit of time examining the books around the store. It wasn't hard to find assorted textbooks on a wide range of topics but comparing the prices was a nightmare. Some books were marked on the corners, others had a slip on the front cover and no small number had no visible pricing just a sticker with a barcode on them, a few even seemed to be lacking anything at all to identify the price.

"Maybe you should get a job here, clearly they need someone to organise this mess" said Kat

"Um, er, they have that guy out the front, he seems unconcerned" said Lily

"Yes, because teenage boys are the best benchmark for if a room is cleaned or not. I've lived with quite a few of them, and outside a few specific instances the mess just accumulates somehow. Honestly it's pretty magical to watch week by week" said Kat

"Hey wait a minute" said Kat after a moment of thought "Isn't your room just as bad as the shop?"

"Well, no, most of my books on the floor are heavily damaged and can't be read anymore. Only a few specific stacks are still fine, and I keep them orderly" said Lily blushing.

Gathering together four books that Kat and Lily could only assume where the cheapest in the shop they headed to the counter. Lily had chosen to cover, science, design, teaching and computer science.

"So I get the design, and maybe even the science but why the teaching and computer science?" said Kat

"Ah, well, the science and the computer science are both for researching. Science you've figured out, but computer science also has some research areas like data science. The teaching is because if I want to be a teacher librarian I have to be a qualified teacher as well" said Lily

"And you want to teach? In front of people?" said Kat raising an eyebrow

"Well, I mean, not really… I'm just keeping my options open. These are the only things I'm even remotely interested in I think" said Lily

"Well I hope you think otherwise nobodies got any idea what you're doing" said Kat

Lily and Kat placed the books on the counter and the boy behind the counter stopped reading long enough to ring through the prices before turning back to his book. Lily was about to walk away when Kat jabbed her with an elbow lightly and whispered "Ask him if there is a chance you could get a job here" said Kat

Lily paled and returned with "I'm not prepared for this, and I mean the city is a long way away"

"If you're sure" said Kat as she swiped the four books and went to meet up with Vivian and Lily who were waiting out the front.

"Hey, I can help with that Kat" said Lily. Kat responded by lifting the books with just one hand.

"They really aren't that heavy" said Kat

"Still, I shouldn't make you carry them" said Lily. Kat then lifted the books up onto two fingers. Kat was struggling a bit to balance them, but the weight was no issue.

"Fine" said Lily pouting.

As the group started walking Kat noticed that Vivian was holding a book "What did you buy Vivian?"

"Actually, Sylvie suggested it, we are going to make our way through it together" said Vivian. Turning the book around it read 'Shogi for dummies'

*I feel like I should have questions, but I can't figure out what they are.*

"So where to now?" said Kat as they left the store

"Wherever you girls want" said Vivian

"Why are you leading the way then" said Kat

"Would you like to lead the way?" said Vivian. Silenced followed, as no one replied

"I thought so" said Vivian "I'm just planning to go through the hall mall. Just stop me if you find anything interesting" said Vivian

And so the group continued to wander around the shops. Occasionally Vivian would lead them into a store for them to look around for a moment but nothing of note was purchased. Things were relatively normal until two girls around Kat's age tapped her on the shoulder from behind. Turning around to face the pair Kat saw that they were both wearing matching outfits of jeans and split sleeve shirts.

*These girls have to be twins, or at least sisters. Actually, they remind me of Annie and Amanda. Could it be the same girls?*

"Do you think we could get a picture with you" said Twin 1

"We'd be quite grateful" said Twin 2

"Sure, if you'd like" said Kat, and before she even finished her sentence Vivian had appeared beside the twins.

"I'll take the picture" said Vivian bringing out her phone

"Thanks" said the Twins

"So how do you want to do this" said Kat as they moved out of the central walkway into a bit of a corner.

"If you don't mind" said Twin 1

"We'd like to stand either side of you" said Twin 2. Kat nodded and took position along the wall. The twins took up positions either side of Kat posing slightly with there arms crossed, leaning away from Kat slightly.

*Should I be posing as well* Kat decided on crossing her arms to match the twins and leaning backwards slightly.

"Everyone ready" said Vivian lining up the shot with exaggerated hand movements "Say demons"

Kat flashed a grin, and while the twins responded faithfully with "Demons" The camera flash went off and Kat was pleasantly surprised to note that she wasn't blinded by it at all. The twins however both had to blink there eyes a few times before they headed over to Vivian to check out the photos.

"Huh, I didn't think Kat had purple eyes, strange photo" said Twin 2. The world slowed as Kat's mind went into overdrive. *Why are my eyes showing purple? I didn't use any powers, did I? Shit, the flash, could it have caused this? I used a bit of demonic energy to counteract the flash and they showed up purple?* As the twins turned to face Kat she put the barest hint of energy just behind her eyes hoping that it would replicate the purple tint shown in the photograph.

"Huh, I guess you're wrong sis, she's got purple eyes right now" said Twin 2

"I thought for sure they were blue just before" said Twin 1

"Might have been the lighting" said Twin 2

Vivian paled slightly while this conversation was going on connecting the dots same as Kat had done with only a little more time in between.

"Hey girls, how did you want me to send you this photo? Email? Text?" said Vivian calmly trying to redirect the conversation. The twins both shared a look with each other before nodding to some unspoken agreement.

"Send it to 'doubleAtwins@moonriver.com'" said the twins in perfect sync.

"Sounds great dears, just one moment and…" said Vivian fiddling with her phone "Sent"

It was at this point Kat noticed a line forming around her. *Oh great. I say yes to one picture and now I have a crowd. Normally I wouldn't mind but Vivian said we have to leave in time to visit her friend. Plus I don't really want to be taking pictures on my day off when I could be hanging out with everyone.*

"Ok, I apologise but I have things to do. I'll do five extra pictures. You provide the device to my friend" said Kat pointing to Vivian who waved and smiled "and we can take one picture. I don't mind if you want to partner up or have a few groups at once. Just been mindful of each other, no fighting and don't take too long" Turning back to face the twins who were beginning to walk away to avoid the crowd "See you both next time Annie, Amanda"

The twins waved back not really thinking about it and continuing for a moment before turning and realising what Kat had just said, though when they turned Kat already had quite the crowd. So they left to continue their day out.

While this was happening Kat heard a shutter go off from the crowd. *Should I be mean about this? Yeah I think I will.*

"Ok, that's one photo" said Kat. The crowd made displeased grumbles but couldn't identify the person. Because of this the crowd started to ramble and had the voices mix into indistinct sounds before the seemed to reach a census. The groups surrounding Kat split roughly into four groups. *Well, I guess this is how we are doing this now, school choir style.*

As everyone was getting into position Kat carefully released her calming aura to surround everyone. *Better off using this now to prevent an issue. Hopefully we can just calming get a few group photos and I can be on my way…*