“Mystery? You think I’m ready for mystery?” The portal stretched out before Kaleen. She was about to become a book-surfer. A real book-surfer.

The Proprietor nodded.

“What will I find?”

The proprietor laughed, eyes twinkling as he leaned on his walking stick. “That’s the mystery.”

Kaleen narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve been waiting to use that line all day, haven’t you?”

“No.” The proprietor scoffed, his grey mustache puffing out with the air. Then he leaned close enough to whisper in her ear.  “Maybe. Now be on your way.”

Kaleen stepped into the aisle as the Proprietor chanted softly. She felt the beginnings of his spell as she stepped through the aisle, running a light finger over the spines, in hopes that a title would reach out to her. She stopped at red cover, with a partial picture on the top. She held the cover up to the Proprietor. “Here. I’ll surf here.”

He thumped the base of his staff on the ground and the spell took hold. A hat appeared on her head, and the book shimmered into a bright red ticket. She was wearing a form fitted wool suit and carried a rather large suitcase. She looked once more at the Proprietor, then turned to face the surf initiator, carefully repeating the words written there. “Ele-Kel-Wic-May”

The bookshelves vanished, replaced by a train station with staff bustling around it. Kaleen smiled as a man in a uniform approached her. “Morning Ma’am. Welcome aboard the Orient Express.”