12. The Secret Society: Cellar Door

Originally published at: The Secret Society - Cellar Door - Ackerly Green

Okay. It’s been nearly three weeks since I found the storefront. I called the number on the sign every day since then. No one ever called back. And every time I wore the pin it kept wanting to take me back to the store. I couldn’t take it anymore, so…

Last night I broke in.

I waited until about 3am then walked over. The front door was dead-bolted and I once locked myself in my own bathroom so there was no way I was getting it open by picking it. And I’m an otherwise upstanding magic-hunting burglar, not a vandal, so I didn’t want to smash the front window.

But there was a set of metal cellar doors in the sidewalk out front. The kind I’ve almost fallen into a thousand times here in the city. It was locked too, padlocked actually, from the inside. But it was also rusted all to hell. And I came prepared.

I want to go on the record and say this isn’t something I’d normally do. But the combo of the pin, the wondering what’s inside, and no one CALLING ME BACK FROM THAT NUMBER, well, the gears started turning.

So I brought a hammer and chisel back from the country. I mean, we’ve all done crazy things for magic, yeah? I mean, look who I’m talking to…

It took about an hour. When no one was passing by, I, as quietly as possible, hammered the hinge pins out of one side of the cellar door. Then all I had to do was pry open a hundred years or so of rust and climb down.

The basement was empty except for a family of about three-and-a-half million rats. I mean, I only saw two, but for all I know there could have been millions.

Upstairs was nothing but dust and empty boxes. Until I found the back office. It was empty too, except for a big, beautiful old desk that I definitely didn’t consider dragging out through the basement, but the pin was pulling me in there, and after digging through every nook and cranny, I found something.

Part of a shipping receipt. Nothing major, right? It just detailed some big, heavy crate sent to Marrakech with faded instructions stating (I think) “Return has been paid for, but only upon request.”

The recipient’s address was torn off.
But the deliverer’s address? It was the storefront. Or, as it used to be called, The Ackerly Green Book Shop. And the package was sent by our mysterious friend, “A.G.”

The minute I read it, my phone buzzed. I had to sit on the floor and take a second, because if it was another stupid email telling me some site was changing their Terms and Conditions I was going to put my fist through a wall.

But it was the app.

The notification read, “I’d found the key, and with it, a way to leave this world behind.”

I left through the basement and I’ve been in the office since, waiting for Woolie.
I’ll let you know if/when something happens.

Guys…

There actually was an Ackerly Green Book Shop. And our “A.G.” worked there.

Just like our AG office is kind of… blending with the old AG office, the Instagram account is blending with the Book Shop?

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Oh that’s exciting! Too bad the delivery address was gone…I’m very intrigued as to who (or what) was in Marrakech. Who was this AG working with?

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I’ve been to Marrakech. Morocco is a magiqal place. I am insanely curious as to what was in the shipment…

And no judgement on the breaking-and-entering. You did it as gently as possible. And it doesn’t sound much as if anyone will even notice, if it was empty and so unattended.

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An Ackerly Green Bookshop… Omg, yet another reason I’m bitter we don’t live in the book of wilds?!
Also, ill make the two hour drive and help you retrieve the desk :joy: . A good desk is hard to find these days.

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How big was that crate from Marrakech? Didn’t happen to be as big as a car, did it? Probably not, but it does remind me of our pal Cags. Then again, “I’d found the key, and with it, a way to leave this world behind” did remind me of Brandon and the Travelers, so maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic. :sweat_smile:

Seriously though… I’m dying to know who this “A.G.” is and what their connection to Ackerly Green is. Maybe it’s time to compile a list of known associates of this world’s Ackerly Green and try to narrow it down? Though it could be someone brought on as business was booming, in that other time… :brandonthinking: Man, so many questions!

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That’s amazing! I’m trying starting to wonder who this “A.G” is and where they had Ackerly Green Book Shop.

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this is…huge. we’ll be mulling all this over for a while im sure. but im sure it’ll be good.
wonder if Woolie is doing okay.

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Also, another thought. Was that receipt the key, or did Wookiee find something?

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Had dinner with the fam and then went back to the office. No Woolie. Ended up falling asleep and dreaming about the “other” office. I could hear Woolie. I dreamed I told him what the app notification said. Woke up in the wee hours and the office was freezing. I don’t know if it was real or not. We’ll see.

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Hmm. Guess we oughta prepare for an appearance.

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So, I’m probably over simplifying this. We don’t know who the recipient was, but do we know who shipped it?

If there’s an outstanding payment for a return and they’re just waiting for a request, the shipping company should have a record of that. And if they have a record, then they probably have the recipient in their records as well.

Is it possible to contact the shipping company and just ask for the return to the bookstore? Or better yet, tell them Ackerly Green moved to it’s new location, as you can prove you work for Ackerly Green, and have them ship it to your office.

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Excellent idea @Robert. Will dig into it.

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