Page 209 - The Midnight Library

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A Pearl in the Shell

She opened her eyes from a shallow sleep and the first thing she noticed was

that she was incredibly tired. She could see a picture on the wall, in the dark.
She could just about make out that the picture was a mildly abstract
interpretation of a tree. Not a tall and spindly tree. Something short and
wide and flower y.
ere was a man next to her, asleep. It was impossible to tell, as he was

turned away from her, in the dark, and given that he was largely hidden
under the duvet, whether this man was Ash.
Somehow this felt weirder than usual. Of course, to be in bed with a man

who she hadn’t done anything more with than bur y a cat and have a few
interesting conversations from behind the counter of a music shop should
have felt slightly strange in the normal run of things. But since entering the
Midnight Librar y Nora had slowly got used to the peculiar.
And just because it was possible that the man was Ash, it was also possible

that it wasn’t. ere was no predicting ever y future outcome aer a single
decision. Going for a coffee with Ash might have led, for instance, to Nora
falling in love with the person ser ving the coffee. at was simply the

unpredictable nature of quantum physics.
She felt her ring finger.
Two rings.
e man turned over.
An arm landed across her in the dark and she gently raised it and placed it

back on the duvet. en she took herself out of bed. Her plan was to go
downstairs and maybe lie on a sofa and, as usual, do some research about
herself on her phone.