Mary got a letter regarding her bookshop and had to return to her town for a week. Thomas was sad that he would not be able to search for his parents, but Sheila told him she would accompany him. He was a small boy, and they did not want him to go alone. Thomas was excited and went to look for suitable stories. 

Sheila had always wanted to visit Japan. So, she asked Thomas to search for Japanese stories. He found one that seemed to have a chance, that his parents could visit. So, both Sheila and he started reading the story. It was about a young Japanese boy who fought dragons. The story was interesting. After packing some necessities, Sheila and Thomas stepped into the book. They walked a bit till they came to a village. The villagers looked at them. They looked different, and so they got inquisitive glances. 


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Sheila and Thomas did not stop to talk to the locals. They walked towards the village library and asked the librarian if a couple had visited the place and showed the photograph. The librarian recognised the photo and asked them to wait. Sheila was tired, and they sat. The librarian brought them soup to drink. Thomas was skeptical, and he did not drink it. Sheila, meanwhile, thanked her and started to drink, ignoring Thomas trying to eye her. 

Sheila dozed off and nearly fell off the low stool. The librarian was nowhere to be found, and Thomas smelled something fishy. So, he went inside the adjacent room and saw that the librarian was trying to take some ropes to bind them. He waved his hand at the ropes, and it bound the librarian to the chair. She looked at Thomas in surprise but smiled evilly. Thomas suspected that she must have notified the sorcerer, i.e., the man in the coat. 

Thomas had no time to lose. He had to get out of there along with Sheila. To his surprise, he saw the photograph of the couple on a magazine that was kept on the librarian's table. He grabbed it and kept it inside his coat pocket. He then sprinkled some water on Sheila's face, and she got up, startled. He explained to her that she had been drugged. They ran out of the library and went in the opposite direction from the way they had come. They could not trust the villagers. 

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Meanwhile, they saw the boy who fought the dragons and stopped to talk to him. He was friendly and told them that the magical couple had been sheltered by his grandparents a few weeks ago, but they had escaped when the librarian summoned the sorcerer. The couple had given him a ring and told him to give it to their son if he ever appeared. Thomas took the ring from the boy, and then the boy made them sit on his dragon, and they flew towards the door and stepped out after waving goodbye to the boy. 

Thomas mentioned to Sheila that they had not yet read the book given to them by the man from the jungle. So, both he and Sheila started to read the book and the magazine and then test out the ring to see if it had magical powers. Mary had returned and told them that somebody had tried to break into her bookshop, and the security had stopped the person, but he had escaped. The police asked her to file a complaint, and she had done so. She also asked her friend to open the bookshop in her absence. 

What was written in the book? Was Thomas able to use his magical ring?


To be continued...

© sayee

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[Life in the remote village and a Jungle adventure (The bookshop adventure story 5)](https://ecency.com/story/@sayee/life-in-the-remote-village)