Jess splashed into a puddle as she got out of her car. She groaned as water seeped through her worn boots and into her wool stockings. With one arm she grabbed all her books and with the other she protected them with an umbrella against the hounding wind and rain. With a smack of her hip her car door shut and she hurried through the dark street to her flat. But before she got there a gust of wind came suddenly from the south and jerked her umbrella inside out. With a yelp she jerked with it, trying to desperately to maintain her grip on her stack of books. Her long trench whipped around her legs, nearly causing her to fall. She fought the wind for her umbrella, but the wind seemed to have other ideas. It pulled and tugged and almost led her down the street and around the corner. Her shoulder hit a lamppost and all of her books tumbled out of her hand, landing on the wet cobblestone with a heartbreaking thud. Jess tried to reach for them, save them from their watery graves, but still the wind pulled. For a moment she almost let go on the umbrella, releasing it to fly its own crazy path. But something in her seemed to whisper hold on. So oddly enough, she did.
Finally an alley corner was rounded and the wind seemed satisfied – as oddly as it had begun, it stopped. Jess stood there in the dark alley, gasping for breathe and trying to figure out where she was. This simple twenty three year old, with glasses on nose and ink stains on hands, was not particularly gifted in geography, but she could recite Shakespeare at the drop of a dime. She had no idea which streets she had turned on to or which direction she had been turning. With rain stained glasses things were difficult to make out. But then she saw it. There, a few yards before her, was a small blue light, softly illuminating a mischievous grin leaning against a blue box.
An immediate battle of curiosity and panic sparked in Jess's head. Alone in a strange alley with a strange man. Late a night. No one knew where she was. But still, another voice seemed to be whispering familiar. Adventure. Trust. There was absolutely no reason why she should listen to the second voice – she had never seen this man before in her life. But there was something about him that…her thoughts were shattered as he suddenly took a step towards her.
"'Ello! Dreadful weather, isn'it? Sorry about that wind, I got a bit carried away with that. But you must admit, it was quiet the clever way of getting' you here." The man now stood in front of her, a full head and a half taller than her. With the aid of the apparently blue flashlight Jess could make out his face. She starred blankly at it, slowly trying to process what she had just heard. He continued.
"Ya see, I am in need of one of the books you bought today, the antique biography and the Bard himself, good ol' Will." the strange man continued, eagerly rocking back and forth in his white converse. Her books. Shock gave way to anger.
"My books! You! That was your fault? Oh I'm going to kill you!" Jess lunged at the man, hands ready to rip out his wild brown locks. The man grabbed her arms and laughed.
"Hold on there missy, what happened to your books?"
"I dropped them when I was being dragged here by the demonic wind and –"
"Actually, that wasn't demonic that was a simple reverse of the molecular wind current in pattern with the –"
"I don't care! Shut up! I dropped them in a puddle, back a ways! And you, sir, are going to help me save them! I don't know who you are, but if you can control the wind then I'm bloody sure you can dry off some books." And with that Jess grabbed the hand that was holding her arm and tore off in the direction of her precious books. The man grinned and eagerly followed.