Saturday morning sees Bella with her notebooks about magic all in her knapsack, her medallion safety-pinned by its chain to her bra just in case she trips the wrong way, waiting with Charlie for pickup for the Avalon trip.
The door opens, and - that is not a warehouse interior.
That's definitely a town. The roads aren't built for cars and there's no sign of any, but they're lovely and paved, with cute shops and houses and little flower gardens that decorate the place. There's got to be some kind of magic at play with the ceiling, because it looks like the sky, even though they're inside a set of warehouses. It feels like they're outside, like they're in some kind of strange American town that decided to forgo cars entirely.
And, of course, fill itself with strange creatures. Midform appears to be the common theme. There are few people who look human, but they're rare and far between. Of the critters - they're quite varied in species, and it's possible to pick out entire families based on species. Everyone seems quite accustomed to it, and no one gives Bella or the twins a weird glance. They fit right in, here.
"Welcome to your first Avalon," says Vernon.
"Yup. Before you ask, no, I've got no clue who did the thing with the ceiling."
"Suppose it just looks that way, if you flew up there it'd be ceiling?" guesses Charlie.
"I'm tempted to go find out, but I don't wanna unexpectedly bump my head."
"It's still ceiling. I asked, and it doesn't rain here 'cause of that - they get water through pipes and water everything."
"Food," says Savannah. "Then you can geek out over books. I'm hungry."
"Oh wow, now that you mention it me too, starving, let's find something to eat and then I guess Dad is going computer shopping?"
He gets a shoulder pat from his father. "What are we in the mood for? First restaurant that we see, or something specific?"
They locate a little sandwich shop. It mostly has sandwiches, but also fries and milkshakes. Bella orders a battered cod fillet on whole wheat with tartar sauce and cabbage on it and a side of fries and talks her dad into splitting a shake with her.
In addition to his half of the shake, Charlie will be dining on a turkey club and onion rings.
Vernon has a salami sandwich with mustard, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickles, and swiss cheese. He's not particularly interested in having a side, and just has the sandwich.
At random, Savannah picks something off of the menu with a name she hasn't seen before in her life. It turns out to be vegetarian. Extremely vegetarian. Savannah whines about the lack of meat a bit, but placates herself with fries and ends up reasonably happy in the end.