“Exactly!” Rinn was excited now. “Like, Archer Hunt Junior is selling the physical bookstore and the physical land. We’re preserving the metaphysical bookstore—which is Wild Nights and its intellectual inventory. Guys, it’s very legal and very cool.”

Jo narrowed her eyes. “Books are not metaphysical, Rinn. You were throwing them around quite physically earlier today.”

“But those books belong to the idea of Wild Nights. They preserve the spirit of Old Mr. Hunt’s will. If we can preserve the books, we can save the bookstore.”

Daniella then managed to interrupt, cede to Rinn’s point, and contradict it, all in one go. “Are you saying that the only way we win is to lose?”

Rinn was excited now. It didn’t matter that she was being skeptical—if Daniella got where Rinn was going, if Rinn could get Daniella halfway there, then she could get the rest of them all the way there, Rinn was sure. “Yes and also no. It’s that, by trying to set this place up to lose, Archer Hunt Junior also set us up to win because of the terms of his father’s will. Because Hunt Junior watched from his weird-ass no-internet tower, doling out email cease and desists like that’s his job, not running this place, he’s probably not even thought about the books as an asset to the store. Just a piece of math that he has to manipulate in order to get what he wants.”

Imogen was looking like she might be on board now. “He did refuse to place those customer orders.”

“Exactly. He didn’t honor those bookings. He gave up on the idea of Wild Nights in order to sell Wild Nights. He’s not selling the store, not really. He’s selling the building and the land. We can’t save the building. But we can save the bookstore.”

Everyone looked like maybe, just maybe, this was a plausible plan. It was, at least, a working plan that they could get behind that didn’t involve scamming some other poor, unsuspecting person. And that was a hell of a lot better for Rinn, personally.

“It’s a good idea,” said Daniella. “I mean, it’ll take time for any plan like that to work. And the problem is, we don’t have any time. And where are we going to put all the books?”

That was a challenge if Rinn ever heard one, and Rinn loved a challenge. “Long term, yes, it will take time to rebuild a customer base. But short term, we need to get people into this store and buying stuff so we can afford a storage unit. We need to unload these Jordans. And I bet if we told my followers that these weird fake Jordans were for sale, they’d want a pair. And then—”

“Ohhh,” said Maya. “That’s where I know you. You’re thebookbruja. OMG, I love your feed.”