Page 46 of Legends and Librarians
I had to test my theory and figure out the truth.
“Weren’t you leaving?” I asked, sounding a little blunter than I’d meant to. “For your job I mean, weren’t you going off to do other missions?”
I had to know, because if he was going to walk away, he shouldn’t get to know the library’s best kept secret. Or laugh at me if I was wrong about the whole thing. Not that I thought he’d actually do that. Ugh. This was all such a mess. Why was he thinking about leavingnowwhen we were on the verge of something amazing?
For the library...and between us.
I thought we’d been getting closer lately, but maybe that was all my imagination too. Getting lost in a romance novel was a lot easier than trying to experience your own.
Roan paced next to me, still not answering my question. I pulled my gaze away from the library to look at him, and when our gazes met, he stopped in his tracks.
“Nyssa...”
The way he said my name, soft and intimate, made me want to tell him everything racing through my mind even if he was leaving. I wanted to know his opinion on it, see what he’d come up with for how to figure out if the library was alive or not. I could ask it directly, sure, but how would it answer?
Wait.
The story spirits seemed to know what the library was thinking. All those times they said things like the library was abandoned or it didn’t trust people made more sense now. They acted like the library was a friend, like they were its protectors.
Had the library summoned them because it was...lonely?
Books had been my best friends for a few years too, but this was different. If the library had actually pulled characters out of their books for company, then it wasn’t just sentient. It had feelings, hopes, maybe even dreams.
How could I let a library like that fade away?
I had to know what was real and what wasn’t before I let my mind wander anymore.
“Here’s the deal, Roan. The library needs me, so if you’re leaving, I’d really prefer you just leave now.” I took a cautious step closer. “But if you want to stay, if you want to keep helping the library, you’re more than welcome to.”
The corner of his lips quirked up in a smile. “It almost sounds like you want me to stay.”
“That’s not what I said at all.” I rolled my eyes, but felt myselfsmiling back. “I just don’t want to get the story spirits’ hopes up if you’re going to leave soon. A clean break is better, before they get more attached to you.”
BeforeIgot more attached.
He stared at me for a bit too long. I glanced away, turning back to the library as if it would somehow show me if it was alive or not if I looked hard enough. But this time, my gaze kept flicking back to Roan.
Would he leave? Or would he stay with me?
“Okay, I’ll stay for a while longer,” he said, “until we can make sure the library is safe. Jade won’t let this go and that’s my fault, so you shouldn’t have to pay the price for our issues.”
The tightness in my chest loosened and I felt like I could breathe easier. He was going to stay. Not forever, of course, but long enough to help the library and for me to figure out what I actually felt about him.
That would have to be good enough for now.
“Then we’ve got a new mission.” I grinned, excitement charging every step I took toward the library. “We’re going to figure out if the library is sentient or not.”
“Sentient?” Roan asked, disbelief in his voice. “Where’d that come from?”
“You’ll see.” I rested my hand on the door, feeling magic flowing through it.
This library had comforted me and filled my childhood with adventures. If it was sentient, if it knew what was happening, then that changed everything. I hadn’t just been a kid having fun at the library. I’d been a kid spending time with a friend...
“If you’re alive,” I whispered, “please, please find a way to let me know.”
The door creaked open, sending a shiver through me. This was so insane, but exciting at the same time. After I’d been thrown out the first day, this door had stayed shut with almostunnatural force. Nothing I’d done had budged it, almost like the library itself had refused to let me in. But now? It welcomed me with open doors.
I stepped inside slowly with a new reverence for the place. Roan followed me, silent but curious as his gaze swept the area.
