Page 7 of Legends and Librarians
As the stacks opened up to a large reading area circling the great book tree, I froze, all thoughts of stories coming to life gone. The book tree was withered, a husk of its normal self, with no leaves or books gracing its branches.
I pressed my hand against my chest, feeling the pain of that tree in my very soul. Book trees were gifts given to us by the gods, shooting up from the ground like flowers poking out of the snow in spring. One minute they were tiny little libraries and the next, they were full-sized and ready to use.
This one was almost out of magic though, as if it hadn’t been blessed in over a decade. It had only been a few years though,there was no way it should have been this drained. If I didn’t do something soon, all the repairs in the world wouldn’t matter. The book tree was what gave life to a library, without it, there’d be no point in fixing up the building.
Could I even wait until next year’s festival to gain the gods’ blessing?
I needed help, somebody who knew more about library magic. My old research partner from school was getting his doctorate in arcane relics. Maybe he’d have some ideas.
I pulled out my communication crystal, holding it up to the light to cast a rainbow. “Connect me to Oren.” I pet Cerbie, trying to calm my nerves as an image of Oren sleeping on a pile of books, glasses crooked, appeared in the rainbow. “Wake up. I’ve got a job for you.”
He jerked up, running his hands over his face to readjust his glasses. “Nyssa? You never contact me. Is something wrong?”
I moved closer to the withered book tree so it would show up in Oren’s crystal. “I’m reopening the Misty Mountain Library, but it looks like the tree’s magic has been drained.”
“Drained?” His eyes widened as I got closer to the tree, but then he frowned. “Something’s wrong with our connection. It looks like the tree’s...walking?”
I jerked my gaze from the crystal to agiant forest golem standing beside the tree. I tilted my head back to take all twenty feet of it in, watching it move with muscles made of corded vines holding the dirt, moss, and rocks together. One huge step swallowed the distance between us as I scrambled out of its way.
Cerbie ran circles around the golem, tail wagging with joy. It took another step, moving right past me as if it didn’t even see me there. Red flowers sprouted from its shoulders, blooming brightly under the light. They reminded me of a book I’d loved as a child about a gentle giant. No, it couldn’t be...
“Nyssa? What’s going on?” Oren’s voice snapped me out ofmy stunned silence. “Is that a golem?” Excitement colored his voice. He’d always loved mystical creatures, but hadn’t seen any up close. Not like this.
“What do you know about...books coming to life?” I gazed at the impossible golem in front of me. “Specifically, can characters from books ever become real?”
“Of course not,” Oren scoffed. “Unless...”
I’d seen that look in his eyes many times as he opened a book and got lost in his research for days on end. He always came up with an answer for everything I asked him, no matter how long it took him. This time would be no different.
Unfortunately, our conversation had drawn the golem’s attention. It turned slowly, gazing around the library with wide glowing eyes. It leaned down, close enough for me to smell the damp earth and sweet flowers in its body.
“Gotta go, Oren,” I stammered, before dropping the crystal. “Um, hello, Mr. Golem?”
“Not my human,” it said, its voice rumbling like an earthquake. “Where ismy human?”
Its voice was slow, drawn out, and something about its face, how its head tilted curiously and its eyes shimmered, reinforced my theory about it beingthegentle giant, the one who’d saved a misfit child from harm and made both their dreams come true. I couldn’t help but smile, remembering all the times I’d read that story, all the times I’d wished a golem of my own would find me.
“Nice to meet you,” I said. “My name’s Nyssa. Can you tell me why you’re here?”
“Why I’m here?” It straightened, body groaning as the rocks and vines shifted. “Here is my home.”
It’s home? Golems lived in the wild, not in cramped buildings where they couldn’t connect to nature.
“I’m sorry, but this is a library, not a magical refuge.” I worried my lip, not wanting to hurt its feelings. “Do youknow where you lived before? Was it outside the library or maybe...inside a book?”
A book fell off the mostly barren shelves nearby, making me jump. Then the shelves seemed to quiver as more books fell. One by one they hit the ground, making me cringe.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping the golem would stop whatever it was doing, but it just tilted its head, staring off in the distance.
Actually, it was staring at somebody walking toward us. A man, shrouded in darkness. Black horns curled over the man’s head and his fingers were tipped in claws, black as the night like they’d been dipped in ink that crept up his arm to his very toned biceps.
“Get out,” he said softly, but the words held weight, as if he fully expected me to follow orders. “We don’t need a new librarian. It’s time for you to leave.”
I swallowed hard. He obviously wasn’t human, but this was my library and I refused to be intimidated. Was he a character from a story like the golem? Or was he something else?
Before I could ask, the golem picked me up, my feet dangling in the air like a child too short for their chair. My stomach lurched, but its large hand held me securely, carrying me outside. It set me down far more gently than I expected, but then slammed the door in my face.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I sat outside. Did they just kick me out? Of my own library??
