Page 82 of Legends and Librarians
We had our first patron of the day and he wasn’t afraid of the golem at all.
“Do you want to go inside?” I asked Jasper. “There’s so much more for you to see.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, tipping his hat at me with a kind smile. “I want to see everything.”
A warm happy feeling settled in my chest, driving all the worry from a few moments ago away. Willow and I led him inside to find Roan hard at work keeping the other story spirits entertained. Seeing him like that, so at home with the story spirits compared to how he was when he first came here, filled my heart. How could I possibly fail with him by my side? We were a team, reviving this library together.
Roan turned with a smile as a small green dragon landed on his head. “Hey there.”
“Hi,” I squeaked out, trying not to squeal over how adorable such a strong adventurer looked with a tiny dragon on his head. I cleared my throat, gesturing at Jasper. “This is Jasper, the courier who brought us all those books a few weeks back.”
“Welcome to the Misty Mountain Library,” Roan said warmly. “We’re all very glad you’re here. The books were wonderful.”
Jasper nodded, his eyes practically shining with wonder as he tried to take it all in at once. Lisa wandered over, leading him to a chair just in case he was a bit too overwhelmed, but he seemed fine.
“This is amazing,” he said. “I never dreamed that stories could really come to life like this.” He frowned at me. “They are characters from books, right? That’s the rumor I heard around town. Well, one of the rumors at least.”
I resisted the urge to wince at the idea of rumors and forced a smile instead. “Yes, they’re books brought to life with story magic. We’re a one-of-a-kind library, the only place you can talk to your favorite stories in person.”
Roan smiled, nodding slightly at me like he was telling me I was doing a good job. Butterflies danced in my stomach. Everything was riding on us getting more patrons, but finally getting one was a little nerve-wracking too. I was glad it was somebody like Jasper, so full of joy and love for books.
“It’s such a shame not many people are here to see this,” Jasper said, shaking his head. “If they knew what they were missing out on, really knew, they’d be racing up the mountain to get here. But I bet it’s hard to tear anyone away from Lady Thistlebrook. You should have seen the lines waiting to meet her.”
I froze. “Wait, what about Lady Thistlebrook?”
“Oh, uhhhh..,” Jasper busied himself petting Cerbie. “The library on the other end of town got her to sponsor them so everyone’s going kind of crazy. They’ve never had somebody so famous there before.”
She was one of my favorite authors, so any other day I’d have been overjoyed to hear that she was at a library nearby. I’d have grabbed my favorite book of hers and raced into town to get it signed, no matter how long the line was. But today wasn’t any other day. Today was the Tales and Tomes Festival, the one day that this library needed to be full of people, to prove that the town wanted it to keep existing.
I sank onto a chair as the weight of Jasper’s news really sank in. The only reason that library had even popped up there wasbecause nobody was coming to this one and it sensed the town’s love for books was still strong. Add that to Lady Thistlebrook’s fame and we didn’t have a chance.
After all the repairs we’d done, after all the people we’d talked to, after everything, it was going to end like this. I really thought that all we had to do was fix the library up and let people know it was open. I assumed people would rush to see the story spirits, to see this library full of life again. That’s what I would have done...
Tears pricked my eyes. I tried to blink them back, but I’d been going and going for so long on sheer optimism, believing that we could do this if we just worked hard enough, and now it was all crumbling around me. Even if we got patrons, it probably wouldn’t be enough to show the gods that this library really mattered to anyone. They’d think it could serve the world better somewhere else.
I was going to lose everything I’d fought so hard to protect and I’d be letting everyone down in the process too.
“I’m so sorry.” My vision blurred as my tears flowed down my cheeks. “I got all of your hopes up for nothing. I didn’t even really think about the other library or trying to get somebody famous here. I genuinely believed that the library being repaired and full of story spirits would be enough. People probably still don’t know what they really are though and that’s my fault. I should have gone into town more often, should have worked harder to show them how amazing the story spirits are, should have —”
“Stop,” Roan said, kneeling by my chair. “This isn’t your fault.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, unable to look at his kind smile. He’d finally found a home here and that would all be gone soon. He’d probably go back to adventuring and I’d...find another library?
No, I didn’t want to work at another library again. The Misty Mountain Library was my home.
The Demon Lord’s shadows snapped at my ankles, the only thing I could see while I hid from everyone’s gazes.
“Stop crying,” he said, blinking a bit faster himself. “You’re making everyone else sad too.”
Lisa sighed. “Give her a break. She deserves to have a good cry if it’ll make her feel better.”
I took a deep breath, swallowing hard as the tears of frustration I’d been holding in for weeks just kept falling. This was my dream. I’d quit my job, left my apartment, basically given up everything for this one opportunity. It couldn’t just end like this.
A glowing light drew my attention to the stacks as a book flew off the shelf and opened its cover. Bright like shined from the pages, just like when the story spirits came out of their books, except I didn’t recognize this story.
“Hey Misty, what’s going–”
Torrential rain fell from a dark gray rain cloud that was now covering the ceiling.
