Page 25 of Legends and Librarians
He rummaged through his pockets, patting down his clothes with a panicked look on his face.
“You did bring this magical fix with you, right?” I asked calmly. Oren was notorious for losing things or putting them in weird places. “Please tell me you have it.”
“Of course I do.” He dipped his hands into another pocket. His face lit up as he pulled out a bright green vial. “Here it is! The dryads said this was concentrated story magic, almost like nutrients for the tree so it can absorb more magic from reading.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” I eyed the vial as if it was filled with gold. “How does it work?”
He tipped it over, pouring it in a circle around the tree’s roots with a shrug. “Like that? Now you really do need to read as much as you can. And make sure they’re different books too, preferably ones you haven’t read before, so your imagination is really sparking. The library will eat that reading magic right up.”
I smiled, always loving the idea that me reading could help the library, but then my gaze fell on the mostly empty bookshelves.
“We don’t have very many books yet,” I said. “I was going to hold off on buying any until after we reopened. The repairs are going to take up my whole endowment I think.”
Oren frowned. “What’s the point of spending tons of money on repairs if you don’t have enough books to draw in patrons? People don’t come to libraries for thelooks, they come for thebooks.” He grinned. “But seriously, buy more books. Make everyone read them.”
He was right. Books were too important to ignore and if reading new ones really would recharge the book tree faster,then I had to give it a try.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll order a bunch of books and we’ll have a read-a-thon to save the library!”
“That’s the spirit!”
I held my hand up for a high-five, but ended up covering up a yawn instead. “Sorry, it’s been another long day. And we have more work to do tomorrow.” Wait. Two people in one bedroom was already pushing it, but three? “Umm...I’ll sleep in the library and you can have the caretaker’s room.”
“No, don’t worry about me,” Oren said. “I’m more than happy to stay up all night talking to these story spirits. I couldn’t sleep even if I tried.”
“You sure?”
He was already wandering off, waving over his shoulder. “Mmmhmm.”
Okay, well I guess that left me to keep the caretaker’s room then. I paused, my hand on the railing of the spiral staircase. Was Roan going to join me again or would he be staying up with Oren? If I went to sleep without telling him, he might feel too awkward to use the room too.
What to do, what to do...
“Hey Roan?” I called out, waiting for him to head over. “I’m uh, heading to bed. Feel free to share the room again if you want.”
He nodded. “Okay, that sounds good. I can protect you better that way.”
“Focus on sleep. I’ll be fine.”
But it had felt nice having him there when I woke up surrounded by story spirits. He had this comforting aura about him, like he could take care of anything. That probably wasn’t true, nobody was that perfect, but I liked the feeling anyway.
We walked up the stairs together the same as yesterday, but it felt different now. We’d worked so closely today that I wasaware of every time his body brushed against mine or the way his eyes lit up when I caught his gaze.
I opened the door to the room, walking past the blankets he’d slept on. “Are you going to sleep there again? Or...”
Join me in the bed? Somehow the easy offer I’d made last night held more weight now. If we shared the bed, I had a feeling I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep. But the floor couldn’t have been comfortable, no matter what he said, and the bed really was pretty big.
“Or?” Roan asked, grinning wickedly. “I seem to remember you offering to share the bed?”
I raised an eyebrow. “And I seem to remember you declining that offer.”
He laughed. “True, I really am fine on the floor.”
“Okay, if you’re sure...”
When he nodded, I went into the bathroom to get ready, grateful I still had another change of clothes for tomorrow. The contractors would be here soon and could hopefully fix the laundry crystals. Otherwise, we’d be going clothes shopping.
After a refreshing bath, I dried myself off and headed to the bedroom. Roan watched me closely as I passed by, his lips parted slightly.
