Page 34 of Legends and Librarians
His breath tickled my ear as he leaned down, holding me tight. Then he pulled away, looking everywhere but at me.
“Well, what’s the plan now?” he asked. “Whatever the story spirits did, the town’s terrified.”
“You’re right.” I glanced over at the other story spirits who were sheepishly hiding in the room still. “You can come out now. I’ve got a few questions for you.”
The golem trudged out with the tiny dragons resting on its shoulders, followed by Lisa, the knights, and Mochi. With their gazes pinned to their feet, they looked like naughty children who’d been caught stealing the pie from somebody’s window.
“The townsfolk seem terrified of you and I want to know why.” I crossed my arms. “So, who wants to go first?”
Mochi wandered over, chittering quickly about something. He put a sandwich on the ground, then ran across the room and put a cupcake, and then a cookie down, spreading them out all over the room like we were on a treasure hunt.
I glanced at Roan, hoping he’d know what the heck that meant, but he just shook his head as Mochi continued to chitter.
When Mochi was done, he stood in front of us, head tilted like he was waiting for an answer.
“Umm...,” I glanced desperately at Lisa. “Translation?”
“When we first appeared,” she said as Mochi handed her a cup of tea and she sat down like she was about to tell a really good story, “Mochi ran into a little girl lost in the woods outside. He gave her some food so she wouldn’t be hungry and helped her find her parents again. After that, he started leaving food all over the mountain in case anyone else got lost too.”
“That sounds nice,” I said slowly, “so why were they afraid?”
Her lips twitched. “Well, nobody expects to find cookies and cupcakes in the woods. The villagers decided a witch was leaving them, sending her familiar out to steal children with its treats.”
I sighed. “And then?”
“Mochi left even more of them,” she said with a laugh. “He really is thoughtful.”
Roan joined Lisa at the table, grinning. “Okay, so what about Cerbie? Why do they think he’s going to steal their souls?”
“Oh, that’s a good one,” Lisa said, leaning forward. “The dragons were playing outside one night with Cerbie and the Demon Lord, using their flames to make Cerbie’s shadow giant. The Demon Lord thought it would be fun to have his shadow run through the woods barking at people. You know, to let them know we were here.”
I groaned. “Of course he did.”
He wasn’t out today, so I’d have to ask for an explanation later. It sounded like he’d scared the townsfolk on purpose whereas Mochi had done it on accident.
“And you?” I asked. “Have you scared anyone since you’ve gotten here?”
“Absolutely,” she said with a grin. “It was just too fun not to join in. Our own little game at the library.”
“Why?” Roan asked as he threw Cerbie’s ball down the stacks. “What was the point of making everyone afraid of you? Didn’t you want visitors?”
Her eyes turned dark as she ran her finger along the edge of her teacup. “At first, but then we realized they would never understand us. All they saw was a golem about to crush them or an army of knights that couldn’t possibly exist at that size or a demon out to destroy them. Trying to win them over didn’t get us anywhere, so we switched to scaring them away instead. Better to be alone by choice than unwanted.”
The knight commander patted her hand. “We tried our best, but they just didn’t understand us. Lady Lisa was so sad. We had to do something.”
“So you terrified them?” I sank into the chair by Roan, feeling a little hopeless. “I get it, but it really didn’t help matters.Now the whole town thinks the library is haunted. How are we ever going to get patrons back now?”
Lisa shrugged and sipped her tea, avoiding my gaze as the other story spirits deflated a bit. The knights stopped climbing on things, Cerbie dropped his ball, and the dragons drooped on the golem. This obviously wasn’t a topic they liked talking about, no matter how fun they’d made scaring people away seem.
If the hauntings were a defense mechanism, a way to protect themselves from rejection, then I couldn’t blame them. They did what they felt like they had to do. But something was nagging at me.
“Why didn’t you just tell them you were from books?” I asked. “I’m sure at least a few people would have thought it was awesome and patrons would have flooded the library to meet you. That’s what you wanted, right?”
Lisa’s gaze finally met mine. “You have no idea what we want. We’re here for the library, not for the townsfolk.”
“Okay, but still, why scare people instead of explaining?”
None of them answered me. I glanced at Roan, who just shrugged. He didn’t know what was going on any more than I did. But, thewhydidn’t matter as much as what they’d do in the future.
