Page 45 of Legends and Librarians
I turned frantically toward the library, not knowing what I expected to see, but I was at a loss. Help us. Somebody had to help us. Maybe Lisa could deal with them. Nobody ever said no to her.
“Please,” I pleaded softly. With who, I wasn’t sure. “Save them. Don’t let them get captured like the knight did.”
After a long moment of silence, the story spirits glowed and disappeared. Jade and her group almost fell over, free from the Demon Lord’s shadow binding.
I blinked. Did the library do that? Or did...I do that?
“What just happened?” Jade asked.
Roan glanced at me, but when I shrugged, he turned back to her. “That was us saving your ungrateful ass. Now leave and don’t come back.”
“Where did they all go?” Oren asked, rolling his shoulders as if making sure he had full control. “They’re okay, right?”
I nodded, trying to think of anything rational to say that wouldn’t make them even more scared of the library. I didn’t have the power to return story spirits to their books and if it wasn’t me, then it had been something else. Something these adventurers would probably deem too dangerous to survive.
For now, I had to cover it up and act like everything was normal so they’d leave. Then I could figure out the truth.
“They’re back in their own books,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “No way was I going to let you steal themfrom the library. They’re not ghosts, they’re the souls of precious stories. You have to at least believe that, right?”
The adventurers looked unconvinced.
“We’ll be back,” Jade said, glancing at Roan. “I won’t ignore a mission and let the town down. And we’re bringing that one with us.” She nodded at Oren. “He can explain everything to the guild master.”
Oren’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? I’m just a researcher, not the librarian here. Why don’t you ask Nyssa?”
Jade raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you saying you don’t want to come with me? Pity. Here I thought we might have some fun.”
He gulped, looking at me with frantic eyes like I should save him. But I had something else on my mind right now, something we needed to look into right away.
“Sorry, Oren, but could you handle this?” I asked. “I’ll make it up to you.”
He sighed. “Fine, I’ll do what I can.”
Jade smiled, slapping him on the back. “Good, now we can go.”
That was going to bite us in the ass later, but right now, all I could think about was the library.
I’d asked for help and that’s what I got.
My mind reeled as I looked back at the library. The big main entrance, door slightly ajar. The windows, open wide as if the entirety of the building was listening in.
I knew that didn’t make any sense, but it felt right as that warm feeling I’d had ever since I stepped foot inside finally clicked.
The library had heard me. And it reacted.
Was the library...sentient?
Chapter 16
Nyssa
I’d been staring at the library for the past few minutes while Roan apologized. It wasn’t his fault the adventurers had shown up, but it was his fault for egging Jade on. She’dprobably cause more problems later, but my thoughts were on something else entirely.
Was the libraryalive? Or was my imagination just playing tricks on me?
Magical libraries were part of the fabric of our society, but this had never happened before, at least not as far as I knew. Still, it felt like itwasaware of what was going on around it, and it was capable of action.
Sentience.
