Page 66 of Legends and Librarians
They’d made it sound fun last time I’d asked, almost like ghost stories around a campfire, but I didn’t think anyone would go to all this trouble if they weren’t worried for real. Not even somebody like Jade, who was full of herself sure, but she also seemed to genuinely want to protect the town. Roan seemed to think so too when I’d asked about him.
Shadows swirled around the Demon Lord. “My job is to terrify people, and I do my job well.”
I glanced at Lisa, hoping she’d elaborate, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Mochi was nowhere to be seen and the dragons were hiding in the stacks. A gloom settled over the library so fierce that the books themselves started quivering. So the town wasn’t crazy for being afraid of the mountain. Whatever had happened, their fear was valid.
I rubbed my face, slightly frustrated. They’d been hiding something from me.
“Okay, so last time you mentioned nobody trusting Mochi’s snacks,” I said slowly, “and the Demon Lord making Cerbie’s shadows chase people. That can’t be everything, so what am I missing?”
Lisa sighed. “That’s how it started, with Mochi and his snacks. He wanted to invite people in and make them feel welcome, but the townsfolk took it all wrong. Then the golemtried handing out flowers and people ran in terror thinking it was going to crush them. No matter what we did, everyone kept misunderstanding.”
“Ummm...,” Isolde interrupted, “but it wasn’t just the panda and the golem right? There was a witch luring kids into the woods with sweets. She’d sing sweet songs that put you under her spell, leading you up the mountain until you were too lost to find your way home.”
Theo nodded. “And I heard those snacks were poisoned. If you ate one, you’d never eat anything else again.”
I glanced at Lisa, vaguely remembering her mentioning singing in the woods. “Was the witch in the woods you, by any chance?”
“Me?” she shrugged, glancing away. “Who could tell?”
Which meant it was definitely her. I sighed, rubbing my temples. At least the artists were too distracted to realize what Lisa had alluded to as they repeated more and more out of control versions of the stories. None of this sounded that terrible still though, not until they got to the part about the traumatized kids.
“Wait, go back,” I said, “what happened to the kids?”
“Well, story goes that some kids came up here for a test of courage one night,” Isolde said, “daring each other to go inside the haunted library. Except, when they went inside, the ghosts attacked them. They ran through the woods all night, desperately trying to find their way home until they stumbled into town covered in scratches and dirt, so scared they could barely speak.”
“And all they did was step inside this library,” Theo whispered, gazing around as if ghosts were going to jump out at him. “Makes you wonder what happened that night, right?”
No matter how you spun that story, it sounded like the story spirits went a little too far if the kids were that terrified. But Ididn’t think they’d really put anyone in danger, so it had to be a mistake, just another one of their tall tales.
“There’s always two sides to every story,” I said, glancing at Lisa. “What really happened?”
She crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair as if she needed distance between us. “Well, that little test of courage wasn’t what they said. The kids came up here sure, and they came inside too. The library was so happy to have patrons again, so we were going to do our best to welcome them.”
Her voice was quiet and full of unease, like the bad part of this story might actually be as bad as it sounded. I worried my lip, wishing I didn’t have to hear it. If the story spirits had hurt children, there was no coming back from that; this library really was doomed. But I didn’t think they’d do that.
Roan stepped closer to me, a silent supporter. I took a deep breath, preparing for the worst.
“And what happened then?” I asked.
“Those little monsters started throwing rocks and breaking windows.” Lisa gripped her arms so tight her fingers went white. “We were shocked and the library was devastated. Kids were supposed to be full of magic and wonder, the ones who loved the library the most, but they turned on us, laughing at how pathetic the library was. They broke the library’s heart along with its windows, shattering any hope we had left. You have no idea how painful that was and I just...couldn’t watch it anymore.”
The Demon Lord gripped her shoulder. “You did the right thing.” He stared me in the eye, voice low with anger. “We chased those kids off, making sure they’dneverstep foot on this mountain again. If the townsfolk couldn’t appreciate the library, then we wouldn’t let any of them come back. We vowed to protect the library from its worst enemy: humans.”
I swallowed hard, anguish strangling my voice. How could anyone do that to the library? Sure, they didn’t know it wassentient and they were just kids, but still. Vandalism was an awful thing for everyone involved. It took away something people loved and tainted it.
“You didn’t hurt them though, right?” I whispered.
“Of course not,” the Demon Lord growled. “We’re not the monsters here.”
I’d known deep down that was true. They were protecting the library in the only way they knew how: by keeping everyone away. But they’d kept the truth about how bad it was from me and that wasn’t going to fix anything. The library would fade away at this rate and be reborn somewhere else. Is that what they really wanted?
Roan stepped closer, as if lending me his support. Frustrated tears pricked my eyes. He’d helped me so much and it might all be for nothing. I couldn’t let all this be a waste.
“We’re sorry,” Lisa said, standing up to join me. “We never thought we’d find somebody who cared this much about the library. About us.”
The golem nodded. “Sorry.”
I took a breath to steady myself and forced a smile. “It’s okay. That was a long time ago and everyone makes mistakes. You were just protecting the library. If we apologize, I’m sure the town will understand.”
