Page 79 of Legends and Librarians
I woke up as the first rays of sunlight peeked through the window, snuggling closer to Roan to stave off the autumn chill. He was fast asleep and looked so peaceful I didn’t have the heart to wake him. We’d gotten back pretty late last night, and he’d worked hard planning the perfect date for me, so he deserved as much rest as he could get.
I smiled, brushing a stray strand of his hair back, my fingers light on his skin so I didn’t wake him. Nobody had ever treated me to something as thoughtful as that date. My entire body felt relaxed, as if the warmth of that hot spring had sunk into my body and released the tension that was building up since I got here.
Today was the most important day this library faced, the final ceremony of the Tales and Tomes Festival. Usually, I’d be downstairs frantically making sure everything was perfect, but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to pull myself out of bed. More specifically, I couldn’t pull myself away from Roan.
I never let people help me, not with anything that really mattered at least. I was a bit too much of a perfectionist for that, but Roan had been helping me since the moment I met him. From buying me all those books, to helping repair the library, to taking care of my well-being, Roan was always there.
“Thank you,” I whispered, hoping I could return the care he’d shown me.
When he’d told me about his rough past, my heart had ached for him, and it made me beyond happy to hear that he considered this library home now. He was too good a man to wander the world alone, afraid of getting close to anyone. I wouldn’t let him down. I’d make sure he knew exactly how amazing he was every single day.
Roan shifted in his sleep, pulling me closer. A smile tugged at my lips as he wrapped an arm around me. The longer I stayed here, cozy and warm in bed with him, the more I wished he was awake to continue what we’d started in that hot spring.
Which meant I should get up and check on the story spirits or something so he could sleep. There’d be time for all that and more later, because Roan wasn’t going anywhere.
My smile turned to a grin at that thought as I slowly got out of bed. Roan sighed, turning onto his side, his hand falling off the bed as if he’d been reaching for me. I shook my head, pulling the blankets up to his shoulders so he’d be warm enough without me before getting ready for the day.
I never thought I’d find somebody like Roan, somebody who would fight for what mattered to him, but was also happy to just curl up with a book or play with the story spirits. His strength gave me the confidence I needed to get this library running again and today was the day it all paid off.
The Tales and Tomes Festival was finally here! Patrons would be filling these stacks in a few hours, filling the library as if we’d never been closed. The story gods would surely see how much this library meant to the town and give it their blessing too and then everything would be perfect.
My footsteps quickened down the stairs, as if I was a child on Frostfire morning rushing to open my gifts. The festival lights were shimmering in beautiful arches and the book well wasdecorated with bright blue flowers. Everything was ready to go, except, something felt off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the more I looked around, the more wrong everything felt.
It was the silence. I’d never heard the library this quiet before.
My gaze swept over the bookshelves, expecting to find dragons roosting on them or the golem’s head peeking out over one, but found nobody. Were all the story spirits sleeping?
Wait. My gaze flew back to the shelves. Not a single book was on them.
The bookshelves were as empty as when I first got here, as if all the books I’d purchased had just disappeared. I gasped, racing to the shelves holding my most precious books, the ones Roan had bought me, but those were gone too.
The library was empty.
“No, no, no,” I whispered in horror as I went from bookshelf to bookshelf, seeing nothing but barren shelves. “What happened?”
Silence blanketed the library like an impenetrable fog. This was not happening, not on the most important day of the year! No matter where I looked, everything was empty and gone. As if the story spirits had never been here. As if I had never been here.
No. The library had been full of books last night and they couldn’t just disappear. This was probably just a bad prank the story spirits were pulling on me.
“Very funny guys,” I called out half-heartedly, “you can come out now.”
Silence.
If the story spirits had done it, they weren’t coming clean like I’d expect. No playful Cerbie jumping at me, no cocky Demon Lord gloating about something, and no Lisa helping me put things back together.
Lisa. She’d never have let anyone get rid of the books asecond time.
I searched the library, checking every area I could think of, hoping they’d be piled up somewhere, but every door I tried to open was locked tight. I rattled the knobs, trying in vain to open them, but they were stuck. It reminded me of my first day here.
Okay, this was going too far. I hurried upstairs to wake Roan up. He turned over in bed, taking my hand as he snuggled under the blankets a bit more.
“Morning, beautiful.” His voice was still husky with sleep, but he cracked an eye open to really look at me. “Why are you already dressed and ready?”
“I need your help. Something’s wrong.”
His eyes snapped open as he reached for his sword leaning against the nightstand. “What’s going on?”
“No, nothing like that,” I said, urging him to drop the sword. “It’s the library. All the books are just...gone. We need to find them before people start showing up.”
