Page 81 of Legends and Librarians
It was finally time. Festival-goers would be traveling out to their favorite libraries to celebrate not only everyone’s hard work the past month writing their new books, but every new book that had come out in the past year. This part of the festival was to honor books and the story gods who inspired people to write them. They’d bless the world’s writers for another year of great stories too.
And bless our library with all the magic it needed to thrive again.
My hands shook as I grabbed the door handle. Once I opened these doors, everything would change. We’d be open to the public again, welcoming people in on a daily basis hopefully. Unless nobody showed up and this was all a complete failure...
I took a deep breath, squashing those thoughts down. Everything was going to work out. We’d put too much work into this for it to fail.
The doors pulled open smoothly, revealing a bright sunny day perfect for travel. Willow was already outside, playing with the lending libraries as they hopped around with excitement.
“Hey,” I said, waving to Willow. “I hope you haven’t been here long.”
“Only....an hour or so?” She glanced away sheepishly. “I’mpretty excited. I never thought I’d be sponsoring a library or that I’d even finish my book in time and it’s all so exciting that I thought a walk might help.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, and those bubbles are amazing! I can’t believe how easy it was to get up the mountain in one of those. So cool.”
At least some people liked the bubbles. I’d have to let Roan know they were a hit.
“You could have come inside,” I said.
“No, you guys looked busy.” She put a book back inside one of the lending libraries. “Plus, these lil’ guys were happy to show me all the books they have available and I got distracted.”
We’d decorated them with hanging lanterns that swayed beneath them as they hopped, glowing softly to help lead people to the library. We’d also filled them with books until they couldn’t fit any more and they’d been hopping around excitedly ever since.
I patted a few of them on their little roofs. “Thank you for keeping her company. You did great.”
They wiggled back and forth, opening their doors to show off their books. I really loved how happy they were every time we gave them something new, so I went inside and found a few more to trade out with the ones they already had. They hopped in circles, almost like a dance.
“They are so adorable,” Willow said, smiling at them. “Seriously, this library is amazing.”
“It really is.” I grinned as I sat on the bench outside. Roan and I had moved it closer to the library after our little stake-out that had gotten us inside the first day. There were so many memories here and so many more to make. “So how did your book go? You said you finished it, right?”
As Willow joined me on the bench, she told me all about her new book and how hard it was to finish. She almost gave up a few times, but powered through because she loved writing and justwanted people to enjoy her story. I hoped for that too, to show her that all her efforts were worth it. Working hard had to count for something, right?
Over an hour passed by as we chatted and played with the lending libraries, my gaze going to the bubble transport more and more to see if anyone was coming up the mountain.
A knot began to form in my stomach. I’d expected the artists might stop by or even Willow’s Gran. Somebody. Anybody.
But no one did.
The golem joined us outside, planting and replanting some of its flowerbeds. By the time it had moved three beds around, my anxiety was at an all-time high. They were counting on me to bring people here, to save the library. I’d gotten their hopes up, making them believe we could pull this off.
I clenched my hands against my thighs. This was all wrong. We’d worked too hard for nobody to show up and see our progress.
“We need to do something,” I whispered, avoiding looking at the library that had put so much faith in me. “I can’t...”
Let it end like this.
Wait, end? How could I think like that? I shaded my eyes as I gazed up at the sky. The sun wasn’t even high yet. There was so much time left to turn this around.
Willow frowned as she followed my gaze. “Is that a pegasus?”
I squinted, staring at the bright blue sky so hard my eyes watered. But yes. It was a pegasus. With a very friendly rider waving at us.
“That’s the courier from Arcadia Books!” I jumped up to greet him as they landed softly on the grass. “Welcome to the Misty Mountain Library.”
The young man grinned as he slid off the pegasus. “I told you I’d be back. Every time I pass over this mountain, I’m so curious how the library’s going. I wanted to wait until your officialreopening though and boy was it worth it.” His eyes widened as he walked up to the golem. “Hello, I’m Jasper. Nice to meet you.”
Jasper held his hand out to the golem who held out his pointer finger in return. The courier grinned and shook it vigorously before admiring the plants.
“Somebody came!” Willow exclaimed, grabbing my arm as agrin spread across my face.
