Page 84 of Legends and Librarians
The book tree glowed faintly. Not bright like it was when I was a child, but bright enough to help us now. We were going to win over the town and save our library. Even if I had to ride a whale through the sky to do it.
Chapter 30
Roan
I fully supported Nyssa and her desire to get people to the library, but I also knew just how hard it was to get over feeling abandoned by the people you cared about. Her plan of dragging patrons here with showy theatrics felt…off. Like the townsfolk wouldn’t be coming for Misty, they’d be coming for the flying whale. And that just didn’t sit right with me, not after what they’d done.
If my parents suddenly appeared back in my life without a big apology, I doubted I’d even be able to look at them. What if the library felt the same way when Nyssa brought those patrons here? It was obviously apprehensive about the festival already, so it didn’t seem too far-fetched to think about.
“Are you really okay with this?” I asked Misty, hovering inside the library while the rest of the group walked outside chatting about flying whales. “I’m sure it hurt that people didn’t show up on their own.”
The library didn’t react, but maybe it was conserving energy for the big whale summoning. The stakes were high and I didn’t want the library to fade away, but I also didn’t want it to be even more sad with people visiting it out of pity or selfish reasons.
It deserved to be happy and loved after all these years alone.
“I can ask her not to do it,” I said softly, leaning against abookshelf. “Nyssa’s kind and was so excited about getting people to visit the library. I didn’t want to question her, but I just can’t stop this nagging feeling that something’s off.”
I clenched my hands as memories of my parents waving goodbye surfaced. They promised to be back soon, but instead, they started a whole new life without me and never looked back.
“I’ve been where you are,” I said, “and if it was me, I’d feel like they only came back because they got something out of it. Not because they actually felt bad about abandoning me.”
A few books rattled on their shelves. I leaned my head back, watching Nyssa page through the book in her hands. Her smile was so warm and bright, exactly the thing we needed to heal our broken hearts. She’d given me a place to call home and I’d be grateful to her for that for the rest of my life.
But we’d worked so hard to win people over the correct way, that it felt wrong to parade the story spirits around now. We already showed the town that the story spirits weren’t dangerous and we’d gotten all the guild missions taken down. There was no reason for anyone to avoid the library anymore.
So what if there was a famous author at the library in town? Everyone knew this library hadn’t been part of a festival in years. They had to know what that meant. Maybe not this year, but sometime soon.
Did they just not care? Or were they still afraid deep down?
Whatever it was, I didn’t feel right not saying something to Nyssa. Maybe we could land the whale outside of town and give people one last chance to come visit on their own. I bet that would make a big difference to Misty.
“Give me a minute,” I told the library, walking outside to join the others. “Hey Nyssa, can we talk?”
“Sure, no problem.” Nyssa tilted her head, her smile faltering as she studied me. “Is everything okay?”
Before I could answer, a commotion arose among the storyspirits. Four children who looked to be in their early teens or a little younger floated up the mountain path in giant shimmering bubbles, full-out grins on their faces. One by one, the bubbles pressed against the transport station and popped, releasing the kids. They jumped around, celebrating their victorious trip up the mountain, asking if they could do it again.
I glanced back at Misty, hoping the library was excited to have visitors. Maybe we just needed to give the town more time.
“Hello,” Nyssa said, greeting the kids, “welcome to the Misty Mountain Library. We’re so happy you’re here.”
Cerbie growled, hackles raised, while Lisa had an uncharacteristic glare on her face. All the story spirits were on guard and the only happy people here seemed to be me, Nyssa, and Willow.
Which meant we were missing something.
“Everything okay?” Nyssa asked, glancing between the kids and the story spirits. “They won’t hurt you, it’s fine.”
“They’re the ones who did hurt us,” Lisa said, her glare turning icy. “These are the children who threw stones, broke windows, and told tall tales to the town.”
The boy in front winced. “Yeah, that’s why we came here today actually. To apologize.”
“Our parents were talking about this library earlier,” another child said, “about how they’d love to visit it again, but after what happened to us, they just couldn’t. The more they talked about it, the worse we felt. We’re sorry for making the town hate you...”
The other kids nodded, but were huddled together like they were afraid. They’d done something wrong and were trying to apologize, even in the face of this big angry group of story spirits. That was admirable.
I smiled as these kids did exactly what I thought the adults in town should have been doing. They’d come all on their own, visiting the library to make amends. They were happy to be hereand had chosen Misty over any other library.
“Calm down everyone,” I said, putting my hand on one of Cerbie’s heads. The dog’s growls ceased, but he stayed alert. “They’re just kids and this is a festival, remember? It should be a time of new beginnings. Let’s hear them out at least.”
