The Library (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 1) by Casey White (ebook reader 8 inch .TXT) 📗

“Like I said,” Olivia said dryly.  “It’s not fancy.”

“No, I appreciate it,” Owl said.  “Thanks.  For telling me.”

He heard her laugh, then.  “It’s my pleasure, Librarian.”

His eyes lifted to the statue.  There was no doubt in his mind.  This was a Librarian, too - one unmasked, one he didn’t know.  It certainly wasn’t him.  But then, who-

The stone shifted under his fingers.  He jumped, glancing down.  Letters bubbled up, like they were being pushed from the depths of the rock.

The First, they said.  That was all.  No name, no nothing.  Another breath,and they vanished.

As he watched, though, other letters rippled through the stone around him - other words.  They flashed past, too fast for him to follow.  A wave of something washed over him.  Humor, and love, and a loneliness deep enough he shivered.

Those were Alexandria’s words, then - Owl knew it without having to ask.  The closest she’d come to speaking to him directly.  The First, he whispered to her.  Your first Librarian?  The inexplicable emotions still sang in him, little more than bittersweet traces left.  He swallowed hard, more than able to follow the thought to its conclusion.  You miss him, don’t you?  Even now?

He’d thought Alexandria some sort of...force of nature.  She just was.  He’d never stopped to consider the possibility that she might be some sort of finite creation, with a beginning.  With a first.  He lifted his face, staring into the blank, smooth eyes of the statue.

There would’ve been a lot of Librarians over the years.  And a lot of years with each Librarian.  Owl felt his shoulders slump a little.  He’d told Olivia just this very trip - Alex was alive, in her own way.  She had a mind of her own.  He hadn’t stopped to wonder if she could get sad.

Swallowing again, he took a deep breath, then twisted.  “If you like, Olivia, we can-”

“Oh, stay there,” she said, scowling at him and waving her pencil in the air.  “I had a perfect angle on you.  Back, back, back.  Go back.”

What was he, her damn model?  Owl fought back a groan, turning back to the statue.  A muffled perfect drifted over from where Olivia sat.

Trapped in place, Owl smiled wistfully - and stared up into the face of a Librarian long gone.

- Chapter Thirty-Five -

The wheel snagged again.

Owl gritted his teeth, letting his head drop forward. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The damn thing had been sticking from the moment he loaded it up. He lifted his head again, glaring out at the Library around him. “You couldn’t give me a working cart?” he hissed. “I’m trying to do something nice here. Do you have to give me grief even now?”

The chandeliers overhead rattled faintly, setting the glass ornaments to tinkling. Owl rolled his eyes. Oh, great. Now she was laughing at him.

When he put his shoulder to the wooden frame of the cart and pushed, though, the wheel screeched - and then started rolling normally. Brat, Owl thought, tightening his grip and resuming his walk.

The books stacked high atop the cart wobbled gently with the renewed motion. He smiled, glancing down to them. It’d taken him a long time to find the scattered books, and no matter what he’d told Olivia, books did get heavy after a while.

All worth it, if it did the job.

The doors of the main study loomed ahead of him at last - and he leaned in, bracing hard. The front of the cart hit the wood, then pushed through, shoving the doors open before it,

There. He’d made it. Owl exhaled slowly, letting a smile dance across his face. Good deed complete - almost.

He saw Will’s head snap up, half-hidden behind the stacks of binders and scratch paper that surrounded him. The man’s eyes widened. “U-Uh,” Owl heard him stammer. “Uh, that’s-”

“I talked to Olivia,” Owl said, the words coming out through gritted teeth as he pushed the cart the last few feet past neatly-arranged desks. With a final groan, he pulled it to a stop, straightening. “She...She said you still had a few things you hadn’t found. Something about-”

“Yes,” Will said, standing from his seat. His eyes lit up. In that moment, Owl could finally see the resemblance between him and Olivia. “Yes, of course. That’s...damn.”

“Some of this stuff was pretty obscure,” Owl said, resting a hand atop one of the stacks. “I’m not surprised Alexandria was hiding it away. But we got it in the end.”

“I didn’t think I’d see it,” Will breathed, stepping closer. He stretched an arm out, turning one book after another so that he could see the bindings. “I thought...” His eyes flicked up to Owl’s mask. “Thank you, Librarian.”

“It’s-”

“Owl,” Will said, with the hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “Sorry.”

Behind his mask, Owl grinned. There - there it was. A smile, at last. Good lord, it was coming up on two months they’d been in here, and this was the first time he’d seen an honest to god human reaction out of the man. “It’s my pleasure,” he said softly. “Olivia told me you were...upset. At missing out on some of this. You should have said something.”

Will ducked his face to the side, safely out of sight. He clutched one of the books to his chest, though - an old, moth-eaten scrap of leather and parchment that looked ready to fall apart at any moment. “I-I suppose,” he mumbled.

Owl waited. Something about the man screamed that he wasn’t quite done yet, that he had more to air on the matter. Owl just had to be patient - which was something he had plenty of practice with.

Sure enough, Will stumbled back a few moments later, collapsing into a chair. He pulled the book open with trembling, careful fingers. “It only exists here, you see,” he said.

“What does?” Owl said.

Will lifted the book a fraction of an inch, not taking his eyes off the page. “Everything,” he whispered. And then he chuckled softly, glancing back to Owl.