by J C Gilbert
“You are wrong, Brunhilda, and I won’t argue with you. The answer is still no. I am happy to return Sil to her world whenever she chooses, but I will not take you into The Library. You will find me unmoving on that point.”
“You will curse this day, Keeper. Henceforth, me and my kin will be no friend to you.” Brunhilda turned and started down through the trees, making her own path. The fairy took off from her shoulder and hovered, looking at me for a moment. It shrugged and then followed after the little warrior.
“So be it,” I said, and started after my family.
CHAPTER FIVE
I lay awake late that night, adrenaline thumping through my veins as I thought about what Brunhilda had said, and all the things that I wished I had said back to her. I mean, I know she’s just a little girl, but she got right under my skin. And to be honest, I was getting pretty sick of people telling me that they knew best and I didn’t.
My mind wandered to Elaine. Though several weeks had passed since she made her request, I was still not sure I could trust her. Through her random appearances, I knew that she had helped me, but what if that was a ruse just to get inside The Library again? Might she just cast off this nice guy act once inside? Could I really risk that? But if I did not help her, there was another risk. Maybe if she hadn’t been keeping all of the multiverse from falling apart from within that strange garden, then all my work so far would have been in vain. Maybe she knew more about the situation than I did? Maybe we couldn’t defeat Vicious without the help of her sister, Tabitha?
There was also a part of me that just did not want to go back to Avonheim. It was a nice enough place to be sure. But it reminded me of the last time that Elaine tricked me. That betrayal still lingered with me. Was I hesitant to give her another chance because of my own guilt?
It was sometime after midnight when I decided that it was time to give up trying to sleep. I would find someplace down wind to rest and think, and come back when I was ready to sleep for real.
When I got to The Library, I immediately felt the pull of the book. There were many books that called me, such was the life of the Keeper, but some of them pulled so viscerally that the sensation almost overwhelmed me. I wandered through The Library and towards the book that was calling. It’s kind of like having your soul directed, you know? Like there is some higher part of you which knows the right place for you to be, the right book for you to read.
The Library’s cat joined me, trotting alongside, rubbing its face against my leg. Together we wandered through the winding passages of The Library, towers of books either side of us, countless adventures and worlds just waiting to be entered. And then I saw it, sitting on a shelf by itself, the lilac book of Elaine.
“Should have guessed,” I said to the cat.
I opened the book and found myself reading the first line.
I envy all those who can sleep.
Soon I was falling into the pages, the light around my periphery went dark, and the air all drained for my lungs. I was struck with the sensation of falling, pages flew all around me, the scent of old books, jasmine flowers, and the rain, engulfed my experience. And then I was there again, standing alone, inside the garden.
It was a cloudy day, overcast and dark. The air tingled with the threat of rain. There was something about the place that had changed. Maybe it was just the season, but it appeared to me that a gloom hung over the scene. Even the trees looked unhappy. I did not land in the same place that I’d landed before. There were stone walls here with stone archways and heavy iron rail gates. Leafless trees hung ominously over the walls and the path.
The whole place reminded me of a graveyard in the middle of winter, though it was not at all cold.
I walked forward a little way and then through one of the stone archways. The ground sloped gently downward toward a fast-flowing stream. There was a figure standing by the stream looking out over it and toward the distant mountains.
“Elaine?” I called.
The figure did not turn at first, but as I got closer, she seemed to register that I was there. She frowned.
“Alex? This is a dream, surely.”
“No dream,” I said.
“Why are you here? I mean, I don’t mean to be rude, but I didn’t think I would be seeing you again.”
“I just had to think things over,” I said.
Elaine shook her head as if this statement confused her. “I know it has not been long for you, but here I have lived, I scarcely know how to measure the time, I have lived here for an eternity, and alone.”
“I’m sorry, but the thing that you asked of me, I couldn’t take that request lightly.”
Elaine looked at me with cold, intelligent eyes. Her features were the same as they had been the day that I met her in that prison cell in the dungeons of Avonheim, and yet when I looked into those eyes, I thought I could see some sign of all that she had experienced, of the pain that she had lived, and re-lived.
“You are too good to trifle with me. If you mean to help me restore my sister to her power, then please say so at once. I’m sorry to be blunt, but there is nothing like an eternity to make one impatient.”
“Yes,” I said. “I have made up my mind. We will go back to Avonheim.”
CHAPTER SIX
Only a faint smile graced Elaine’s mouth. Her eyes remained grave. “Thank you, Alex,” she said. “I hope that we can get there in time.”
“Things will turn out,” I said.
Now she smiled. “You really are special, Alex. You know that, right?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m just Alex. Shall we go?”
“I do not want to spend one more moment in this place, Alex. I know I will have to return here someday, but for now this is goodbye. There is one thing you have to know, however. Once I have gone with you into that book, I will lose all of my strength, that is to say, my physical strength. I will still have the power that I stole from the void, but I will be extremely weak. Is there someplace I could rest before we continue on to Avonheim?”
“I’ll find a place,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Will you be able to walk?”
“Yes, I think so. This place, you see, it is a very special place, but there is something in the air that has been supporting me for so long and I’m afraid that my body will not know how to function without it.”
“I understand, I think. I’ll take you through to my world so you can rest up, and then we can go on to Avonheim. I will have to keep you a secret, though. Darcy and Lilly-”
“Have absolutely no reason to trust me. You don’t have any reason to trust me either, come to that.”
“It feels like the right thing to do,” I said. I opened the lilac book, took Elaine’s hand, and started reading. Soon we were falling through the familiar space. I looked over to look Elaine to see how she was handling it. She seemed nervous, but that nervousness was turning into a thrill as she fell through the emptiness. For a brief moment, I was reminded of the girl that I had first met, fearless and strong.
Distracted as I was, we crashed into The Library’s floor, sprawled out like rags.
I laughed and looked over to Elaine. She wasn’t moving. My heart sank, and I darted over to her, turning her over and putting my hand against her cheek. She opened her eyes, but she was looking without seeing.
“Elaine, Elaine,” I said, urgently.
She smiled at me weakly. “I feel so heavy,” she said. “Is this The Library?
“Yeah, welcome back.”
She gave me a weak punch and then winced with the effort. “I feel so lightheaded, and my back is aching. Is it alright if I just fall asleep here?”
“No, we need to move on to my world. The Librarian is sure to walk by, and that is a conversation that I do not want to have.”
“I don’t think I can fall like that again, Alex. Isn’t there someplace I can lie down?”
After a few moments of thought, I remembered
the observatory that I found when I first came to The Library. As far as I knew it was disused, and I never heard of the Librarian going there.
“Alright, maybe. But we will have to move now. The Librarian has a habit of turning up whenever I land in this place.”
“OK, help me to my feet.”
I lifted Elaine up as best as I could. She was heavy but much lighter than she looked. Her flowing black lace gown gave way to a frail body underneath. We stumbled through The Library, and I tried to picture the observatory in my mind. The Library would always provide the Keeper with what they were looking for. We had not gone far, when I heard the unmistakable sound of the Librarian, humming a tune.
I froze.
She was definitely walking this way. I looked about for somewhere to hide Elaine. She looked at me with far away eyes. Elaine wasn’t going to be able to go far.
I saw among the shelves a reading nook. It was tucked into a corner and was all cushions and blankets. I stumbled over to it. Elaine seemed to be drifting into unconsciousness. I lay her down and just finished covering her with blankets, being sure to keep a space for breathing, when I heard the Librarian’s voice.
“Oh, Alex! Thank goodness I found you. I have been sorting through all of the books that you have been through recently. And I must say, looking back over the last few weeks, you have done some real good for an enormous number of people.”
I shrugged. “Someone has to.”
“Well, if you wouldn’t mind, could you help with carrying them to the Upper Vault. I want to do some further analysis on the stories and on your success to see if I can predict how to help you better next time.”
“Um,” I started. I looked back to the reading nook and to the lump which I knew to be Elaine. Leaving her alone in The Library seemed like pretty much the worst idea, but what else could I do? I did not need the Librarian on my back. After a moment’s thought, I decided that Elaine probably wasn’t going anywhere and nodded. “Sure, will it take long?”
“No, I shouldn’t think so. There is just such a lot of books.” The Librarian handed me a stack, and I followed her toward the Upper Vault. I’d been to the Upper Vault a few times before. It is one of the many places that the Librarian neglected to mention until it was necessary. I wasn’t sure if this was because she was absent-minded, or if she was deliberately keeping some of The Library’s secrets from me because she didn't think that I was ready.
The Upper Vault was, as can be imagined, at the top of many flights of stairs. Unfortunately, there were no Keeper powers that could make whole levels disappear. We rested halfway up and gazed out over the floors below. From here, I could see The Library stretch out in all directions. It was such an impossibly large place, if indeed place was the right word for it.
The Librarian wiped her brow with a handkerchief. “Come on, nearly there.”
The vault itself was a white brick square type building in the middle of an open space. It was surrounded, as with everything in The Library, with shelves and shelves of books. When we arrived at the vault, the Librarian took out a ring of keys and started fumbling with them, searching for the one that would fit this lock. I put down my stack of books and opened the door. All doors were unlocked for the Keeper.
“Right you are,” said the Librarian, picking up her books and shuffling through the door. The inside of the vault was larger than its outside. The Lower Vault contained hundreds of dusty old shelves of artifacts. The Upper Vault was not like that, rather it was like a library within The Library. The most significant difference was the marble flooring, and the fact that most of the books were on a slightly larger scale.
“Where do you want them?”
“Just on the table there,” said the Librarian.
I was eager to get back to Elaine. Part of me was worried that she might have passed out by the time I got to her, part of me worried that I would find her by The Library’s Heart, that awful grin on her face once more. I shook my head, but I could not push the nervousness away.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” I said to the Librarian.
“What’s the rush?”
“No rush,” I lied. “I just want to get back to a book, you know, the other kind.”
The Librarian smiled knowingly. “I suppose you of all people have earned a break.”
I smiled, turned about, and left the Upper Vault. I hurried down the stairs as quickly as I could. All the time, I kept Elaine clearly in my mind and tried to encourage The Library to find me the quickest way to her.
Hank helpfully had explained to me every possible thing that could go wrong by the time I got to the nook. As I approached the nook, I slowed and then froze. Had the blanket been hanging that way when I left? I almost did not want to check under it to see. I didn’t want to know if I’d made a mistake bringing her here.
I stepped forward, one foot at a time, my heart in my throat. Gingerly, I pulled back part of the blanket. Relief washed over me as I found that Elaine was indeed still there, sleeping heavily.
Sleep was now starting to dominate my thoughts too. I was tempted to just lie down with Elaine in the nook. I could just sleep until the morning and return home tomorrow.
But that couldn’t be. Sleeping here would just increase the chances that The Librarian would find out that Elaine was here.No. I had to stay awake while she slept. I made myself comfortable at one end of the nook and mentally prepared for a long night. In situations such as these, I was confident that I would be able to keep my eyes open. After all, the whole multiverse was at stake.
Again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I awoke with a start, adrenaline rushing through my veins. I looked about, panicked, and then made eye contact with Elaine. She was at the other end of the reading nook, smiling at me.
“I was wondering when you would show,” she said.
“I-I was just resting my eyes.”
“It’s OK, Alex. I haven’t stolen The Library.”
“What? I-”
“It’s OK, really it’s OK. I am the evil sorceress remember? Destroyer of worlds?”
“No, it’s not like that.”
“It should be. If I were in your place, I would probably have me in chains.”
“I don’t think I have any chains.”
“More’s the pity.”
“How are you feeling? Do you know how long we slept for?” I asked.
“I’m feeling a little better, but, you know, not strong enough to walk on my own yet. I’ve no idea how long we slept. I’m not really used to this paying attention to the time thing.”
I did a sort of a mental body scan, trying to establish how well rested I was. Yeah, it was definitely morning, and I was definitely in trouble.
“I think I might be late for school,” I said.
“Aren’t you a little old for school?” asked Elaine
“Why? When did you stop school?”
“Personally, I never went. I thought it was a stupid waste of time. But the other kids in my village stopped around twelve. I say they stopped, but usually, it was more the case that their parents needed their help in the shop or on the farm. Your world must be pretty wealthy if it can afford to have someone of your age still attending school.”
“I guess,” I said. “You think you will be able to come through the book now? I can set you up at home and see if I can get to some of my morning classes.”
Elaine nodded thoughtfully.
“Good.”
I held up my hand and took Elaine’s. Her fingers were warm in mine. I don’t know why, but I was suddenly embarrassed.
Elaine frowned at me. “You OK, book girl?”
“Yeah, I think so. Let’s go, shall we?”
With my free hand, I took out Alice and read that famous first line.
Soon we were back in my bedroom. The curtains were closed, and my room was a mess, just as I had left it. My door was still closed, which probably meant that Mom hadn’t
noticed that I hadn’t gone to school. It was probably not a good thing that work had made Mom so absent-minded, but it suited me fine just now.
“No one should bother you here,” I said, leading Elaine to my bed. “I usually keep my bedroom door closed. But if you hear anyone coming, just, I don’t know, hide under the bed I guess?”
“I’ll be all right. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep, though. How long will you be?”
I looked at my clock. “About five hours, I guess.”
“I can wait five hours,” said Elaine.
I felt self-conscious having her here in my personal space. I showered, got ready for school, and left her under the blankets.
School dragged on, and my thoughts were more often than not dwelling on Elaine and the adventure ahead. I was worried that if I didn’t act normal, then Lilly would notice that something was up. Thankfully, Lilly had other things on her mind.
“Is it breaking the prime directive if we travel to a more advanced world and bring back the technology to develop a fusion drive?” asked Lilly. It was lunchtime, and I got the feeling that Lilly had been talking to me for several sentences.
“I have not the pleasure of understanding you. Of what are you speaking?” I asked in imitation of an English accent.
“Fusion power. It is one of the bottleneck technologies, surely you know that? There’s got to be someone using the technology in one of those books. A warp drive would also be useful if we are ever to leave the system. Have you ever seen James T Kirk’s story in The Library?”
“I’m fairly sure that if we bought back technology to our world people would probably use it to kill each other more efficiently.”
“So you are in favor of the prime directive. Interesting. Hey, I was thinking, we should have an afternoon sometime when we just watch Game of Thrones, you know, like how we used to.”
