Life Reader

by Shea, K. M.

  The twins were laughing so hard they couldn’t follow her.

  “Oh man, and she called us pompous?” one laughed as he bent over, holding his stomach to suppress his laughter.

  “For a moment there I thought she wasn’t really that big of an idiot. Wow I was so off!”

  “The reaction from our audience was interesting though, did you notice?”

  “Yeah, Jeremiah totally just stood by and let us do it. I can’t say I want a repeat performance though. She seemed…”

  “Yeah, we—,” the twin cut off when a door creaked open.

  From in the depths of the offices a snow smooth voice that held the warmth of black ice spoke. “Asher, Aron, come into my office.”

  The twins froze, swallowing uneasily as they slowly straightened up. “Yes sir,” they said together, slowly stepping into the office of the Saint Cloud library director with great dread.

  Raven blew past Daire and Jeremiah’s shared office and the KQ materials room. She reached the end of the hallway and sheepishly turned around, having realized there was no other way to go.

  As she wandered back up the hallway, Daire stepped out of his office. “We need to talk,” he said, leaning against the doorframe.

  “Okay,” Raven gamely said, flicking her thick French braid over her shoulder. (Her classmates did it for her in Japanese class. She had yet to pick up much of the language, but the class was useful in terms of cosmetic and fashion advice.)

  Daire ducked back into his office, and Raven hesitated before following him. He didn’t sit, nor did he tell Raven to sit. Instead he plucked a book from a shelf. “I believe I said,” he started, “That I didn’t want you to have anything to do with our page turner trainee.”

  Raven pulled the bottom of her pale green shirt lower and did not reply.

  “I’ll put up with you covering for Brannon. It helps Royce, but I don’t want you manipulating our trainee,” Daire said, paging through the book.

  “Manipulating?” Raven sputtered. She fell silent when Daire looked at her, his golden eyes dead and glossy.

  “Logically, my request makes sense. You haven’t worked here for a week, I have no idea what kind of working habits you have. But in reality I don’t want you around William because I don’t trust you.”

  Raven blinked, surprised the prefect was being so forth coming.

  Daire set his book down and continued. “You waltz into the library, a perfect vision of Jeremiah’s ideal girl. Everything from your long hair to your ditzy attitude and dim intelligence—,”

  “Hey!”

  “—are reflective of Jeremiah’s idea of the ultimate girlfriend. While such a girl might exist, she would undoubtedly not be smart enough to be sorted as a page turner. So your character must be some kind of charade. I don’t know what you want, but I am going to keep you from it, and I will not let you poison our young trainee.”

  Raven was struck by two thoughts: First of all, it was a good thing Gram came up with the backup plan. Secondly, Raven observed that in spite of his flat, cold personality Daire still cared about the other page turners. Why else would he be so concerned with William?

  Raven pursed her lips and weighed her options before choosing the best response. “You must have a very bad relationship with your mother,” she said, nodding her head while maintaining a look of seriousness.

  “…What?” Daire asked. He sounded dazed, as if he were awestruck by the seriousness of her stupidity.

  “I bet you don’t have a girlfriend either, you poor thing. If you think of women as poison? Goodness, it’s no wonder you don’t have one! But Daire, you can’t let your relationship with your mother taint your view of girls. I promise that some of us are very nice,” Raven said, cheerfully smiling and clasping her hands behind her back.

  Daire closed his eyes and sighed. “I find you exhausting, Rachel McCellen. Please return to your station in the computer lab.”

  “Ok. Buh-bye,” Raven said, waving merrily to Daire before she squeezed out of the room and hurried off.

  Before leaving the kitchen Raven remembered to stop and store her backpack and jacket in the lockers. She took a moment to adjust her jeans before rejoining Royce and William at the sign in station.

  “Hello again Royce, Hi William,” Raven said, her voice sing song.

  “Erm… hi,” Royce said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Are you OK?”

  Raven stopped and blinked at him. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “No reason really. Just, you seemed sorta upset, and the twins followed you, and….,” Royce trailed off, his facial expression pained.

  Raven airily laughed. “Oh, they left me alone after I ignored them long enough. I’m not sure where they wandered off to though. How has the desk been?”

  “Pretty steady,” Royce got out before Jeremiah’s caterwauling interrupted him.

  “Ray-Ray, I am so sorry! I didn’t know asking you to read would be so upsetting for you!” Jeremiah said as he scrambled to Raven’s side and clung to one of her hands, his blue eyes looking sufficiently miserable.

  Raven smiled so hard she thought her teeth might crack. “It’s no problem at all, Jeremiah,” she said, her tone as sweet as cake. Behind her smile she glowered at the flighty blond, again he was rubbing salt in her wound under the guise of friendliness. “Everyone has their pet peeves, mine happens to be a little odd. But Jeremiah, I am hurt! As the Saint Cloud second you should have read my file, which must have a notation about my past refusals,” Raven said, pulling a pout while tugging her hand out of Jeremiah’s grasp.

  For a fraction of a moment one of Jeremiah’s eyebrow raised, and Raven could have sworn she saw him nod in acknowledgement of her score against him. But the moment passed too quickly, and Jeremiah was back to his flattery.

  “I’m sorry, Ray-Ray,” he repeated, ignoring her not so subtle accusation. “I didn’t think it would be such a big deal. After all, a girl as beautiful and sweet tempered as you could hardly have embarrassing or freakish magic.”

  Raven froze for a moment, her heart pounding, but Jeremiah and his audience didn’t seem to notice.

  The blond continued, “I will work to make it up to you! I promise. But for now, could you take care of the printing station for me? Please?”

  Raven swallowed before she made a show of folding her arms and rolling her eyes. “Oh I suppose. But you owe me!”

  “Of course,” Jeremiah fluttered around Raven. “Thank you Ray-Ray,” he said before abandoning the desk to help/chat up a patron.

  Raven tossed her head to rearrange her bangs before she offered Royce and William a smile. “I’ve got my assignment now, so I better hop to it! Call me if you need me,” she winked before heading over to the desk.

  Raven lounged at the print station, giving patrons their copies and plugging the charges into the cash register. When she wasn’t busy she pretended to read the most recent edition of “People”, but tucked inside of it she stashed a copy of “Guardian Weapons Monthly,” a KQ publication.

  After two hours at the desk, Raven started tiring of Jeremiah’s dazzlingly smiles and airy laughter. She folded her magazines and studied the patrons with a thoughtful frown. She stood with a groan and walked past Royce and William. “I’m going to get a soda from the fridge, I’ll be right back,” she promised.

  Royce nodded, “I’ll keep an eye on the printer until you get back,” he offered.

  “Thanks,” Raven said, smiling as she pushed the kitchen door open.

  Once inside the staff lounge Raven stretched, flexing her sore feet before she heading for the fridge “Stupid shoes,” she said, placing her hand on the fridge door.

  Before she could open it someone grabbed her and yanked her around.

  It was Asher and Aron. Again.

  Raven scowled, about to tell them off, when one of the twins clamped a hand down on her mouth while his brother secured her hands. “I don’t know why the director is so freaking protective of you, but we’re going to fi
nd out,” he said before shoving a towel in Raven’s mouth.

  Raven fought them, but the other twin held her fast. Next a scarf was tied over her eyes. Raven tried to scream, but the sound was muffled by the towel. The twins held her hands and pulled her forward, skidding across the kitchen floor.

  She almost fell when they transitioned from thin carpet to slippery cobblestone. The twins kept her upright, treating her rather gently in spite of the fact that Raven clawed at them and struggled every step of the way.

  Raven had no idea where they were, all the library flooring she had seen were carpeting, marble, or wood. The only thing she could think of that wasn’t, was the secret passages she had seen Jeremiah leave.

  The air was cool and damp. It smelled faintly of mold with the zinging sensation of magic liberally swirled in. The path banked down steeply, Raven would have fallen flat on her face if the twins weren’t cooperating to keep her on her feet.

  “Almost there,” one twin said after an approximately two minute walk, grunting when Raven kneed him in the stomach.

  “She’s a fighter,” the other said, steadying Raven when she fell backwards after her attack.

  “Stop here,” a twin said after another minute of fighting and walking. They backed up against a solid surface and released Raven.

  Raven heard them speak, but she was too busy pulling her towel gag and eye mask off to take notice of their words. Her release revealed nothing. Her surroundings were completely black.

  After flinging the towels away Raven spoke in her page turner voice. “Illuminate.”

  The silver glow of her ring flared to life, and Raven held her hand over her head. “If I didn’t know any better I would say I’m in a secret passage in a medieval castle,” Raven murmured after catching her breath, her heart still furiously pounding in her chest. The walls were made of gray stone, like a castle. The ceiling faintly resembled a cave. (Raven could have sworn there was a stalactite or two up there.)

  The twins were nowhere to be seen.

  Raven slowly spun around, her ring casting a dim glow up and down the passageway. “Asher, Aron!” Raven shouted, holding her free hand to her heart in an effort to calm its frantic beating.

  The Montamos twins did not reply.

  “Those rats,” Raven said, rolling the r in rats for a proper growl. She looked up and down the tunnel once more before choosing a direction. “This isn’t so bad,” Raven said, her lips barely moving. “My only regret is that I didn’t bring a book with. Maybe I could have read something that would help me get out of here.”

  She glanced up and down the shaft once more before choosing a direction. She moved carefully, her buckled dress shoes often skid on the damp, slick ground. The tunnel was bare. There were no directional markings, although Raven could spy lines of flourishes and etchings near the top of the walls. Water dripped, falling to the ground in wet splatters, and the air tasted stale and moldy, like a catacomb that hadn’t been entered for decades.

  Raven didn’t know how long she wandered until she came to an intersection. She hesitated before taking a side tunnel. (She remembered the few turns and curves in the path the twins had taken her down, but who was to say she had started off in the right direction to begin with?)

  As Raven started down the smaller tunnel, something clattered behind her. Raven spun, there was nothing there. “Asher? Aron?” she called, her voice shaking.

  Silence.

  “Come on guys. Can we stop this and go back now?” she appealed. The only noise in the tunnel was her breathing.

  Raven took a deep breath and raised her chin before turning back to the tunnel and plunging further in.

  There was a whisper of a breeze, and something whisked overhead. Raven raised her gaze to the ceiling and held out her hand, casting a silvery glow to the cave-like roof. The shadows retreated, there was nothing there.

  Raven swallowed, but kept walking. She blinked, occasionally whipping her head to confront the dark shadows that crept at the edges of her vision.

  She stopped moving all together when something breathed further down the tunnel. The inhalation was wheezy, the whistling noise of labored breath. The exhalation was a snake hiss that echoed in passageway.

  Raven licked her lips. Her legs were lead weights. She didn’t want to take another step further. It had to be the twins. They were probably lying in wait, prepared to jump out at her.

  Raven pulled her eyes shut, scrunching them together as though she could will herself out of the tunnel. There was a new scent in the air, smoke. Not the pleasant scent of a bonfire, rather the scorched scent of a wildfire that has ravaged a whole forest—the scent of charred flesh.

  Raven opened her eyes and drew back her shoulders before she cautiously moved forward, holding her ring hand in front of her.

  Raven walked until the silver light of her ring fell on a black, huddled shape. The creature was huddled beneath a tattered, black cloak that was wet with what appeared to be blood. It lifted its head, and two pale eyes—white like a dead fish’s—fixed on her. Besides the eyes the only things visible beneath the hood were gaping, yellow teeth that were pulled into a permanent grimace.

  “Oh very funny guys!” Raven said, bending over to pick up a rock. “Read a decayor from a book. Real original,” she said, standing back up. With a grunt she threw the rock at the creature. Instead of passing through, like it should have with any page turner illusion, the rock bounced off.

  Raven stared at the creature as her heart dropped into her stomach. It inhaled with a whistling breath before hissing out an exhale. It slowly crawled forward, like an unfolding shadow. A glob of spit dangled from its mouth, and it crept toward Raven, still holding her gaze with its clouded dead fish eyes. Slowly it extended one hand, which was white and just as skeletal as bone, before the other.

  Raven snapped out of her paralysis. “Ice!” she shouted, throwing her hand up.

  One of the decayor’s hands froze over, pinning it to the ground. It shrieked in a shaved metal voice.

  Raven spun and ran back up the tunnel, unable to help the scream that erupted from her throat. She had to flee, without books she didn’t stand a chance. Her grasp of ice magic was too tremulous. Raven moved as fast as she could, but thanks to the slick ground and her shoes she could only trot—not sprint like she badly wanted to.

  Behind her the creature howled, and there was a crack of breaking ice.

  Raven shut her mouth, nearly biting her tongue in the process. The silver light from her ring bobbed with her movements, and one thought ran a loop through her panicked mind.

  What was a decayor doing in the library?

  Decayors were evil creatures that were most comfortable in hotspots for darkness: graveyards, swamps, sewer systems and the like. What was it doing here?

  The decayor howled directly behind Raven, scaring another scream out of her. “Ice!” she yelped. A giant spike of ice erupted between Raven and the beast. The decayor ran directly into it, but Raven wasn’t moving quite fast enough and the ice pushed her out of the way while forming, sending her skidding down the tunnel.

  Raven regained her stride and kept running, her breath turning into pretty puffs of mist as her magic caused the temperature of the tunnel to plummet.

  Raven skid into the intersection and twisted, trying to chose a direction. The decayor flung itself after her, salivating and laughing wildly.

  “ICE!”

  Raven’s magic, closely mimicking her emotions, ran wild. Another stalagmite of ice shot out of the ground, nearly impaling the deft decayor. However, ice also coated the intersection in thick layers, spreading like a disease on the already wet walls and ground.

  Raven shrieked as she skid on the ice and fell, cracking her head on the ground.

  The decayor crawled on its hands and legs, scuttling towards her like a cockroach.

  Raven moaned, her head pounding. “Ice,” she muttered, her vision hazy. A snowball dropped on the decayor’s head.

  Raven pushed
herself up on her elbows and shrieked. She barely rolled away in time, just missing the decayor’s outstretched fingers, which brushed her shirt. The fabric that grazed the beast’s fingers instantly blackened and crumbled like a burnt pie crust.

  Raven threw herself to her feet and kicked off her shoes, hitting the decayor square in the face.

  She heard a noise—voices echoing down one of the intersecting tunnels. Raven spun and ran down it, moving faster without her shoes. As she sprinted the voices grew clearer.

  “Hurry up—she’s screaming. If she’s crying I’m going to pummel you.”

  “We left her alone in a dark tunnel, of course she’s crying! Besides it was your idea.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t mean to scare her so badly.”

  “Then why did you—Oh there she is!”

  Raven shrieked with all of her lung capacity when a red light exploded into existence not five feet in front of her. She skid to a stop, her voice raw from screaming.

  “Ray, it’s us!”

  When the brilliance of the red light subsided Raven could see the Montamos twins, their page turner rings casting red light on the tunnel walls.

  Behind Raven the decayor howled.

  Raven glanced over her shoulder and spotted the milky eyes. “Help me!” she shouted into the red light.

  One of the twins held his arms out, and Raven flung herself at him, pressing her face into his shoulder. She cried, tears leaking from her eyes as her shoulders shook.

  The twin’s arms closed around her as he steadied them, moving one leg back for balance.

  “…Yeah, I’m going to kill you Aron,” he started.

  “Asher!” the other twin shouted.

  The decayor howled, he must have fallen within their line of sight by now.

  “By the Book,” the twin holding Raven uttered.

  “Together Asher… NOW!” the other twin, Aron, barked.

  While Raven’s magic lowered the temperature of the tunnel, the twins’ magic raised it. The tunnel was suddenly bathed in heat and light, and the twins’ fire magic roared like a dragon.

  The decayor howled and screamed, incinerated in the flames. The twins kept the hot blaze blasting for a few moments before allowing it to decrease in power.