I looked up to see the kids’ teacher frowning a little, but when she met my eyes she forced a big smile. "Okay, we’ve taken up enough of your time, so we’ll let you get back to work. Kids, say thank you to Librarian Maiz."
A chorus of thank yous bubbled up to greet my ears and I gave the kids a happy wave before backtracking toward my cart, Gennie at my heels. "You were really good with them," she said. "Although you probably shouldn't bother answering all the questions."
I looked over at her. "What do you mean? Do you think anyone here would mind that I stopped collecting books for a few minutes to interact with some kids? I thought they wanted us to do that kind of stuff."
"Maybe," Gennie said with a shrug. "Not those kids. They're never going to be librarians."
I kneaded my eyebrows together, not able to figure out what it was she was telling me. "They're prosaic," she said. There's no point explaining all that stuff to them, they probably wouldn't understand it anyway. Really, I don't know why the teacher thought it would be appropriate to bring them here for a school trip. There's probably a nice quaint library in whatever town they come from that would've worked just as well. And now we're probably going to have to double back here in an hour or so to collect all those books they were holding and sort through them all over again. Maybe if we're lucky, they'll head downstairs next, and leave them on Steph’s floor for her to clean up." Gennie’s voice was light and happy, which seemed to be a stark contrast from what she was saying. I was still having trouble wrapping my head around it.
"How did you know they were prosaic?" It wasn’t like they'd been wearing stickers or armbands, and I worried there was something I had missed. Although I liked to think that even if I had known who or what they were, that it wouldn't have changed how I’d interacted with them.
"I don't know, you can just kind of tell. The way they were all looking around, the way they spoke."
We returned back to the cart, and Gennie took off back toward the section of the floor she’d been covering, leaving me staring at her back, baffled. I never really understood the prejudice that some people had against prosaics. And living in Summerset, I was sure most of my neighbors didn't have any special abilities, but it wasn't something many people talked about. I hadn't really thought it was something that mattered. And back in the Soaring City, there hadn't really been many prosaics around, at least not more permanently than tourists.
It was weird hearing that kind of talk coming from Gennie's mouth. Maybe I would've expected it from Vince, though maybe that made me just as prejudiced.
Slightly unsettled, I went back to sorting books and tried to push the incident from my mind. I doubted I'd ever be able to look back on the first time I'd been able to call myself a librarian without remembering the conversation that had come after. Still, it was kind of nice to think that maybe one of those kids one day would figure out how to become a librarian. Because it had been a similar rule that would've stopped me if I'd let it. So maybe they could find a way too. It would probably be a lot harder to fake a special ability than it would a history in the After, but for all I knew I wasn't the first person to pull this kind of thing off, and I definitely hoped I wouldn't be the last. Or even better, maybe somewhere along the way, someone would open their eyes and realize that their rules were old-fashioned, and more useless than not.
But no matter how many times I tried to convince myself to ignore what happened, my conversation with Gennie kept coming back to the forefront of my mind. Even as the four of us were headed down together back toward the staff room to get our bags and coats before heading home, I was still wondering if there was something I should've said or done differently.
"Hey, Tari are you in there?"
I blinked a few times, shaking my head, and looked up at Vince. "Sorry, what?"
“We were just asking that if you had the opportunity to get away from working the floor, but it meant you had to pick which order to pledge right now, what would you choose?" Vince asked.
I stared at him blankly for second, my brain trying to catch up with the conversation.
"Come on, you have to know. I'm actually leaning more towards becoming an Archivist, lately."
Steph nodded enthusiastically. "Me too. I love the idea of seeing how the books that come in shape the world we live in. I heard there was a bestseller a few years ago that resulted in an entirely new mountain springing up on the West Coast, as a result of it being a major plot point. The librarians didn't figure out why it happened until years after. And that kind of puzzle sounds like a lot of fun to me."
"Not to me," Charlene said. "I've always known I wanted to be a Scholar. And while I am leaving myself room to check it out first hand, I've always loved the idea of just reading as much as possible to try to deduce information about what kind of technology the other world has, and how we can replicate it here, then coordinating with teams who can make it happen, changing the lives of people everywhere in the After. I can’t imagine having more of an impact than that."
I nodded along, agreeing with all the points. So far, to me, each order certainly had its own draws. Though I wasn't hitting the idea of becoming an archivist and actually going out to visit mountains like the one Steph had mentioned, and seeing firsthand how books changed our world.
If nothing else, at least Vince's question had managed to pull me out of my funk, and got me thinking to the future.
"So?" he asked. "What would you choose?"
I rolled my eyes a little, already anticipating the reaction my answer would get. "Honestly, I’d turn down the offer. I'm excited to get more involved in the Archive, after I prove I'm not an idiot to the councilors. But I'm in no rush. For now, I love doing this stuff, and we're only going to be able to do less and less of it as time goes on. Might as well enjoy it now. Seeing all the books here, talking to people who read them and loved them. Actually getting to know the Archive as a physical entity, instead of just as a spiritual one that affects everything else in our world.”
But instead of laughing, the group I had been working with that day were all looking at me in kind of a strange way. I made a face. "What? Why you are looking at me like that?"
"You should be a Keeper," Steph exclaimed, sounding excited. "It's so you, I don't know why I didn't see it already. You really love the Archive and you appreciate what it means. You’re exactly the kind of person they’re looking for to help interpret how the After thinks we could best work in its name. You could be one of the people changing the rules, changing how we think about the After and the Archive. Because you appreciate it as it is."
I didn't have an answer, and we’d reached the staff room so our conversation died away, but a small smile played on my lips. Keeper. Me. If I was actually being honest with myself, I had been leaning more toward becoming an archivist and hadn't even really considered keeper as a career path that would make sense for me. It just seemed too big, and too important. But maybe that was exactly the reason I should look into it. I could be one of the people that paved the way for future librarians, like me or like Rajesh who the Archive excluded.
It was certainly something to think about.
Chapter 6
Six months into my first year of being a librarian and I'd gotten good at functioning with less sleep than my medical education had taught me was an ideal amount. But sitting in a stuffy classroom on the first Monday after surviving midterms, even I was having trouble keeping my eyes open as Archivist Rowe rambled on about the rules of magic.
I'd already read the entire first-year textbook on the subject and had been pestering one of the second-year students to let me have a peek at their books on the subject, but usually I would at least try to focus during class so our professors could offer extra insight on the topic. Which they usually did, even if I had to ask a few questions to clarify their points before I could make head or tail of what they were trying to articulate.
But that day, the voice coming from the front of the classroom sounded washed out and
far away, and my eyes continually fluttered shut before I'd force them open again and again.
And I still had an entire week to get through before the weekend when I would hopefully have a chance to catch up on my sleep and maybe find a little time to read a book just for the fun of it.
A soft knocking at the door to our classroom barely managed to rouse my attention but a moment later when Jonathan Credence stepped through the threshold, robes billowing behind him, I was as awake as I'd ever been.
Scholar Credence was one of the four councilors of the Archive, and as such they were mostly elusive. On my afternoon shifts in the library, I'd occasionally see one of the four moving through the stacks or lost in conversation with another librarian, but sightings were rare. And opportunities to talk to them, even more so.
Archivist Rowe didn't show even a hint of surprise on her face, which led me to believe that this unexpected visit had been planned, if not announced.
"Sorry I'm late," Scholar Credence said to our teacher, low enough that I wouldn't have been able to hear if I hadn’t been sitting at the front of the classroom.
“Not to worry. We are right in the middle of the laws of magic, so we have more than enough to keep us busy all week. We are more than happy to work around you, sir."
And with that, the councilor turned and looked at the class, a conspiratorial glint in his eye. "You know, no matter how old I get there will always be a part of me who feels a little strange at being called sir.”
Looking at Scholar Credence, his statement was easy to understand. Despite being one of the most powerful librarians in the world, in appearance he looked to be a teenaged boy, only approaching adulthood. It was one of the very same quirks of the After that I was hoping would come up for discussion in class sooner rather than later.
I had arrived in the After looking about Jonathan’s age and had aged year by year since then. While I couldn’t say exactly how old I was when I joined the Archive, I looked to be approaching thirty. Since I didn’t seem to be blessed with Jonathan’s extended youth, it probably wouldn’t be long until I started having to pluck stray gray hairs from my dark curls.
But my landlord in the Soaring City had been a middle-aged looking woman who by all reports was over two hundred years old. I’d read a few theories about how individuals were affected by time and aging, but nothing I’d studied had been able to offer definitive answers.
"I figured it was well past time for me to stop in and see how our first year class was doing. But I didn't want to interrupt your studies before midterms, so I hope you'll all put up with me for a few minutes this afternoon."
I only had to look to either side of me to see that every person in the classroom was sitting up a little straighter at their desks, attention fully focused on what was going on in front of them. Vince, beside me, was leaning so far forward in his desk I was half convinced his pants would become separated from his chair at any second. Everyone around me, each one of my classmates, knew how valuable any time with the councilors could be. We would all benefit from getting their attention, being noticed by them. I was sure that Vince already had designs on becoming one of them one day. They were the most respected among us, the most revered. And no matter how much time I spent researching them, I still wasn't immune from the pull of what they represented.
"So who wants to fill me in on what it was you were just discussing?" Jonathan asked, putting his hands behind his back. And unlike the circle of prosaic children I still thought about from time to time, Jonathan certainly wasn't lacking for initial volunteers to jump into the conversation.
"Yes," Scholar Credence said with a nod. "It's Stephanese Torrence, isn't it?"
I was thankful that neither our teacher nor Scholar Credence were looking at me as a satisfied smirk for my friends success formed at the corners of my mouth, excited for my friend that one of the councilors already knew her name.
I had to wonder if Scholar Credence had taken the time to learn all our names, or if he'd known all of them right from when we’d first applied. Even though it hadn’t been me that he called on, his action still made me feel a little more relevant to the world of the Archive going on around me. The councilors knew who we were, and that was cool.
"We were starting to study magical frequencies," Steph explained. "How different places in the After are receptive to different types of magic. Like how New London is the most likely place for Latin-based spells worked with wands to function properly. But that most of the cities that mirror American locations are more susceptible to paranormal-based magics – covens of witches, necromancers, stuff like that."
Silently, I willed my friend to elaborate further. To make some of the great points I'd already heard her ramble on about in some of our past conversations or study sessions. Maybe to talk about how magics could still work in places outside of the ones that most lined up with their own frequency, allowing people to still travel and retain their innate abilities, but making things far more unpredictable. Anything to help Steph stand out in this moment.
But she kept quiet, missing the opportunity.
Still, Scholar Credence nodded his approval and gave her a small smile before turning back to the rest of us. "And who can tell me what kinds of magics can be trusted to work anywhere in the world, no matter where their user is standing?"
When I raised my hand, someone else had already beaten me to the punch line and had been called on. Sarah O’Hare had a great answer about intrinsic abilities – the kinds of special abilities that some people had as part of their very person. Magics that didn't need any sort of spells or ingredients or special circumstances to work. Abilities like shapeshifting, or psychic susceptibility. Those magics were attuned to the frequency of their user and were far more reliable than spell work. It was one of the reasons that superheroes were frequently valued over witches, wizards and sorcerers in many cities. While their abilities were usually more limited, they were also far more reliable.
My own ability to download information counted as intrinsic, something I'd been trying not to use too often in my studies. Not only did I not want to be accused of cheating or anything of that nature, but I also didn't want to have to rely on anything other than my own brain for information that I wanted to be certain I could hold onto for as long as I might need it. But at least I could trust that no matter where I ended up, regardless of which city I lived in or even if I stayed in the Western Realms, that my ability would always be a part of me.
Thankfully at least, the Archive didn't have any specific rules about what kind of power you needed to have, just that you needed one.
“It seems like you’ve got a good group here," Scholar Credence said, returning his attention to Archivist Rowe. "I expect that by the end of this course, this lot will be able to tell me not only which cities are most susceptible to which frequencies of magic, but will also be able to recite the list of all eleven factors that can influence its use." He ended his sentence with a wink, keeping things light while also making sure we knew exactly what was expected of us.
But our teacher, for whatever reason, wasn't quite willing to let him go with only that brief interaction. "Actually, I can do you one better.” While the two of them chatted, seemingly putting on a bit of a show for our class, I was marveling at how comfortable Archivist Rowe seemed around one of the councilors. Would I have that same relationship with them one day? “Even though this lot is still just getting started, I'm sure I have at least one person sitting here today that could recite all eleven of those factors for you right now."
I stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped even thinking for a few solid seconds as my brain tried to process what had just been said.
Because I could recite all eleven factors, along with the sub factors that influenced each one of those. But it had never come up in conversation with anyone let alone with Archivist Rowe.
Maybe it wasn't me he was talking about.
"Tari?" my teacher asked, looking at me expectantly. Her wide s
et eyes had a twinkle in them that I wasn't used to seeing. Somehow, she had known I could do this. I hadn't thought she had really noticed me one way or the other, but clearly I had been wrong. And there was no time to make sense of this new information as one of the councilors of the Archive was now staring right at me.
But as I opened my mouth to start talking about population, language and the nine other factors, Scholar Credence held up his hand. "No, don't worry about that. I believe you. There's a look about you that I certainly recognize, a look I like to think I had myself when I was an apprentice librarian. I needed to know and understand as much as I could. And if you are like me, then there's no question you can list off all sorts of things whenever you're called on. But understanding those things takes far more than merely memorizing lists. Tell me, if you understand where magics work and how they work, then can you explain to me how magic works?"
The entire classroom had gone dead silent and it felt like everyone around me was holding their breath, but maybe that was just me.
How magic worked. I repeated the phrase over in my head a few times, rolling it around and trying to figure out from which angle I should come at it. But no obvious answer leaped to mind. It wasn't something I had seen specifically mentioned in any of my textbooks, or in any of the books tucked away outside of the main library—nonfiction for librarian use only.
But I couldn't just say nothing, everyone around me was waiting expectantly for my answer, and the councilor’s green eyes were still watching me, reading me.
"No," I finally said when the tension around me was too much to sit through any longer. "There is no proven theory as to why magic works the way it does, or why it doesn't in other instances, or the driving force behind any of it." I paused to take a breath, and Scholar Credence must've thought I was finished with my answer because a flicker of disappointment crossed his features. It was all the encouragement I needed to keep going. I loved talking about all this stuff, even when there weren't any concrete answers involved. And there was no way I was letting this opportunity drop without leaving my mark.
Apprentice (Into the After Book 1) Page 5
