by Amy Cross
“The Great Library was doing just fine before you showed up,” Cromer sneers.
“I would have pleased the gods,” Darvill continues, “and they would have rewarded me with immortality. I would have succeeded, too, if only I'd been able to break through.”
“You don't know that for sure,” Cromer replies. “Anyway, it's over. You failed, and now we're going to take you somewhere and make sure you face justice for all your crimes.”
“You'll pay for all the people you killed,” Christian sneers, “and for all the people you had killed. You're lucky I don't take this sword right now and -”
“You can't kill him in cold blood,” Cromer says firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “That is not the way.”
“Now I know that I must one day face the humiliation of death,” Darvill says, still staring at his own wounded arm. “The final insult.”
“Is that how you see death?” I ask. “As some kind of personal affront?”
“Death means failure!” he snaps angrily. “Death means a life that has ultimately been defeated!”
“Everyone dies,” I remind him.
“Not me!” he hisses. “I refuse! I'll find another way! Maybe I can't get through the Great Barrier, but somewhere here there has to be an answer. I will find that answer, and I will live forever! I will never die!”
“Good luck with that,” Cromer mutters, clearly not too impressed. He turns to me. “There are several places where we can safely lock him away. I was thinking that we could try the Spice Prison of Alcatar. He'll get to spend the next thousand years doing backbreaking work in the mines. That should give him plenty of time to think about whether or not he might have made a few mistakes.”
Another gust of wind blows against us. I turn and look over my shoulder, just as the wind ruffles Rinth's hair. For a fraction of a second, I'm just about able to see two eyes staring out at me, before the gust fades and Rinth's eyes are hidden again.
I freeze.
I recognize those eyes.
“Alex?” Cromer says after a moment. “What is it? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Telling myself that I have to be wrong, I slowly step past Cromer and approach Rinth. She, in turn, stays completely still, almost as if she's been waiting for this moment. I stop and look down at her, and then I get onto my knees so that I'm at roughly her height.
“Hey,” I say cautiously, as I feel my heart racing, “do you mind if I...”
I hesitate, before reaching out and touching the white hair that covers her features. There's still no static charge, so I'm able to start slowly parting the hair, although I stop after a moment as I realize that I'm not sure I can bring myself to do this. I have to be wrong, because even this place can't be quite so crazy, but then I force myself to part the hairs further, until finally I see her eyes again, and her nose, and part of her mouth.
She blinks.
I feel my heart skip a beat.
“Alex?” Christian says cautiously.
“Libby,” I whisper, as I see my little sister's face staring back at me.
I suddenly pull back, and her features are quickly hidden again beneath all the pompom-like white hair. I tell myself that there has to be some kind of mistake, but then I pull the hairs aside again and it's still Libby's face that I see.
“Who's Libby?” Christian asks.
“My sister,” I stammer, “from back in... but...”
I swallow hard.
“How?” I ask finally. “Libby, what are you doing here? No, wait, you can't be Rinth, that doesn't make any sense.”
“Rinth is the most ancient creature in the Great Library,” Cromer reminds me. “It is hard to imagine that she could be your sibling.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask Libby, as I pull more hair aside. “Libby, I need you to talk to me! This is serious, you can't...”
My voice trails off, and I feel as if my mind is about to explode. Nothing makes sense right now, and I'm even starting to wonder whether I'm having some kind of breakdown.
“The Great Barrier threatens our world,” Cromer says after a moment. “That's one of the things that Darvill claimed right from the start, that the Great Barrier would ultimately start to shrink and destroy everything. He believed that he could stop that by appeasing the gods, by breaking through the barrier and finding them.”
“Rinth went to find that one particular book in the Hidden Library,” Christian points out. “The one about how worlds are created. Remember? Rinth is ancient and -”
“My sister is not ancient!” I snap angrily, still trying desperately to make sense of this madness.
“She's certainly ancient here,” he replies. “What if...”
I wait for him to continue.
“What if your sister's the one who created the Great Library?” he asks finally.
“That's impossible!” I tell him.
“Is it? What if this is the world that her soul came to after she died?”
“She's not dead!”
“Not yet, but everyone dies eventually, and time might not work the same way between different worlds.” He pauses. “It'd be quite an achievement if she created all of this. In fact, it's hard to believe that any human mind would have the imagination or the chance to come up with something so vast.”
“She's been in a...”
Again, my voice trails off.
“She's been in a what?” Cromer asks.
“A coma,” I reply, looking at Libby's face again. “For years now. She's just in a bed in a room at our house. We take it in turns to read to her, although lately I...”
As I stare at Libby, I suddenly feel a rush of regret.
“Are you able to hear us while you're in that coma?” I ask finally. “Is that where all of this came from? Is it true? Is the Great Library the world that you dreamed up? Is that why I ended up here, because I have this connection to you?”
She doesn't say anything. She merely blinks as she stares back at me, but I'm starting to think that – by the standards of this crazy place, at least – this idea actually makes some degree of sense. Time's obviously a little out of whack, but is it possible that my little sister's imagination could have dreamed up this whole world and all the creatures and living people it contains? I keep tell myself that the idea is impossible, but then I remember that over the past few days I've already learned to believe so many impossible things.
“Rinth,” I say softly, “I mean Libby, I mean... Can you talk to me?”
I wait, but she doesn't reply.
“Tell me,” I continue, “how did you do it?”
I pause.
“Is it true?” I ask. “Did you dream this whole place up while you were in your coma?”
I wait, and his time – finally – she nods.
“Libby,” I continue, with tears in my eyes, “that's -”
“Everybody get back!” Darvill yells, and suddenly Rinth is pulled away.
I get to my feet and step forward, but then I see that Darvill has placed the blade of a large ax against my sister's face. He backs away with her, and I'm shocked to realize that none of us kept an eye on him. We thought he was broken and defeated.
“Don't hurt her!” I stammer. “Please, I'll give you anything you want, but -”
“There's nothing you can give me!” he spits. “Rinth, on the other hand, is another matter entirely.” He looks down at her. “So you're the one who created it all, are you? The land, the sea, the air... the shelves, the mountains, the valleys, and all the people who live here. Is what they just claimed true? Did you really conjure it all up in your mind, only for it to become real?”
“If you hurt her,” Cromer sneers, “you will very quickly lose your head!”
“I don't think so,” Darvill replies. “Like I said before, I don't much fancy the idea of death, it doesn't sit well with me. But I've seen enough now to realize that I wasn't thinking straight, that breaking through the Great Barrier was never going to work. Fortunatel
y, I think I have a better idea now.” He smiles. “Rinth,” he continues after a moment, “I don't think it was a coincidence that your sister just happened to show up here. Consciously or not, I think you're capable of creating those portals, so I'd very much like you to create one for me right now.”
He presses the ax deeper into Rinth's bundle of hair, and then he pulls her closer with his other arm, causing her to cry out in pain.
“No!” I yell, rushing forward.
Darvill immediately swings the ax at me. I duck out of the way, and at the same time I fall and slam hard against the ground. I try to get up, only to see that Darvill has the ax raised high above me, as if he means to bring it smashing down against my head at any moment.
“Listen to me, Rinth,” he shouts. “If this pathetic human really is your sister, then you should care deeply that I'm going to execute her in precisely ten seconds. The only way to stop me is to make sure that I'm not here, which means opening a portal to your home world. Ten.”
Rinth cries out again.
“Nine,” Darvill continues, “eight, seven...”
“Don't do it!” I tell Rinth.
“Six, five, four...”
I look around, trying to figure out how I'm going to get Rinth away from him.
“Three, two...”
Rinth screams, and then she holds her hands out as sparks dance on her fingertips.
Suddenly a blast of light splits the air in front of her. Darvill pushes into me as he turns and looks at the portal that's already growing large enough for a man to enter. Shielding my eyes, I look into the light, and after a moment I realize I can see something on the other side.
“Home,” I whisper, stunned by the sight of a London alley with the BT tower in the distance, rising high into the night sky. “That's home! That's London!”
Darvill steps toward the portal, and then he slowly turns and looks at me.
“Enjoy your time in the Great Library while you can,” he snarls. “Soon, it won't exist. Soon, it will never have existed!”
With that, he steps through the portal, disappearing into a crackling swirl of light that dances in the air. I immediately step forward and put my arms around Rinth, just as the portal flares and then fades, dwindling until all that's left is a faint shimmer in the air, with a few sparks drifting to the floor and dying in the dust.
“What just happened?” I whisper, as Rinth sobs on my shoulder. I stare at the spot where the portal was, and then I turn first to Christian and then to Cromer. “What just happened?” I shout again. “We have to stop him!”
“He's truly insane,” Cromer replies, with a hint of disbelief in his voice. “If he can't stop death by living forever, then he's going to do it the only other way.” He pauses. “By never having lived in the first place.”
“That doesn't make any sense,” I tell him, trying not to panic.
“It does to his fevered mind,” he explains. “If your sister Rinth, or Libby or whatever she's called, created the Great Library while she was alive, then all he has to do is go back and...”
“And what?” I ask.
“And stop her from doing it,” he adds. “If he kills her in your world, she might never get to complete the Great Library, and the barrier will simply draw in and wipe this whole world out. He wants to make sure that your sister is never able to finish the world that she's building.”
“That's impossible,” I tell him. “We're here right now! It can't not exist!”
“Based on what you read from that book in the Hidden Library,” he continues, “it takes time for a world to become fixed in place, for it to be able to exist even after its creator has died. The Great Barrier shows the limits of what your sister created, and perhaps it indicates that this world isn't complete yet. If Darvill succeeds in finding your sister in your world, and killing her before she's done, the Great Library might very well just fade away.”
“We can't let that happen,” I reply, before looking back over at the spot where Darvill disappeared. I hesitate for a moment, and then I look down at Rinth. “We need another portal!”
I wait, but nothing happens, so I part the white hair until I can see her sobbing face.
“Libby,” I continue, “I know you must be exhausted, but there's one last thing you need to do for us right now. You have to open another portal, so we can get home and stop Darvill. Do you understand?”
She looks at me, but I'm not sure that she gets it. Then again, she might just be too weak.
“Please, Libby,” I say firmly. “I'll never ask you for anything else ever again, but I need you to do this.”
She pauses, and then she reaches out a hand from beneath the fur. After a moment, a crackling light appears at the end of her index finger, and it grows until it's the size of a football. I can just about see the lights of London on the other side, but suddenly the portal vanishes and Rinth – or rather, Libby – lets out a gasp as she slumps down in my arms.
“She doesn't have the strength,” Christian says. “She's exhausted from the first portal. This is hopeless.”
“No, it's not hopeless,” I mutter, shaking her gently. “Libby, I know you can hear me. This is hard, but you really have to give it one more big try, okay?”
Her eyes flicker open, but she looks utterly drained.
“Give it everything you've got,” I continue. “This world you've created in your head is astounding, but it's going to be destroyed if we can't get back home and stop Darvill before he gets to you. We can't let that happen.”
I wait, but it's clear that she can't do anything right now. A moment later, feeling a faint tingling sensation on one side of my face, I turn and see that the Great Barrier has moved slightly, edging slightly closer as if it's begun to draw in and engulf this world. I try to think of something we can do to stall for time, or to give Libby the strength that she needs, but then I look down at her and I see that her eyes are slowly starting to close.
“I'll do anything,” I tell her. “Libby, if you just manage this one last time, I swear I'll keep my promise and I'll read to you every night, without fail. I won't let you down, I promise.”
She stares at me for a moment, and then her lips start to move.
“I can't hear that,” I say, leaning closer. “Try again.”
“Help,” she whispers, and then she holds her hand out and once again a crackle of light appears. “Make it... bigger...”
“I don't know how,” I tell her. Once again, the portal is roughly the size of a football. I can see the lights of London on the other side, but already the portal's starting to shrink again. “Libby, it's dying! I need you to -”
“It's not complicated!” Cromer says suddenly, stepping up next to me and reaching his hands into the portal, gripping each side and starting to pull. “How do you make a hole bigger, Alex? You rip it!”
He tries to tear the portal open, but at best he's managing to force it to stay the same size. I watch for a moment, powerless to help, and then I hear Libby whispering again.
“You do it,” she gasps. “Alex...”
“Get out of the way,” I say to Cromer.
“I feel that I must -”
“Get out of the way,” I say again, getting to my feet and staring into the portal.
“This is a mistake,” Cromer mutters, stepping back.
“Maybe,” I tell him, putting my hands into the portal and gripping the sides. I can feel it trying to shrink, but I take a moment to gather my strength, and then – thinking of home – I let out an anguished cry as I try to tear the portal fully open.
A blast of light fills the air, knocking me off my feet. I let go of the portal and fall back, but as I land I look up and see a vast image of nighttime London. The portal is twenty, maybe thirty feet wide, and almost as tall.
“And maybe not,” I say, getting to my feet as a blast of wind blows through the portal and hits my face. “Hey,” I add with a grin, “I know that smell! Bus fumes!”
“What fumes?” Cr
omer asks.
“It's already starting to shrink again!” Christian points out.
“Can you walk?” I ask Libby, helping her up. “Okay, we have to go through right now.”
“We're coming with you,” Cromer says as he comes closer.
“Are you sure?” I reply.
“You came and helped save our world. Now it seems that both our worlds are in danger, so of course we're going to accompany you. That only seems fair, doesn't it?”
“Okay,” I reply, looking him up and down, seeing the broken and bloodied armor that he's wearing, “but... I think once we get there, you might not blend in so well. I need to think of some way to make sure that you blend in and don't -”
“Enough talking,” he says firmly, before pushing me into the portal. “We'll work that out as we go along.”
Chapter Twenty
“No but wait we need to -”
Tumbling back, I slam hard onto the carpeted floor. I suddenly find myself staring up at a high ceiling, and I realize that over the crackle of the portal I can hear rain hitting the roof hard. A moment later, Cromer steps through carrying Libby aka Rinth, and then Christian follows. They barely make it before the portal flares and closes, leaving us standing in the cold, dark interior of what I realize with astonishment is the Southwall Road Library.
I'm right back where I started!
As thunder rumbles in the sky above, I stumble to my feet and turn to see that we're at the end of the aisles, in front of the reception desk. I look around, and there still doesn't seem to be anyone working here, but at least I've made it. After almost a week, I'm back in London. The only difference is that the large wooden door has somehow been left wide open, allowing cold air and the smells of the city to blow inside.
“Why is this library inside a building?” Cromer asks skeptically. “Did somebody capture it and put it in a prison?”
“This is how we do libraries where I'm from,” I reply, still a little dazed.
“Really?” He pauses. “Your world is strange, and not in a good way. And it smells strange.”
