The Library (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 1) by Casey White (surface ebook reader .TXT) 📕

walls, even if their guests didn’t take him seriously, he was still the Librarian. Out there?

Daniel was trapped. There was no way for him to show how far beyond his ‘age’ he was, not without exposing himself. Not without leaving an opening for all the hungry mages to track him through.

But he wouldn’t stay helpless. He had time now. He’d learn, enough to keep ahead of their eyes. Enough to ensure that once he was of age, no one would ever treat him lightly again.

It was hard to draw himself upright when he was still child-sized, but he did his best. And then he threw himself back into his studies with renewed vigor.

Texts flashed past. Languages came and went. Mathematics poured into his mind, opening new doors. He devoured anything he could get his hands on, flitting from the sciences to literature to martial arts with feverish intensity.

So buried in his studies was he that he hardly noticed the lights overhead growing harsher, pitching steadily to a cold, uncomfortable white. The hallways grew colder. Doors groaned, rattling in the night with intangible winds.

He didn’t notice, his face hidden behind another book. He’d need another soon, and so he hurried onward. Straight through the labs would take him to the section he’d been perusing, he knew. In a few minutes he could be back to his desk, and-

His steps skidded to a stop. His hand clutched the door still - a door that should have opened onto the Library’s science wings.

Instead, he stood in the entryway. The front door loomed ahead. Light poured through the cracks around its rim, searing with intensity.

A stack of papers sat on the ground. Slowly, he stepped into the room, crouching to pull them closer. He already knew what he’d find.

Names. Names, and faces, and biographies. Scholars, the whole lot of them.

Daniel stood again, his eyes scanning the top page. And then he lifted his gaze to the room around him.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I took too long, didn’t I?”

Jean had told him that, too - the Library existed to be read. He nodded fiercely, pretending moisture wasn’t collecting in the corners of his eyes. “Sorry,” he repeated. “I’ll...I’ll...”

A sigh slipped through the Library as he ducked into a bow, like a pressure had been released. “Right away,” he murmured.

Spinning on his heel, he darted away.

* * * * *

The doors groaned open. The entry hall stood before him, twinkling cheerfully.

He strode forward, trying to look more confident than he felt. Trying to look like something other than a teenager in a child’s body.

It’d taken a few nights to sort through the applications. He had newfound respect for Jean, after witnessing firsthand how messy it was to filter through the lies and exaggerations told by the Booklenders.

But now, he was here.

He drew a hand from his pocket, and glanced down to the key. Now or never, he whispered to himself.

Hesitating another moment, he pressed a hand to his face, pushing the mask into place more firmly.

Before he could have second thoughts, he slid the key into the lock, just like he remembered Jean doing.

The Library groaned - and then came alive, blossoming with lights that fell from the rafters like fireflies. He breathed in deeply, tasting the atmosphere within lighten.

He backstepped, taking up a place in the center of the room. It wouldn’t be long. Not when Alexandria was this anxious.

Forcing himself to stand straight, he clasped his hands in front of him. And waited.

The wait was even shorter than he’d thought. He’d no sooner come to a stop, the hem of his coat falling still, when the front door creaked gently.

Slowly, it slid open. Footsteps echoed from behind it, growing closer by the second.

Owl smiled from behind his mask. He’d do it. He’d do his best.

Somewhere out there, he knew Jean would be proud.

He bowed as the first figure stepped out of the light.

His voice rang out, crisp and clear and without so much as a quiver.

“Welcome to the Library.”

THE

Library

- Chapter Eleven -

“Dan!”

An arm landed around his shoulders. Daniel flinched, looking up from his drink. Reality snapped back to place around him - the bar, filled with lights and bodies. The dark skies outside. And, someone hanging off him like a leech.

It was Lucas, of course. His friend grinned from ear to ear, his eyes only a little glassy from inebriation. “Don’t scare me like that,” Daniel muttered.

“Well, stop spacing out, and you won’t get scared,” Lucas said. “Come on. We’re going to stop by the shop real quick, and then-”

Daniel blinked, sitting up a little straighter and shrugging off Lucas’s arm. “What? You’re leaving already?”

“In a few minutes, maybe,” Nate said from beyond him, taking another swig from his beer. “It’s getting about that time.”

“We barely got here,” Daniel said, frowning. “You guys didn’t say you’d have to skip.”

“Exams,” Lucas said, the smile on his face turning forced. “Starting with diff-eq tomorrow morning.”

Nate snorted. “You know how it is.”

If you have an exam, why’d you come out at all? Daniel’s mind screamed. He kept the thought inside, stubbornly burying it. If the pair stayed home studying, then he’d have to spend the night alone. It was hard enough finding excuses to hang out on the daily - losing a realworld visit to something like exams just frustrated him. “Ah,” he said instead, sitting back and clutching his drink. “Gotcha. That sucks, then.”

Nate’s sour chuckle rippled across the bar under the background din of the other patrons. “It’s okay. Have your laugh.”

Lucas dropped back into his seat at the table, making a face. “Seriously, though. I need to get home. I’m so unbelievably fucked.”

“Do you need help?” Daniel said, brightening. “I could stop by. We could take a pizza back, do some cramming. Maybe we could-”

“Thanks,” Lucas said, holding a hand up and wincing. “I appreciate the offer. But this shit’s pretty complicated, and I really couldn’t take up your night with it.”

Complicated. Differential equations. Daniel quashed the retort rising to