by Casey White
“L-Look, could you guys, just, like...turn around?” Owl said desperately. “I need to- I can’t-”
“Do you need help with that or something?” Leon said, taking a step forward.
Owl stumbled back, still clutching his mask. “N-No,” he said, shaking his head. “Nope, I can get it. Just, uh. Could you-” The bookshelf. It hung right at the edge of his vision, solid and very much opaque with books. He seized the idea, waving a finger toward the pair in a loose loop. “Turn around? For just a second?”
“Just do it,” he heard James mutter. “Weirdo.”
Leon laughed nervously, but turned around at James’ nudge. The two faced away.
Finally. Owl hurled himself behind the edge of the bookshelf, dropping his mask to the rack and grabbing for the hem of his hood. With one final tug and a grunt, he pulled it free. It settled over his face in the next instant, right where it should be. He hissed in relief. About time.
Again he thrust his mask onto his face, and this time, when he reached for the straps to bind it against his head, they were ready and waiting down the inside of his collar.
The breath he’d been holding in slid out as he pulled the last one tight, giving the mask a tentative tug - and felt it hold. The clips to hold the hood tight to its rim snapped into place smoothly.
“Okay,” he said with a sigh, stepping back out into the hallway. “I...yeah. Sorry about that. Um.”
The two visitors were waiting right where he’d left them, still turned away. Heat began to climb Owl’s cheeks, safely hidden behind the mask. “Y-You can turn back around.”
Get yourself together, he screamed at himself silently. You’re the Librarian. Stop acting like a bumbling juvenile.
Leon and James turned around, though - and while James still looked more wary and suspicious than anything, unbridled curiosity simmered in the depths of Leon’s eyes.
“I’m...sorry. About last time,” Owl said, resisting the urge to grind his teeth together. Part of him still wanted to screech sorry for what and drag the both of them to Alexandria’s front door. But-
The lanterns alongside him rocked ominously, letting globules of wax fall to the floor. I know, Owl whispered. I won’t. I know you’ve got your damn hands in this, and that means I’ll put up with it. For now.
“You are?” Leon said.
“Yeah,” Owl said. “I just...I might have. You know. Overreacted.”
“You grabbed me.”
“And you were an intruder, visiting the Library without permission,” Owl said, with an amused-if-resigned note starting to slip into his voice. “Don’t blame me.”
“The library?” Leon said, with that same interest still burning in his expression. Something in his voice, though...it lacked the proper import, the knowledge that the title should have held. It was definitely still library-with-a-little-L to him, then, not the Library.
And that meant he didn’t know. Not really. Probably.
Well. Owl wrinkled his nose, realizing the mess he’d stepped into. Leon hadn’t known - until he’d gone and said the name right to his face.
“It’s...don’t worry about it,” he mumbled, scuffing at the ground. “It’s-”
“It’s here, isn’t it? This place.”
Owl glanced back up. Leon stood, bouncing on his heels with his hands shoved into his pockets, and gazed at Owl with eyes alight. In all his years as Librarian, Owl couldn’t quite remember someone looking as enthused as Leon did in that moment.
“Yeah,” Owl said, unable to stop himself. “It’s...It’s here, yeah.” He chuckled softly, leaning forward and sweeping one arm across his front in an elegant bow. “Welcome to the Library. You’re...not guests, but I am the Librarian. I suppose I have to look after you anyway.”
“Librarian?” he heard James mumble. “Uh...Leon, are you sure this-”
“But you already knew that, right?” Owl said, lifting his head and looking back to Leon - who grinned, still rocking on his heels.
“Yeah,” Leon said. “Kinda figured, anyway. That Fox guy got called a Librarian, too.”
“By that journal you found?” Owl said, his blood electrifying. “About that. Could you-”
“I told you, though,” Leon said, elbowing James and turning away in the same motion. His eyes had returned to the Library around them, the wonder in them as rich as the first time Owl had seen him. “This place is insane.”
“You weren’t kidding,” James said, his voice low. His expression was distinctly more wary than Leon’s, but he followed behind his friend, creeping deeper into Alexandria’s wings.
Owl stood where he’d been, one hand still upraised, and watched, dumbfounded, as they started walking away. He was the Librarian. In this place, his word was law - and it’d been decades since anyone had dared ignore him. Centuries. And yet, those two had-
“Hey!” he heard Leon holler from ahead. “Bird-man! You coming, or what?”
“Asshole,” Owl muttered under his breath.
But there was a grin on his face under its porcelain facade as he stalked forward, sweeping back toward his two new charges.
* * * * *
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” James said, eyes round.
“What I said,” Owl said. “I’ve never been here before.”
Leon waved a hand frantically. “But you said you’re that Librarian guy. That you’re here all the time. So, uh. Surely you have to have been here.”
“Or at least know the way out,” James mumbled. “It’s like a goddamn maze in here, man. Help us out.” Where Leon looked about ready to burst, his eyes gleaming, James kept shifting from foot to foot anxiously. “I am not getting lost in here.”
“Already told you guys this,” Owl said, pausing for a moment. He let his hand drag over an intricately carved column, taking in the sight of the...well, the excess, if he was being honest. “The Library changes itself at will. There are some rooms that stay constant, yeah. And if it wants to repeat a room, it can. But otherwise-”
“So it’s alive,” Leon breathed. “That’s so cool.”
“N-Not really,” Owl said, alarm bells screaming in his head. Damn it, what was he doing? He was supposed to keep Alexandria’s secrets - and here he was, prattling on about the place. It didn’t matter that all of this was common knowledge to everyone who visited the Library. In the end, it was all stuff that these two shouldn’t know.
And yet...his pulse slowed fractionally as he glanced around.
High ceilings rose over them, held up by the same indulgent columns as he’d been inspecting moments before. Broad arches opened on either side of the hall, leading out to gardens dotted with cozy-looking chairs. Books had been strategically placed alongside each, as though they were just waiting for a reader to plop down for the afternoon.
It’d been years since he’d seen a study as bright and cheerful and lovely as this one. Which meant Alexandria was in a good mood. A damn good mood.
You really like them, don’t you? he whispered, sighing again. And in the end, that’s what was loosening his damn tongue so much. He wouldn’t let anything slip he wouldn’t tell a guest, he’d decided. But if Alexandria thought they were a threat, she’d get rid of them.
“Still...how far does it go?” Leon said, spinning back to face him.
“As far as it wants,” Owl responded, chuckling. “Didn’t your professor friend write anything about that?”
“Milton?” James said. The man had been keeping his own peace, mostly, clinging to Leon’s heels. At least Owl didn’t have to worry about him wandering off. Now, though, he perked up. “That old bastard didn’t make much sense, really.”
“Made enough sense to get us thinking,” Leon said. “That’s plenty.”
Chance. “So you guys...what,” Owl said, leaning against a pillar. “Found a note he’d written somewhere in a book, and thought something was weird?”
James and Leon exchanged glances, but in the end, Leon shrugged. “I pretty much told you e
verything last time,” he said. “But, yeah. That’s basically it. We were doing a research project, and dug through some old records.”
“I told him it was a long shot,” James said. “Guy was clearly insane, so why waste time with it?” He rolled his eyes. “Leon never knows how to let go of anything.”
“You wanted to just run off and forget about it,” Leon said. “Bet you’re glad I was stubborn now, huh?” He glanced back to Owl. “There was a note in one of the margins, with...well, some pretty fuckin’ weird stuff in it.”
“Like stuff about the Library,” Owl said softly.
A wry grin played at the corners of James’ lips. “Figured that out all on your own? Big smart guy, you.”
Fair enough. “You’re students, then?” Owl said. That much seemed obvious, but he needed every scrap of confirmation he could get. And more than anything, he needed to keep them going. Sorry, Alex. Reality is what it is.
If Alexandria disagreed, well, she wasn’t going out of her way to strike him down.
“Yeah,” Leon said, his expression brightening as he turned back around. “Getting ready for my masters. Well, I am. James’ll probably call it quits here after his bachelor’s. We’re up at the University of Illi-”
James kicked him. Hard. Leon’s words died in a pained yelp. “Don’t worry about it,” James said, smiling blithely at Owl. “Don’t take it the wrong way. We don’t know you, after all.”
“I get it,” Owl said mildly. Inwardly, he seethed with satisfaction. Leon, and James, and one Professor Milton - and given their usage of mostly-accentless English, there weren’t too many colleges this ‘Illi’ could be. Plus, he knew their faces now.
It’d take a long time, but he had the pieces he needed to find them. He could protect himself, if it came to that. The worry in his gut eased just a little.
“Still,” Owl said, still feeling James’ untrusting eyes on him. “Never thought I’d wind up with strangers popping out here. That’s...not supposed to happen.”
“Gee, I’d never have known from how you acted last time,” Leon said. He’d already started wandering out the far end of the garden-study, ogling the surroundings. “You seemed downright friendly. I’d never have guessed you were off-put.”
Behind him, James snorted.
“I did apologize for that,” Owl said, following along gamely. He’d need to wrangle new boots out of Alexandria soon, with how much these two seemed to be dragging him around the grounds. “But, uh. If you don’t mind my asking...how the hell did you two get here?”
“What?” Leon said. “Oh. Well, uh.” He scratched at his head, his golden-brown hair flying. “I...can’t remember, I guess. I just...”
“I just went to bed,” James said, scrunching up his face. “That’s all. Nothing fancy.”
“Right!” Leon said. “That. Yeah. I remember setting my alarm, and then...”
They both glanced back to Owl - who sighed, nodding. “And then you woke up here,” he said heavily.
“Yep,” Leon said. The hallway sprawled out before him, leading back into another of the Library’s wings and out of the garden lounge. “Oh - James! Would you believe the size of that fountain?”
James sighed. “It’s just a fountain, Leon. Calm down.”
“Why don’t you ever show me pretty fountains and gardens?” Owl muttered.
The confirmation from Leon had been the final piece, though, even if the man didn’t know what he was saying. Sleeping was how Owl himself wound up back in Alexandria - and even if their more regular guests were planned for, he’d spoken to them enough to know that their visits were tied to sleep as well.
Which meant that, more than likely, it truly was Alexandria letting them in. They probably weren’t pulling any tricks on him. “If you wanted more visitors, you could have said something to me,” he whispered, even softer than before.
The wind whistled lazily through the garden in the silence after his words, swirling about him in gentle, comforting waves that nestled under his hood and warmed him to his core.
With every second he wasted griping at the damn building, though, the two pulled farther and farther ahead. Swallowing his next comment and kicking lightly at the tiles, he hurried after them.
* * * * *
If there’d been any doubt in Owl’s head that Alexandria was pulling out all the stops for James and Leon, they vanished with every wing the trio walked through. Cathedrals. Underground caves lit by glowing fungus. Herb gardens, and wind-swept pavilions, and a pass through the training court that had even James raising an eyebrow. Each scene was somehow more extravagant than the last.
Through it all, Owl hovered a dozen steps behind, torn but smiling. They shouldn’t be here. And he shouldn’t be wasting his day letting these two tromp around Alexandria like it was a damn resort.
“So what do you do here?” Leon said, his head craning around until his eyes met Owl’s.
Owl jumped - and then sighed. “I told you,” he said, quickening his steps a fraction and drawing closer. “I’m the Librarian. I look after our guests.”
“Oh,” Leon said. “Right.”
And there it was, Owl thought with a chuckle. Each time he started to dream of slipping away - or casting the two out, throwing them through the front door and reclaiming his peace and quiet - one or the other of them would let fly with a quip, or a comment, or sometimes even a question.
Despite himself, Owl couldn’t mind. Not when someone was looking at him head-on, filling the Library with the sound of someone else’s voice.
“What guests, though?” James said, and glanced around. “It’s kind of dead here.”
“They’re...gone,” Owl said. “We’re closed.”
Both James and Leon flinched, and Owl groaned. He’d tried to keep the comment a little more neutral, but damn it, it was the truth. They were closed - and the pair were taking up his time after-hours.
“B-But,” Leon said, slowing to a stop. “It’s open, sometimes? What about then?” Open air stretched out on either side of them, with foggy sky showing through the grand windows of the skywalk they’d happened onto.
“Milton,” James said, his voice soft. “I remember him rambling about some of that. Uh. When you say guests, do you mean-”
“Look,” Owl said. “Yeah. That’s...That’s the easiest way of putting it. People like your professor friend. And...”
He had to say it. The words turned to ash in his mouth, bitter and somehow unwanted, but he licked his lips and pulled himself upright.
“They belong here,” he said, even quieter than James. “They’re planned for. Expected. You guys aren’t...and you don’t.” He lifted his eyes, finding Leon staring back at him. “I’m sorry, but after this, you’ll have to-”
“But...you said there’s all that information here,” Leon said, craning his head back and forth toward the entrances back into Alexandria. “You’ve got so much squirreled away here. Hell, I could spend ten years scraping the top off one of those storage rooms and never even scrape the surface. This place has so much going on, and...I just got here. I-I still don’t really know what’s going on, but assuming this isn’t a dream, I’d really like to-”
“I’m sorry,” Owl said, and the words rang as heavily when said to Leon as when he’d said them to Olivia. “It’s...not allowed.”
Leon’s face fell.
James shifted, sighing. “It’s just a bunch of books,” Owl heard him mutter. “I know you were all amped up for another puzzle to solve, but-”
“Books?” Leon said, spinning on his friend. “It’s not about the books. I mean, okay, yeah, I’m intrigued, but this place is some sort of magic. Real magic. Like...how can I let a mystery like it go? It’s just so damn-”
“Hey, man,” James said, holding his hands up and chuckling. “I’m still thinking I’m having a nightmare from the leftovers. But sure. Maybe it’s real. Okay.”
Owl watched them go, watched Leon’s back as he darted over to the railing and pee
red through the glass.
He could tell them whatever he wanted, he realized. He could make all the declarations about them never coming back that he felt like, but in the end...it didn’t seem to be up to him. And if it wasn’t up to him-
Leon’s startled cry brought him up short. Owl’s head snapped up, his eyes darting this way and that as he searched for the threat.
James and Leon were...glowing. He stared at the two, mouth falling open, as a light grew from somewhere within their skin. It burned brighter and brighter, limning them both.
“Shit,” James whispered.
“It’s- It’s okay,” Owl said, stepping forward and holding his hands up. “I think...Alexandria is just sending you home, now.”
“O-Oh,” Leon said. “Okay, then. I guess.” He held his hands up, staring wide-eyed at them as they glowed.
Owl chewed on his lip, a sense of urgency building within him. They were leaving. And even if he’d told them they weren’t welcome, that didn’t mean...there was no telling if they’d-
“Like I said.” He stumbled forward, trying to put every ounce of imperiousness he could into his voice. “Stay away. You don’t belong here. Don’t try and come back.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” James muttered, even as Leon’s expression turned crestfallen. “I’m not thinking I’ll ever-”
“But if you do come back,” Owl said, and sighed inwardly as Leon’s eyes reignited, “Then...come find me.”
A grin spread across Leon’s now-blinding face. “Then-”
“But stay away from everyone else!” Owl cried. “Don’t approach anyone! Don’t talk to anyone. Leave the other guests alone. And-”
With one final flash, the world went white. Owl stumbled back, clapping a hand over the lenses of his mask.
When he took his hand away, the pair were gone.
Undoing a clip, he pulled his hood off, leaving his hair to rustle in the faintest of breezes. His fingers dug at the buckles holding his mask on. One at a time, they fell away, until at last he pulled the whole thing free.
And then Daniel stared at the space they’d vacated. He lingered, running through the whole encounter over and over.