“Indeed, it does. It’s the Clownfish Cay Gazette. It’s no longer in print, but it is still available online.”
“What about the old editions?” Starla asked.
“Oh, those are in the basement. We had a girl in here scanning them into a computer, so you can research everything up to ten years ago using the computer. The rest, I’m afraid, are in boxes.”
“Can I look through them and use the computer?”
“I don’t see why not,” Nan said. “Nobody really goes down there, though, so it’s probably dusty.”
“That’s okay.”
“There’s a soda machine at the top of the steps for employees. If you’ve got any cash on you, you might want to grab one. Otherwise, that dust will start to get to you after a while.”
“That’s a good idea,” Starla said.
“Here’s the key to the basement room, dear.” Nan fished around in her pocket and produced a key. “I’ve got to stay up here in case anyone needs me, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
“You’re just going to give me the key?”
“Yep. It’s not like I’m worried you’re going to steal a ten-year-old computer or a bunch of old newspapers.”
“Fair point,” Starla said and accepted the key.
She did stop at the soda machine and grab a diet soda before heading down the stairs. The machine looked like something from back when she was a child, but the soda wasn’t expired, Starla checked, so she supposed it shouldn’t matter if the machine was a couple of decades old.
Starla looked down the stairwell and felt the first pang of anxiety about her mission. It was dark, and the light seemed to completely disappear by the time you got to the bottom.
“I hope there’s a switch at the bottom,” Starla murmured to herself.
She looked around the landing at the top one more time, hoping that she’d just missed the light switch. She hadn’t. It had to be at the bottom, and that meant descending the stairs into the pool of darkness.
“It’s a library, silly,” Starla told herself, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that the lack of light camouflaged something.
She took a deep breath and descended the stairs as quickly as she could while still holding the railing. It would be bad to trip and fall. Nan the librarian thought she was going down there to do research, so who knew how long it would be before she started to wonder about Starla and came looking.
Starla reached the bottom and started to frantically run her hands along the wall at the bottom of the railing, feeling for a switch. Of course, in the dark, it felt almost impossible to find, and the entire time while she looked, she could swear she felt something creeping up on her in the darkness.
Once she found the switch, she flipped it on and found herself in a large room that was about as un-scary as rooms came.
The walls were a faded shade of eggshell, and the carpet was institutional brown. It reminded Starla of a cross between a rental apartment and a decades-old classroom. There was a desk near a doorway with a bulky outdated computer perched on top of it. She was not sure how old the machine was, but the first clue was that it didn’t have a flat-screen monitor.
Two of the walls were lined with metal shelves that contained cardboard file boxes. Starla took a look at them and found that they were not the old newspapers.
Those had to be in the room through the other doorway. It was dark in the next room, but Starla had acclimated to her surroundings and no longer felt the stabbing anxiety she had at the top of the stairs.
She strolled into the other room and found the switch for the light quickly. The next room was far bigger than Starla expected. It was rows and rows of metal shelves on one side of the room and book shelves on the other.
Starla knew she would need to look through the metal shelves to find the newspapers she’d inquired about, but the books were too tempting. Why were they in the basement and not upstairs?
The first couple of shelves were banned books and an assortment of bestsellers. Starla assumed the banned books were in the basement because they were banned. The bestsellers, she reasoned, were there because they were extra or backup copies. She knew if she went upstairs and checked the new release and best seller shelves, there would be copies upstairs as well.
That wasn’t too interesting, so she went back to the row of shelves behind those. Those shelves were covered with tomes that Starla didn’t dare touch. The books were old and leather bound. They gave off a unique energy.
Starla wondered why such ancient and important books would be stored in a library basement on Clownfish Cay. Furthermore, why had the librarian just let her come down here. Surely, they should be locked away.
“Because I knew you’d respect them.” Nan’s voice made Starla jump four feet in the air. “Sorry to startle you, dear. Something followed you into the library and I had to dispatch it before I came down here to help you.”
“What followed me here?”
“I don’t really know what it was. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Nan said. “Just like you probably don’t know why you came into the library asking to see old newspapers.”
“Of course I know why I wanted to look at old newspapers,” Starla said, but then she couldn’t think of a reason. She could swear it had been there, but now there was nothing but gray haze in the part of the memory where the reason had been. “I don’t…”
“It’s okay, dear. You aren’t here to look at old newspapers.”
“These books,” Starla said, she reached out to touch them, but then drew her hand back.
“I imagine those are why you are here. You just didn’t know it until now.”
“Who are you really?”
“I’m Nan the librarian, dear.”
Starla got the feeling that she wasn’t going to get any more of an answer out of Nan. That was okay, though. An enigmatic librarian brought a bit more wonder to the island. It was a mystery for another day.
“So, what am I looking for in the books, then?”
“The answer to your problem, silly. That’s the only thing we can find in books.”
“How do I know which one? It would take me forever to read them all.”
“Close your eyes and listen, dear.”
There was that hum of something mystical coming from the books. Starla took a step back, though. She wasn’t supposed to be using her magic, and this whole ordeal smacked of magic.
“You don’t have to do anything,” Nan said, as if she could read Starla’s thoughts. “Just listen.”
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Starla said as she closed her eyes and stepped back toward the row of books.
At first, nothing happened. Then, the buzzing became a pulse, and the pulse became a rhythm. That rhythm coalesced and reached out to Starla. It got closer and closer until it matched her heartbeat. She hadn’t even noticed the beat of her heart until it connected with the beat.
Starla hadn’t realized that she’d been moving forward until she felt the shelf bump her chest. She opened her eyes, and Starla was nose to nose with one of the books.
The book gave off the slight scent of salt. On the cover was an embossed picture of a wave. Starla hadn’t seen the pictures before, but now that she’d connected with the tomes, each of them had a scene stamped into the cover. She also noticed that the embossment wasn’t a darker shade of brown. That’s what she would have expected because it almost looked like the pictographs were burned into the cover, but the waves were impossibly blue.
“I guess the answer is in that one,” Nan said and reached around Starla’s face to pluck the book from the shelf.
Starla was excited for a moment, but her spirit’s fell. The book was several inches thick. “I don’t supposed I can check this out?”
“Normally, I’d say no way. But then again, anyone who I wouldn’t let check out the book would never be down here in the first place. Will you protect the book with your life, dear? It’s irreplaceable. I hate to even think of the lengths I went t
o protect these books from the storm.”
“You have my word that I will return the book unharmed,” Starla said.
“Well, that’s good. I was hoping I didn’t have to set up a cot down here for you,” Nan said with a laugh. “Now, let’s go get you checked out.”
“I still have to check the book out?”
“This is a library, dear. Now, let’s go upstairs and get you a library card.”
Starla thought it was a bit peculiar, but she decided to go along with it. She had a feeling that whoever Nan was, she was not to be trifled with.
“Lead the way. I’d love to get a library card.”
“When you go home today, dear, you’ll have to tell Presto that Nan the librarian says hello.”
Chapter Eight
Starla tried, but she couldn’t get Nan to elaborate on how she knew Presto.
“That’s a tale for another time, dear.”
At least she’d gotten the book and her brand-new Clownfish Cay Public Library card. She was standing outside the library under a palm tree, trying to figure out what to do next.
She wanted to get Damek to look at the book, but he would be with Blossom until she closed up the shop. Starla supposed she could take the book to the shop, but that seemed risky. It was better to keep such things to the privacy of one’s home.
Starla was looking at the cover and biting her lower lip when she remembered something. She’d told Noel the mermaid she’d come back to the shore to visit and had completely forgotten about it.
It might not have been the safest idea to go to the beach and wait for Noel, but was she any safer at home? Kane would probably want her to call him and get a ride home, but she was still an independent modern witch. If she wanted to go to the beach, she was going to go.
Starla didn’t get too close to the water because the last thing she needed to do was lose the book in the waves. The beach was on the older side of the island that wasn’t built up for tourists. It was out of the way, and there weren’t any locals around. That particular beach was at the base of a tall rocky hill, so there was plenty of shade.
The waves were bigger on that side of the island. Starla figured that’s why they’d built up the tourism on the other sides. The beaches were calmer and sunnier too. They were also crowded.
Starla sat down in the sand and put the book on her lap. She watched the water until the sun began to get low in the sky. It was getting late, and Kane would be off work soon.
She stood up and tucked the book under her arm. It seemed wrong to just leave. She’d promised the mermaid she’d return, and Starla felt terrible for forgetting.
The beach was still empty, so Starla called out to the water. She had no way of knowing if Noelani could hear her, but it was worth a shot.
Starla cupped her hands around her mouth. “Noel,” she shouted. “Noelani, if you’re out there, please come visit.”
She called a few more times and nothing happened. Starla was about to turn and leave the beach when she saw a head and shoulders pop out of the waves. Next came an arm that waved vigorously at her.
The mermaid swam up to the beach, and once again, as she left the water, her tail turned to legs. Noel smiled and embraced Starla.
“Hello.” Noel said. “I thought you’d decided not to visit me again.”
“I’m so sorry,” Starla said. “We’ve been having some issues here on land. I got wrapped up in them. I should have come back sooner.”
“Is everything okay?” Noelani asked. Her nose wrinkled up and she looked quite concerned.
“Not really.” Starla debated about how much she should tell her, but ultimately decided the truth couldn’t hurt. Noel was a mermaid and had already watched them perform the ritual to separate Damek and Presto. It’s not like Starla had to hide from her.
“There was a murder on the island. Someone stabbed a man on the beach on the other side.”
“That’s terrible,” Noel said. “I can ask. Maybe one of my people saw something. We’re not really supposed to hang around above the surface around the island, but some do. They’ll tell me. Obviously, I don’t have a problem with your people.”
“Why aren’t you supposed to be around us?”
“That’s probably a story we should save for when you have fewer troubles,” Noel said. “I get the feeling the murder isn’t your only problem.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’re holding the Book of the Depths. It must have drawn you in because you needed it.”
“How do you know about the book?”
“I’m not supposed to know, but I’m naturally curious. I’ve pursued knowledge in subjects unsuitable for a mermaid like me.” The way she said the last part gave Starla the feeling that someone had given Noel a great deal of grief for her interests. “But anyway, the books are a collection of elemental knowledge and magic. There is a set of books like yours in our world as well. I’ve heard there are identical sets in other mythical nations as well. They were all a part of a collective back when we were less separate and more harmonious. When we all worked together instead of being apart.”
“Other mythical nations?” Starla asked.
“Yeah. The vampires, shifters, and fae. I’m sure there are more,” Noel said. “Don’t look so shocked. You are standing on a beach talking to a mermaid.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just a lot to take in. I guess it shouldn’t be.”
“It’s okay,” Noel said with a laugh that instantly drew Starla in. “Are you going to tell me what is bothering you?”
Starla couldn’t resist. “There’s a man stalking me. It started after we found the body. I don’t know if it’s the killer trying to silence me or just a coincidence.”
“And?” Noel asked with a knowing grin.
“I’m not sure if I should be telling you this, but maybe we could use allies,” Starla began. “Okay. Here goes. There’s something wrong with the balance between dark and light. Usually, the light keeps the dark in check, but somehow, around the island, the dark is building. What it is building, I don’t know yet.”
“Your other witches can’t help?”
“The other witches on this island will do what they can to help, but we’re cut off from the Elders and the other witches in the world. I’ve tried to communicate with them, but something is interfering.”
“Oh dear. That is troubling,” Noel said. Her eyes flicked to the book and then back up to Starla’s face. “And you were led to the Book of the Depths…”
“I was; yes.”
“I should go. Come back to see me soon.” Noel wore several necklaces made of shells and beads. She pulled one off and handed it to Starla. “Keep this. Blow into the shell and I’ll come.”
Starla turned the necklace over in her hand. In the center was a conch shell about half the size of her palm. She put it around her neck and instantly felt the calm of the waves wash over her.
“I will. Why do you have to go? What’s wrong?”
“We’ll talk soon. I promise. I’ve got to look into some things.”
With that, Noel ran to the waterline and then disappeared into the waves. The sensation of the waves coming from the necklace was subtle on its own, but it radiated out and brought the Book of the Depths to life again.
Starla could feel the vibrations from the book intensify. “Alright. Okay. I get it. Let’s go home and I’ll look inside of you.”
The book seemed to like that. It calmed in her arm. Starla had no idea what to think of a book that not only seemed to be alive but that communicated with her in ways other than the words on the page.
She knew exactly who needed to see the book.
Chapter Nine
Starla walked back to the library. Kane’s car was in the parking lot. He was leaned against the driver door, staring at his phone. It was then that she realized she hadn’t checked her phone for a while. She’d turned it to silent when she went into the library and forgot to turn the sound back on after she
left.
He looked up just in time to see her coming around the building. Starla could almost feel the sigh of relief from across the small parking lot, and she instantly felt awful.
“I’m sorry,” she said as he walked toward her. “I was on the beach. I forgot about meeting with Noel. I just wanted to talk to her again,” Starla rambled as they walked to each other.
“I’ve tried to call and text you several times,” Kane said, but even as he spoke, he pulled Starla into his arms. “I thought that man had gotten you.”
He wasn’t mad. All Starla could feel was his relief. “I’m sorry that I worried you. I should have called. I just…”
“You’re just nothing but trouble,” he said and kissed her on the top of the head. “And I wouldn’t have you any other way. I just want you to be safe.”
Starla only had one arm wrapped around Kane’s waist. The other held the book between them. When it had decided they had enough time, it began to hum between them.
“Whoa,” Kane said and backed away. “What’s that?”
“It’s a book from the library. It might help me solve the issue with the island and the darkness. I wanted to have Damek take a look.”
“He loves his research,” Kane said. “and it’s much easier now that he has hands.”
“You should be nice,” Starla said and poked him in the ribs playfully.
“Hey, he’s… whatever he is with my sister. I don’t have to be too nice.”
“Yes, you do,” Starla said. She put her free hand on her hip and gave Kane the look.
“Okay, okay.” Kane put his hands up in mock surrender. “Do you want to grab some dinner on the way back to your place?”
“Can we grab tacos?”
“That sounds wonderful,” Kane said. “I take it you plan on inviting my sister over.”
“Well, Damek is coming. I figured she’d want to be there too.”
“One big happy family,” Kane said with an eye roll so intense it would’ve given a mortal man a pounding migraine.
Starla called Blossom on the way back to her house. Blossom was more than happy to bring Damek to Starla in exchange for tacos.
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