by Shea, K. M.
The new arrival, Daire Eastgate the IV judging by his appearance and Jeremiah’s words, pulled Jeremiah backwards. “I told you to let me handle her welcome. I said you would collapse into a mindless state of stupidity after seeing her,” he said, his gold cat eyes glowing in the dim light.
“But you weren’t around and the desk bells were ringing like crazy,” Jeremiah said, turning in a pained circle, using Daire as his pivot point.
Raven giggled at the pair as she adjusted her backpack straps. “You two must be such good friends!”
“Something of the sort,” Jeremiah said, wincing and rubbing his red ear when Daire finally released him.
“I’m Daire Eastgate, the prefect of the Saint Cloud page turners. You are Rachel McCellen. You should have entered through one of the lower level doors—those are the only operational exits and entrances at this time. Please use those doors from now on.”
“Yes sir,” Raven said with a playful salute. “And please call me Ray.”
“Very well, Ray. Welcome to the library,” Daire said with the enthusiasm of a dead horse. “Jeremiah will take you to the computer lab,” he said, casting a warning gaze at his friend before he turned on his heels and strode off, disappearing into the shelves.
Jeremiah brushed off his jeans. “OK, this way then. There’s a staircase that’s almost in the center of the library. It will take us downstairs. The second floor—where we are now—is closed to the public, and has been for several years. I thought you would have known?”
Raven nodded and followed Jeremiah. “Yeah, my previous library director told me about it when they decided to transfer me here. My Dad was transferred to Bakertown for work, so naturally my family came with,” she said with a sunny smile.
“How fortunate for us,” Jeremiah said as they skirted around another bookshelf. “Although truthfully I’m not sure we’ll have much work for you. Our current team of page turners has been working together for about three years. We take this staircase down.”
Raven followed Jeremiah down a spiraling staircase, taking extra care that her feet did not slide on the carpeted stairs.
“Here we are, welcome to the pride and joy of the Saint Cloud Library,” Jeremiah said when he reached the base of the stairs, turning around to spread his arms wide in a dramatic gesture.
The difference between the floors was like night and day. The few windows that were exposed streamed warm sunlight inside. Florescent lights lit the area up with false cheer. There were rows of black computers evenly spaced on long tables. Every computer was in use, and there was a large desk at either end of the rows. One desk held a bulky guy, a copier, a scanner, and a printer. A tall teenager sat behind the other, immersed in a magazine as he pushed a clipboard to the side.
“Woooow,” Raven said, widening her eyes in falsified awe. “This is so cool.” She twirled, acting impressed for Jeremiah’s benefit.
“Thank you, thank you,” Jeremiah chuckled, as though he were personally responsible for all of it. “We have a state of the art computer lab, and it takes five other page turners besides me to keep this area running,” he said as he led Raven away from the staircase.
“So where is the reference librarian? I thought there was one employed here in spite of the halt in circulation activities?” Raven said before realizing she sounded too knowledgeable. “I mean, you couldn’t possible handle reference questions on top of all these other important duties!”
“No, you are right. Mrs. Conners is our reference librarian. We’ve also got a children’s librarian, Miss Morris. There’s a janitor and a pair IT techs from headquarters who pops in whenever we need help, but you probably won’t see them,” Jeremiah said over his shoulder before stopping in front of a desk. “Rachel McCellen, meet Royce Stephonson.”
“Pleased to meet you Royce. And call me Ray, Rachel sounds so formal,” Raven said with a trilling giggle.
“Howdy,” Royce drawled, tipping his Stetson hat at Raven.
“Royce usually handles the sign in process for computer usage and wireless internet passwords,” Jeremiah said, motioning to the cherry wood desk. “However, most times Daire and I will be the ones to aid the patrons when they need it. You might say we’re the library’s best faces.”
“Whoa there, that was a low blow Jeremiah,” Royce said, his mint green eyes crinkling as he grinned.
Jeremiah airily laughed before turning to point at the other desk on the far end of the computers, which they had passed on their way to meet Royce. “That’s the printing station, Brannon Dougal is watching it for now. Print jobs are 15 cents, color or black and white. We can do back to back copies, but they have to be done on a separate printer. We offer scanning and copying assistance—again 15 cents a page—but no faxing services.”
A girl seated at a computer raised her hand. “Jeremiah, Jeremiah I’m having some trouble. I think my computer froze, will you help me please? You’re so good at this stuff,” the girl said, her lower lip jutting out.
Jeremiah looked back and forth between Raven and the damsel in distress. His face flickered in a frown for the briefest of moments before he brilliantly smiled. “Right away, Felicity. One moment and I shall join you,” he said before turning back to the desk. “Royce, please introduce Ray to Brannon before showing her the employee lounge. Ah, take her to meet the twins while you’re at it.”
Royce gave him a doubtful look. “You sure about that?”
Jeremiah waved it off. “She’ll be fine,” Jeremiah said as Raven stared at his back with a look of distaste. The second he turned to her Raven swapped her dislike for a brilliant smile that Jeremiah returned.
As the flirty blond headed for the distressed patron, Royce eased his tall frame out of his chair. “Brannon is a desk level page, so he’s next in command after Daire and Jeremiah. Officially, though, he mostly fixes our computers and handles any software errors we have when headquarters can’t spare us their IT guys,” the boy said, his words brushed with the faintest traces of a southern drawl. “He’s a real nice guy,” he said as he led Raven towards the printing station.
Brannon banged his head up and down as he replaced a roll of receipt paper in the cash register. A neon green iPod was strapped to his arm, and rock music pulsated from his ear buds.
“Brannon,” Royce loudly said when they drew close enough before slapping Brannon on the shoulder. When the bulky page turner looked up Royce reached out and plucked the ear buds from his ears. “The new page turner is here,” Royce said, jerking his thumb in Raven’s direction before turning to Raven. “This is Brannon. Brannon, this is Rachel.”
“Call me Ray, please,” Raven said with a sickly sweet smile.
“Hey Ray, it’s great to have you with us,” Brannon laughed, his voice deep and throaty. He offered a meaty paw and enthusiastically shook Raven’s small hand when she hesitatingly reached out. He was solid muscle with a neck that—Raven suspected—was only a few inches smaller then one of her thighs.
“I’m very excited to be here,” Raven said, shaking her hand to restore feeling to it when Brannon finally released her.
“So how did you get assigned—Oh, print job. Sorry,” Brannon said before abruptly turning around when one of the laser printers behind Brannon sputtered to life.
“Come on, I’ll show you the staff lounge—it’s closed to the general public,” Royce said, leading Raven towards the back of the room. “Brannon is a junior, like me. But he plays football so he has fewer hours in the fall,” Royce said as they passed the last row of computers.
“I see. Who covers the printing station when he is gone?” Raven asked.
“Jeremiah mostly. Daire is too busy with prefect page duties. Here we go,” Royce said as he opened a grey door that was barely visible along the stone siding and walked in, Raven hesitantly followed him.
Raven winced as the stench of rotting food assaulted her nose. The room appeared to be a kitchen of some sort with a huge fridge, a dirty stove, heaping piles of garbage, and a sticky
table.
Raven pinched her nose shut a blinked to keep her eyes from watering. The kitchen smelled like a troll had died, rotted, and disintegrated in it—a process that normally took decades.
Royce led her past the stinking mess and down a hallway. They passed several doors before the hallway make a sharp snake around a corner, leading them up the hall. The walls were covered with paintings, mirrors, sculptures, and other various mediums of art.
They snaked around another corner, which revealed a hallway filled with doors.
“This is the office that Jeremiah and Daire share,” Royce said, pointing to an ornate door as they ambled along. “Brannon and I store our stuff in the lounge lockers, which is probably what you’ll want to do, but the other two page turners we work with cleared out a room for themselves. These were originally offices from decades ago when Saint Cloud served as a local KQ headquarters, but now they’re mostly used for storage.” he said, stopping in front of a door to weakly smile at Raven.
Raven did her best to look relaxed—she already knew who had to be lurking behind the door. There only were two page turners left for her to meet, the Montamos brothers.
Royce gingerly touched the doorknob before he threw the door open to reveal two boys sitting on a couch playing a video game
“Ray McCellen, meet Asher and Aron Montamos,” he said.
Raven blinked as she studied the two brothers. They were identical twins with hair that was unable to decide if it was blond or brown. Although their forest green eyes glittered, they had identical impassive looks fixed on their faces as they paused their game.
When the twins looked up at Raven their perfectly tuned, apathetic expressions did not change.
“So they finally sent in a girl?” one asked before blowing a gum bubble. “At least they did a decent job of selecting her. I’m Asher.” he rolled his eyes when Royce glared at him.
“I’m Aron,” the second said, snapping his gum.
The duo continued to stare at Raven with blank looks, their jaws moving up and down to chew their gum in perfect harmony.
It was a little disconcerting to behold, even though Raven was fully prepped to meet them. Their profiles said they were suspiciously synchronized.
“Your brother is that new senior,” one started as they dug identical cell phones out of their pockets.
“The future basketball player,” the second finished as they scrolled through the cell phones.
“Yes,” Raven appropriately gushed. “Adam!”
“Did you hear that?” twin one asked twin two.
“Yeah. I did. She gushed,” twin two snickered.
“Put it in the address book.”
“Already did.”
“Ray… that’s short for Rachel, isn’t it?”
“Yep, we confirmed that earlier this morning, remember?”
“Yeah, well we’ve gotta go. Bye Asher, Aron,” Royce said, pulling Raven out of the room.
He slammed the door shut. When the beeping sounds of video games recommenced a sigh of relief leaked out of Royce. “That was close,” he said, setting off at a jaunty walk.
“What was close?” Raven asked, for once not having to fake curiosity as she followed the tall cowboy up and down the twisting hallway.
“The twins are a sneaky pair, Ray. As long as you don’t interest them you’ll be fine. They ignore almost everyone anyway. But if they’re curious about you, you can’t hide anything from them. Any secret or past history you don’t want revealed they will find, and they’ll use it against you. If I didn’t know better I would swear they can tap into the Kingdom Quest EC Network.”
Raven filed the tidbit of information away, her information packets hadn’t mentioned any of that. “So they don’t have any friends? Not even you, or Jeremiah, or Daire?” Raven asked.
Royce grimly smiled. “They don’t want friends, Ray. I wouldn’t suggest you try to become their friend either. You should steer clear of them.”
Royce stopped when they reached the stinking kitchen again. “So that’s it. Oh, although I did forget. That wall down by the offices? Beyond it is one of two locked portions where we keep all our Kingdom Quest research information and magic books. Headquarters usually sends us requests to dig up old laws or reports. It’s locked and magiked so patrons don’t randomly stumble into it. I’m sure Daire—he’s got the key—will take you back there. Eventually.”
Raven nodded, making her copper curls bounce. “So what should I do now?” she eagerly asked.
Royce shrugged. “Whatever you want. See ya,” Royce said, exiting the kitchen, leaving Raven stranded.
Raven covered her nose the second he disappeared into the computer room. “I get the distinct feeling this is not going to work,” she said, allowing a frown to creep down her lips. “If they won’t talk to me I won’t be able to do anything about that cauldron.”
Chapter 3
The church bells rang five o’clock when Raven roused herself from the blank stared stupor she had sunk into. After Royce left her Raven trailed her way back to the computer room and seated herself in a corner after chirpily telling Royce and Brannon she would ‘observe’ them to learn how the computer lab operated.
Internally she mentally calculated the probability that Jeremiah would actually ever befriend her.
Raven stood and cat stretched before brushing off her skirt and sashaying to the sign in desk. Royce was there, flipping through a magazine which he cast aside as Raven approached him.
Raven fixed a charming smile on her lips. “How’s the front desk holding up?” she asked in what she hoped was a friendly, nonchalant manner.
Royce peered at her from under his Stetson hat. “We haven’t gotten any assignments from headquarters,” he comfortably said, propping his boots up on a small stool. “Jeremiah has been handling any patron problems, as usual. Things are normally pretty low key here.”
Raven swiveled and leaned her hip against the desk, thoughtfully gazing at the library’s front entrance. On one side of the doors were the library’s public restrooms and conference rooms. On the other was a slightly darkened area that housed a large, wooden desk, and wracks upon wracks of newspapers and magazines.
Raven nodded her head in the direction of the desk. “That’s where the reference librarian is stationed, right? Since all book functions are closed,” she said, crossing her legs at the ankles.
Royce shifted in his seat. “Yeah, Mrs. Conners. I reckon you’ll meet her soon enough. I would have introduced you to her, but the senior staff isn’t here right now.”
“Mmm,” Raven said, leaning back against the desk. She doubted that. Even the incompetent Saint Cloud staff members weren’t stupid enough to leave their posts in the middle of the day.
Raven was knocked out of her musings by a loud, piercing siren, not unlike a train whistle.
Royce snapped out of his chair so quickly it went clattering to the floor as he took off towards the kitchen.
“Everyone stay calm, we’ll be right back after we take care of this problem!” Jeremiah twittered, oozing calmness as Raven hurried after Royce, taking tiny steps to accommodate her heels.
Raven caught up with Royce when he paused to open the door. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Royce held the door open for her while she passed through and was nearly bowled over by Brannon, who was hurtling after them like a raging bull.
“That’s one of the magical alarms. This one is a signal for us to go to the Kingdom Quest material rooms as quickly as possible!” Royce said before running down the hallway, darting around Raven and Brannon.
Royce hustled up the snaking hallway, skidding into the section that housed the Montamos twins. He jerked to a stop, turned right, and pushed a door open before plunging inside. Raven, Brannon, and Jeremiah (who was out of breath from sprinting after them) were hot on his heels.
Raven slid into the room, skidding on her heels as the shrieking whistle fell silent. The room was filled with filing cabinets.
Glass cases holding aged, dusty, magical items littered the room, and on one wall was a row of bookshelves filled with glittering books. A black, iron gate crossed in front of it, caging the books in. But the strangest part of the whole room was the loose book, mostly because it was scampering around like an injured monkey.
“What is that?” Raven asked, taking a dainty and disturbed step back as the book threw itself at a glass cage, pages flapping as it climbed up the case with invisible limbs. The book was pond scum green and little piles of dust occasionally sifted from its pages while a random bug scuttled in and out of its binding.
“Gross,” Royce said watching a patch of mold dangle from the corner of the book.
“It’s gotta be a chained book,” Brannon said, pointing to the barred, iron gate.
“It is,” Daire confirmed, materializing in a corner as Jeremiah gave chase after the book. “It was loose when I got here. Whoever shelved it last didn’t properly secure it,” Daire said, narrowing his eyes at Jeremiah.
Jeremiah shouted, leaping at the disgusting book. The book agilely jumped from case to case, easily dodging Jeremiah’s lunges. It growled like a small dog being held underwater. “I know, I know. It was me,” Jeremiah said between pants. “But you try strapping this thing in place!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll have this puppy rounded up in no time!” Royce confidently said, winning him a grateful smile from Jeremiah.
“Easier said than done,” Daire said, folding his arms across his chest.
“What do you mean?” one of the twins asked, they had reached the room before Raven and the rest of the page turners.
Daire motioned at Jeremiah, who was still chasing the book.
Jeremiah drew closer to the musty hardback, and with a flying leap he managed to snatch the corner of the binding. The corner fell off of the book, leaving Jeremiah holding a moldy scrap of leather that burst into flames.
“It’s titled The Habits and Behaviors of Fire Salamanders,” Daire said above Jeremiah’s surprised shriek.