by Shea, K. M.
“Will this really keep me from falling?” Raven asked as she tugged on the cheap belt.
Alison ignored the question and said, “Right, here we go! Just hold on and look to your heart’s content. I’m setting it to make one circuit around the library. When you’re finished unbuckle yourself and come find me so we can put everything back. Have fun, Sugar Pie!”
The horse beneath Raven abruptly jerked into motion, slowly traveling up into the air. “Uhh, Alison?” Raven said, gripping the handles.
“Just look around and see what you can spy out. It’ll be good for you,” Alison said.
“Alison!” Raven repeated when she and the toy horse were about ten feet off the ground.
“Bye bye!” Alison called beneath her.
Raven clung to the horse, swallowing as she rose higher and higher along the library wall. Muffled metallic grindings from the gears leaked out of the wall from the small inlet the horse traveled up. The higher up they traveled, the more the horse seemed to shiver.
Raven swallowed and hunkered down. “These people are nuts,” she muttered, looking up at the ceiling that was rapidly drawing closer. When Raven was mere feet away from the slanted roof the horse ground to a stop and wobbled. After a few seconds it jerked forward, eliciting a yelp from Raven as it followed the wall at a slow but steady pace.
Raven stared at the artwork painted and sculpted into the ceiling. Some of the painted dragons watched Raven pass beneath them, their slitted eyes following her path before they opened their mouths to soundlessly growl. Raven could have sworn one of the wolf gargoyles adjusted its position before freezing in a snarl as she slowly rode towards it.
“This place must be brimming with magic,” Raven murmured, watching two unicorn foals roll and tumble in painted grass. “The builders must have sealed magic inside to keep this stuff going for so long.”
Raven yipped, unprepared when her toy transportation suddenly swooshed down and up again in a dip as they passed below a flying buttress. Rallying her courage, she finally risked taking a look down.
The ground swirled beneath Raven, and she threw herself against the toy horse’s neck, wrapping her arms around it as the ground seemed to stretch further and further away.
When her heart stopped exploding Raven opened her clenched eyes and forced herself to breathe deeply. She collected herself and purposely turned her neck to look out at the library. “This is exactly what I needed. If I don’t get a good look I’ll be failing Dad,” Raven said, casting a careful eye across the vast floor.
At a first glance, the library looked exactly how one would expect it. Shafts of sunlight pierced the dimness. The bookshelves filled the floor in an inescapable maze. Occasionally a book binding was caught in the sunlight and glittered like colored glass. It was silent, besides the grinding of Raven’s horse, and the air this high up was just as stagnant as the air Raven breathed on the ground.
During Raven’s second look it hit her that something about the library looked a little odd.
She squinted, concentrating on the sights. Everything was the same, but Raven couldn’t help but feel like she was looking through the wrong end of a telescope.
Raven rubbed her eyes before trying again. The only thing that struck her was the thought that the bookshelves might not be placed as arbitrarily as they appeared to be. They seemed to be arranged in a pattern, what it was Raven couldn’t tell.
Raven and her transportation rounded a corner, wobbling along as Raven leaned slightly to look beneath her. The ground still swirled, but Raven tried looking for any sign of the cauldron.
She studied the support pillars and support beams, as doubtful as she was. “Who in their right mind would stick a cauldron in the ceiling? If it fell it would kill someone, or at the very least ruin a bookshelf,” she said as the rocking horse turned a second corner and started down the long side of the library.
Raven was so busy gawking she almost missed the giant nest. It was the size of a car, and it was nestled on top of a support beam Raven could have sworn reached the ceiling when looking up at it the ground. The nest was made of paper material—mostly old newspapers and magazines, and some books. The materials were woven tightly together, and the inside appeared to be cushioned with black fuzz.
“What on earth could make something that big?” Raven breathed as the support beam winked out of sight, hidden by another support structure.
Raven shivered as she passed beneath a skylight, momentarily bathing her in soft light. The toy horse slid down another abrupt dip to avoid a ceiling support, making Raven clamp down on it in a fierce chokehold. Raven frowned as she wobbled past a stain glass window that depicted a scene from Beauty and the Beast.
“That’s what’s off,” she said, leaning over the edge of the horse to inspect the forest of bookshelves. “This place is spotless. How on earth can it be this clean? There’s only one janitorial member.”
Chapter 6
Raven sniffed the air to make sure she wasn’t accidentally burning her hair again as she clamped a lock of her copper colored hair in a curling iron. She released the lock of hair and played with the newly coiled curl before unplugging the curling iron.
“Okay. Hair, check, clothes, check. All that’s left is makeup,” Raven muttered, opening a drawer full of cosmetics.
Nate stumbled into the bathroom, barely awake and styling gravity defying bed-head.
“Morning,” Raven said as her older brother grabbed his toothbrush and squirted toothpaste on it.
“You’re up already?” Nate mumbled through the minty foam.
“I’ve been up for an hour,” Raven said, scowling into the mirror before applying a fine layer of foundation.
“An hour?!” Nate said, abruptly spitting into the sink. “Am I late or something?” he asked, foam seeping out of the corners of his mouth.
“No,” Raven sighed. “It just takes a long time to dress like this,” Raven said, motioning from her newly painted toe nails to her perfectly styled hair.
“An hour? For that?” Nate asked, shoving his toothbrush back in his mouth, his eyes wide. “Wow. Glad I’m not a girl.”
“The world is glad you’re not a girl. Truly, there should never be such a hideous female,” she said, starting on her eye shadow.
Nate abandoned his toothbrush and instead washed his face, being careful not to splash when Raven gave him an irritated glare in the full sized mirror.
“I don’t remember you taking this long before,” Nate thoughtfully said, dabbing water off his face with a towel.
“I didn’t,” Raven wryly said as she applied a darker shade of eye shadow. “It used to take me forty five minutes from getting out of bed to going out the door. Now it takes two hours,” she said before she started working on the other side. “Curling my hair every day takes time. As does my makeup.”
“I’m going to get breakfast. I hope Dad knows what a… sacrifice you’re doing by dressing like this.”
“Uh-huh,” Raven said, leaning closer to the mirror to apply mascara.
About five minutes later she exited the bathroom just as Shina entered it, shutting it up to take a shower. Raven carefully moved down the stairs, brushing off her jeans as she hopped off the lowest step.
“Good morning,” Raven called, entering the kitchen, nodding to Nate as he left to change.
Raven’s mother turned around and held out a plate of cinnamon toast. “Good morning, you look lovely,” she complimented.
“Thank you,” Raven said with no small amount of satisfaction as she selected two pieces of toast before grabbing a glass of orange juice her mother had already poured for her. “All the same though, I’ll be grateful when Dad’s done with this mission,” Raven said, crinkling the tip of her nose. “Where is he anyway?” she asked as she sat down on a stool tucked behind the island.
“He left early this morning, before even you were up—I think,” Raven’s mother said, somewhat distracted as she flipped through her cookbook. “Your father su
ggested I join the local baking club,” she wryly said, noticing the curious gaze Raven was giving her. “They meet today, so I’m looking for something to bake…,” she trailed off and instead motioned at a cupboard door. It flew open, and a pan shakily rose through the air, the handle landing in her outstretched hand. Raven’s mother took the pan and set it on the stove before glancing at the fridge. It opened and out came three eggs, flying through the air before gently cracking themselves into the pan. The trash can opened and the egg shells tossed themselves inside.
Raven watched the act with an envious eye as she started on her toast. She hadn’t inherited her mother’s strong, telekinesis magic. Instead she was saddled with her father’s rather volatile elemental magic: Ice.
“When is Dad coming home tonight? I should probably talk to him about Saint Cloud again,” Raven said, wiping crumbs off her mouth before biting into her second piece of toast.
“Hm? Oh yes. He’ll have to talk to you sometime soon. He’s going to meet with Gram tonight though; I’ll be going with to retrieve some possessions from our old house. Tomorrow perhaps? You haven’t learned anything urgent have you?” Raven’s mother said, looking up from a pudding recipe.
Raven slipped off her stool and downed the rest of her tangy orange juice before setting the dishes in the sink. “Nope. I don’t have much to report yet. I’ll see if I can find something out today. Okay, I have to brush my teeth and get ready to leave. Bye mom,” Raven called over her shoulder.
“Bye, have a good day at school!”
Raven wanted to freely work on her English homework, but her classmates were talking. Her image demanded she take part in the idle chit chat, so Raven split her time between covertly finishing her homework and chattering with a girl in the seat next to her.
“You must really like English,” Raven’s companion, a sweet, effervescent girl named Shannon observed.
“What makes you say that?” Raven asked with a smile.
“You seem less tense than you are in our Government class. You smile a lot more too,” Shannon said.
Raven laughed and outwardly agreed she was fond of literature but inwardly shivered. Her English class was one of the very few classes Raven did not have with the twins.
As Shannon began to ask for help on the homework (Finally!) there was a knock on the door. The teacher cleared her throat and called, “Come in.”
The buzz of gossip quieted as the door swung open to reveal a teenage boy. He wore blue jeans and a long sleeved shirt. A silver and navy blue backpack was slung over his shoulders and his brown eyes methodically searched the room.
“I’m the new transfer student,” he announced, his voice smooth and well-oiled.
“We seem to be getting a lot of those these days. Take a seat anywhere you wish,” the teacher said, making a gesture around the room.
Raven, who stopped paying attention the moment he spoke, frowned. “Where have I heard that voice before?” she murmured.
“What?” Shannon asked.
“Nothing,” Raven said, turning to smile at the girl as the boy walked to the back of the room and took the open seat directly behind Raven.
Ever aware of her image, Raven swung around to flash the stranger a smile. “Hello,” she said, fixing his face in her mind.
The new student’s hair was a nondescript shade of brown, and his features were cold and impassive.
After a few moments of silence it became apparent he wasn’t going to return the greeting. Raven cutely pouted at him before Shannon reclaimed her attention.
However, even as she chatted with Shannon Raven was minutely aware that the transfer student’s hazy eyes darted towards her for a split second.
Backlashes, repercussions, and counterattacks combined to create one horrifying and humiliating afternoon at Saint Cloud for Raven.
She didn’t see it coming at all.
Raven entered the library and smiled at Royce—he always managed to arrive before her—who was stationed at the sign in desk as usual. Jeremiah was chatting up a bunch of girls at the printer, although he acknowledged Raven’s entrance with a smile and wave.
“Hi Royce,” Raven said as stopped in front of her upperclassman’s desk. “How are you?”
“Pretty good, thanks. You?” Royce said, quickly removing his feet from the top of the desk when Raven glanced at them.
Raven contemplated the question, tapping her chin before replying, “I’m great. Is William coming today?”
Royce nodded. “Yep, he’ll be on a two hour ‘volunteer’ schedule. The library can’t actually employ him because of child labor laws.”
Raven already knew that, having gone through the experience like every other page turner. She wondered just how stupid Royce thought she was as she kept her smile in place. “Great. I’ll go stash my stuff and then maybe Jeremiah will let me cover the print out station so he can see to the patrons.”
Royce did not respond, and instead stared past her, slowly rising out of his chair in a defensive stance. Just as he reached full height someone grabbed Raven’s shoulder and yanked her backwards.
“Hello Ray,” one of the twins said as he firmly cemented her between himself and his twin.
“We were hoping you could help us,” the other twin said, holding a book and sounding, for once, absolutely innocent.
Raven looked up, her eyes going back and forth between the twins as dread filled the pit of her stomach.
“We’ve been arguing over this line in White Fang. It’s the last paragraph in the story.”
“I think it needs to be read with feeling. Love, joy and all of that crap.”
“I think it should be read peacefully. The emotions should not be excessive.”
One twin held out the book while they said, in perfect harmony, “Will you read it for us?”
Raven’s heart stopped beating, and her mind blanked.
“You can’t be tellin’ her to do that in front of all the patrons,” Royce said, twitching his shoulders back. “They’re not kids, we have to be careful who we use our talents in front of,” Royce supplemented, glancing sideways at the numerous computer users.
“Of course not!” one twin said.
“We’re merely asking for a demonstration in the kitchen,” said the other.
Although their voices sounded harmless enough the words viciously twisted around Raven. They must know. They had to know about her aversion to reading, why else would they ask her to do this?
“Wouldn’t you like to hear little Ray-Ray’s angelic voice, Royce?” one of the twins wheedled.
Before Royce could respond Jeremiah and William joined them at the desk.
“What’s going on?” Jeremiah said, bracing himself as he looked at the twins.
“We want Ray to read to us,” the twins said, still holding out the book.
William’s eyes lit up, clearly in support of the idea. Raven wasn’t surprised, as an apprentice page turner he was most likely unable to use the typical page turner illusion magic yet.
Jeremiah blinked and fish-mouthed for a moment. “Oh,” he said, turning his blue eyes onto Raven.
Raven swallowed around the lump in her throat as she stared back at Jeremiah, a sincere look of pleading flashing across her face.
Jeremiah leaned back on his heels and smiled. “If you say it like that, of course I have to say yes! Not out here, of course.”
Jeremiah’s betrayal was like a knife sliding between her ribs. She didn’t know how Asher and Aron knew about her refusal to read, but as the second page turner, Jeremiah had to know.
“No, sorry,” Raven said with a little laugh that turned into a hiccup.
“Why not?” the twins asked, cocking their heads towards each other.
“Yes Ray-Ray, why not? I would love to see your magic,” Jeremiah smiled
In that moment, Raven really hated them.
They were asking her something she would never do, could never do.
“I said no,” Raven darkly uttered with
a fierceness that surprised even the twins.
The Montamos brothers shifted backwards, trying to recover from her growl, but Jeremiah charged forward. “But Ray-Ray—,” Jeremiah started.
Raven interrupted him by wiping the dark scowl from her face and swapping it for a look of angelic cheerfulness. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in showing off. And my magic?” she paused to giggle. “Oh my, you would never recover,” she said before abruptly walking off, managing a gliding gait in spite of her pumps.
She left a stunned Jeremiah and Royce in her wake—William remained behind, looking disappointed—but the twins broke off from the group to hot foot it after Raven.
“That’s a dumb excuse,” one of the twins said as they followed Raven into the kitchen.
Raven ignored them and swept down the hallway, forgetting to stow her backpack in the lockers as she concentrated on walking away from their heckles.
“Yeah. It sounds like you’re trying to hide something. What’s wrong Ray-Ray? Do you stutter?”
“Can you read at all?”
“Is your magic so faint it’s an embarrassment?”
“Or do the books simply not respond to you?”
“That would be awkward. But I bet she—,” the twin broke off when Raven savagely whirled around, stopping in front of a block of employee offices.
“Listen you pompous jerks,” Raven hissed, standing at full height, her chin tipped up. “Don’t ever ask me to read to you again!”
“What could you do to stop us? Report it to the director?” one of the twins asked, gazing at her with judgmental eyes.
Raven stared at the pair, her eyes smoldering like chunks of black coal. “No,” she carefully said, aware that there was very little she could do… Except, perhaps. Raven removed her burning look and instead fluffed her hair, settling back into her vain persona. “I’ll just turn the library against you,” she brightly said before spinning around and walking off.