by Shea, K. M.
“He is cute in a dark, brooding sort of way,” Shannon agreed as they left the classroom and headed to their next course: Government. “Why don’t you sit next to me today in Government?” she suggested.
“Sure,” Raven readily agreed. Shannon was perky and sincerely sweet. Raven would take her conversation anytime over her other classmates’ listless chatter.
They entered the classroom and greeted the teacher, Mrs. Suski, before plopping down on tables.
“Anyway, the brooding guys are deep, not superficial,” Shannon continued, abruptly restarting the topic of Crevan Espion. “Besides, his name is so, so poetic!”
Raven thoughtfully tapped her lip before shrugging. “Sorry, I wouldn’t date a guy just because of his name,” Raven said, absolutely focusing on Shannon when the twins swept into the room.
“I’m not saying you should!” Shannon said, tightening her ponytail. “I’m just saying you should try to talk to him more. You know, be friendly.”
“Yes, I probably should,” Raven agreed, the muscles of her body tightening. The twins cast a synchronized side glance at Raven before parking themselves in the back row of the classroom.
They were mercifully silent the whole period.
Instead of attempting to pull niceties and conversations out of her coworkers Friday afternoon, Raven slunk off to the fiction section of Saint Cloud. Daire had sent Royce out to run an errand, Brannon was staying after school for football practice again, and William had called in sick. In other words, all friendly life forms were out of the library, leaving Raven with Dictator Daire, the Synchronized Spawns, and Jeremiah.
Raven decided an all out retreat was necessary, so she closeted herself in the fiction floor, searching the next square of her father’s grid for the cauldron.
She found a rather impressive tapestry, an oriental vase, and a beautiful mermaid sculpture as well as a handful of fairies, but had nothing else to show for her time.
Raven watched one of the fairies slide down the tail of the mermaid. She chuckled when the fins of the tail sent the tiny fairy sprawling into the air. Her laughter died in her throat when a cynical voice broke the warm setting.
“If you persist in meddling with the books I am quite sure the reference librarian will beat you, if not have you expelled from the library.”
Raven turned on her heels, a wide smile spreading over her lips as she faced Daire. “Really? But Alison said I was welcome up here,” she said, planting a hand on her hip, mindfully keeping her posture relaxed.
A frown tightened Daire’s facial muscles. “Please refer to your superiors by their last names, Rachel,” Daire said, his hair a stark gold color against the darkening skylights.
“Oh, but Alison told me to call her that,” Raven said, gliding past Daire.
“I am not amused by your antics, Miss McCellen. I will stand firm on this issue, you will leave the Saint Cloud books alone,” Daire ordered, turning before following her down the aisle.
“Daire, I insist you call me Ray. Saying Miss McCellen is just so old fashion,” Raven fussed.
“Stop talking and listen. You could put Jeremiah to shame with your useless chattering,” Daire said as he matched her stride, his golden eyebrows pulled towards each other in a magnificent furrow.
“Daire, you’re being mean,” Raven complained as the duo exited the aisle of books and headed for the stairs that led to the computer lab.
“I am not being mean, I’m stating the obvious. You have very little to say that I find relevant to what I am trying to get across to you, and even less often do you have anything of intelligence to add,” Daire continued, his gold eyes glowing as they started down the staircase.
Through sheer perseverance Raven managed to not reach out and deck the arrogant boy. Instead she sniffed and mustered up a tear or two. “You don’t have to be rude about it,” she said, flicking a copper curl over her shoulder. “I’m just trying to be nice.”
“I have no use for niceties, Miss McCellen,” Daire said as they popped into the lower floor, the computer fans humming quietly in the background. “Especially with people sent to spy on me,” Daire said as Raven opened the door to the kitchen. “This is an order from your superior. Stay out of the fiction section. Have I made myself clear, Miss McCellen?”
“Absolutely,” Raven agreed as they ambled down the hallway.
“And you will follow my instructions?”
Raven paused near the lockers and turned to face Daire, giving him a wide-eyed doe look.
“I could have you fired, McCellen,” Daire said as they paused outside a staff bathroom.
There was something in the way he said it…Raven allowed herself a tiny smile. “No, Daire, I don’t think you can. Not unless you want to tell your dear uncle that a high school girl is giving you trouble.”
Daire narrowed his eyes, and folded his arms. He loomed over Raven like a human wall. “And what makes you say that, Ray McCellen?”
“If you could fire me, you would have done it already,” Raven said, the smile turning into a smirk before she opened the door to the bathroom and shut it in Daire’s face.
Later that evening Raven stepped off the sidewalk and strolled across her front lawn. She stopped and waited on the porch as her father pulled up a minivan.
“Hi Daddy. You’re getting home late,” Raven smiled.
“I could say the same to you,” Raven’s father grinned, hopping out of the driver’s seat. He swung his briefcase and slung his suit coat over his shoulder as he walked up to Raven, a fatherly smile in place.
He frowned and jumped back when the weeping willow (a security measure planted under Gram’s instruction.) tried to take a whack at him, cracking its whip like branches in his direction. “I told Gram it was a stupid idea to rely on magical plant life for home security. Ice!” he said. Instantly the tree froze over, coated in several inches of frosted ice.
Raven stood with her father and admired the elemental magic she had inherited. “Dad, you shouldn’t go randomly blasting magic in the neighborhood. It is fall, but it’s way too early for ice. Besides, someone might see you!” Raven lectured.
“You’re right,” Raven’s father agreed, listening to the tree groan as it tried to crack the thick ice. Raven’s father snapped his fingers, and the gigantic tree disappeared with the sparkle that accompanied his cloaking magic.
Raven groaned, covering her eyes with her hands. “Dad, that’s even worse. Someone is bound to notice trees popping in an out of existence in our front yard!” she said as the tree still groaned beneath the invisibility magic.
“What’s the problem? We’ll just tell them they’re seeing things. Besides, most of our neighbors are old enough to be your grandparents,” Raven’s father shrugged, slipping past Raven to head in the house.
“For an emissary, you are incredibly lax with guarding the secrets of Kingdom Quest,” Raven grumbled.
“Oh yes. I need to talk with you about the search for the cauldron and that decayor you ran into in the library tunnel system. It’s not urgent, so we don’t need to talk tonight. How about tomorrow or Sunday?” Raven’s father asked, kicking off his shoes before dumping his briefcase, which was nothing but an empty prop, in the front hallway.
“I work tomorrow,” Raven replied, dumping her backpack in a similar manner.
“When?” Raven’s father asked as they padded into the kitchen, shouting greetings to the various family members.
“Eight until one,” Raven reaching into the fridge to fish out the milk.
“Alright, how about tomorrow evening?”
“Sounds great,” Raven said, pouring herself a glass of milk before returning it to its proper place.
“Honey,” Raven’s mother called. “Where is Gram’s weeping willow?”
Raven’s father winced. “Gotta go.”
“Have fun explaining,” Raven called, opening the lid of the cow shaped cookie jar.
Chapter 8
Saturday morning Raven heaved he
rself into Saint Cloud Library with a great deal of hesitation. Only two things dragged Raven out of bed (early) to properly do her hair and makeup before heading to work: 1) her father was counting on her and 2) even halfway across town, the magic of the library called to Raven, whispering in her dreams, soft, wordless promises.
Raven popped into lower level, suspiciously peering into the darkened corners for angry superiors. Royce and Brannon were the only page turners in sight, and they were seated at their regular stations.
Raven cleared the dark cloud of suspicion from her face and sweetly smiled. “Good morning!” she said in a sing song pitch, delicately waving when Royce and Brannon looked up from their reading materials.
Brannon waved from behind his desk. “Morning,” he greeted with a wide smile before popping ear buds from his iPod into his ears.
“Good morning Ray,” Royce said, his mint green eyes crinkling.
“What is everyone up to?” Raven asked, pausing by his desk. (There were absolutely no patrons seated at the computers, which was unusual if not odd.)
“Daire received an assignment from Kingdom Quest earlier this morning so he and Jeremiah are gathering the necessary papers for them. Mrs. Conners, the reference librarian, is back. I think she’s got the twins cornered in the kitchen.”
“Really? Why?” Raven said, inquisitively tipping her head.
Royce shrugged and went back to his reading.
Raven hurried to the kitchen. The moment she stepped out of the computer room and into the kitchen she felt a rush of warmth for the previously unknown Mrs. Conners.
Inside the kitchen was a severe looking woman (Mrs. Conners, obviously) shaking a plump finger at the Montamos twins.
Mrs. Conners was an elderly woman with pepper grey hair. She was comfortably chubby, and wore solid green from the top of her green sun hat to her grass green eyeglasses perched on the end of her sharp nose, to her green jogging shoes.
As she lectured the twins her bulldog jowls shook. “You two spoiled brats need to straighten up. You are shameful page turners!”
The twins glanced at each other, sneers forming on their faces.
Mrs. Conners whacked each of the boys over their heads with her giant green handbag before pushing them apart. She limped between them, dragging herself down the hallway.
The twins watched her go before sniffing indifferently and turning to Raven. “Ray,” they acknowledged, their chins dipping an inch.
“Asher, Aron,” Raven said her eyes flicking from one twin to the next as she slowly crossed the kitchen, drawing closer to them.
“I’m Aron.”
“I’m Asher,” the duo corrected her.
Two steps away from them Raven glanced at the pair and halted. The twin who claimed to be Asher had a long, white scar that jutted through his eyebrow and stopped a finger’s width away from the corner of his eye. Raven pondered how she had ever missed such a distinguishing mark in the days before.
Asher frowned under her scrutiny. “What?”
Raven raised her eyebrows. “Nothing,” she said, unable to keep the smugness out of her voice. In a way she was relieved she had lost her temper at the twins. It was no longer necessary to be even remotely pleasant to the pair. “I was just thinking, it’s not every day a pair of high schoolers are put in their place by a handbag,” Raven said, sailing past them with practiced grace.
The twins stared at her retreating back, their green eyes glowing, but Raven calmly ignored them and wrapped a curled lock of her copper hair around her finger, making sure her steps were extra springy—just to annoy them.
Raven spent most of the morning in the fiction section, again. After hours of searching in the prescribed grid pattern, Raven nearly flattened Mrs. Conners with one of the ladders.
“Mrs. Conners, I’m so sorry!” Raven profusely apologized, sliding down the ladder before it pulled to a stop. She hurried back to the elderly woman, who had popped up in front of Raven’s gliding ladder only to step back at the last moment.
“You’re Rachel McCellen, the new page turner?” Mrs. Conners asked, leaning forward to peer at Raven. Her eyes were buried under wrinkles.
“Yes ma’am,” Raven said, brushing off her jeans before pulling back her shoulders and placing a fetching smile on her lips.
“Hasn’t Daire ordered you to stay out of here?” Mrs. Conners asked, gesturing widely at the bookshelves.
Raven hesitated. “He has,” she acknowledged.
“So you’re deliberately disobeying his orders?”
Raven swallowed. “I am aware that Daire feels the books should be abandoned.”
“But?” Mrs. Conners prompted.
“But the library still calls to me,” Raven said, her brown eyes hardening with the strength of conviction. “It is dying to be used. Daire may be my senior, but in the end I answer to the Saint Cloud Library, and I will not deny it my presence.”
Mrs. Conners nodded. “I hear you,” she thoughtfully agreed before fixing another eagle eye gaze on Raven. “I won’t kick you out, I would be a fool to do so, but move carefully Rachel McCellen. Daire can hold a grudge, and he has no small amount of power.”
“Yes ma’am,” Raven nodded.
“Carry on Rachel. If you ever need my help, just ask. I’m never far away,” the woman said, waving a pudgy arm before turning on her green shoes and waddling down the aisle.
Raven watched the older woman go with mixed emotions. She was under the impression that all of the full time staff wanted Saint Cloud shut down. Based on the encouragement she had received from both Alison and Mrs. Conners, Raven wasn’t sure if that was true.
When the bells of the church that was just down the street from Saint Cloud struck eleven, Raven decided it was an optimal time to grab a midmorning snack. She slipped unnoticed through the computer lab—only a few patrons were there: a handful of girls that Royce attended to and an elderly couple that Brannon aided—before popping into the kitchen. Raven dug her bag out of her locker to retrieve a granola bar before turning to the garbage can to discard her wrapper.
As she broke a chunk of granola off her snack, Raven began to congratulate herself for avoiding contact with the other page turners. Unfortunately her self-gratification party started too soon.
“Ray, where have you been?”
Raven dropped her wrapper in the wastebasket before turning around to face Daire with a cheerful grin. “I’ve been in the fiction section,” she cheerfully volunteered.
Daire’s handsome face twisted into a dark glare. “I told you to stay out of there, Miss McCellen.”
“I can’t help it,” Raven whined, glancing to the side when she heard two sets of feet clomp up the hallway. Not now, she internally groaned. “The books call to me. Can’t you hear them?” Raven asked, wide eyed.
“No,” Daire firmly said. “I ignore them. Stay out of the fiction floor, Ray, I have a warning written up and I’ll be submitting to my uncle at the end of the day. Three warnings, Raven, and you’re out of Saint Cloud,” Daire threatened as the twins entered the kitchen.
The identical boys settled in, making no pretense of moving on. Instead they planted themselves in the middle of the kitchen, snapping their heads back and forth to stare at the moment’s speaker.
“But Daire can a page turner really get into trouble for visiting books in a library?” Raven wheedled. The boy had to know how ridiculous he was acting.
“You can be written up for deliberate insubordination,” Daire said, his voice raw like a growling panther.
Raven dropped her cheerful façade. “You’re an idiot,” she said, tipping her chin up while narrowing her brown eyes.
Daire’s facial muscles froze. “What did you just say?” he asked between clenched teeth.
“The library is begging to be opened. The books are calling out to anyone within range. I can feel Saint Cloud’s magic halfway across the city! Mrs. Conners and Alison don’t mind if I’m up in the fiction area, why should you?” Raven spat.
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“Mrs. Conners and Mrs. Morris do not manage the page turners. I do. You follow my orders.”
One of the twins opened his mouth, his eyes narrowed. Raven cut him off before he could speak—the last thing she wanted was to be attacked by three people. “You pompous little dictator!” Raven accused, pointing at Daire as if to stab him with her finger.
“Mutinous harpy!” Daire shot back. “Or should I say conniving spy! You’re obviously connected with headquarters. They sent you here to ferret out information!”
“At least I’m not a clueless moron!” Raven said, her face starting to turn red from both anger and exertion. “You are on such an ego trip it’s ridiculous! You said so yourself you don’t have enough work for me. What harm do I do by inspecting the fiction area?”
“Why I do what I do is my business!” Daire said, his voice rising to a shout.
“Good. For. You!” Raven yelled, leaning farther forward with every word. “If it’s your business then why don’t you try to keep it to yourself and stop involving everyone else?”
The twins were staring at the pair with widening eyes.
“That’s it!” Daire uttered. “YOU are dismissed! You are no longer welcomed at this library!” he declared, his eyes flashing like lightning while his skin grew pale.
“FINE!” Raven said spinning around before stomping across the kitchen. “Who would want to work with such a tyrant anyway?”
“Indeed,” Daire said, his voice settling back into cold indifference. “The feeling is mutual. Who, after all, would hire a page turner who won’t read?”
Raven froze, her palm on the doorknob. When she turned the force of her glare actually pushed Daire back two steps. Her eyes were black chips of obsidian that burned with hatred. The air around her rapidly dropped in temperature, her ice magic leaking out of her.
Raven was beyond furious. As the library prefect, Daire was bound to a code of honor. He was not supposed to use personal information as a weapon to brandish against his subordinates.
One of the twins spoke, his words a low growl. “Daire,” he said before Raven spoke.