The Mysterious Library

Nicolas finds out more about himself.

I was falling again; falling past the winding stairs and stretching bridges. For a moment, I was reminded of the cathedral I had survived so long ago. But this place wasn’t a challenge, it was real. I didn’t scream this time either. I was confused and afraid like always, but I’d gotten used to the feeling.

The wings had unfurled and were now chaining together. I just wondered how far down this shaft really went. I did my best to keep in one position as wind rushed up at me and hoped that I wouldn’t find out too soon how close it really was. Finally, the wings were complete and I looked left and right to make sure that they would hold me, then swung my legs down and flattened my back. The effect was immediate. I slowed down, but not enough. Instead, I began to drift forward. My heart leapt as I realized I was flying right into a wall. Rolling my body to the left, I began to bank. It wasn’t as smooth or as sharp as it had been when I had flown with Jack, but it got me out of the way. I continued like that, flying in circles, slowly creeping toward the bottom of the shaft.

I held on to the straps for dear life. If they gave way, I would have no chance of surviving the fall. But they cut into my skin, and my arms were starting to go numb with that pins-and-needles feeling.

Once I finished rounding yet another spiral, I noticed a hallway that branched straight off one of the surrounding staircases. I quickly judged if I could make the distance and the turn. Then, I contemplated whether or not the wings would be able to fit through. It looked wide enough, though.

I took in a deep breath, then grabbed onto the straps and did my best to direct the wings towards the hallway. I passed over the stairs and into the hallway with about an inch of room between the wings and the walls on both sides. I was picking up speed, as if upon entering the hallway, I had passed into some sort of slipstream. The wings remained strong and steady though, even with the increased velocity.

Then I realized the flaw in my plan. This hallway"like any other"had an end. The flat wall with the single blank door came into sight a moment too late for me to stop myself. I threw my legs out in front of me and straightened my back so that the wings were vertical, but I still ended up crashing through the doorway.

As the door broke open, the metal wings were ripped apart as they impacted sides of the door and I was flung into a group of wooden chairs. I laid there for a moment, mentally checking my body over for damage. I moved one of the chairs out of the way as I stood up.

“Ugh . . .” I groaned, rubbing my sore back. The room I had been recklessly launched into appeared to be a library. Shelves that reached up, beyond the ceiling, stretched down the length of the odd room. I picked up the heap of metal and turned it over a few times, hoping to find a way to use it, at least in part. I frowned; this thing was trashed. I tossed it onto one of the heavy wooden reading tables that followed the shelves down the center of the room.

From one place to another, I thought, walking along the bookshelves deeper into the library. I was wondering if I had any control over where I was going, or if someone was simply spinning a die and tossing another universe in front of me.  However, I couldn’t exactly complain. After all, I was out of danger"at least for the time being. I shut the large door that I had crashed through, then proceeded further into the library.

I stopped and pulled one of the thousands of books of the shelves. I looked at the name along the spine. Whatever it was, it wasn’t English. I flipped open to the first page and noticed a black and white picture of a boy around my age. His eyes were downcast and sullen. He wasn’t even looking in the direction of the photographer, but down at his feet. I couldn’t tell much in the way of color, but his hair was black and his skin was solid white. A number was in the bottom corner amongst some other information. 

Age: 16.

This kid was my age. I flipped over a few more pages, but everything was in a language that I didn’t understand. I closed the book and replaced it, delicately, on the shelf. I looked along the shelf and noticed the tiny lettered slips sticking out of the ends of rows of books. It was alphabetized.

I walked further, grabbing a book off a shelf every once in a while. However, most of the books were in completely different languages. I sighed in mild frustration every time I looked in and saw another picture of a depressed boy or girl, then the next page would have symbols or something.

Finally, far along the wall, almost at the end of the library, I picked up a book and found it was in English. I put it on a nearby table, then immediately grabbed another one, realizing that it too was in English. I put that one back and settled down at the table with the other book. It was scarlet in color and the golden letters that ran down the spine read “Sarah McDonald.” I threw it open and looked at the picture of a blonde girl with an elfish face staring back at me.

Sarah McDonald

Age: 17

Height: 5’4”

Weight: 119 lbs

Further down the page, something else was written. At first, I didn’t understand what it meant, but then I understood. The line read “Status: DEFEATED, Round: 3.” In bold red letters. Sarah McDonald was wandering the Fields of Asphodel right now.

I opened to the next page and read it. I frowned and turned to the next one, and the next. I read to page fifteen before the message finally sunk in. This book was the entire history of a girl named Sarah McDonald.

I replaced the book back on the shelf, momentarily dazed at the thought of the possibilities. I looked up for a tab with “R” on it, but when I saw it, I realized it was up so far that I had no chance of reaching it. Then, looking around again, I noticed a book against the far wall. It was black with black pages; the same way the contract had been. I walked over to it cautiously. Who knew how much power it contained within its pages. It opened just like the others, but unlike the others, this book was blank. There was no silver writing"In fact, there was no writing at all. I shuffled past a bunch of pages, but they were all blank. Even the first page was blank.

A pen rested on the angled desk, just above the book. I thought for a moment, wondering what would happen. Picking up the pen, I scribbled my name in silver ink, saying it out loud as I went. “Nic-o-las, Ri-der.”

I watched as the letters flashed for a moment, then disappeared. I looked around, waiting for something to happen.

There was a strange thumping sound. I looked around, then up at one of the bookcases as a white book with blue letters left the shelf by itself, and floated down to the table. Before I even looked at it, I knew what the binding would say. And sure enough, my name was written there on the spine.

My heart began to beat wildly. I pulled softly at my hair as I sat down. However, to my surprise, another thud echoed through the room and another book descended from the shelf. It fell to the table in the same manner as the first book, and this too was white with my name in blue letters down the spine. I opened this one first, but I flicked the cover open with my finger as if it would bite my hand. The first page had a picture of me. It wasn’t my most attractive pose, but it vaguely resembled the look of sadness I had seen featured on the faces of all the other children. My hair was shorter and I didn’t have the small patch of scruff growing beneath my chin that I did now. Below the photo was information that I already knew like height and weight. What interested me was at the very bottom, where in bold red letters, it read “Status: DEFEATED, Round: finals.” I read the next page, but then closed the book. I knew what it would say, and I didn’t need to remember.

I turned to the second book, opened it. Again, there was my picture, but at the bottom it read “Status: REMOVED.”

I took a deep breath, then opened the book and began to read.

I read for twenty minutes before I started to develop a headache. It was all here; everything from my birth to" well"my death. I tried to read on, but every sentence I read, my headache got worse.

I was from Colorado; I had a younger sister named Meagan. Memories began to flood back into my mind; memories that at first didn’t seem like mine, but then they all solidified in my mind. Soon, it began to bare down on my head like a weight.

 Suddenly, I was no longer sitting at the table in the library. Instead, I was running at the edge of a cliff. I was outside, underneath the blue sky, and below me, over the edge, black water churned and rippled. I was pulling someone; Avra. She trailed behind me, tears running down her face.

I was back at the library with my head felt like it could split apart. I stood up, knocking over the chair in the process. Groaning in agony, I fell against a bookshelf, knocking a few of the thinner books from their snug positions.

I was back running along the cliffs. I came to a point that jutted out further out to sea. Avra and I were both panting, but I took the lead. “Come on,” I told her. “We have to leave. Now.”

Avra shook her head. “I can’t go; my brother is still in there,” she said, though her voice was shaky and unsure.

“If we don’t leave now, Chiron will find us,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, sobbing. “I can’t.” She paused for a moment in order to wipe a tear from her eye. “You go.”

I was back at the library again; clutching my head and trembling. The book remained open on the table, now open to the fourth last page.

I was back at the cliff. I looked at Avra, wanting desperately to argue, but I knew she wouldn’t leave. I’ll be back, I thought to myself. Someday I’ll be back. I couldn’t say it out loud, though. I couldn’t make that promise. I moved towards her, wiping a tear from her eye. I thought about saying something reassuring to her, but my gut wouldn’t let me. Instead I turned, held my hand up, and watched as the sea, the sky, and everything in-between ripped apart. In a second, Avra was gone, replaced by blank whiteness and then a mix of colors. Finally, the chaos around me settled, and I was standing in a house"my own house.

No, I was in the library, lying spread-eagle on the floor. My breathing was heavy for some reason and my eyes were burning. What the hell was that? I asked myself, rubbing my hand across my face. A part of my memory had returned, but how much use it would be to me, I was unsure.

I stood up. The book was open to the last page. I peered at it carefully, afraid I would see something else. But the headache was gone, and hopefully the insane visions with it.

The last sentence read “Hit by a truck, August 26, 2009.”

It was all that I read before I slammed the book shut and left it there on the table. I looked past the black book on the desk to the blank wall. I took a moment to mentally prepare myself.

 I threw my hand up in front of me and thought about something"anything really. I just wanted to be out of here. A strange cracking noise occurred in the wall as a white door appeared.

The room beyond looked all too familiar. It was Chiron’s room. A fireplace spewed green embers from its pits and the menacing bed, as well as the stacks of papers were all there, but thankfully, Chiron was not. I closed the door and watched as it disappeared into the wall. When it had completely vanished, I tried again, focusing as much as I could on getting out of this place. This time when the door appeared, I stepped into a room that I had never seen before. Dim light illuminated the walls which were brown and covered with a thick, tar-like substance. Rows of cube shaped slots were engraved deeply into the walls in a grid pattern.

“What the . . ?” I wondered out loud. A strange squawking filled the room. Then there was movement, and the sound of beating wings. I turned to leave, but the door was already gone. I was trapped. I immediately got to work on creating another door when I was knocked down from behind. I turned to face my attacker, raising my fist and clenching my teeth ready to defend myself, but then I saw the black feathers and the shiny, curved beak, and the beady black eyes that stared, curiously at me. “Jack?” I asked the griffin in amazement.

The strange animal clucked happily and then started to purr like a cat. “Hey, Jack,” I repeated. I stood up, but was almost knocked over again as Jack hopped onto my back. This time, he wrapped his thin talons around my body securely as if ready to take flight.

“Jack, it’s good to see you too buddy,” I said, spinning my arms trying to keep balance. “But you can’t come with me.”

Jack made a low cooing noise, but refused to release his grip. I sighed"tried a few more times to get the black beast off me, but Jack wouldn’t have it. He pecked lightly at my head whenever I tried to peel his talons off my chest.

Finally, I accepted that Jack wasn’t about to let go and raised my hand to open a door. The first one appeared; scrawling into the wall until it materialized. I opened it, but found the room beyond to be a nearly empty broom closet. Jack clucked at me. “Shut up,” I told him.

I closed the door and tried again. By now, the other griffins were slowly stirring from their sleep, and were poking their heads out of the small cubby-like squares, curious. The next door that appeared led into the cottage by Erebus’ city. I closed it and tried once more.

“This time for sure, Jack,” I said, reassuringly. I raised my arm and waved it through the air. The door formed. I touched the white frame and gave it a slight push. The door opened, and I nearly jumped out of my skin at the white Minotaur mask that stared me in the face.

“Jeezes!” I yelled, stumbling backwards. Jack flapped his wings and squawked at Grayson as he pulled back his mask and looked at me, grinning.

“I was wondering where you’d gotten off to,” he said.

“Why are you wearing that mask?” I asked him. Then I looked down and realized he was holding a spear with a black tip in his right hand. “And what’s that for?”

“Oh,” he said, glancing down at the spear. “Can’t be too careful Y’know.”

“But the door is white, how could you not know it was me?”

“I don’t know, it could’ve been Chiron trying to trick us . . . wouldn’t be the first time.” He replied. I nodded in agreement then pushed past him into the room. I stopped" realizing it was the shack that I had woken up in when Grayson rescued me the first time. The only change was the people.

There were a few of the blackened people, standing in corners with fearful looks on their faces, though their looks softened a bit when they realized that it wasn’t a monster with white hair entering through the doorway. Besides that, Avra sat on a wooden crate that hadn’t been there the first time. She brushed her hair and turned away in a huff when I looked at her. For some reason, looking at her felt different.

 Fin was there as well, though his curly blonde hair had gone somewhat limp, and his eyes were deeply sunken. He looked up at me and gave a weak smile. I high-fived him on the way in and sat down on one of the wooden crates scattered around on the floor. Jack had leapt off my back finally as the door disappeared, wandered over to a corner of the room and settled down. Within a few moments, he was snoring softly. The others in the room gave him a wide berth as if he could snap at them at any moment.

Grayson walked back in and sat down on the floor in the center of the room. “So . . .” he stated. I found myself slightly disappointed. I had been expecting a larger celebration to welcome my return, but so far, I had hardly gotten a pat on the back, except for Fin; he high-fived me. However, Avra looked like she wanted to punch me, though I couldn’t understand why.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“Well,” Grayson started. “We’re waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“Those weird guys, you know, with the . . .” Grayson put his hands to his head and waved them.

“You mean Hypnos and Thánatos?” I asked him, remembering the odd twins with mismatching sets of wings.

“They’re the ones,” Grayson said with a snap.

I scratched behind my head. “Why?”

“They’re out spying on Chiron. They’re pretty handy, you know" for gods.”

We sat there in silence for a long time before a strange, black vapor began to rise out of the ground. It grew larger and larger until out stepped the two brawny twins, Thánatos and Hypnos; one with wings on his back and the other with wings on his head. They looked more than a little distressed.

“It’s Chiron,” said Thánatos.

“It’s bad,” said Hypnos.

“Well, don’t wait up,” Grayson said, anxiously. “What’s going on?”

“Well,” said Hypnos.

“It’d be better if we showed you,” finished Thánatos.

I looked around at everybody else, making sure that I wasn’t the only one utterly confused. Avra was frowning, so I was at least partially reassured.

Hypnos clapped his hands together then raised them. Suddenly, I felt drowsy. My eyelids got heavy, and then I was leaning dangerously to the left. Everyone else was experiencing the same symptoms. Grayson was flat on his back, already snoring loudly. Avra was sprawled out on the crates. I didn’t know what happened to the other people in the room, for soon, I was falling of my own crate. I was asleep before my shoulder hit the straw covered floor.   

Author's Note

I don't know about this one.. Oh, and if you see paranthesis anywhere where it looks off, it was probably supposed to be a dash that didnt make the trasition from Word.

Reviews

[Daniel Gardner]

Very creative. Nice work so far.

[WriterSki7]

Haha; nice. This was a very good chapter in my opinion. Your dialogue was good, the plot is forming very well. Reminds me slightly of Disney's Hercules but you portray a far better story than the movie. you both mess up the traditional greek/roman myth but at least you make it interesting. Disney just made it sad (shame; Disney Co when to hell when Walt died)

[WriterSki7]

Being rushed; finish later*

[Star Wolf]

This is very fascinating, I'm loving your story/book a lot.

[HorrorMaster]

Excellent chapter, you should really publish this.

[James Watts]

I did my best to keep in one position as wind rushed up at me and hoped that I wouldn’t find out too soon and hoped that I wouldn’t find out too soon. (you can spot this one lol)

Not bad. Waiting to read the next installment. I like the weirdness of it all.

[The Analog Kid]

A few typos here and there. I dug the suspense in the library book about a kid age 16... but it wasn't the one...yet! Also, real nice surrealism. The ending is a bit peculiar, but then again it may work depending on the transition in the next chapter.

[Dutch Jr.]

Intriguing work, very intriguing. I am in love with your storytelling ability, that alone kept me reading on for more. Can't wait for the next chapter.