The Library

You know you’ve hit rock bottom when the only person who seems able and willing to offer any kind of assistance to you is a psycho like Grendel.

“A Door should be opening near your current hiding place soon. All you need do is seek it out.”

Decided to put that to the test. The night I read that post, I went out wandering through Fairfax. Didn’t have any idea where I was supposed to be going, so I took turns at random, until I ended up in the loading area behind a strip mall. There didn’t appear to be anything unusual there, so I was about to leave and resume my random journey. But just as I was turning to leave, I blinked once, and where there had previously been the blank wall a store’s back, there now was a wooden door.

My attempts so stare down the door didn’t result in anything happening. It started to sink in that I was seriously considering doing this. 330 had told me about the Library, and I’d read the post she’d made about it way back, but this…. I, ordinary Lisa Wells, on the advice of a murderous time traveler, was planning to go through that door into another dimension so I could find something which would tell me where Lupine was hiding at. Thoughts of leaving were entertained. I was getting in way over my head; I should let people more qualified handle this. But that’s not what 330 would have wanted me to do.

Took several deep breaths, then pushed the door open. The other side looked completely black. Nothing else to do now… I stepped through into that blackness.

Reading the description 330 wrote of this place couldn’t come near to actually preparing me for what I saw. The Library was immense. The shelves dwarfed skyscrapers, and extended past where the horizon should have been. And so many books…. More than I could imagine. Some with familiar titles, others with titles I didn’t recognize, some written in languages I didn’t know, some without any title at all. Curiosity outfought fear, and I walked forward, keeping my eyes on all the rows of books going past me.

Lost track of time in there. But eventually, the rows of books was broken by the seeming out of place appearance of a manila envelope, tucked between two tomes. I felt drawn to that envelope, and pulled it out. Inside it had… everything. All of Lupine’s records regarding the summoning ritual he was planning were recorded there.

Chicago. It’s taking place just outside Chicago. Explains why they were so hell bent on kicking everyone else out of the city.

Remembering what 330 had said about the Library’s opinion on those who tried to steal from it, after writing down the address, I put the manila envelope back in its place on the shelf. Even as I did, I heard rumbling emanating from the darkness of the Library. Quickly turned around and started jogging back to the entrance.

Even though I wasn’t taking anything, I was terrified getting out of the place. Every time I heard a distant sound I jumped, thinking something was going to come and kill me. Kept looking back over my shoulder, expecting something to be following me.

Focusing so much attention on imagined pursuers backfired when it led to me tripping and falling right into a shelf. Books tumbled off, and for a moment I thought I was going to be covered in books. Somehow, they all fell around me, creating a perfect circle of clear space. All save a single pamphlet, which drifted slowly toward me, until I caught it in the air. It was an ad for a biker rally in Savannah, Illinois, happening over the next few days. There were pictures on the pamphlet from last year’s event, showing some of the participants. Flipping through it, I stopped when I saw a familiar double triangle symbol.

What was it Grendel had said? “The Library will give you what you seek; but it will also give you what you need.”

I think I’ve got a new plan.

-Lisa