Nyssa's Point of View

Chapter 12

The lower the sun dropped in the sky, the more anxious the contractors got. They'd gone from laughing about the stories of the haunted library to flinching every time a noise happened. Which had been far too frequent today. Thankfully the two teenage apprentices were on the roof now where they couldn't hear anything strange.

Like metal clashing or pandas chittering or even a golem's deep and mournful sigh.

Nope, they couldn't hear any of that if they were outside. Which only left their boss, William, who'd opted to work on the interior.

"Thanks again for coming all the way up here," I said with a smile as he climbed down from a ladder. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

The roof looked like it was pretty much fixed, but they hadn't touched the windows yet. New ones were lined up against the walls, but there was no way they'd be put in today. So we'd need at least one more day of this ridiculous scenario.

"Just doing my job," William said, but his gaze flitted around the library like he kept expecting to see something amiss. "Are you sure you want to work here? There's another library in town that doesn't have..." He shook his head. "Nevermind, not my business." He walked outside and shouted up to the two other men on the roof. "Let's call it a day for now."

The kids climbed down, one of them grinning. "Afraid of being here after dark?"

"Think a monster's going to get us?" the other asked, moving his hands like a ghost floating through the air.

"Course not," William said, frowning at the sky. "Just don't want to get stuck on the mountain path, that's all. Now get moving or I'll leave you both here."

If only they knew the kinds of things that happened here at night. Would they be terrified or excited? There had to be a way we could introduce people to the story spirits without them being scared.

The kids laughed as they went inside and gathered up their tools. This would all be over soon and we could relax for a bit after a job well done.

"When will you be back?" I asked.

"Day after tomorrow? The boys have off for a--" A bright yellow ball rolled across the floor, stopping at William's feet. He bent down to pick it up. "What's this? Do you have a dog?"

Before I could even think of a lie, Cerbie raced into the room, tail wagging and eyes bright. When he saw the ball in William's hands, he leapt toward the contractor, tongues hanging out just waiting for him to throw the ball.

It was like time stood still for a moment then, as all eyes fell to Cerbie and his very obvious three heads.

"I can explain," I said in a calming voice. "This is--"

"The hellhound!" William shouted, dropping the ball like it was on fire.

The boys' eyes were wide. "They say it steals your soul if you meet its eyes."

"No, he's not like that at all," I said, walking over to Cerbie to pet him. "He's a good dog, I swear. He just looks a little different."

"Run," William shouted, pushing the boys outside. "Don't look back, just run."

Their faces were white as sheets as they fled the library, as if their souls really were on the line.

"Wait!" I called out after William. "What about the windows?"

They were already halfway across the courtyard, with no sign of turning around. I just stood there, gaping at them. How could anyone see Cerbie and think terrifying hellhound? I looked in his adorable eyes and all I saw was love.

"You're a good boy," I said, scratching behind his ears as he leaned into my hand. "You're not the monster they said you were."

Cerbie licked my hands, all three heads eager for attention. I smiled, laughing as he almost knocked me over.

Roan took that moment to appear. "Sorry, he got away from me."

"Got away from you?" I snapped. "You were supposed to be hiding them, but it sounded like you were having a party in there! It took everything I had to explain the sounds away, but now?" I sighed, standing up as Cerbie played with his ball. "There's no way those contractors will come back and they'll probably warn everyone else away too."

"That's not entirely my fault," Roan said. "You try and keep dozens of story spirits quiet for hours locked up in a room together. It was hopeless from the start."

He was right. I should have planned better, should have known what time the contractors were coming and found a better way to hide the story spirits. Rushing never led to good results, but I'd been too worried about the library to slow down and think. Now the whole town would probably hear about Cerbie and the haunted library.

I felt myself smiling just a bit, mumbling, "Cerbie and the Haunted Library. Sounds like a good book."

Cerbie nudged the ball at Roan, staring at him with big puppy dog eyes.

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"Don't look at me like that. Not again." Roan ran his hand over his face, shoulders slumped. "We can't play fetch right now."

Wait. That ball hadn't rolled out of the room on its own and Cerbie hadn't been chasing it for no reason.

"Roan," I said slowly, "did you, maybe, throw that ball for Cerbie?"

He shook his head. "No way. Why would I do that?"

I leaned down to pet Cerbie again, making my own puppy dog eyes at Roan.

"Not you too," he groaned. "Okay fine, I did throw it, but the knights were the ones who pried the door open. How was I supposed to know they were claustrophobic? And the golem, man does he not like being told to be quiet."

Roan started rambling about all the story spirits and how they were such a handful today, but all I heard was that he'd actually gotten to know them. He'd talked to them, played with them, and even worried about them. I knew I should be upset about the contractors leaving, but I couldn't help but smile.

Roan was bonding with the story spirits. And if he could do that, then other people could too. This could still all work out, if I just figured out why everyone was so afraid.

"What's that look for?" Roan asked. "I thought you'd be mad, but you look weirdly giddy instead."

I smiled as I wrapped my arms around his strong shoulders, hugging him close. "Thank you."

"You're welcome?" He stood there, frozen for a moment, but then his arms encircled me. "You're kind of weird, you know that, right?"

His breath tickled my ear as he leaned down, holding me tight. Then he pulled away, looking everywhere but at me.

"Well, what's the plan now?" he asked. "Whatever the story spirits did, the town's terrified."

"You're right." I glanced over at the other story spirits who were sheepishly hiding in the room still. "You can come out now. I've got a few questions for you."

The golem trudged out with the tiny dragons resting on its shoulders, followed by Lisa, the knights, and Mochi. With their gaze pinned to their feet, they looked like naughty children who'd been caught stealing the pie from somebody's window.

"The townsfolk seem terrified of you and I want to know why." I crossed my arms. "So, who wants to go first?"

Mochi wandered over, chittering quickly about something. He put a sandwich on the ground, then ran across the room and put a cupcake, and then a cookie down, spreading them out all over the room like we were on a treasure hunt.

I glanced at Roan, hoping he'd know what the heck that meant, but he just shook his head as Mochi continued to chitter.

When Mochi was done, he stood in front of us, head tilted like he was waiting for an answer.

"Umm...," I glanced desperately at Lisa. "Translation?"

"When we first appeared," she said as Mochi handed her a cup of tea and she sat down like she was about to tell a really good story, "Mochi ran into a little girl lost in the woods outside. He gave her some food so she wouldn't be hungry and helped her find her parents again. So he started leaving food all over the mountain in case anyone else got lost too."

"That sounds nice," I said slowly, "so why were they afraid?"

Her lips twitched. "Well, nobody expects to find cookies and cupcakes in the woods. The villagers decided a witch was leaving them, sending her familiar out to steal children with its treats."

I sighed. "And then?"

"Mochi left even more of them," she said with a laugh. "He really is thoughtful."

Roan joined her at the table, grinning. "Okay, so what about Cerbie? Why do they think he's going to steal their souls?"

"Oh, that's a good one," Lisa said, leaning forward. "The dragons were playing outside one night with Cerbie and the demon lord, using their flames to make Cerbie's shadow giant. The demon lord thought it would be fun to have his shadow run through the woods barking at people. You know, to let them know we were here."

I groaned. "Of course he did."

He wasn't out today, so I'd have to ask for an explanation later. It sounded like he'd scared the townsfolk on purpose whereas Mochi did it on accident.

"And you?" I asked. "Have you scared anyone since you've gotten here?"

"Absolutely," she said with a grin. "It was just too fun not to join in. Our own little game at the library."

"Why?" Roan asked as he threw Cerbie's ball down the stacks. "What was the point of making everyone afraid of you? Didn't you want visitors?"

Her eyes turned dark as she ran her finger along the edge of her teacup. "At first, but then we realized they would never understand us. All they saw was a golem about to crush them or an army of knights that couldn't possibly exist at that size or a demon out to destroy them. Trying to win them over didn't get us anywhere, so we switched to scaring them away instead. Better to be alone by choice than unwanted."

The knight commander patted her hand. "We tried our best, but they just didn't understand us. Lady Lisa was so sad, we had to do something."

"So you terrified them?" I sank into the chair by Roan, feeling a little hopeless. "I get it, but it really didn't help matters. Now the whole town thinks the library is haunted. How are we ever going to get patrons back now?"

Lisa shrugged and sipped her tea, avoiding my gaze as the other story spirits deflated a bit. The knights stopped climbing on things, Cerbie dropped his ball, and the dragons drooped on the golem. This obviously wasn't a topic they liked talking about, no matter how fun they'd made scaring people away seem.

If the hauntings were a defense mechanism, a way to protect themselves from rejection, then I couldn't blame them. They did what they felt like they had to do. But something was nagging at me.

"Why didn't you just tell them you were from books?" I asked. "I'm sure at least a few people would have thought it was awesome and patrons would have flooded the library to meet you. That's what you wanted, right?"

Lisa's gaze finally met mine. "You have no idea what we want. We're here for the library, not for the townsfolk."

"Okay, but still, why scare people instead of explaining?"

None of them answered me. I glanced at Roan, who just shrugged. He didn't know what was going on any more than I did. Well, the why didn't matter right now as much as the what they'd do in the future.

"Fine, you don't need to explain," I said, "but you do need to stop."

Lisa frowned. "Stop?"

"Scaring people," I said. "I'll do everything I can to reopen this library and that includes making sure people know that you're characters from stories, not monsters in the night. But I can't do that if you keep playing this little haunting game of yours."

Mochi jumped up on the table, chittering at them. He moved from story spirit to story spirit, putting a paw on them as if they could communicate somehow, then stood in front of me.

"Mochi agrees with you," Lisa said. "We'll try it your way for now."

"Thank the gods." I smiled, petting Mochi for a moment. "So, tell me more about the hauntings."

Lisa's lips stretched into a smile. "Okay, so people have this weird aversion to women singing creepy songs in the woods, right? So I'd go out and sit in a tree, singing every morning when the fog was thickest."

I sat there, listening to the haunting tales of these wonderful story spirits terrorizing the town and couldn't help but feel bad for them. They'd been all alone out here, using devious tricks to scare people away. It was like they were so afraid of being rejected that they didn't even try anymore.

My heart ached for them. If I'd just come here sooner, I could have helped them. Maybe they wouldn't have had to scare anyone at all. Maybe...

Roan reached over and took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb against the back of my hand. He didn't say anything, but the gesture filled me with warmth. I wasn't in this alone. None of us were.

We were going to change this library's story together.