Nyssa's Point of View

Chapter 24

Chaos only lasted so long thankfully, because these posters really needed to get done. The demon lord had taken on a supervisory role, sternly keeping the artists from wandering off and the knights from fighting, which was working pretty well. Grumpy demon lord for the win, I guess.

Roan had taken the golem outside about an hour ago to finish up some secret project they wouldn't tell me about. I was curious, but Roan seemed really excited about it so that made me happy enough for now. Plus, we had a few piles of usable posters and a few that were silly that I'd keep as mementos of our arts and crafts day.

"What do you think, Misty?" I asked as I leaned against a bookshelf. "There are three new people in the library and everyone's working hard to help out. I know they're not really patrons, but that's gotta feel good, right?"

The great book tree glowed softly as a book with a vibrant yellow cover flapped over, landing in my hands like a sign. A smile tugged at my lips.

"I'm taking that as a yes," I said, hugging the book to my chest. "I'm glad. We'll keep trying our best to make this festival work."

It was the only thing we could do right now and deep down, I really believed it would all work out. The town wouldn't let this library fade away, not once they realized it was full of wonderful story spirits and remembered all the happy times they'd spent here. I couldn't be the only one who'd had a great childhood between these shelves.

Lisa flexed her hand like she had a cramp and the knights were slumped over, nothing but crayons holding them up. Maybe it was time to call it quits.

"I think that's enough," I said, joining them at the table. "Don't want to overdo it or anything. The posters look great, so we'll put them up around town and see if it helps."

"Does that mean...," Theo glanced around the room, leaning close to whisper, "we're good with the golem? That it'll show us where to pick flowers now?"

Isolde swatted his shoulder. "We don't even know if these will help yet. Let's ask after the festival, once we know how things turn out."

I was starting to like her more and more now that she was enjoying the library so much. I'd seen her earlier, wide-eyed and full of excitement exploring the stacks. It wasn't much, but she was one more person we'd won over. One more person who would say good things about the Misty Mountain Library.

"Of course," Theo said, nodding. "We'll tell everyone to come here for the festival too instead of going to the library in town. Once they hear about the golem yanking me off the ground and running around to show me the mountain, they'll be hooked."

I winced. "Maybe let Isolde tell the story?"

Her and Anya grinned. "We will. You can count on us."

They stretched and stood up, meandering over to talk to Lisa and the knights. I should probably serve everyone tea or snacks or something after all their hard work. I headed towards the stairs that led to the small kitchen upstairs when a noise froze me in place.

A soft knock at the main door followed by a creaking sound as it opened.

"Hello?" a woman's voice called out. "I'm here to return a book?"

Wait, somebody was here to return a book? That was something so normal, but extraordinary at the same time. It was almost like we were a normal library! I hurried towards the door, but paused when I sensed the unease coming from the story spirits. They glanced at each other warily, whispering things I couldn't hear.

They were probably nervous about random people showing up. Especially after the kids, adventurers, and even those artists who had all tried to harm them in one way or another.

"It's okay," I said, "I'll go talk to her and if she's not actually here to return a book, I'll send her away. Nobody's going to hurt the library again, not while I'm here."

Lisa nodded. "Let us know if you need anything."

I gripped her arm as I passed by, trying to promise her it would all be alright. Then I made my way to the entrance to find a woman around my age with bright red hair, taking a half step into the library, then back, as if she couldn't decide what she wanted to do.

She didn't look afraid though. No, I recognized that look in her eyes.

Pure unadulterated wonder.

I'd seen the same look in my own eyes whenever I caught a glimpse in the mirror. The library had that effect on people who loved books.

"Welcome to the Misty Mountain Library," I said, holding out my hand. "I'm Nyssa, the head librarian."

The woman finally stepped inside fully, glancing around as if waiting for something to happen. Then she shook my hand. "I'm Willow. Nice to meet you."

This was going better than I could have dreamed. She seemed totally normal and happy to be here. I clamped down on my excitement, stopping myself from doing a little happy dance right in front of her. We had our very first patron!

"So, you said you have a book to return?" I asked. "Did you check it out before the library closed? Those late fees are going to be astronomical."

She laughed with me, wandering further into the library. "I'm actually returning it for my Gran so she doesn't have to climb this mountain again. She said a librarian lent it to her a few days ago. Was that you?"

I glanced at the book clutched in her hands, noting the colorful dragon cover. "Do you mean the apothecary?"

"Yeah, she told me some crazy story about dragon nip and said I should read this book before I returned it for her." Willow laughed again as she handed me the dragons' book. "I think she just wanted to give me ideas for the story I'm writing and knows how much I miss this place."

Wait, so the apothecary had not only sent us a writer, but also somebody who missed the library? No way, that felt a little too perfect. Maybe I should get to know more about her before asking her to sponsor us.

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"So you're a writer then, huh?" I asked as I took the book from her, checking it into the system again. "It must be fun having somebody like your Gran to help you come up with ideas. She seemed really nice."

Willow raised an eyebrow at me. "Gran said she did nothing but grumble at you until the very end."

"Well, she was still nice," I murmured as the back of my neck warmed up. "We've got a bit of a reputation, but she was willing to look past that. So she's pretty awesome in my book."

She stared at me for a moment, her gaze calculating, then nodded as if she'd made up her mind about something. "Okay, so the real reason I'm here is because my Gran thought you might need a writer for the festival. And she also thought that you might be a little desperate, desperate enough to let me sponsor the library even though I've only ever written one book before and it was kind of terrible, but I promise this new one I'm working on is great! Exactly what people are looking for!" Her words tumbled out faster and faster as a blush burned across her face. "So...think you need somebody like that?"

I blinked. So she was a writer, but not a very good one it sounded like. Except, most people's first books were terrible, so that didn't really mean much and she'd kept going. That showed a lot about her as a person.

"Sorry," she said, taking a step back. "I was practicing that the whole way up the mountain and then when it came time to say it, a bunch of words just came out. I love this library though, so it would mean a lot if you let me be the writer for your festival."

Her smile was so warm and bright, full of such genuine happiness that I couldn't help but believe her.

"You're fine, don't worry about it," I said, motioning for her to follow me deeper into the library. "If you really want to sponsor the library though, there's something you need to know first. Our library's unique. The stories here...come alive."

Willow smiled. "I love when stories do that, like you can see them in your mind."

"No, they really come alive," I said, "like the characters can talk to you."

"Oh, you're one of those people," she said with a frown. "Uhh, my characters have never talked to me, but it seems like a cool way to write."

I shook my head. "No, that's not what I meant. The books in this library magically come to life."

"Okay..." She paused, staring at me like I was speaking a different language. "Maybe I should just head back to Gran. I'm the only one helping her at the shop, so yeah."

I ran my hand across my face, fully realizing I was messing this all up. How was it so hard to explain that the story spirits existed?

"Just show her already," the demon lord said as he casually leaned against a bookshelf with a sinister grin. "Showing always works better than telling."

Willow's eyes widened. "You have...horns?"

"And more." His grin widened, showing off all his teeth like he was trying to mimic that poster from earlier. "Want me to give you a tour?"

I sighed. "We're trying to welcome her, not scare her off. Go find Lisa."

"No, no, it's fine," Willow said, moving ever so slightly closer to the demon lord. "What are you?"

Her voice sounded curious instead of fearful and something about the way she was looking at him made me wonder. Did she...like dangerous men?

"Willow, meet the demon lord," I said. "Demon lord, meet the wonderful writer who so graciously decided to stop by."

I gave him a hint hint look, trying to make him realize how important she was without saying it. We needed a writer for the festival so he better behave.

"Hello, nice to meet you." His voice was gravelly with only a hint of disdain, but it was the best attempt I'd seen at him being welcoming.

I wanted to cheer him on, but he'd probably snap at me and ruin all these good vibes.

"So about that books coming to life thing," Willow said as she reached out towards the demon lord, dropping her hand before she actually touched him. "Sorry, but are you saying he's from a book? I mean, demons don't exist, so if he's a demon lord, then...he's gotta be from a romance novel. Nobody else would write a demon this handsome."

The demon lord's usually gray cheeks got a little bit rosy before his shadows curled around him, as if he was shrouding himself in darkness. I clamped down on my laughter and grabbed his book from the table.

"He's a character from a pretty famous fantasy series actually," I said, showing her his book. "There's a lot of other story spirits here too."

"There's more?" she asked.

"A lot more."

"Show me," she said, gaze roving over the library searching for them. "Story spirits are such a cool name for them, like you're seeing the souls of the books themselves."

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" I said with a grin. "The story spirits are more than just illusions. They have thoughts and feelings, just like you and me."

"That's awesome," she said, smiling at the demon lord. "I think I'll take you up on that tour now."

His eyes widened. "Wait, what? I'm sure Nyssa will show you around, she's the librarian, not me."

My shoulders shook with silent laughter at the idea of these two, one bright and full of happiness and the other dark and trying to avoid everyone. Maybe she was just the kind of person we needed to get the demon lord out of his shell.

"By all means," I said, "show her around and make sure to take your time. You did offer her a tour after all."

He glared helplessly at me, as if begging me to save him from this human, but I just shook my head.

"Fine," he said with a dramatic sigh as Willow made a happy noise and hooked her arm around his. "This is the Misty Mountain Library. We've done a lot of repairs lately to make it as glorious as it once was."

I bit my lip, honestly loving this far too much.

"I noticed that," she said, turning back to me, "last time I was here it was pretty rundown. You guys have done an amazing job."

"Oh yeah, you said you've been here before, right?"

She nodded. "I used to spend a lot of time here as a kid. Gran would drop me off while she was gathering herbs on the mountain."

"Wait, really? Maybe we met back then and never realized it."

Willow laughed. "That would be really cool."

As the demon lord showed her the different sections of the library, the new windows, and the repaired roof, I started to wonder if he was stalling for some reason. We'd gone in circles, cleverly avoiding the middle area where the rest of the story spirits were.

"What's going on?" I whispered at him as Willow knelt down to look at some books on the bottom shelf. "Just show her the story spirits already."

His eyes narrowed. "And risk another spilled cocoa incident?"

I winced. I hadn't realized he'd heard about that, but of course he had. They all trusted him to defend them and the knight had probably still been upset when we got back.

"I don't think she'd treat any of you like that," I said, "but I honestly can't be sure. Sometimes you've just gotta take a chance on people. The library needs a writer and I think she'd be a good fit. Don't you?"

The demon lord studied her as she sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping through books with the joy of a child. If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn he was smiling just a little.

"Maybe," he said, "but I'm going to keep my eyes on her."

"That sounds fair," I said, resisting the urge to tease him. I'd never seen him interested in anyone before, not enough to give them a tour and possibly smile at them. "Hey, Willow?"

She glanced up, putting her finger in the book to hold her page. "Yeah?"

"I'd love it if you sponsored our library for the festival."

"Really?" She leapt up, barely holding onto the book. "That's amazing! I won't let you down. I'll go home and write right now. My book will definitely be done by the time the final ceremony starts."

"Wait, you're not done writing it yet?" I asked, suddenly nervous. "The ceremony is in less than a week."

The demon lord sighed, but before he could say anything, Willow shook her head. "It'll be fine. I'm almost there. I promise."

With that, she backed up, bowing and smiling like a woman overflowing with joy. Then she seemed to realize she still had a book in her hands, because she turned around and put it back on the shelf. Then bowed again.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you," I said, chuckling. "I can't wait to read your book. I'm sure it will be great. And say hi to your Gran."

She frowned. "Speaking of Gran, she wanted me to remind you to fix the mountain path up."

Now it was my turn to sigh. "Will do. It's on my list for tomorrow."

Not that I had any idea how to fix it, but my to-do list would never get done if I let things like that bother me. We needed easier transportation so that's what I'd get. Hopefully Oren had found something by now.

With Willow gone, there was only one thing left to do: share the news with the other story spirits. The Misty Mountain Library had found a writer!