Nyssa's Point of View

Chapter 28

It was finally time. Festival-goers would be traveling out to their favorite libraries to celebrate not only everyone's hard work the past month writing their new books, but every new book that had come out in the past year. This part of the festival was to honor books and the story gods who inspired people to write them. They'd bless the world's writers for another year of great stories too.

And bless our library with all the magic it needed to thrive again.

My hands shook as I grabbed the door handle. Once I opened these doors, everything would change. We'd be open to the public again, welcoming people in on a daily basis hopefully. Unless nobody showed up and this was all a complete fail...

I took a deep breath, squashing those thoughts down. Everything was going to work out. We'd put too much work into this for it to fail.

The doors pulled open smoothly, revealing a bright sunny day perfect for travel. Willow was already outside, playing with the lending libraries as they hopped around with excitement.

"Hello," I said, waving to Willow. "I hope you haven't been here long."

"Only....an hour or so?" She glanced away sheepishly. "I'm pretty excited. I really never thought I'd be sponsoring a library or that I'd even finish my book in time and it's all so exciting that I thought a walk might help." Her eyes widened. "Oh, and those bubbles are amazing! I can't believe how easy it was to get up the mountain in one of those. So cool."

At least some people liked the bubbles. I'd have to let Roan know they were a hit.

"You could have come inside," I said.

"No, you guys looked busy." She put a book back inside one of the lending libraries. "Plus, these lil guys were happy to show me all the books they have available and I got distracted."

We'd decorated them with hanging lanterns that swayed beneath them as they hopped, glowing softly to help lead people to the library. We'd also filled them with books until they couldn't fit any more and they'd been hopping around excitedly ever since.

I patted a few of them on their little roofs. "Thank you for keeping her company. You did great."

They wiggled back and forth, opening their doors to show off their books. I really loved how happy they were every time we gave them something new, so I went inside and found a few more to trade out with the ones they already had. They hopped in circles, almost like a dance.

"They are so adorable," Willow said, smiling at them. "Seriously, this library is amazing."

"It really is," I said with a grin as I sat on the bench outside. "So how did your book go? You said you finished it, right?"

As Willow joined me on the bench, she told me all about her new book and how hard it was to finish. She almost gave up a few times, but powered through because she loved writing and just wanted people to enjoy her story. I hoped for that too, to show her that all her efforts were worth it. Working hard had to count for something, right?

Over an hour passed by as we chatted and played with the lending libraries, my gaze going to the bubble transport more and more to see if anyone was coming up the mountain. A knot was forming in my stomach as time passed without anyone else showing up. I'd expected the artists might stop by or even Willow's gran.

Somebody. Anybody.

The golem joined us outside, planting and replanting some of its flowerbeds. By the time it had moved three beds around, my anxiety was at an all-time high. They were counting on me to bring people here, to save the library. I'd gotten their hopes up, making them believe we could pull this off.

I clenched my hands against my thighs. This was all wrong. We'd worked too hard for nobody to show up and see our progress. If the library didn’t get the story gods' blessing, it would disappear and the story spirits along with it.

"We need to do something," I whispered, avoiding looking at the library that had put so much faith in me. "I can't..."

Let it end like this.

Wait, end? How could I think like that? I shaded my eyes as I gazed up at the sky. The sun wasn't even high yet. There was so much time left to turn this around.

Willow frowned as she followed my gaze. "Is that...a pegasus?"

I squinted, staring at the bright blue sky so hard my eyes watered. But yes. It was a pegasus. With a very friendly rider waving at us.

"That's the courier from Arcadia Books!" I jumped up to greet him as they landed softly on the grass. "Welcome to the Misty Mountain Library."

The young man grinned as he slid off the pegasus. "I told you I'd be back. Every time I pass over this mountain I'm so curious how the library's going, but I wanted to wait until your official reopening. And boy was it worth it." His eyes widened as he walked up to the golem. "Hello, I'm Jasper. Nice to meet you."

Jasper held his hand out to the golem who held out his pointer finger in return. The courier grinned and shook it vigorously before admiring the plants.

"Somebody came!" Willow exclaimed, grabbing my arm as a grin spread across my face.

We had our first patron of the day and he wasn't afraid of the golem at all.

"Do you want to go inside?" I asked Jasper. "There's so much more for you to see."

"Yes, ma'am," he said, tipping his hat at me with a kind smile. "I want to see everything."

A warm happy feeling settled in my chest, driving all the worry from a few moments ago away. Willow and I led him inside to find Roan hard at work trying to keep the other story spirits entertained. He must have been taking care of them while I was outside worrying. Knowing he was here to help made me so happy.

Roan turned around with a smile as a dragon landed on his head. "Hey there."

"Hi," I said with a shy smile for some reason. He just looked so at home here, surrounded by story spirits. I cleared my throat, gesturing to Jasper. "This is Jasper, the courier who brought us all those books a few weeks back."

"Welcome to the Misty Mountain Library," Roan said warmly. "We're all very glad you're here. The books were wonderful too."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jasper nodded, his eyes practically shining with wonder as he tried to take it all in at once. Lisa wandered over, leading him to a chair just in case he was a bit too overwhelmed by it all, but he seemed fine.

"This is amazing," he said. "I never dreamed that stories could really come to life like this." He glanced at me, frowning. "They are characters from books, right? That's the rumor I heard around town. Well, one of the rumors at least."

I resisted the urge to wince at the idea of rumors and forced a smile instead. "Yes, they're books brought to life with story magic. We're a one of a kind library, the only place you can talk to your favorite stories in person."

Roan smiled, nodding slightly at me like he was telling me I was doing a good job. Butterflies danced in my stomach. Everything was riding on us getting more patrons, but finally getting one was a little nerve-wracking too. I was glad it was somebody like Jasper, so full of joy and love for books.

"It's such a shame not many people are here to see this," Jasper said, shaking his head. "If they knew what they were missing out on, really knew, they'd be racing up the mountain to get here. But I bet it's hard to tear anyone away from Lady Thistlebrook. You should have seen the lines waiting to meet her."

I froze. "Wait, what about Lady Thistlebrook?"

"Oh, uhhhh..," Jasper busied himself petting Cerbie. "The library in town got her to sponsor them so everyone's going kind of crazy. They've never had somebody so famous there before."

She was one of my favorite authors, so any other day I'd have been overjoyed to hear that she was at a library nearby. I'd have grabbed my favorite book of hers and raced into town to get it signed, no matter how long the line was. But today wasn't any other day. Today was the Tales and Tomes Festival, the one day that this library needed to be full of people, to prove that the town wanted it to keep existing.

I sank onto a chair as the weight of Jasper's news really sank in. There was no way our library could attract enough attention while such a famous author was at our competition. It just wasn't feasible, not when the town already had their misgivings about us.

After all the repairs we'd done, after all the people we'd talked to, after everything, it was going to end like this. Being crushed by the fame of a wonderful author.

Tears pricked my eyes. I tried to blink them back, but I'd been going and going for so long on sheer optimism, believing that we could do this if we just worked hard enough, and now it was all crumbling around me. Even if we got a few patrons, it wouldn't be enough to show the gods that this library really mattered to anyone. They'd think it could serve the world better somewhere else.

I was going to lose everything I'd fought so hard to protect and I would be letting everyone down in the process too.

"I'm so sorry everyone." My vision blurred as my tears flowed down my cheeks. "I got your hopes up for nothing. I didn't even think about who the library would get as sponsor, I just thought we'd succeed. I should have planned better, should have worked harder, should have--"

"Stop," Roan said, kneeling by my chair. "This isn't your fault."

I squeezed my eyes closed, unable to look at his kind smile. He'd finally found a home here and that would all be gone soon. He'd probably go back to adventuring and I'd...find another library?

No, I didn't want to work at another library again. The Misty Mountain Library was my home.

The demon lord's shadows snapped at my ankles, the only thing I could see while I hid from everyone's gazes.

"Stop crying," he said as he blinked a bit faster himself. "You're making everyone else sad too."

Lisa sighed. "Give her a break. She deserves to have a good cry if it'll make her feel better."

I took a deep breath, swallowing hard as the tears of frustration I'd been holding in for weeks just kept falling. This was my dream. I'd quit my job, left my apartment, basically given up everything for this one opportunity. It couldn't just end like this.

A glowing light drew my attention to the stacks as a book flew off the shelf and opened its pages. Bright light shone out just like when story spirits came out of their books, except I didn't recognize this story.

“Hey Misty, what’s going–”

Torrential rain fell from a dark gray rain cloud that was now covering the ceiling.

“Save the books!” I shouted as I threw myself over the displays we’d added to the table.

Apparently the library needed a good cry today too, but its tears were a lot more of an issue than mine. The demon lord sighed as he grabbed a blanket, tossing it unceremoniously over me and the books while Lisa ran off to presumably look for a better solution.

Rain beat against my back, drenching me and everything around as Roan leaned over me to try and shield some of it. I glanced up at him and caught a small smile on his face.

"Are you seriously smiling right now?" I asked.

"Yup, because this goes to show that Misty cares about you just as much as you care about the library. Your tears brought Misty to tears too and that's pretty wonderful to have a friend like that."

I blinked up at him. "Do you really think that's what this is?"

"Of course it is," Lisa said as she rejoined us with the tarps we'd used to cover the broken windows earlier. "You were here for us when we needed you most and now we're here for you. What's a little rain in the grand scheme of things?"

She placed the tarps around us carefully, covering everything she could that was in range of the rain. Somehow it had missed all of the bookshelves and was just focused on me, while the other story spirits stood at the edge of the downpour perfectly dry. Maybe they were right and this was just some sort of...show of solidarity?

"Thank you, Misty," I said, staring up at the rain cloud while big fat drops hit my cheeks. "Now that we've let all the bad vibes out, let's work on a solution. Together."

I glanced at the rest of the story spirits, at Cerbie who was wagging his tail ready to race over to me at any moment, at the golem who was trying to shoo the rain cloud away, at all of them just surrounding me with warmth.

I'd never felt so much love from so many people at once and I wasn't going to waste a single moment of it. It seemed Misty agreed because the rain started petering out. I was drenched, my hair sopping wet.

Roan handed me a towel with a reassuring smile. “Well that was refreshing, right? Just what we needed to wake us all up.”

“You have a weird sense of refreshing," I said with a chuckle.

As the storm disappeared back inside its book, so did the water thankfully. Every drop dissolved back into the story as if it was never here. Our books would be fine.

I walked over to the great book tree, sitting down beside it and motioning for the others to do the same. Together we crowded around the tree, sitting on the ground like kids waiting for story time. Cerbie padded over to me, resting his heads on my lap. I pet his soft fur, feeling my anxiety melt away as he cuddled up against me.

"Now is not the time to give up," I said firmly. "Now is the time to show the world how amazing everyone here is. Sorry I doubted that for a minute."

Lisa smiled, handing me a warm cup of tea. "I'm glad you're back to your usual self. Now, what's our plan?"

The tea smelled like spiced chai, invigorating my senses with each breath. I took a sip, enjoying the warmth spreading through my body. This was exactly what I needed after getting out of a downpour. I glanced at Jasper, who was awkwardly looking around the library like he wasn't sure if he should join us or not.

"Come over here, take a seat," I said, motioning at an open spot on the rug. "What you said about the story spirits gave me an idea. That other library might have a famous author, but this library has the very souls of its books. That's something special and beautiful, something nobody else has." I ran my hand over the smooth bark of the tree. "And we have you too, Misty, the best and kindest library anyone could ever ask for. Do you think you have enough magic to summon another story spirit?”

“What are you planning?” Lisa asked.

“Just a little adventure,” I said with a grin. “I’ll need to find the perfect book for it though.”

Roan nodded. “I’m always up for an adventure. What are we looking for?”

“Something with a character who can fly,” I said slowly, “and is big enough to transport all of us and the townsfolk.”

Lisa’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I love that idea.”

“We’re going to get people here,” I said firmly, standing up to browse the stacks. “This is going to be the best festival the library's ever seen.”

Willow peeked around a bookshelf. “I think I’ve got an idea for what book to use…”

She held out a fantasy novel about a town that lived on the back of a flying whale.

“Oh, that’s perfect.” My grin widened as I held it up to the book tree. “What do you think? Do you have enough power to summon a flying whale?”

The book tree glowed faintly. Not bright like it was when I was a child, but bright enough to help us now. We were going to win over the town and save our library. Even if I had to ride a whale through the sky to do it.