Chapter 3: 3. A sister? No, A Doughter, Maybe
He got blinded by the light, coming from unknown sources. The eyes, adjusted to the darkness, were not ready, and he was forced to cover his face with one of his hands while squinting them heavily to block the brightness. He groaned from the pain, and slowly took down the blockade, as his body with a little bit of time was getting more and more ready to see.
The first thing that he noticed was a woman, patiently waiting for him. She was mature, with blond hair. Wearing a white shirt, buttoned all the way to the top, with a black ribbon tied under the collar, and just as black skirt. Her skin was very pale, that it almost blended with the shirt, contrasting with the rest of her attire. She had a crimson red lipstick on her lips and glasses with a thick, black frame covering her eyes. And then it hit him. It was miss Vera from above, but younger. Much younger.
"A sister?", he asked himself. "No, a daughter, maybe."
Behind her was a massive desk, occupying just a bit of space in this gargantuan structure illuminated by the light coming down from the clear blue sky above.
On both sides of her were stairs leading to a slight elevation, where basically the rest of the building was. He noticed bookshelves gradually getting bigger, and bigger, with ladders standing next to them. There were so many, that an eye couldn't keep track. He got completely mesmerized by the view, trying to capture it with his eyes, but there was just too much to see.
He also noticed several desks on both his left and right sides, clearly placed there for the readers or researchers.
He couldn't believe it somehow fitted under the tiny bookstore.
"It has to be magic", he thought.
The librarian cleared her throat, and for a moment he focused on her, but then the desk grabbed his attention. It was filled with papers and strange items. He noticed an hourglass, with sand slowly falling from the upper chamber to the lower one, as time passed. There were also several golden figurines. One showcasing a sitting cat, and the other a sleeping dragon. Except that, many things he have never seen before and couldn't even name. Some crystals with wires around them, or contraptions made out of precious gems connected together by precious metals. They seemed to have some purpose, but he couldn't say what it was.
The woman rolled her eyes, seeing that he is no longer paying any attention to her.
- Welcome to the Grand Library, Trevor – she said, breaking the long silence.
- U.. A… Good morning – muttered Trevor in an awkward manner, as he was still in shock.
Then it finally hit him. All the joy that came from finally achieving something he wanted so bad. All the hardships he went through in the past to make it suddenly were not so bad at all, and just the pure happened filled him to the brim. He collapsed on his knees, and in a gesture of victory rose both his hands straight to the sky, with the skateboard still tightly gripped in one of them.
- YES! I MADE IT!
The librarian cleared her throat very loudly, again.
- Mister West, please remember that we are still in the library, and you should behave properly – she said with a tone sharp as a knife. - You don't want to disobey the rules of this place.
- Uhm… A… I'm so-sorry – he mumbled quickly and even quicker got back on his feet.
- It's fine, mister west – she smailed once more, switching from one contrasting emotion to the other in a split of a second. - I get that you wish to celebrate this achievement since you wanted to find this place for such a long time, and tried so hard. I was observing you since you visited my bookstore for the first time.
And then he got it, a confirmation that she really was the same person as above. He easily accepted it as another magical trick.
- Then why didn't you tell me where the library was? - he asked immediately without a second thought.
- Because I thought you were not worthy, but since you found yourself here anyway, I was clearly wrong in my judgment. The library wouldn't let you in if you were not meant to get here.
- W- what do you mean?
She sighed, and without a word turned around, to walk around her massive desk, and take a seat.
- If you want to use the library, you need a card – she said finally. - Please come here. We both need to fill out some paperwork.
- O-ok – he said and rushed forward.
Trevor still wanted to find the answer to his question, but he also didn't want to do anything which would get him kicked before having a chance to find the remedy to his magical problem. He had to go through so much to find the library, that getting thrown out now would be a devastating blow. That's why he was so quick to follow what the librarian said.
Vera Kovalyova shuffled and moved some papers, then picked something from one of the drawers from her massive desk. It was a piece of laminated paper with Trevor's picture and basic information about him. He had no idea where she got that from, but there it was. Nice and simple, white with two stripes of blue. One at the bottom, and one at the top, with all the information, squeezed in between.
- Please sign here – she suddenly pushed a page densely covered by text to him and then gave him a pen. - At the bottom. Full name, please.
- Y-yes – he mumbled.
Then he quickly placed his skateboard on the ground and grabbed the pen, to write down his signature. Being closer to her he noticed small detail about her that escaped him previously. Her eyes were red.
- And here, and here, and here – said miss Vera, as she placed a few more of those pages, densely filled with small letters. - Those are the standard forms. You can read them of course, but I also could just tell you what you are signing, and then you could move on to find what you are looking for.
She gave him a weird smile. Like a predator that spotted a prey. A shiver went down Trevor's spine.
- That is, if you are interested at all – she added.
- I… I would like to know.
- Basically, you can not tell anybody that you know our location, nor give out the details about this place, customers met here or the staff working here. If you do, you will lose your access, and we will relocate. In some cases your punishment might be even worse, but you will never tell anybody, so there is no reason to even think about that, isn't it? - she smiled again, and for the first time, Trevor noticed how long and sharp her fangs were.
It was like they just grew because he was sure that they were different just a moment before. Now she looked like a vampire.
- Y-yes – he mumbled.
- Good. Please take your card – she pushed it slightly on the desk surface, and then swiftly collected the forms, to put them together nicely by gently knocking with them on the desktop as she held them in her hands.
Trevor picked up his card, and it almost immediately burst into flames, as it changed its appearance. He let go of it, as he rapidly retracted, moving his hand in a self-preserving reaction. The item slowly drifted in the air, while its color became completely black, and the material turned from laminated paper to some kind of metal. The smooth edges became jagged, and on the right side, it even formed into something that later became a dragon head on a long neck, with protruding sharp spikes. The metal beast seemed to want to eat Trevor's picture before it froze with open jaws a second prior to landing on the floor, next to his skateboard.
- I thought you were braver – said the woman with a sly smirk on her face.
Trevor, swallowing his spit from all the nerves, peaked at her, and then slowly crouched down to reach for the card. He was quite scared to do so, but this time the item didn't have any unexpected reactions to his touch and allowed him to simply take it. He placed it in the pocket of his jacket and looked at the librarian again.
- What? - she asked immediately. - Go on. Look for your book, but remember you can take only one.
She waved her hand at him like she was chasing away an annoying fly.
- One? - he asked, slightly surprised.
- Yes. You are a newbie here after all, so just one book. Choose carefully… Well… Never mind – she smiled again, this time more mysteriously.
He wanted to ask what was that about, but she was actually freaking him out quite a bit, so instead, he just awkwardly turned, and moved towards the short stairs on his left, to climb up.
There were several bookstands, standing on the light marble floor with darker veins, already in his arms reach, just slightly taller than him with more of them, gradually getting bigger and bigger, just behind. Towering over, far on the horizon were massive ones, reaching for the sky. The distance was so big, that they were actually blending with the background.
A few steps behind his back were the previously spotted desks. Now, when all the excitement of finding this place passed, he spent a little bit more time having a look at them. They were decent, quite heavy looking with a lot of space on the desktops. They even had some fancy lamps with long lampshades hunching over the desk surfaces. There were also chairs, cushioned with dark-green quilted velvets, and sculpted back supports made out of some dark wood. He noticed knights fighting monsters and other mighty being in those decorative elements. He has never seen something like that before.
After analyzing that, he turned back to what was important and glanced at the books. They were in different sizes and colors. Some were quite thick, and others very thin. Some had the names written on their spines, but not all of them, which immediately made him want to ask the librarian. He even turned towards her, but she was gone. There was nobody behind that massive desk.
This discovery made him somewhat worried, but also strangely relieved since this weird woman was not around.
He took a deep breath to gain some courage, and started moving, trying to catch a title that would promise him some answers, but the first titles he noticed were only about philosophy, so he decided to just go deeper.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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