What’s odd is that the next two books don’t mention the Youngest Sister at all. They’re religious texts, and they speak of the eldest two Sisters, but strangely omit the Youngest. One of them is a record of witness accounts of the Sisters, most of them mortals who entered bargains that went wrong, but none of them mention meeting the Youngest Sister.
I flip back to the beginning of each of the books, and find the ones excluding the Youngest Sister to be more modern by three hundred years.
A strange unease settles in my gut, but I find my curiosity piqued.
With only two books left, my anxiety builds. What if I dragged Nolan all this way, had him travel an extra month by sea to get here, which we’ll have to repeat on the way back, just to waste an entire two months of his life on a false lead?
His plea with me from earlier sticks in my mind, that perhaps we should just enjoy our time together. But no. I can’t accept that.
I open the next book and find myself immediately confused. After flipping through it, I find it’s not a book about the Sisters at all, but a book about the history of the library itself.
I search through the concordance. There are entire sections on the dangers of the library. Figuring any information I find on the Youngest Sister will do me little good if I end up dying down here and unable to bring the information back to Nolan, I flip to the marked page.
The first section details information about the serpent, though most of it I already know from the serpent itself. Basically, the serpent is tasked with allowing visitors entrance into the library, collecting a future possibility as payment, andis commanded to do the visitors no harm as long as the rules remain unbroken.
Well, that’s comforting, at least.
I scan down, looking for the rules, lest the serpent had purposefully omitted one, but as far as the book says, the serpent has been open with me.
But there’s another section that catches my eyes.
While most visitors are distracted by the serpent, the darkness, and the eerie spirits set to watch over the library and direct its guests, these so-called dangers prove most dangerous in that they distract from the true danger of the library.
My heart races, my mind scouring all the details of the library, wondering what I must have missed, and I turn the page.
The library itself is a lonely entity. Tucked away and isolated, it receives so few visitors for the amount of knowledge it holds. As a library’s one wish is to cultivate knowledge, it pains this being that so few traverse its halls, spread the pages of its books, take advantage of its secrets.
But the library has a way of keeping those who wander inside its doors.
A shiver runs through my body.
Time itself works differently in the library, or, at least, the guest’s perception of it. A visitor might pore over books for days, thinking they only set foot in the library a half hour before. A guest might become so caught up in the knowledge held in the library, they spend years within its walls without ever noticing a day has passed.
A cold sweat breaks out on my forehead.
In fact, some stay in the library for so long, by the time they emerge in the world above, they find their life has passed them by, their loved ones dead, their dreams having already been lived out by another.
Those select few almost always return to the library, realizing their only life lies between its walls, underneath its roots. There the library keeps them alive. They spend their existence drowning the pain of their lost life in the knowledge of books, until eventually, they lose all resemblance to their former selves, their singular purpose to preserve the knowledge of the library and lead others to it.
CHAPTER 12
Something writhes in my gut, the memory of the pale hand sticking out of the apparition’s hood. A visitor of times past, driven to solitude in the library by the realization of having nothing left to live for.
Panic wells through me as I try to find some way to judge how long I’ve been here. I check my hands for wrinkles but find none. I didn’t carry a pocket watch, not that I’m even confident one would work down here. Another thought strikes me.
How long has Nolan been sick now? How far has his illness progressed in the time I’ve been away?
I jolt from the table, and my chair’s legs scrape against the floor. “Hello,” I call out. “Hello! I’m ready to leave now!”
Nothing. No sound. No light in the distance.
But why would the ghoul come to get me, when the library, its master, would want to keep me here? I turn back around, scouring through the book for any evidence of how to escape, but find none.
Just then, a light appears, so small, it could be miles away. Still, I grab at my racing heart. The ghoul heard me. It’s coming to lead me out. But my heart sinks all the same. I’m not anycloser to finding the Youngest Sister than I was earlier today… or… earlier.
All I’ve managed is to waste Nolan’s precious time. All he wanted from this time was to spend it with me, and I’ve robbed him of that, and I’ve nothing to show for it.
I glance back down at the table. There’s one more book. The first book the scribe led me to.
