Hahaha", Mr. Bené laughed in satisfaction, "Oh yes boys, you'll be reading lots of books here, and not the picture kind either! Not a chance in hell! You two will be reading the 800 page dusty kind!" He said slapping his knee.
They opened the doors to the library, expecting to see a very small room given the size of the underground entrance. However, upon entering its huge wooden doors, they saw a multi floor descending complex with thousands of books in it. As Axel peered over the guard railing looking into its depths he couldn't believe his eyes. From its 20 ft. high shelves to its staircases and guard railings, everything seemed to be alive!
The usual wooden furniture and architecture were made up of multi branch trees, and expanding vines. The tables and chairs were charmingly cut out from the roots of a large tree, while sofas beds and pillows were assembled from a cascade of flowers. There were tree vines and flowers scattered across the top of the bookshelves and a grassy floor that covered their steps.
The group came to a desk that said reception with a small flower that carried on its stem a small golden bell. After marveling at the small contraption, Mr. Johnston gave it a subtle tug alerting the librarian of their arrival.
"Hellooooo" said a woman from behind a bookshelf.
Following the sound of shuffling of books, a woman with glasses approached from behind the bookshelf.
She was a young woman somewhere in her mid-20 with curly pink hair. She was wearing khaki dress pants and a white dress shirt speckled with red dots.
Axel and 6 were stunned by the librarian's bright smile. Her curly hair was wound up in a bun with a lock of it straightened in a neat bang that drooped over the side of her face. In addition to her pink hair, as customary for shifters, she had matching pink eyes that although tiny, carried the wisdom of one who had read many books. With her beautiful blush and her dazzling smile it was truly a wonder why no one ever came to visit her in this vast world of beauty and knowledge.
She held in her hand a large volume labeled, called "Marvels of the 21st century" as she made her way forward.
"You must be Axel and... 619 was it?" she asked.
"That's right!" Mr. Bené said proudly. "They're yours for the next two weeks!" "And as we discussed earlier, feel free to use them for whatever tasks you need to get done! If they give you any trouble just give me a call and I'll add some extra laps to their gym schedule!"
"Great!" She said smiling
"Hello boys" She said cheerfully, "According to this nameplate on my desk I'm Dr. Schwartz, but that makes me sound old and cranky, so you can just call me Sadira!" She said twirling her hands
She extended her hand out to Axel and 6 shaking them gracefully, before continuing on.
"As I'm sure Mr. Bené has told you, I've been needing some extra hands around here for quite some time! "We have so many books but they're disorganized, unlabeled and dusty! Many of which are recovered works from before the great shift, and I have been working day and night to preserve them in readable form!"
"In addition to mopping the floors and dusting off books, also I'm going to need you to write summaries for the various books for our internet users so they can quickly pick which book they need for their Project without reading the entire thing! I want to show students the great world of pre-shift literature!
Axel looked at 619 with a face filled with devastation. He hated reading at a maximum. The only thing he cared to study were the drawings of his favorite comic book heroes. His eyes filled with gloom as he stared down the endless spiraling staircase of books that filled the descending library.
619's expression was no better. Aside from subtle electronic messages, he had never truly finished a completed work. He did however, after taking a look at Axel's expression, take some solace in knowing he would not face this endeavor alone.
Mr. Bené, satisfied with Axel's and 619's capitulation, took in a big chunk of air letting out a satisfied groan.
"Ahhh, My work here is done" he said smiling "Alright then boys, you have your duties"
"Ms. Schwartz" he said nodding his head. He walked away chuckling to himself, clearly pleased with the punishment he had administered to the boys.
"Well let's get to it!" Sadira said as she led them down the hall.
"As you can see this library is much more immense than it appears to be. This is due to what we call "The restoration project". We are actually in the ruins of what was called a subway system", an underground highway for trains that people used to commute between cities.
"Next to this subway system was a library, and although much of it has been destroyed by the Great Shift, since I was appointed here by O'Brian I have undergone a restoration project in an attempt to revive the old texts."
"The expanding staircase and lively shelves are being controlled by ether. You see, a student here with an incredible power of forestation has assisted me in building the shelves and stairs of this underground system, she's also quite the bookworm herself, she knows some of the old works by heart you know!"
They came to a pause in their tour as Sadira looked up at a large bookshelf. Up on the 20th or 30th shelf was a girl suspended in air, sitting on a large vine that hung high across the top of the library.
"Lily," She said beaming "I've brought some gentleman to help you!"
Looking down at the boys she blushed closing her book shut. Placing her hand on a vine above her, it began to give more slack slowly dropping into a large U. As the U reached her torso she sat on it like a small hammock as she slowly descended towards the ground.
As the girl came into view Axel could see a short girl with curly hair and glasses that was in the same age group as himself. As the little light reaching the underground library touched her vibrant blond hair, she blushed and stared away from the boys as she came down. She seemed quite fragile, almost losing her footing during the otherwise monotonous ride, however she managed to keep balance long enough to make it to where Axel and 619 were standing.
The two boys stared at the girl unsure of what they were supposed to say. After all, neither had ever really spoken to girls before.
"Well…. don't just stand there introduce yourself Lily!" Sadira beamed.
"Hi... I'm Lily" she said blushing. She was clearly no expert at talking to boys either.
Axel exchanged looks with 6 receiving a puzzled look from his friend, a clear signal that he should be the one to respond.
"Hi… I'm Axel, and this is my friend 6". Axel nervously punching 6s shoulder.
6 gave an annoyed look back at Axel clearly affected by the punch. Axel scratched his head pretending not to notice he had punched too hard.
"Are you in our grade? I didn't see you all day?" 6 said suspiciously.
"Well there's a reason for that", Sadira answered, "Lilly has already completed all of her coursework including AP level classes! She is quite the over achiever! She spends most of her time here in the library helping me!"
"That makes sense!" Axel answered nodding his head
"Well what about the gym?" 6 questioned, "I never saw her there either. Isn't that a mandatory requirement?
Sadira, unable to answer, looked at Lily directing the attention back towards her.
"I…. have a voucher" She said looking down at the ground "So I don't have to go…"
"WHAT!" Axel and 6 exclaimed, "HOW did-"
"SHHHHHHH" Sadira snapped. "Let's remember where we are for a moment! Keep your voices down!" she admonished
"Sorry" they answered
"HAHAHa" Sadira said laughing, "Relax! I'm just kidding! Today, just as nearly all days are, we are the only people here! This is probably the only library where you can be as loud as you like! The only thing I ask is that you work at the same time!"
Sadira motioned for the group to start moving and pointed down to the floor below them.
"Lily take these two to floor B2, that entire sublevel needs to be re outfitted, after that take them to b5 for book refurbishing," She chimed.
"Yes, Dr. Schwartz", Lily answered back.
"I told you call me Sadira! But that's ok, you do a good job training these boys and I'll bring my grandmother's homemade chocolate chip cookies you enjoy so much!"
With those words Lily's eyes lit up in a vibrant expression.
Axel and 6 stood puzzled at the request, neither one had heard or seen a chocolate chip cookie before.
"Okay!" Lily said gleefully.
Lily led the boys down to the second level of the library where hundreds of books were stacked on tables. With the snap of her fingers she caused the roots of the tree below them to shape into a chair as she sat down to give her instruction.
"Ok" she said taking a breath, "We…. need to sort out these books and get them up on those shelves" she said pointing to a huge 30 rack book shelf.
"WHAAAT?" Axel gasped, "That will take all year!" He groaned, looking on at the myriad of books stacked as far as the eye could see.
"Yes", Lily laughed, "It will! That's why we will do things one at a time". For today we will assemble all of the books with the author with a name A into one stack!
"AWEE I'm gonna be here till like 10 o'clock Axel groaned.
"Don't worry…. Lily said, if we don't finish today we can finish it tomorrow! Let's just work as hard as we can until those cookies are done!"
She said smiling
Axel hadn't noticed it before but now something was very apparent about Lily. As nervous and shy as she was, when it came chocolate chip cookies she was determined to get them at any cost.
"OK!" Axel said agreeing
"You ready 6?" He asked
"You don't even have to ask" 6 answered from behind him, he had already started sorting the books away.
Axel was exhausted… It was difficult to tell the time, but the light that had shown through the cracks of the ceiling were now gone, night time had come over the library.
Across from him was a stack of books maybe 20 feet high with Lily and 6 working away at the larger piles surrounding them.
As he shuffled through his small pile in front of him he came across a book with a very interesting title. "Ether and the Awakening soul" By Matteo the Magistar.
"Hey Lily" he asked
"Who's Matteo the Magistar?" He asked
Lily stopped putting away books and gave Axel a cautious look before replying. She walked over to the book Axel was holding and cautiously took it away.
"This one is supposed to be in the restricted section", she answered. "I can't talk about anything in this book that would break the schools policy." She said
"I see" he said in a depressed tone.
He sat back collapsing into a pile of books staring into his mother's locket.
"How do you know about Matteo?" Lily asked
"We'll Iv been seeing him in my dreams alot… Apparently I'm in his mind or something like that"
"What?" Lily said shocked, "What does he look like?"
"He's an old guy who has a white beard"
"And everything he wears is white!" Lily finished in disbelief.
Lily put her hand on her lip contemplating what she should do. After a few moments of staring at Axel she got down from her stack of books and approached him.
"I… can get you that book" she said admitting
"Really?" Axel said as a twinkle came into his eyes.
"Yes...But you can never take it out of the library! And if anybody sees you reading it, you'll be taken directly out of the school and straight to the G.A.T.E.S facility!"
"Yeah Axel, you don't want that…" 6 said dropping his head
"Well you're the only friend I could make, and you're from the G.A.T.E.S... so maybe me going there isn't such a bad idea." Axel retorted
"Wait… what...What? You're from the Gates?" Lily asked 6.
"Yeah I actually just started my first day of school today!"
Lilly placed her hand on her forehead as she started bursting out in laughter.
"What's so funny about that?" 6 asked
"I'm about to turn over a book about the contraction and building ether…. To a previous G.A.T.E.S patient and a shifter who dreams about the first Shifter in history? I must be out of my mind!"
"You know what Lily you're not so innocent either" Axel smirked. "Just how do you know who Matteo is?"
Lily covered her mouth. She had said way too much.
"So you're a girl who's read the books in the forbidden section! Now that I think about it it's the perfect completion of the circle!" Axel said laughing
Lily and 6 joined in laughing at the predicament that had brought the three together.
Seemingly instinctively, Axel reached out his hand towards Lily.
"So what do you say Lily? Want to join our team of Outcasts? We could name ourselves the three Librateers!" He said laughing
Lily reached out and grabbed Axel's hand blushing. This was one of the first times she had ever had visitors in the library as well as the first time she had ever touched a boy's hand.
"O….Okay" she said, "But you've got to share your comic book collection with me!" That's the one book I can't seem to get my hands on!
"Wait how do you know I have a collection?" Axel said in disbelief.
"I watched you all day, you looked at hundreds, no maybe thousands of books today. The only ones you seem to be interested in had pictures in them, and after flipping through the pages you would sigh, close the book, and continue searching. The only books you seemed to be interested in were the graphic novels. That tells me you're one of those comic book readers!
"Wow…" Axel said "Do you really pay that much attention to me?" He asked.
"No" lily said blushing "I was just frustrated you weren't working hard enough". She crossed her arms around her books facing away from Axel.
"Woah, I didn't mean to upset you!" Axel apologized, touching her shoulder. "I'll have my brother bring you whatever comic book you want!"
"Cookies are ready!" Shouted Sadira from across the library.
Lily dropped her books and sped off in a spirit rush for the freshly baked cookies.
"Wait a minute!" Shouted Axel from behind her.
"Now that we're friends….why don't you tell me more about that book…. And that voucher!" He said smiling.