The Experience of Being Alive

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Did you see how happy you made her?” Katniss asked.

“I just told her the truth. I always liked her way better than Encyclopedia Brown anyway.” Binny said.

The fivesome had said their goodbyes, made their way from Pemberley, out to the grand hallway, and into the library. The searched for the nearest stairs and started the climb.

The library was relatively empty on this once-in-a-blue-moon day off. 

“How high does this place go?” Arya complained after they’d climbed their fifth flight of stairs.

“You know they have to constantly add floors for all the new books that come out.” Hermione answered. She was more quiet than usual after their visit to Pemberley.

So many new works of literary fiction were constantly being published that in just the couple of weeks Binny had been in the Stacks, several floors had been added to the structure.

And then suddenly, there were no more steps to climb.

“If they keep adding new floors to this place, shouldn’t the Rare Books Room, be in some floor below us?” Arya asked.

“Not if they keep moving it up to each new top floor.” Katniss said.

“That seems insane.” Binny said.

“Nothing’s insane when you can just wave your wand and build anything that exists in a book.” Katniss said acidly. Katniss realized what she’d said, and glanced at Hermione, worried she’d made her feel bad. “Oh, sorry about that Hermione.”

“It’s fine. Let’s just find the room.” Hermione trudged forward.

Everyone followed.

The bookcases weren’t all full on this floor. Though they likely would be soon enough, Binny imagined. The further the group traveled, the more scarce the books got. When they arrived at a section of the floor where the bookcases were completely empty, the lights weren’t even on. 

They tried to spread out a bit to cover more area, but the library seemed especially creepy with no books on the shelves, and no lights on – everyone preferred to stay relatively close.

“This is ridiculous. It’s not here.” Hermione said.

Binny had to agree. “I admit, I’m feeling a little discouraged.”

“I wonder if this is once again just an issue of perspective?” Michel said and looked up.

The ceiling at this top level was higher than on the other floors and made of glass. Binny hadn’t noticed at first. But you could look up and see, well, outside. What exactly was outside anyway? Binny wasn’t entirely sure. When she looked up, all she saw was blackness. Endless black.

“My turn. You got to go last time Katniss.” Arya stepped in front of Michel and made a motion with her hands. “Go on. Give me a lift.”

Michel clasped his hands together and let Arya step into the cradle he’d made. Slowly he lifted her up until she was able to pull herself up on top of one of the oversized empty bookcases.

“What do you see?” Katniss asked.

Arya slowly spun around looking in all directions, and then suddenly stopped. “There. I see a light.”

Arya scampered down the bookcase and was off at a run.

The others had no choice but to follow. 

After a minute, they came upon the source of the light. A round room, roughly thirty feet in diameter occupied this lonely spot on the top floor of the Library. It too had its own glass ceiling. Binny thought it was like a shrunken down version of the entire top floor.