The Book Keeper's Apprentice

A Maze of Books

-Marianna

     "Hm, hmm, hmm, hm...hak da da da...do do do da dak la la na na!" A shrill noise cut through the air, cracking every other...syllable? She didn't know what a harpy sounded like, but this would be the closest comparison she could think of–unless it somehow managed to be worse than a mythical creature known for its ear-shattering screeching.

     "My ears..." Marianna mumbled to herself, quietly enough that she was sure he couldn't hear her.

     "What is that?" she muttered in disbelief, and glanced at the racket from the (fortunately for her, she supposed) obscurely placed, random, giant plant she was hiding behind. She glanced at the source and quickly averted her eyes. The old man. Of course it was the old man. Who else would it be?

     To get to the restricted sections, she had to pass the Book Keeper's personal office–which happened to be the hallway to the restricted section. How fortunate, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. The room (which was technically a hallway-turned-office, however you made that work) had a crookedly placed desk in the middle of it and 3 large plants atrociously placed in an artist's–or anyone's, to be honest–worst nightmare. There were several large pillows strewn about, and two bookshelves pushed to the walls–which was pretty useless, if she was being honest, as most of the books were on the desk and scattered along the floor.

     The old man continued his dance, which consisted of him tripping and falling everywhere while stubbing his toes. He started to twirl towards her hiding spot. Marianna felt her body freeze and her heart race–she stood stiller than a statue–he was right next to her now, his back tilted away from her. She silently shifted her position to face his back.

     SWIP. He spun around, waving his duster right next to her face. He was asleep...of course he sleep-dusted. He's Gramps. She waved her hand in front of his face to check if he was really asleep. She slid to her left as he stumbled forward and started snoring, collapsing where she'd been standing just a moment before. The girl tiptoed forward, until she heard a loud noise. She turned her head backward to see him dusting the floor in his sleep. Deciding it was safe to walk freely (or as freely as possible while trying to avoid the books on the floor–), she continued forward on her escape.

     The room stayed silent (besides the old man's obnoxious snores) as she passed his desk, she noticed something. The desk was a mess as per usual. It sported decade old ink stains , covered with hundreds of papers and books, and it barely stood on its last leg of life. However, what caught her eye was the one thing not in a stressful mess, a book laid sprawled neatly on the table titled, A Passage Through Time. The book sat on the table neatly bound and printed. Half of the other books were a mess of old pages that looked as though they were about to crumble and were several thousand years old, and the other half looked more like notebooks, horrendously written notebooks at that, than books.The less damaged books were in the same language she couldn't read, while the older looking ones she assume were in some ancient language.

     She drew closer to the book and slowly put her hand above it, hesitantly before flipping to the first page.

     'To My Dear Granddaughter, Marianna, I'm Sorry' was neatly scrawled on the page.

     "What..." What would he be sorry for? Gramps had done a lot of things, sure, but she doubted he regretted anything. Her face contorted in confusion, If she used the memoria spell she would be able to read through and memorize the book in only a minute or so, judging by its size, at least. But, did she even have a minute? She glanced back at Gramps–right now he was sound asleep, but she didn't know how long that would last. The memoria spell would require her to be completely focused, But, on the other hand, Book Keeper had been staying in his office for longer and longer periods of time. This could be her only chance to escape. She glanced at the door then back to the book. She took an unsteady breath.