The Library (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 1) Casey White (classic books for 13 year olds txt) 📖

Daniel pulled.  The tired, ancient wood shifted with a groan, swinging on hinges hidden behind the endless stacks of journals.  His heart pounded in his chest.

There was a hollow behind them, he realized - a narrow passageway, barely wide enough for him to pass though.  A set of metal bars stood in his way.

His eyes dropped to a lock hanging off the door set into them.  "I'm the Librarian," he said.  "You're going to lock me out?  Really?"

His words had no bite, though, not when faced with the mystery Alex had just unveiled.  His hand had already dropped to the keyring hanging from his waist.  There was a lock - and he had a key. He was the Librarian. No door was locked to him.

As if in a dream, he raised the key that hung there, the key he used to open the Library to guests. It slotted in perfectly - and turned with a dull thunk.

The metal bars whined when he pulled on them.  Rust coated the hinges, fighting against his tug.  He planted his feet, pulling harder.  It came open at last with an angry scream.

A lantern hung from a nail driven into the stone wall beyond.  Blue fire glowed within its glass housing.  Daniel reached out, lifting it off its peg.  With every motion, it flickered, casting shadows across the entryway.  He hesitated a moment longer, the unearthly light filling his eyes.  And then he glanced toward the tunnel, away from the comforting warmth of his room.

Stairs descended into the black, narrow and curling into a delicate spiral.  Daniel stared.

"Well," he said, grinning through the nervous pangs that filled his chest.  "I guess I asked for this, didn't I?"

One step at a time, he started to descend.

- Chapter Twenty-Seven -

One hand braced against the wall for stability, Daniel descended.

Each step was a battle, a gamble with his reflexes to keep from tumbling down.  If he fell...he eyed the stairs ahead, wincing.  If he fell, he'd be hard-pressed to catch himself or get back up before he cracked his own skull open.  The stairs sloped away at a fearful rate, each polished smooth and curled into a tight spiral.  The lantern he held burned furiously with that unearthly blue fire, but there was only so much one lantern could do.

And still he climbed down.

How far did it go?  He kept his eyes down, but the pounding of his heart increased.  He hadn't expected anything like this to be underneath Alexandria, much less under his own room.

And the only reason he could think of for the passage to be located in the Librarian's quarters was so that any intruder would have to get past the Librarian to get in.  The thought was less than comforting.

Down and down he went - and then, with his calves just beginning to ache and his feet quivering from the strain of keeping his balance, the staircase leveled out.

He froze, his free hand still flattened against the stone.  There.  The bottom.  The stairs melted into the mostly-even floor a few paces ahead, stretching out into a landing.  And...his eyes lifted.  The narrow walls that pressed in around him fell away ahead, into a wider room too darkened for him to make out.

Grinning nervously, Daniel pressed his fingers into the wall.  "Guess I'm here, huh?" he whispered.  "Thanks, Alex.  I know...I know you didn't want to."

She didn't want to, but she'd done it anyway.  That restlessness still burned in his chest, but...it helped, to know that she hadn't turned him away.  The smile on his face was a little more genuine as he continued on.  A little more tender.

His tired feet moving on automatic, he stepped through the arch into the room beyond and raised his lantern.

The light flared at the motion, burning brighter.  Daniel's eyes widened.  He slowed, coming to a stop again.  For a long moment, he just...stared.

Shelves.  Books.  He was the damn Librarian.  Books were his job, and he certainly should be used to them by now.  All he could do was gape, though.

The narrow passage had widened out, exploding into a sprawling cavern.  The ceiling pressed in low over his head, tight enough to make him want to squirm, but the sheer size of it...He grinned nervously, twisting this way and that.  It might as well have been a school gymnasium, transplanted into the underbelly of his home.

Shelves filled every available inch, from the floor to the ceiling.  But where the other wings of the Library were crammed to the bursting with books, leaving him struggling to find room to squeeze new arrivals, each of the shelves here seemed oddly empty.  And where the tomes outside had all been haphazardly thrown wherever they would fit, bereft of structure or organization...he leaned in, squinting at the nearest shelf.

All of the books on the shelf matched, like a set of encyclopedias.  "This wing is different, then?" he murmured, raising a hand to stroke down the spine.  "Why?  And what does it all mean, Alex?  I asked about magic."  His fingers paused, sliding over the filigree coating the book.  There was no author mark, he realized, not even a title.  Most of the books on the shelf weren't even wide enough for a proper title.  All they carried was a wispy drawing, like a medallion hanging from a chain, repeated from book to book along the set.

Daniel grabbed for the thickest of the books, pulling it free and flipping it open - but when he pawed through the pages, searching for any clue, all he found was a sheet with a person's name at the front, followed by chapter after chapter of what seemed like a biography.  He made an irritated noise in the back of his throat, pushing it back onto the shelf, and lifted his lantern a little higher.

"They're all the same," he said, glancing down the row to the symbol marking every book on the shelf. The next shelf over was