Reviewers:
Dylan – I luv u. Only you can luv Valentine's POV like I do. OR not. Cuz I'm just fangirly like that.
Courtney – Fetish? WHAT FETISH? (grabs Val plushie)
HellionKyou – I've seen both of those movies. Hee.
Walking On Air
Chapter Four
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The Library was practically nothing like how Mum drew it.
I suppose Valentine could be right in saying that my Mother didn't control everything, but I couldn't be sure. Sometimes Mum's drawings were hidden under newer drawings. Why would she try to change the Library? It was one of her favorite creations…
"C'mon," Valentine said, ushering me forward. "No time to stay gawking at everything."
It wasn't my fault the building was worth gawking at. It looked like something Mum would've drawn, but it was still a completely new creation.
Instead of the original, oddly-proportioned building I had seen before on Mum's wall, it was beehive-like, with about twenty stories. But there was still that weird eye-stalk sticking out of the top of it.
The light seemed to be dimming. Night was upon us as we entered the Library. My breath caught in my throat.
Despite the renovations on the outside, I suddenly felt I was actually in one of Mum's sketches. Everything was superimposed in life as if I had been looking at a black and white still and it had suddenly filled with color and began to move. And the books! Books were flying everywhere, like peculiar birds. I was a kid in the middle of one of those glass bubbles in a marine exhibit, and a real live whale shark had just passed right over my head.
Valentine and I approached the librarian, who seemed to be made of pieces of scrap metal and old, weathered books.
"I expected you would come here, my lady," he said. I was slightly taken aback.
"You know me?"
"Most people who've read Life and Journeys of a Creator by H.B. Wellins do," he explained. I thought of this for a moment.
"You mean to tell me there's a biography of my mum in this library?"
"Section nine-twenty under 'Biographies', I believe. Is that what you are looking for?"
"Um…no. We're here to find something to help us find Helena," I said. Valentine shifted beside me. Giving him a curious sideways glance, I continued. "A map…or, uh, something useful like that."
"Ah. Well, then I suggest you look in Information," he said, a strange smile playing on his mouth.
"Can we not do the whole déjà vu sequence here?" Valentine said dryly.
"You still need the nets," the librarian informed him, sounding just as irritated. Two figures in red cloaks and long-nosed Pulcinella masks entered, each carrying a large butterfly net. I took one and the first thing I noticed was the inscription in the pole that said; The right book found makes a happy sound. The lettering was identical to Mum's handwriting.
Wish I could make up such a world, I thought, surprised at the pang of envy that pulled at my stomach. Luckily, Valentine interrupted these dark thoughts by asking if I could pull myself out of the dream world long enough to check out a book.
"Funny. I thought I was already in a dream world," I said wryly, but I allowed him to lead the way up the spiral staircase. The Library was like any other library; quiet, save for the fluttering of pages. Although, of course, in this case the pages that fluttered were due to the books' flight rather than hands turning them. A few brushed my shoulders as we ascended.
Sections of the Library flashed by; Biographies, Autobiographies, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Fictional Non-Fiction, Non-fictional Fiction, Zoology, Anthology, Dream-ology, until…
"'Information'," I read as we finally got to the top floor. Valentine was panting and leaning heavily on the butterfly net.
"I suppose you can go on and browse," he said, gesturing me forward. I shrugged and went over to wall labeled Maps. There were so many; Nineteenth-Century Africa, the Entire Roman Empire in Three Pages, and even Little Unknown Towns of Midwestern United States. I scanned the titles.
"Valentine, think you could help?" I said. "None of these so far even offer a hint of knowing this world." I paused, and turned around to look at him. His attention had been drawn to a small table of complimentary tea and little biscuits that was in view on the eighteenth floor. I could almost see his muscles ready to abandon me and eat his fill.
"Valentine," I barked. He jerked and faced me.
"What?" he asked, offended.
"What is this world called?" I asked.
"What is this world called?" he repeated. "Why the blazes would a world need a name?" I threw my hands in the air in frustration.
"Then how on earth am I going to be able to find a map of this…dream world?" I snapped.
"You people. You must name everything," he said, his focus being lured back to the food table. "As if you put a name on something, it'll make sense."
"It would make sense if you're trying to find a map of the unnamed place," I growled.
"Ask the Librarian. He'll probably know where a map of the world is," he said distantly, already moving toward the staircase.
Why'd I even bring him? Oh, right. To lead me here. Figures.
"No, Valentine, go right ahead," I mocked under my breath. "It's not like I really need your help or anything. I just have to look through this entire wall of books to find what I'm looking for. Whatever I'm looking for…" I snatched a glance over my shoulder to see if he had heard me and though perhaps I had awakened enough guilt in him to lend a hand.
He was munching on biscuits on the 18th floor. I sighed and kept looking. For Heaven's sake, there were maps of planets from Star Wars, and not a hint of Dark Lands or the City of Light.
"I suppose I couldn't get you to go downstairs and ask for the Librarian?" I called down to Valentine."
"Nope," came the cheerful reply.
"Of course," I muttered. "Remind me to never ask for help from you again." A book brushed my hair as it flew over my head as I browsed. I batted it away, but it seemed to enjoy tickling my ears with its pages. "Cut it out!" I grumbled, swatting at it again.
I'm not sure if most books could blow raspberries, but this one did. Well, it was more like a loud rippling of pages, but it produced the same effect.
"Oh, so you wanna play?" I breathed. The book (I couldn't read the title) seemed to be gliding mockingly in front of me. Like a jaguar stalking its prey, I slowly picked up my net off the floor. The book's pages fluttered excitedly. I crouched for a few seconds, muscles tense…
"Hah!" I pounced, flailing my net at the book. It easily dodged my attack and playfully glanced off my head as it flew behind me. Growling with good-humored frustration, I swung again.
There was something calming about chasing a flying book with a giant butterfly net. Perhaps it was because of the complete absurdity of it, but a rare, authentic, giddy smile alighted my face as I pursued the little book. All thoughts that had been suffocating me ever since I got here were temporarily washed away; my confusion, my mother, the frightening stories of this world, saving this world, Valentine being a deadweight…
"Found a friend?"
Speak of the devil. I lowered the net and blew a strand of hair out of my face.
"Erm…kind of," I said. Without another word, Valentine swooped his net up and scooped the charismatic little book out of the air. He then reached in and took it out.
"You again!" Valentine exclaimed, staring, surprised, at the red cover.
"What? What is it?" I asked, walking over to him. He handed the book over to me and muttered something under his breath.
"A Really Useful Book," I read. I looked back at Valentine questioningly.
"It was ripped out the last time I saw it!" he said in a way of explanation.
"Perhaps they got a new one," I shrugged.
"There is only one Really Useful Book," someone from the stairs informed them. IT was the Librarian. He was putting away a pile of books from a hovering cart.
"How did you fix it? All the pages were missing; save for one, of course," Valentine said. "If there was only one copy how could you rebind it?"
"A Librarian never reveals his secrets," he replied loftily.
"Would a Really Useful Book have a map of this world?" I wondered aloud, opening to the first page.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
"This is useful?" I said dubitably.
"You'd be surprised," the Librarian said, his tone vague as he descended back down the stairs. I turned to Valentine.
"You know this book?" I asked.
"We were…acquainted," he said.
"Do you know how to make it work?"
"Not really. It has a mind of its own," he replied, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a biscuit and promptly popping it into his mouth.
"Might as well put it back, then," I said, moving to place it on a shelf.
"I wouldn't do that. That book has been useful on more than one occasion," he said with half his mouth full of food. He swallowed. "Besides, I've heard one too many horror stories about rejected books."
I suddenly remembered Mum's descriptions of the Library's books when I was young.
Pages everywhere…
"Well, we still need a map," I said.
"What did I tell you? I'd know where ever you wanted to go if you told me!" Valentine told me. I hesitated a minute before speaking.
"I think we'd both be better off if I go find my mum alone," I said. "I mean, I appreciate you help with getting me here, but I think we should go our separate ways. I wouldn't want you to get into anything dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
"Well, my mum's probably stuck somewhere in the Dark Lands. I'd need more protection than you at any rate."
Valentine looked like I had poked one too many holes in his ego.
"W-Well, why do you even want to save Helena in the first place?" he stuttered, obviously flustered. "The Dark Queen probably has her locked up in the deepest, darkest dungeon in her castle and threw away the key. Or…or fed her to the Shadow." He blinked a few times, looking surprised by his own morbid rant, before muttering, "There's no hope of getting her back." I caught a hint of a shudder shake him before he covered it up by eating another biscuit. I said nothing to that. I just silently opened the Really Useful Book to a random page.
Look for the Dark Lands in the dark. My brows furrowed. Was it trying to show me something? I studied the bookshelves again.
"Look for the Dark Lands in the dark," I murmured, my fingers brushing the books as I tried to decipher the riddle. "In the dark…" My gaze landed on the end of the wall on my left. The dim electric lights didn't illuminate that part of the bookshelves. I walked over, my eyes scanning the titles. On title, at the bottom, stood out from the rest.
"The Map of the Dark Lands," I read, picking it out. "Quite the bland title for all the trouble it's worth finding it."
A few minutes later found Valentine and me leaving the Library and gazing into the street.
"There's a motel a block from here called 'Motel'," he said, pointing to a narrow alley going to the right.
"Where are you going?" I asked sharply.
"To my tower, of course," he said. Then he winced. "On second thought, I think I'll just find myself a tavern close by." Straightening his robe, he looked me up and down. "A smart person wouldn't take my advice, but I advise you to stay out of the Dark Lands." He turned to go, but then turned back, his finger in the air. "One more thing; watch out for sphinxes."
"I'll keep that in mind," I said. We said goodbye and I made my way down the alley. The dark brought the cold, and gooseflesh tingled my bare arms. I had been transported in my baggy "Bagwell Family Circus" shirt and red flannel pants; no jacket, or even night robe like Valentine had.
That thought suddenly brought an empty feeling of loneliness in my stomach. A part of me began to regret spurning Valentine from my company.
But that was just my solitude speaking, of course. Valentine certainly wasn't the kind of character to associate with; that much I was sure, of course. My nerves were just frazzled. Usually I am quite comfortable being by myself. A good night's sleep and a few hours' quiet musing would make me right as rain; not needing of Valentine's or any one else's companionship…
Of course.
I took up residence of an asymmetrical room in the motel Valentine directed me to. The bed was triangular, but not uncomfortable. If this was actually a dream world, would it be strange that I was exhausted?
Perhaps not as strange as the dream I had in that dream world.
Mum was there, but then she wasn't. It was like she was fading. We were talking about a mask as we sat face to face in the middle of a room; her room.
"Can't you use it to get back?" I asked her, twirling a strand of my hair around my finger. Mum smiled sadly.
"No, love. I'm stuck here until a new queen can be made," she said. "Anti-Helena has complete control over my body whilst I am in the MirrorWorld."
"But the MirrorMask…"
"The MirrorMask switches people and their anti-person," she said. "The Dark Queen could instantly use it against me if I had it. She has too much power now that the Light Queen is dead."
"You mean there's an Anti-Hermia running about?" I exclaimed.
"No. I made sure I didn't make one of you, nor mention you in any of the art or stories I made up," she said firmly. "I couldn't bear the fact of you getting stuck in here like I was…am."
"Then where are you, Mum? What did happen—"
But she wasn't paying attention. Her head was cocked to the side, as if she was listening. I listened too. At first I didn't hear anything…but there it was. A low rumble. Mum's eyes snapped back to mine.
"The Dark Queen heard us," she said, her voice rising in panic. "Hermia, you need to wake up!"
"But Mum, I need to know—"
"There's no time! The Shadows are coming for you!" she yelled, standing up. The room seemed to be rapidly flickering. "Wake up, Hermia! Wake up!"
My eyes flew open, sweat forming on my brow as I woke up in the MirrorWorld again. As I groggily tried to shake the remnants of sleep from my mind, I distantly began to hear screams from downstairs.
That woke me straight up.
The stones were cold on my bare feet as I jumped out of the bed and made for the door. Throwing it open, I peered down the shadowy hallway. The screams were louder. My breath started to come quick and panicked as I bolted toward the staircase. Bad mistake.
My mouth opened in a scream as I faced the black terror in front of me. It was the Shadows; that much my numbed brain could process other than my instinct shrieking at me to run. And run I did, right back into my room. Slamming the door shut and locking it, I ran to the window. I could fit through it. The problem was I was about three stories off of the ground.
The door began to creak. I turned my head to see what was happening. To my horror, the Shadow was seeping in through the cracks in the frame. I swore, swinging open the window with trembling hands. I then jumped onto the pane, looking for a foothold to make my way down.
I thanked my Mum vehemently for making Motel out of a lot of horizontal lines. With that, I delicately stepped onto an edge that sloped down to a myriad of other lines. I saw my escape right in front of my eyes. Then I heard the door break apart. GO! my survival instincts screeched. I obviously obeyed.
As nimbly as a tight-rope walker sprinting for her life could on such narrow edges, I rapidly made my way jumping and scurrying down the ledges. I felt an unholy coldness creep into my heart and mind. The Shadow was right behind me. Adrenalin spurred me faster until I was able to leap to the ground, and hit it running. Tears of panic and fear blurred my vision, and I roughly wiped them away. I dared not look over my shoulder, but I could feel it looming behind me like Death itself.
I could almost hear its triumphant howl of laughter as I felt it lick at my heels.
"No," I gasped, kicking it off, my breath burning in my throat. I ran faster, gaining about twenty meters of space between us. But I could already feel my strength failing. I was going to be swallowed by the Shadow, turned into dust, drowning in—
As I blindly ran, two hands pulled me into an alley, nearly giving me whiplash. My momentum made me slam into the person, who slammed into the wall with a pained grunt. I let out an involuntary sob, my mind still screaming at me to run. I scrambled to bolt back out. One of the hands grabbed me around the waist and another clamped over my mouth. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see. I felt the Shadow approach, closer and closer…
And then it was gone. For a few moments there was absolute silence. Everything was black; the presence of the Shadow had burned out the streetlights.
"Well…that was exciting," the faint voice of Valentine drifted to my ears. My head was getting dizzy from lack of oxygen. I yanked his hand from my mouth. He let me go. Dizzy and in shock, I dropped to my hands and knees, gasping and shaking.
"You'll be alright," Valentine said, awkwardly patting me on the back. "That's most people's first reaction to the Shadows. But, of course, they usually die."
If he could see my eyes in the dark, I would have glared at him.
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Author's Note: Ah-ha! Wanted a little Val/Hermia action there, didntcha? DIDNTCHA? NOT YET MY PRETTIES. Bwahahahahahahahaha. Oh, and this week I'm going to be in a play, so I'm not gonna have much time to write with dress rehearsals and performances. I'll try getting another chapter posted by Saturday though.
REVIEWWWWWWWWW PWEEEEEASE!!!!!