8. Patrick
Piles and piles ofold, abandoned books, and I feel as if I have stumbled upon a treasure trove. My mouth is salivating, as I can barely contain my excitement. Sure, it’s dusty and moldy in this building, and I can hear pigeons flapping above in the rafters, yet I rejoice.
If only I could take all these books with me. It just seems a waste to leave such knowledge like this lying around.
I doubt the shifters who live in this city bother coming here, but that just means all the more books for me to read.
I move down the main aisle, my feet padding nosily against the weather-worn carpet. Dust rises in my wake as mice scurry away into their holes, but I’m too excited to take care. Some of the shelves have been tipped over, but a few remain upright, and that’s where I vanish.
My eyes find a book on quantum physics. I snatch it off the shelf, and to my surprise, it’s still intact. I’d have thought the rodents would have chewed it up by now, but it’s in pretty good shape. Though its pages have yellowed, giving off a sour smell, I still pour my eyes over its contents, and holy shit. Some of the math is hard for even me to digest.
A shame the humans that came up with these formulae are all dead now. They must have been some of the brightest of their time, helping to pave the way for scientific discovery and research.
Now we have sent humans back to the Iron Age and a lump forms in my throat.
Are there any humans left with similar intellect? There has to be. Some must still have logic and reason.
The humans in our party act like savages most of the time. Maybe if I took some of these books with me to their rendezvous site, they will feel inspired?
No, I best not. I don’t want to offend them. They will think I’m calling them stupid or something, and that’s the last thing I want to do.
Just as I’m reading a book about Astronomy, gazing at the colorful photograph of a nebula cloud lights years in space, Ylfa and Hunter arrive.
I pay them no heed, too lost in my book. They don’t argue, though. In fact, they vanish into their own sections of the library, and it appears I’ve encouraged them to seek some knowledge of their own.
Good. I’m proud.
Unsurprisingly, Ylfa goes for the Young Adult section, and I know what book she’s searching for. I used to have the book myself, but my dad tore it up in a fit of rage when I was thirteen. However, she made me swear to never spoil the ending for her.
I would never do that. What kind of mate would that make me?
I scoff when Hunter disappears into the erotica section, and who am I to argue against his tastes?
Whatever floats your boat...
I’m nearing the end of the book on Astronomy when I have the uncanny feeling someone is watching me. I peer up at a windowsill, gasping when I meet a wide pair of green eyes.
A ginger tomcat perches on the sill, swishing its tail as it assesses me from its high vantage point. I wonder if it will be tamer than the feral dog out on the street. It looks like this tom has made a permanent home of this library, and I bet that windowsill is his favorite sunspot.
I close the book and approach the cat. “Hey, kitty...”
The cat fluffs up its fur and spits at me next; it looks as if it’s just as feral as the dog. Maybe more.
This cat is just plain mean.
I put the book back onto the shelf, searching the other sections of the library now. Maybe I can find some books on warfare.
We need to learn all we can after all. You never know when war could strike.
Just as I slip into another aisle, there comes a loud scream, and I rush around to my mate. I’m met by Hunter as we reach the Young Adult Section.
Only we don’t find our mate in distress. We find her holding up a book—the third book of the Young Adult dystopian trilogy that she yearns to finish so much.
Tears streak down her pale cheeks as she holds it up for us to see. “At last... After all these years, I will find out what happened to—”
“Stop...”
I hold my hand out, flaring my nostrils as I pick up on the sharp, musky scent. My eyes bug. Shit.
Before I can warn Ylfa and Hunter, a large, gray wolf dives down from the balcony of the second floor, knocking several shelves over, and they fall like dominoes. Then another wolf appears, this one auburn red, and it looks as if we’re under attack.
I guess reading time is over.