“Listen,” Mina suddenly said, “I’m sorry to cut this short but I was planning on going to the library. I’ve got this history project I still haven’t finished and I want to get it done tonight, if possible.”
“Oh, sure thing,” Reeba replied, looking a little disappointed.
“Was there anything you wanted?”
“No, just…” Reeba looked down again. “I just wanted to hang out, but it’s okay.”
Mina felt bad. No matter how much she’d been pushing this girl away, Reeba always kept coming back, offering friendship and understanding.
“Listen,” Mina replied, feeling like it was about time she showed Reeba that she wasn’t a cold hearted person, even though that was what she led everyone to believe, ”how about we hang out tomorrow, after school?”
“Really?” Reeba’s eyes shone with hope.
“Absolutely, we can go grab a coffee from the machine down the hall, then come back here and talk some shit about the twins. How about that?”
“That’s great,” Reeba nodded enthusiastically. “It’s a date!”
“There you go,” Mina smiled, grabbing her history books and shoving them into her backpack. “Walk me to the library?”
“Sure!”
The two girls walked over to the library building, chatting about this and that. They didn’t mention the twins, or the Witches’ Sabbath, or anything burdensome. Instead, they chatted about usual teenage topics and, for the first time in a long while, Mina felt like just another regular teenager, with regular teenage worries. It felt good to be normal.
Chapter 10
When Mina walked into the library, she had to make a conscious effort not to gasp loudly. It was the biggest library she had ever seen. There were endless rows of books and that was only the first room. Apparently, there were ten and most were twice the size of this one.
The place was well lit, by numerous lamps scattered throughout the place. It was perfect. You could just sit down somewhere, get cozy and read, without your light bothering anyone else, who might prefer a darker corner.
The floors were wooden and, occasionally, the boards would creak when Mina stepped on them. The polish had disappeared on most of it from the years of use. The shelves also looked old but sturdy. They ought to be, when they had to accommodate so many books.
Mina looked around. She had no idea where to even start looking for history related books. There were a few people, students like herself, seated and reading. She didn’t want to interrupt any of them. She herself hated being interrupted, she’d always lose her train of thought. Instead, she was looking for the librarian. She expected an old woman, with a high bun and with glasses hanging off a pearl necklace. Maybe a little makeup. Dressed like a librarian. Apparently, that was a thing.
“Can I help you?”
Mina was startled, as she saw no one around her. She turned to the left, then to the right. Nothing.
“Psst! Over here!” a voice whispered, and only then did Mina realize that someone was talking to her through a row of books.
She got closer and peered through the cracks. Suddenly, an eye popped out of nowhere. Then, another eye. It was a pretty nice set of green eyes, too.
A few seconds later, Mina heard approaching footsteps and then a guy jumped in front of her. He was dressed in a white shirt and loose fitting pants. His sleeves were rolled up casually. His strong jaw bone grinned at her, revealing a set of pearly whites. He looked like he’d just shaved, not even a faint sign of a beard anywhere.
“Did I startle you?” he asked.
“No,” she shook her head but she was lying.
Her heart was beating wildly. Only, she wasn’t sure exactly why.
“I saw you enter and then you just stood there, like you didn’t know where to go,” he explained, in a voice that seemed to belong to a completely different century.
Mina remembered those cold winter days, when their mother would turn on their old radio
, which used to belong to their grandmother and they would listen to a voice read ghost stories on Christmas Eve. That was exactly the kind of voice this guy had. He would tell you scary things to make you jump in the dark but you knew that it was just a story. His voice soothed you into believing that once the story was over, there was nothing you should be afraid of. He lied.
“That…” she started, then paused for a second, “is exactly what happened.”
She smiled a little nervously, having no idea why. She didn’t really like being helpless and, now, that was exactly what she was, not knowing where to go or what to do. She hated the role of damsel in distress. She never played it well.