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“Why are we here?” I questioned. My filter was gone and somehow so was my headache. It was like he’d cured my hangover. I could use a god like him in my life more often if that was the case. Maybe I’d have a drink more often. Hel knows I’ve fucking earned it.
“Let’s just say that I don’t trust my daughter to give you all the details. She loves her games, doesn’t she? Something she gets from her father,” he said with pride as he wiped at a fake tear. “Anyway. You have two hours to enjoy the library. Don’t waste it.” He put two fingers to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle. A moment later, a small creature was rushing forward, nearly tripping over himself to reach the god.
He was half the size of me, and that was saying something since I wasn’t very tall, average at best. The tiny man had long white hair that was braided down his back and he was wearing small golden robes. His face was gaunt, the skin a strange shade of blue. I caught myself staring and had to force my eyes to shift back to Loki.
“This is one of our librarians. A keeper of the tomes, if you will. He can help you find what you need and bring you the books because you guys won’t be able to reach the top of the shelves.”
“And he will?” I questioned, looking down at the small man and then back up at the large shelves. Loki let out a laugh.
“Never underestimate a librarian.” He smirked. “Again. You have two hours, that’s all I can hold them off for. Whatever you hear outside of that door, do not open them. Do you understand?” He was so serious now that I swallowed hard and nodded, not willing to argue with him. Not that I had any reason to. He was giving us the opportunity of a fucking lifetime.
“What are you looking for?” the man asked. He regarded us with cloudy green eyes and a mask of indifference. Something about this man was off, unsettling, and I didn’t want to linger next to him for long.
“What do we call you?” Hiro asked.
The man turned to face Hiro, face never shifting. “I’m a librarian,” he said simply as if that answered the question.
“Okay, librarian,” I said with a sigh. “I need anything you have on closing a portal to Helheim. Specifically from Earth.”
“Portal to Helheim based on Earth?” he clarified.
I nodded once and he turned. He made it a few steps away before he walked into the air as if he were on an invisible staircase. His feet continued to rise and fall as if he were simply walking forward, unbothered as he glided between the shelves. Every time he’d lift a book off of the shelf he’d toss it behind him, the books stacking and floating obediently in his wake.
“This is the strangest moment yet,” Hiro whispered. “What is he?”
“Apparently just a librarian.” I snorted. “I guess we shouldn’t have doubted the librarians here.”
“Let’s snag a spot, he already has a pile,” Hiro said. “We’ve got a lot of research to do in two short hours.”
“How mad do you think Drake and Monty are?” I joked as we sat. Hiro let out a laugh and held up his hands.
“I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t spank my ass for going even if I didn’t have a choice,” he joked. Though, it could be the real outcome of tonight.
“I’ve literally never been this excited in my life,” he admitted. “This is like every nerd’s dream. These aren’t just books on mythology, this is historical documentation that likely spans over eons. It’s the real truth behind every myth we’ve known. Do you realize what we have just under our fingertips?” Hiro’s excitement reflected in every part of him. He waved his hands as he spoke, gesturing at everything. The emerald-green eyes I’d grown to love were sparkling with pure, childlike joy, something I had yet to witness before now. This was a glimpse of our future, the one I’d fight for. I wanted to know this version of him, to share these moments and fall even more in love.
“I love you, Hiro.”
He froze at my words, but I would not take them back, knowing that my life could be over at any minute. Once we were back at Dark Haven, Hel could snap her fingers and someone would try to throw me into the void. That put things into perspective for me, and I would not hold anything back now.
“I don’t expect you to say it back to me—” He slammed his lips to mine, kissing me with more passion than he ever had before. When he pulled away, he was smiling even bigger than before.
“I love you too, Harlow. I didn’t want to say it too soon but it’s true.”
The librarian cleared his throat as he approached, the books levitating over the table before slamming down with a thud. We had to scramble to catch the ones falling off the top. There were easily fifteen books in the stack.
“Thank you, librarian,” I said. He nodded sharply and went to stand off to the side. I assumed we could just call out to him and he would come back, but for now we have more than enough to look through.
We both grabbed a book and dove in. They were huge and the writing small, shout out to Loki for being the world’s best hangover cure.
I moved onto a new book fairly quickly, skimming as fast as possible in hopes of getting through as much as possible in two hours. We flipped the pages, spouting out information whenever something popped up.
We threw out random things we found but overall, it was all useless.
Finally I found something interesting. “Here’s something on the blade that she gave me, it says it’s the only one that can truly send the demons back to hell and keep them from coming right back through the portal. So the warded weapons Drake gave you guys aren’t going to be as effective. No wonder they just keep respawning like an awful video game.”
“I guess that’s why she gave it to you since you’re the one who supposedly is going to figure out how to close this. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t just tell you how,” he muttered.
I must have shown something on my face because he slid the books aside to look at me closer.
