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Paige wrinkled her brow. “What does that mean?”
“Here’s your first bit of magic, Paige,” Ronnie said, suppressing a giggle. “The library expands to whatever size we need.”
“Wow, that’s incredible.” Paige eyed the books against the near wall.
Farther down, she spotted a spiral bookcase floating in the air, filled with colorful tomes.
“And everything here is magical in some way?”
“Some of the books are just references. History, information, legend. Some of the books are magical. Those are housed in the floating bookcases. Be careful opening them. You can sometimes let out something you didn’t plan.”
Paige tugged the corners of her lips back in a wince as she nodded. “Okay.”
“Dewey can also help with that. He’s an expert on magical tomes. It’s his specialty.”
“Oh, good. I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
“Shall we head down? There’s so much to show you.”
“Before we dive in, can you tell me what exactly we’re housing all this for? You mentioned keeping the world safe. From these objects?”
“Yes and no. On their own, some of these objects are harmless. Most people wouldn’t even realize they’re magical if they stumbled upon them.”
“But?” Paige prodded.
“But there are people who know how to use them, and they will for nefarious purposes. And on top of that, there are the supernatural factions. They’ll not only use it to take over the world from the humans but to war against each other for total domination.”
Paige pressed her glasses to her face. “Supernatural factions?”
Ronnie clasped her hands in front of her, interlacing her fingers and turning them inside out as she spoke. “Vampires, werewolves, witches, fairies, merpeople, trolls–“
“Uh, wait,” Paige broke in. “You can’t be serious. Vampires? Witches? Trolls? Those are just stories.”
Ronnie lifted a shoulder in response. “If you’ve heard a legend, chances are, it’s more fact than fiction. The library network across the world has become adept at convincing the population that this is all just fiction, but it is very, very real.”
“Network?”
“Oh, yes. Shadow Harbor isn’t the only library that does this. There is an entire web of them across the globe. You’ll get to meet everyone at the annual librarian’s convention. It’s in Vegas this year!”
Paige sucked in a breath, gnawing on her lower lip as she considered the legends she’d heard growing up. She’d read tremendously, thinking the authors had wild imaginations. Perhaps they were only documenting what they’d seen in real life.
She lifted her eyebrows toward her hairline and forced out a chuckle. “This is really quite incredible.”
“Just wait until you really get your hands dirty. It’s one thing to hear it. It’s another to see it right in front of your face.”
Paige imagined herself standing in front of a blood-sucking vampire dressed in a dark cape with a top hat and deathly white skin, or swimming with a mermaid who wore seashells for a bra, or perhaps extending her fingers for a sweet little fairy to land and sit in the palm of her hand.
“Well, should we head down and get started?”
Paige nodded as Ronnie motioned toward a wrought-iron spiral staircase leading to the floor below. As she stepped toward it, Ronnie’s phone chimed.
She glanced down at the display, a disdainful look crossing her face. “Will you give me a minute? Something I need to deal with.”
“Of course.” Paige wrapped her fingers around the railing and stared out over the vast underground room, trying to distinguish objects from a distance.
Ronnie tapped around on her phone. “Go ahead down,” she said, as she pressed the phone to her ear. “Take a look around. Just don’t touch anything yet.”
Paige grinned at her and skipped down the steps as Ronnie slipped out of the room. Her boots hit the hard concrete floor. She shuffled along between shelving units, scanning their contents. Labels graced the items, but they meant little to Paige.
