fandomhigh | The Library - Special Collections

The rows of books stretched endlessly back, lines of perecption skewed just imperceptibly enough to throw off the viewer's sense distance and direction. The faint chittering of birds hummed through the background noises of the library, and up above, the sky was clear with flecks of white clouds at the edges of the horizon.

Marty blinked several times and looked again at where he thought should be a ceiling.

Okay.

Still sky. Right.

Marty shook his head and went back to the task at hand. First things first: Protection. Marty pulled out his cricket bat just to be on the safe side and kept an eye open for what Xander had described as "flying office supplies."

Making his way down the rows of books, and checking against the dewey decimal system as went, Marty would occasionally leave a small orange sticker as he went, in the hopes that he could follow his trail back.

The clouds crept further in from the horizon, the edges turning a dingy gray. The sunlight dimmed, and the faint chittering turned into the cawing of ravens. Between the rows, stalks of wheat waved in the afternoon breeze.

The Library was growing frustrated. Someone was in here with no right to be. Someone who was defacing its beautiful bookshelves with stickers. Bright orange stickers, and not the easily peeled off, safe for the books kind of stickers the Library Assistants used.

The Library was displeased. The Library would be taking measures. But first, it had to be rid of the stickers. A small, knobby little creature wearing a tea towel with books embroidered all over it was carrying a small paint scraper and a rag. He dragged a footstool behind him and clambered up onto the first bookshelf, then scraped away the orange sticker.

Slowly, but surely, he made his way down the rows behind Marty, but always out of sight of him, and started cleaning all the stickers off the bookshelves.

Marty looked up at the bookcase sign and found what he was looking for, section-wise.

He slowly made his way down the row of ~~wheat~~ books looking carefully at the id numbers and authors of the books. Finally he found what he was looking for. The slot of where Angela had put a book away.

Taking out his fingerprint kit he got from Dr. Grissom, Marty started dusting around the books to see if he could find any of Angela's fingerprints.

The storm clouds had gathered, and ran started pelting down, soaking Marty to the bone and sloughing away the dust on the books.

The Library was extremely displeased. Its permission had not been asked.

Where Marty had been standing, there was now a small Scottish Terrier.

And a horde of flying monkeys coming out of the sky chasing after it.

Marty tried to curse, but all that came out was a series of barks followed by growls.

Seeing the monkeys coming after him, Marty grabbed his satchel between his teeth and took off down the row of books, looking for cover.

The Library was pleased with this turn of events. The interloper was far, far away from his goal, and soon he would be caught by the flying monkeys and taken where he could do no harm.

Except the Library hadn't counted on the small, mud brick tunnel with a sandy floor opening up in front of ~~Toto~~ ~~Marty~~ the intruder.

Mud bricks? A sand floor? It could work with that too.

Marty ran like the wind on his short stubby little legs! Though trying to bark and hold on to his satchel really didn't work well.

Seeing the tunnel, Marty dove in, dragging his bag behind him.

He dropped the bag and barked at the monkeys.

The monkeys hissed in frustration and flew away.

Marty sniffed around at the edge of the tunnel until he was sure that monkeys had left. He then grabbed the bag by his teeth and pulled it out of the tunnel.

After a brief scratch behind the ears. Marty sat on his hindquarters and cocked his head in thought.

Even a dog who's been turned into a human could see that the library didn't like him here.

"Look!" he barked "I understand you're mad at me, but someone I cared for dearly was altered when she was last in here. I'm just trying to find a way to get her to change back. Now if there's a way I can do this without upsetting you? I'd really like to change back into a person form. Please?"

Hopefully the library understood dog.

Marty picked up his bag between his teeth and headed back the way he came, following his own scent.

The Library listened. And understood. And the rain slackened while it pondered Marty's barks.

And up in the sky, the silhouette of a witch spelled out the words "SURRENDER, DOROTHY. AND IF YOU'D JUST CLEAN UP YOUR MESS AND GET PERMISSION, WE WOULDN'T HAVE AN ISSUE."

It still might have some fun with the intruder when he was on his way out.

Marty cocked his head to the side as he read the words in the sky. A small and sad little whine erupted from his throat.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask for permission, I'm just trying to find the book that will change Angela back to normal. You know her? She's the one with the dyed red hair? She's been changed into an Angela from a different timeline and *our* Angela is stuck... well stuck someplace we can't find her."

Marty's conversation has become a series of very pathetic whines and heartwrenching howls.

Marty then slowly made his way back to where he had dusted the fingerprint dust and did his best job of cleaning it up by backing up to the books and dusting it off with his tail.

The Library had enough stories of true love within it that it understood Marty's plight. Unfortunately, it had enough other stories within it that it also understood that there should be obstacles to overcome.

~~The Library might also be said to have a malicious sense of humor.~~

Something shiny and red sparkled off to Marty's left, down on one of the lower bookshelves. But not the lowest bookshelf. Whatever it was, Marty would have to work to reach it.

Distracted by the "Ooo! Shiny!" Marty trotted over to the bookshelf and scrambled up the side to see what it was.

He fell down twice before actually getting up there.

Each time Marty barked a curse for having such stubby legs.

When he finally got up there he found two ruby slippers.

If a dog could roll his eyes, that's pretty much what he did. "Now you're just playing with me, right?" he barked.

A flying monkey swooped down and threw a book at Marty's head.

Hard.

The book bounced off his head and Marty fell to the ground with a little dog yelp.

Shaking his head, Marty looked at the title of the book and rolled his eyes again. He picked up the book in his teeth and trotted over to his back and dropped it in.

He then scrambled back up the bookshelf and knocked off the ruby slippers to the ground. Marty took two trips to pick up each slipper and drop them into his bag ~~resisting the urge to chew on them~~.

Taking the bag handles in his teeth, Marty started heading back to the entrance, following the path of his own scent.

The sun was setting. The stars were beginning to show near the horizon. The cawing of ravens had grown louder, and the winged monkeys had begun to fly as fast and as far away from the growing darkness as possible.

Seeing the change in the environment, Marty got a cold chill down his back. His hackles raised, Marty barked once and started sprinting to the exit door.

The darkness descended quickly, almost catching Marty in its edges as it inched forward along the bookshelves of Special Collections.

A glowing neon "EXIT" sign appeared as Marty ran towards the door. Something reached and grabbed for Marty's tail.

Marty felt something grab his tail and yelped as he felt something burning back there.

He almost dropped the bag carrying Angela's books, but was able to snatch it quickly and bounce out the door before anything else could get him.

Marty panted on the floor of the main library room, catching his breath. He then spent ten minutes instinctively licking his singed tail.

When he was finally done with his tail-care, he picked up the bag in his mouth and headed toward the main library door.

Jumping up he hit the handicap door opening switch, grabbed the bag in his teeth and trotted outside and went to look for Angela.

The Library - Special Collections

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