fandomhigh | Library, Wednesday, All Day

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Library, Wednesday, All Day

Sholeh came into work humming a little bit but was abruptly hushed by the books. At first, she assumed that it was out of respect for the library's noise policy, but going into the stacks, she discovered that was incorrect. Some of the science books had banded together to make a working radio out of random parts and now most of the books were huddled around it, anxiously listening to...some kind of news report?

After listening for a few moments, Sholeh realized she had no idea what was going on (the radio's reception was also pretty fuzzy), shrugged her shoulders, and went back to the circulation desk. She'd make sure all the books got back to their places before her shift was over, but so long as they were being quiet, she couldn't see a problem with letting them listen.

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Yeah, well, had Sholeh known about either, she would have been very happy to inform Dev that he was entirely incorrect. The library was awesome!

She glanced up when the doors to the library opened, smiled at Theo's moment, and waved hello as soon as he started to look around. Normally, her greeting would be a little more vocal, but the books were already in a state about something.

Theo waved back and came closer, still glancing around at the massive library. He wouldn't even know where to start if he ever had to find a book in this place.

"Hi," he said when he was close enough that he didn't have to shout. "This library is huge."

Understatement.

"I think it might be bigger on the inside," Sholeh said, though tragically unaware of the reference. "I know Special Collections is, but I think it might apply to the whole library."

Of course, they went to school in a castle, so it wasn't like space was at a premium.

"I think that's why they hire people to work at the desk, though," she said with a smile. "We're here to draw you maps, set up supply lines, and send out search parties if you don't return to the circulation desk withing forty-eight hours."

"What's Special Collections?" Theo asked, showing that he still had some new kid shine on him. "I mean, besides a place for special collections. Unless that's all it is in which case, I asked a dumb question."

"It's not a dumb question, I promise," Sholeh said, grinning a little at that. "I'd offer to show it to you, but you need special permission to get in there. It houses all the books that are potentially dangerous, like spellbooks with black magic and stuff like that. And, umm, monsters live there. Or so I've been told."

Which, considering the gremlins and the alots and the sentient island only sounded mostly ridiculous, right?

[And now I must sleep! It's been a crazy bunch of hours in politics and sleeping wasn't a thing I did!]

"Monsters?" Theo arched an eyebrow and looked around like there might be some monster lurking behind him.

Of course, some might say there was one in his head but Dev was a giant teddy bear. Honest.

"How do they not get out?"

[Sleep well!]

"I think there are..." Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember the word. "...Wards? Something like that? It's a special magic that keeps everything in Special Collections from getting out. They used to keep our evil ex-principal in there."

The things you learned after the island had been taken over and turned into a pink distopian society for a week.

"Evil ex-principal?" Theo repeated, mouth hanging up a bit in both surprise and fascination. "What school have I enrolled in?"

He was mostly joking with that last question but still. Just when he thought he had a handle on the strangeness of the place, it got stranger.

Okay, now Sholeh was giggling. "I don't think I could define Fandom if I tried," she said. "Most of this happened before I enrolled here, but a long time ago, there was a really nasty principal named Delores Umbridge. She was evil. Like, scary, really evil and she had magic. But people got rid of her and threw her into Special Collections."

Sholeh wasn't entirely sure of the whys or hows all of that had happened, but she was pretty sure she had the basic facts straight.

"Last summer, though, she broke out and took over the island again, using time travel to make it as though she'd never left." Sholeh unconsciously rubbed her hand, where she'd written lines that had bled through her skin. "She was keeping students in this weird dungeon place and was brainwashing people to be loyal to her. Eventually, everyone broke out and stopped her and I think she died. But the island went back to normal, because they broke her time-traveling device."

Sholeh was still fuzzy on the details there, but because she'd spent most of her time hiding in the dorms while everything big was going on.

"Wow, that is so..."

There were so many words Theo could use here. So many and he wasn't sure which one would adequately sum up his feelings.

"...confusing." That was the one he went with, yeah. "But, it sounds like it was a good thing she was pretty much permanently fired. Because, she sounds like...a not nice person."

Even Ange could agree with that.

Confusing worked. It also answered his question about what kind of school Fandom was. Handy that.

"She wasn't," Sholeh said gravely. "Not at all."

Zeela was cheerfully offering up a few alternatives to 'not a nice person,' but Sholeh was ignoring her. Not helpful, Zeela, and Sholeh didn't need that kind of vocabulary.

"But our current principal seems very nice!" she offered. "And I think we're out of horrible people locked away in Special Collections?"

They weren't.

"That's good to hear."

Even if they weren't out of horrible people locked away. What Theo didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Unless the island made it so.

"Ordinarily, I would say that's an awful fate," Ange said, shaking her head, "but she really does sound like a terrible person. You're supposed to help humans, not hurt them."

"Not everyone is as angelic as you are," Dev said in one of his wiser moments. "People are bad. Remember Ember Silva?"

"She wasn't a human, Dev," Ange pointed out. "And she wasn't killed."

Dev grumbled but didn't say anything else.

"So, monsters in a special part of the library and books that are a little more lively than actual real books. Anything else I should about this special library?"

"I'm pretty sure it has everything," Sholeh said, looking a little rapturous. "Histories from different timelines, books from across the multiverse, cookbooks for species that don't even exist in this reality. It's amazing!"

Sorry, Theo. But Sholeh was more than a little bit of a book nerd. Working here for almost a year hadn't lessened her awe any.

"You're making me wish I read more," Theo admitted with a laugh. "I mean, I read sometimes and all but I'm not a huge reader."

He liked to sit on the couch and watch TV. He was a product of parents that were never, ever around. The TV was his babysitter.

Whereas Sholeh had never seen anything like the television before coming here. It was fascinating, but most of the stuff the other students watched didn't draw her interest.

"It's never too late to start reading more," Sholeh assured him. "What do you normally like to read? I can help you pick something out if you like!"

Book pusher.

"Uh, I don't really know," Theo said, scratching the side of his head. "Something exciting, I guess. With action? And while I don't think I'm dumb, I'd probably want to read something that's straightforward, if that makes sense."

He wasn't going to be able to comprehend books with flowery language and prose that was deep but difficult.

Sholeh nodded, thinking of some of the books she'd seen while reshelving. "Hmm, let me think...do you think you'd like to read a book about a townful of kids after every adult over sixteen inexplicably vanishes? They have to survive and some of them are getting weird powers, too. It's called Away (http://www.amazon.com/Gone-Special-Edition-Michael-Grant/dp/0062236911/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372386122&sr=8-1&keywords=gone), I could find it if you're interested!"

"That...actually sounds a little interesting," Theo had to admit. Not unlike his own situation though he still had adults around and didn't really have powers.

Just tagalongs who sometimes did a little more than argue with each other.

"It's not a huge book, is it?"

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Library, Wednesday, All Day

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