History At The Library Novels & Stories

I was not going to waste another day being sad about a boy who couldn't spare me thirty seconds. The library opened at seven-fifteen. I was waiting at the door. Inside, the air smelled like old paper and floor polish. I found a table near the back wall, dropped my bag, and opened my AP History notes. The words blurred. I read the same paragraph about the French Revolution three times.

It was in the curriculum because it was pack history now, because enough time had passed that the thing my family was had become a case study rather than a scandal, which was progress of a kind. I was not going to pick that one. I was going to pick anything except that one. Thursday’s study period was in the library. The library at Blackthorne Pack School occupied the entire top floor of the main building, long and high-ceilinged with the particular quiet of a room that had decided what it was and stuck to it. I arrived at the start of the period and took a table near the window and opened my notebook and waited. He was on time. Of course he was on time.

Lewis, the school librarian, smiles when she sees me. "Working on another history project?" I force a smile. "Something like that." "What are you looking for today?" "Old student newspapers." She points toward the computer section. "Everything is archived there now." "Thanks." I sit in front of one of the old computers and begin typing. The screen loads painfully slowly, making me tap my fingers against the desk while I wait. I search for articles about the night Jayden is attacked. Dozens of results appear, and spend almost an hour reading every headline, every interview, and every report.

Very controlled. But there. He knew about the library. He knew about the hollow chapter. He was wondering, in the fraction of a second before his control reasserted itself, how much I had found. I let him wonder. "History," he said, recovering with the ease of long practice. "Yes. This palace has more of it than most. Though of course not all of it is — accurately recorded. Time has a way of distorting things. Well intentioned people write what they believed to be true without always having access to the full picture." A pause weighted with intention. "I would hate for you to form — incomplete conclusions based on partial sources."

I say, and my voice echoes against the high ceiling. There's some silence, and everyone looks through the books along the shelves. Maybe we should go to the library with archives of all the books that mention the tigress, but I prefer something I can hold in my hands. "I think I found something." I hear Lily say, just loud enough to echo around the room. I walk towards her and see a set of volumes in front of her. "What are these?" I ask, lifting one up. Lily flips through one. "Well, I went to the archive and searched for books from the early history of the Senate.

I don't want to go back to school, but I would like to speak with others about the History of Zidiah. Jai said we could go to Dalgaard Mansion soon, spend a few days there, and I could spend time in the library. The library is enormous, and there's also a historian there who could tell me everything about our beautiful city. Maybe I got a little too excited because I threw my arms around him and kissed him. No one had ever done anything like that for me before, asked what I wanted, and then offered a solution. Mum tried her best to teach me what she could, but she was nothing more than a child herself.

As expected, Billie helped me gain entrance and I made a mental note to get my school ID later on. The library was unusually packed, which made it a lot more difficult to find an empty portion. Billie led us deeper into the library until there were only a handful of people. "I'll drop our things here and get to finding books about vampire history," Billie said and left. I took a seat around, pulling one for Billie as I waited for her to make an appearance. She returned with a pile of books. "I think we can begin our research here," she said, dropping the dusty books on the table.

"Demonstrated contribution over time. The kind that builds a record that speaks for itself." "I understand." She held his gaze. "May I ask you something." A pause. "Yes." "The founding records. The historical section in the library." She kept her voice level. "Have you read them." Something moved in his eyes. Brief, quickly controlled. "I'm familiar with the general history." "The third volume," she said. "Page 247." He was very still.

“Yes, I will help you. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go back to the archives.” ~~~~~~~~~~ The large room was less dank than it had been the afternoon before. The cool morning air seemed to bring a crispness to the old musty smell of dust and books lining the walls. Aria quickly led Morgan to the stairs leading to the area restricted by the gate and lock. He was certain he’d never seen any book on fables or mythology or the like anywhere in the library. He had noted that he’d been taught the history of their kingdom but had only seen those chronicles during his lessons and was not sure where they were kept.

If someone wanted something from the other side, they would need to walk all the way to the end. Miracle scanned the list of book references hung at the information counter. History, history, history—her eyes lingered on the titles. And they soon fell on the librarian as he stopped tapping the keyboard, responding to her presence. "Yes? How may I help you?" he offered his assistance. "Oh, hey." Staring at his black lanyard, she looked for his name. "Thomas? May I know where can I get history books?" "History?" His elbow slipped, knocking the plastic mug off the table and onto the floor. "Oh shit!"