Seventeen Books Novels & Stories

Maybe she needed to think of the vampires as a lost race, a lost people, a lost city. Caitlin returned to the librarian with a freshly printed list, and he looked down and frowned. “There are seventy-one books on this list,” he said forcefully. “You know the limit.” “I’ll take the first six,” Caitlin said. He sighed loudly, plainly annoyed. “It’s four-thirty, ma’am. The library closes in fifteen minutes.” He stood there, clearly not wanting to go to the stacks again for her. “Then go quickly,” she replied, not giving in.

"Rosalia, I was wrong… Please come back." Just then, a wave carried a drifting bottle onto the beach. Inside was a yellowed piece of paper containing my neat handwriting. "Jared, by the time you read this, I will be gone for good. Not just gone, but never existed at all. The system gave me seven days. I could have fixed everything, but what you did was enough to make me give up. Farewell. I hope you and Melody find happiness."

Caitlin sat in her large room in Dunvegan in Castle at a writing desk, looking out the window at the sunset sky. She examined the torn page McCleod had given her, holding it up to the light. She slowly ran her fingertips along the embossed, Latin letters. They looked and felt ancient. The entire page was so beautifully and intricately designed, and she marveled at the intricate colors along the paper’s edges. Back then, she realized, books were made to be works of art in and of themselves.

It is usually during the third period that I would find August walking past our class carrying tons of books too heavy for her. But never once have I seen her ask anyone for help. She would come out of the study hall and then proceed to the computer lab to pick up books left by other students who are so used to having someone else clean up for them. Of course today isn't an exception and as if on cue, I saw her walk out the study hall with five or six books on hand.

“Get this one.” “Is that like the one she had?” “It’s in the same series. I saw she has the next one, this is the one after that.” Gigi took the book and looked at it. “This says book seven.” “There’s nine in the series.” Dean pointed to the other two books and then grabbed a box set of five books. “And five in this one. I like the author.” She admitted as she put the books in the cart. “I saw that movie.” Gigi pointed to a popular book that had been made into a blockbuster.

But my mind kept wandering back to the awful things she’d said just before I died, and that strange stone in Cassidy’s pocket. “Mia,” I suddenly said after swallowing my cookie, desperate to change the subject, “you work in the library. Are you allowed into the restricted section?” My friend nearly choked on her water. “Why are you asking about that?” I leaned in closer. “There must be some books on black magic, right?” Mia just stared at me for a moment, clearly trying to gauge if I was fucking with her or not. When I maintained my expression, she glanced around furtively before nodding.