Shifting Books Novels & Stories

The books looked very ancient. Out of nowhere, my head started spinning again. I stumbled forward and some of the books from the file fell down. I picked them quickly and placed them back in their place. As I was keeping back the last book, a piece of paper fell off. I picked it up involuntarily.

I take a seat on the futon as he leans against an empty space on the wall. “It sure does.” “For the Zytes, it was the fact that they would lose the human side of them when they shifted.” I cocked my head to the side. What was that supposed to mean? “I don’t understand what that means.” “Back then, shifting was different… it’s not what you do now.” Can’t he ever just blurt out what he has to say? “Our books say they shifted into beasts.” “Beasts?” I asked. “Yes. They describe them as being overly big wolves, with red eyes, long claws and walking on their hind legs.” I chuckle.

The Administrator’s form contracted, screens and pages drawing tighter, code‑threads coiling. Then it struck. Whole rows of shelves around the clearing jerked to life, wrenching themselves up from the ground like they were on invisible hinges. Hundreds of books spilled forward; the first shelf tipped fully over, slamming down in a chain reaction. Like dominoes. “Move!” Jax shouted. We scattered. Corvin grabbed my arm and yanked me clear as a wall of falling shelves slammed into the spot where I’d been standing. The impact shook the stone under our feet, a booming crack that sent up a storm of loose pages and splintered wood.

Something that will change his life forever and perhaps, take him closer to his destiny, or far away from it into the cold hands of death. Harold rearranged the dispersed mound of books upon one another, this time, away from a lose brick in the wall. Strains of dust that had previously been on the borders and fringes of the yellow-paged books; in layers, fluttered off them as Harold moved them, and they glided in the air, obeying gravity as they did. He sneezed twice as he carefully placed the last book on the top of seven others, then he glanced at the dim rectangular hole that was burrowed into the wall.

His smile turned to one of concern and his face became serious. “What do you mean? You said you never got the shifting gene, so you can’t be seventeen.” My eyes widened at his words. That wasn’t what we were told in school. My voice started to come out shaky as thoughts began racing through my mind. “What are you talking about? That’s basic shifting. We learn that as children when we start school. If a Shifter has not transformed by their sixteenth birthday, then it means the shifting gene is absent, and they were cursed to live as humans.

private study. I positioned myself better, planting my feet firmly on the floor. The bookshelf was heavy, but I was stronger than I looked. And I was desperate to know what lay beyond. I began to push, putting my weight into it. The shelf resisted at first, decades of staying in place making it reluctant to move. But slowly, inch by inch, it began to shift backward. The sound it made was quiet, just a soft scraping of wood on wood, but to me it sounded deafening in the silence of the room. I paused, listening for any indication that someone had heard. That someone might come investigate.

I walked around the first row and looked at the books arranged on it. Surprisingly I saw a book I was familiar with, my jaw dropped as I stared at it. How was this here? I began to rethink what Kiya said about all the books been here, perhaps she was right. How Thane could get this much book I didn't know, but it was fascinating. The first two rows of the library was everything about shifting. There weren't much scholars but the library had this much book, from the content of the first book I knew the librby held a lot of knowledge and this visit was going to be an interesting one.

And unfortunately, Luke and I are the only people working this shift so it's down to us to unbox a new shipment of books onto the shelf and replace the price tags on the shelves. "I'll get started on this" I tell him as I use my feet to push one of the boxes of books across the floor to the shelf. I don't want to bend down and pick it up as the dress is kind of short, the last thing that I want is to accidentally show Luke my ass. "It's slow right now, I'll help" Luke says quickly and makes his way over as I squat down to open the box. I shrug and nod my head as we start to silently stack the books onto the shelves. It's somewhat comfortable, until Luke decides to ruin it.

I have to shift. The thought sends a ripple of unease through me. When was the last time I shifted? The memory is so distant it feels like it belongs to someone else. My fingers tremble as I strain to shove the heavy book back onto the shelf. The wood creaks under its weight, the sound breaking the oppressive silence.

Loren said while walking along the giant bookshelves with Ria. "Is it true?" Ria said in disbelief. She didn't feel anything. "Surely the books in this place often move from place to place at night even though the clerk had tidied them up several times…" Loren nodded firmly with her words. "Just put it here, we don't have much time!" Loren whispered and pulled Ria's arm. She placed random books on empty shelves. Even though the books the two of them were holding did not match the alphabetical order on the shelf.