Taken Books Novels & Stories

They wandered through the aisles, running their fingers along spines that held countless worlds within their pages. Emily's eyes sparkled with excitement as she plucked a weathered book from the shelf. "Liam, look at this," she exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder. "It's a collection of love letters from different eras. Each page holds the raw emotions of someone's heart."

That was all. I stared. Six books. I had expected -- More. Obviously. This was Aedrath. Not Veyrath. Still. Six. The seller pulled one free and handed it to me. I opened it. Veyrathi. Good. Then read the title. A collection of sermons. No. I handed it back. The second concerned trade agreements. Absolutely not. The third -- I brightened. A woman’s name in the title. Promising. I opened it.

The librarian, a wise old man with spectacles perched on his nose, had greeted them warmly and invited them to explore the dusty shelves filled with ancient tomes. As Scarlett's fingers grazed the spines of the books, a particular leather-bound volume caught her eye. Its title, "The Prophecy of the Shifting Stars," called to her with an inexplicable pull. She plucked it from the shelf and dusted off its cover, revealing faded golden letters etched into the leather. Curiosity burned within Scarlett. She opened the book and began to read aloud, her voice barely above a whisper. The words flowed like poetry from her lips, resonating deeply within her soul.

I said as I left him to continue looking through the books. I walked back to my sit and waited for him to get back. Few minutes later, he came back with quite a pile of books and dumped them in front of me. I counted them and took note of their titles as I entered them into the register. "Please can I get your name, phone number and also the day you intend to return the books?" I looked up at him. He provided the details for me and then proceeded to stuff the books into his backpack after I was through with the entry.

"Yes. The record book is a book that automatically records all the borrowed books with the student's name and date. Lucky us that it too has a Hogwarts' Library Stamp on it." Susan explained. Madam Pince still had wide eyes and seemed frozen. All these years, she had been manually taking notes of all borrowed books from the library. But she was just human, and surely some students managed to take books without her noting it. At least most of them were brought back. Susan then snapped her fingers in front of the woman's face to wake her up from her daydreams. It worked. Madam Pince looked at Susan, as if asking 'what?'.

Cora held out her hand. “I’ll text it to you.” I pulled up my notes, took a screenshot, and texted it to her. “Holy shit,” Cora said as she scrolled through the books. “You need all of these?” She pointed at her phone. “Yes, I’m in the engineering program. We have a lot of books.” I shrugged. “I’ll get the first seven if you want to grab the last four.” “Ay ay, captain!” She saluted me and wandered around the store. I found the area that I needed to be in and started piling the books into my basket. Each one was heavier than the last.

Now, we just can’t fail. I sighed, sometimes arguing with her was moot. Leaning back, I didn’t really need to do any of my homework anymore. I could look up some practice tests for the GED, but I was too tired to start down that rabbit hole. Scrolling through my emails, I saw one from the local pack library. Miss Cross, We were able to get the information that you requested. We have set aside the books for you to browse at your leisure. They will be held till the end of the week and you can request them at the front desk.

She dumped the stack on our table with a thud that echoed through the quiet library, earning us a stern look from the librarian at the nearby reference desk. “That’s quite a collection you’ve got there,” Elijah laughed. “Do you think you can read all of these before they’re due back?” Thea nodded enthusiastically. “Uh-huh. And this one,” she held up a colorful picture book about a dragon, “is for you to read to me tonight.” “Well, I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” Elijah said, ruffling her hair affectionately. He took my hand and tucked one of the books we’d been reading under his arm. “Let’s go check these out, shall we?”

“Before opening, you rearrange. People are animals, Annabella. They pick up a book in Sci-Fi and leave it in Horticulture. Make sure the shelves are perfect. I won't have a messy house.” “I understand, ma'am.” She’d marches me over to the heavy leather-bound register, her heels clicking like a metronome on the hardwood floor. “Check the register twice. Cross-reference the returns. And most importantly, don't forget faces. We have cameras, yes, they’re functioning and top-of-the-line, but technology fails. Human intuition doesn't. Know who is taking my books.” “I’ll make sure to memorize them,” I promised. Then, she’d paused, Turning to me, her eyes narrowing behind her sharp designer frames.

“What good timing. There were two students that kept on coming back here every hour checking if there is an available book of this edition already returned. It seems they needed it that much.” “Really?” Lianne exclaimed. “Oh, I think they are from my class too. Our History teacher actually gave us a project of making a thesis about these books when there are only just ten copies and he has forty students! He really wants us to push the limits I guess.” “It sure looks like it,” Madame Sella replied, smiling. “Here, sign this.” She handed her the borrowing card and pointed a space for her to sign. ‘Lianne Dievin’ Lianne scribbled her name neatly in cursive style.