I didn’t dream. I was almost certain I didn’t even move because when I jerked myself awake, disoriented as fuck, half my body was numb. Tingles started immediately as the blood flowed through my numb extremities, shifter healing fixing up whatever I’d broken during my sleep-like-the-dead episode.
Looking around, I wasn’t surprised to find myself in the exact same position I’d been in before. On the couch. Fire burning… with the same-sized flames. How fucking long had I been asleep? Five seconds…
This place was whack.
“Shadow!” I shouted, my throat croaky. Clearing it, I tried again. “Shifters die without food and water.”
Getting to my feet, I shook off the last bit of sleep drowsiness, stretching so tall, my vagina was hanging out the bottom of the torn shirt. I eyeballed the smoke shadow that had roused with me—it was drifting a little too close for my liking. “Go near my naked shit and I will figure out how to hoover your fucking ass into the next world.”
I’d seen Ghostbusters. I could handle this demon shit.
Maybe it understood me, or maybe it was a coincidence, but the smoke backed up to a respectable distance. Looking around, I wondered if Shadow had pissed off and left me to live out the rest of my days here in fantasy land, with a cozy magic fire and never-ending bookshelves. Just needed to install a hot chocolate and juice kiosk, burger land, and a bar.
Because wine.
And tequila.
Deciding I was done waiting for the Shadow Bastard to return to me, I made my way toward the shimmering veil, wondering if I might find him in the cathedral room. Heading forward with determination, I did not for a minute think I would be allowed to step free from the library, but there was no resistance as I sent my arm through first, testing for alarms or traps.
Seemed to be all clear.
“Come on, Inky,” I said with excitement. I needed a name for the smoky darkness, so I could easily differentiate it from Shadow. “Looks like we’re going on an adventure.”
Stepping through to the other side, I wondered what the point of the swirling darkness that separated the two rooms was. Could Shadow stop beings from entering if he wanted—
My thoughts ended abruptly as I reached the other side. “What in the…” I gasped as a dozen eyes looked my way.
This room of windows and doors, the empty, light-filled space, was now a bustling hive of activity. And just like in Shadow’s lair, there were hundreds of shelves stacked with books, filling all the spaces between the windows, pillars, and doors.
I kept blinking, like that would clear my sight and I’d once again be seeing the empty space.
A tiny, brown-skinned, wrinkle-faced being hurried over to me, and I was still just blinking with no idea how to handle this new world. “Welcome to the Library of Knowledge, Mera,” he chirped. “My name is Gaster, of the underground goblin clan of Faerie.”
Did he just say goblin? I stared harder at his bald head, round face, and slightly pointed ears. Okay, I could see it now.
I choked out some words. “You speak English?”
He shook his head. “Nope. I speak lower-level fae.”
“What—” I was cut off as he continued.
“You will be able to speak all dialects, understand all written word, and converse with all manner of races within these walls. You will meet many who make their homes in the dimensions connected to this library. As I said, I’m from Faerie.”
He stuck his hand out and I stared down at it before reaching out to grasp it. “That’s a very human gesture,” I noted.
He smiled, drawing my gaze to the unusual structure of his face. His eyes were huge, taking up half his face, the irises and pupils pitch black without an ounce of white. He stood about three feet tall, his skin gnarled like an old root of a tree, and he didn’t have an ounce of hair on him that I could see. I wanted to study him closer, but it felt rude, so I kept my focus on his face.
“I have studied all cultures. As the concierge here, it’s my job to guide all who step foot into these halls.”
He bowed and as he rose, I finally noticed he was the perfect height to see right up my shirt. Not that he’d even made an attempt to glance, but still… “Do you happen to know if there’s anywhere to get some spare clothing?” I gestured to the expanse of naked leg beneath the torn shirt. “I’m sort of running out of cotton.”
Gaster’s little face lit up; he looked downright excited by the prospect of having a task. “Yes! We have a room that can give you goods in exchange for daems.”
I blinked at him. “Daem?”
It sounded like day-em, and I had never heard of that type of currency before. “It’s the Shadow Beast’s currency,” he chirped. “But he gave me permission to allow you an initial entrance without payment. He said you’ll eventually work it off in the library.”
Color me shocked that he hadn’t planned my death yet. Maybe he was still undecided. Either way, I was once again here to live another day, and that was about all I could ask from this shitshow I called a life.
Looking around, I stared at the many beings inhabiting the Library of Knowledge. So many of them were completely foreign in appearance. They were all clearly here for one reason, though: reading, reading, reading. Devouring the knowledge in these shelves. “Does everyone work here?” I asked.
Gaster followed my line of sight. “Oh, no. Only the goblins. My brethren work in the library. The others are a few selected from their worlds, allowed to access the information held here.”
Before I could voice the million other questions I had, he reached out and grasped my hand, dragging me away from the veil of Shadow’s lair and through the long hall in the middle of the library. “How many worlds are there?” I whispered, more to myself, as we passed dozens of beings, each of them so vastly different from each other, I literally couldn’t take them all in with enough detail.
Gaster chuckled, a grating sound that was almost unpleasant. “It has been a long time since I met someone who didn’t know about the supernatural world. About the Solaris System that connects and branches to each of the lands.”
I shrugged. “I mean, I’m a shifter, so I knew that there were more than humans out there, but outside of Shadow, Inky, and now you, I’ve never actually met any others.”
He blinked, those black orbs so reflective that all the lights surrounding us could be seen in them. “Shadow and Inky?”
I jerked my head toward the darkness following me. “That thing and its master.”
Gaster nodded, like he understood. “Ah, yes. They’re the supreme beings around here. We do not mess with his section of the library, and in return, he doesn’t destroy us all. We also catalog his books. The symbiosis works.” His eyes darted toward Inky, like he was relaying that information directly to the blob.
I leaned down so I was closer to his level. “What is the Solaris System?” I whispered.
Gaster shot me a conspiratorial smile, and I was half in love with this tiny dude and his helpfulness. Pretty sure outside of Simone and Dannie, I’d never had anyone be this nice to me. “It’s a transport system powered by the library. Connected energy portals that allow us to travel between the multitude of worlds. Each of the doorways here”—he waved his hand—“connects to one of the lands. So, I’m a goblin from Faerie.” He pointed out the door with the alluring music I’d almost walked through. “And Chester over there is a water sprite from the land of Karn, which is mostly water.” This time, he pointed to a door that was about ten feet from us, faint swirls of blue visible in the white grain.
And Chester… The Karn inhabitant was waif-like, with icy blue skin and a body so androgynous that I would never have been able to guess gender. Maybe they didn’t even have the sort of gender I would understand on Karn. They had four arms, the second set a little shorter, and I presumed they were useful in the water. Not wanting to overtly stare any longer, I turned my gaze away, waiting for Gaster to continue.
“Marin is a transcendent,” he said, picking up on my cue. “Closely representing the angels of Earth lore, they reside in Honor Meadows.”
Marin was a tall statuesque being, female in appearance. She was dressed in what looked like black and gold armor, with shiny black skin, and grey-tinged feathery wings emerging from her back. Wings that looked very much like they belonged on an angel. “Wow,” I whispered as I took in the full picture.
She was beauty personified, as if each plane of her face had been lovingly carved to perfection. Her long hair reminded me of Simone’s, thick and blue-black. Unlike Simone’s, though, Marin’s hair was in a perfect braid, ending around her calves.
Whatever Honor Meadows was, I could only assume it was filled with more angelic-looking beings like Marin.
“You reach their lands through there,” Gaster said, pointing out a door farther down the library.
This was so incredibly hard to understand and comprehend, but maybe because I stood within these walls filled with so much knowledge, none of it felt overwhelming.
Gaster continued on, pointing out animalistic beings, akin to a centaur who merged human and animals. Horse, goat, panther, and bird hybrids were in the library, but I was assured that in their land of Brolder, there were many, many others.
“Are there any dragon beings?” I asked seriously, still half-existing in an epic book hangover from my last shifter read.
Gaster didn’t miss a beat at my random question. “Not dragons like those depicted on Earth, but we do have great beasts who wander the worlds.”
Great beasts? I mean, if there was anything greater than the Shadow Beast out there, that would be a seriously scary sight to behold. But I was totally here for it.
Gaster continued his journey through the library, introducing me to many of the faefolk, including pixies, banshees, sidhe, trolls, and ghouls.
“In Faerie, there are hundreds of others,” he said. “It would take me weeks to list them all.”
“The universe is so much bigger than I expected,” I breathed, feeling both insignificant and emotional by my discoveries today.
“This is merely a tiny slice of the larger piece,” Gaster said, his smile still firmly in place. “But today, there’s no need to worry about this new life you’ve discovered. Let’s first find you some human comforts.”
I nodded, following him as he picked up the pace. His legs might have been half the size of mine, but the dude moved like an Olympic sprinter. I commented on that, jokingly huffing like I was out of breath. “We’re strong and fast,” he said, looking me over like he was seriously concerned for my health. “Don’t try to keep up. Goblins are able to move at top speed over long distances, and it’s best to remember that my assets are yours to use when you need support in whatever you undertake.”
I tilted my head, once again confused at the way I was being made to feel “at home” here. “Does Shadow know you’re, uh, looking after me like this?” I asked.
Gaster nodded. “Oh, yes. He knows everything. Don’t worry. This is all planned.”
Wonderful. I felt a lot better about being part of Shadow’s plan… not.
Gaster continued on his mission, and I stayed close by, trying to ignore the many curious lookie-loos around the room. I might have been side-eyeing all the new lands and their inhabitants in the library, but many of them appeared to be just as interested in me. I wondered if it was due to Inky on my tail, or was “shifter” a new race to cross their path?
As we closed in on the beginning of the library with its own shimmery portal that connected to the long, white hall, Gaster stopped. “This is the room of need,” he said, gesturing to a plain white door. He stepped forward and knocked twice before it swung open.
“Six daems,” a disembodied, near-robotic voice chimed.
Gaster pulled some shimmery gold nuggets from his tiny pocket.
“Make sure you get everything you need while inside,” he told me before the surprisingly strong goblin shoved me into a completely empty white room, the coins tinkling after me, vanishing into the seamless, shiny floor. “Wait!” I shouted as the door slammed in my face.
“Please stand still,” the voice said, distracting me.
I froze as a blast of frosty air washed over me, trailing down my body before it vanished just as quickly.
“You need a complete wardrobe, toiletries, and other essentials.”
I couldn’t tell if it was a question or not, but I answered anyway. “Yes. I have nothing other than this shirt.” I gestured to the rag I wore.
A moment’s pause. “Your belongings are being sent to the master’s chambers. Please proceed there for cleaning and robing. Good day.”
And just like that, the door opened, and that same icy wind ushered me right out of the room.
