“Yeah, this isn’t creepy at all.” Aiden looked around at the basement room full of books. It was poorly lit, and the tall shelves were crammed with books all the way to the ceiling. The room smelled of musty old paper, and he imagined—or did he?—a low whispering that seemed to come from the very back.
“You probably feel the magic. Some of these books are enchanted.”
“And they just… let you come down here alone?”
“Well, my mom had to sign a waiver and stuff, but yeah.” Maggie turned on a lamp that sat on one of the large desks near the door. The light helped to dissipate some of the gloom.
Aiden rubbed at his arms, trying to shake off the chill. “So where do we start looking?” He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
Maggie didn’t seem the least bit bothered to be in the spooky room. “I think the information on Faery and the fae is back there.” She pointed toward the back corner where the eerie whispering sound was coming from.
“Of course.”
She laughed. “It’s not that bad.”
Aiden gave her a look.
“Okay, maybe it’s a little creepy, and some of these books contain spells that can kill people—”
“What?” Aiden took a step back. The whole point of this was to make himself safer when he contacted the dream walker, not to die because he picked up the wrong book.
“No, no. Not like that. I mean if you read them aloud or follow the instructions. Not like insta-death.” Maggie shook her head. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want to freak you out.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I’ve been down here a bunch of times, and nothing bad has happened to me.”
He assured himself that Maggie knew what she was talking about. “Okay, let’s hurry up then.”
She led the way to the back corner. Aiden glanced down the rows, half expecting to see things lurking in the shadows or the books moving by themselves. The books were stacked high enough that they almost brushed the light fixtures hanging from the low ceiling. So there was a perfectly natural explanation for why it was so dim. The books were blocking some of the light.
That might have calmed him, but there was a problem. “Do you hear that whispering?” It was getting louder as they got closer to the back of the room.
“Um.” Maggie bit her lip.
“Oh God, what is it?” A haunted book? A monster trapped within the pages? A demonic book that tried to trick people into reading a death curse?
“It’s a sorcerer’s personal spell book with an enchantment that dissuades people from reading it.” There must have been something on Aiden’s face because she waved her hands and added, “It’s not dangerous or anything. Well, no more dangerous than any other spell book. Think of it like… a lock on a diary.”
The section they needed was right next to a shelf of decrepit old tomes, and Aiden was sure one of them was the whispering book. He stayed as far away from it as he could while Maggie ran her finger down spines, looking for what they needed. She loaded Aiden’s arms with books, and they went back to the table near the door and the lamp’s pool of bright light.
They’d brought notebooks and pens with them to take notes. None of the books were allowed outside the room because they were all rare or one of a kind. Every time Aiden opened one, he held his breath, waiting for a spell to zap him. He skimmed the pages, looking for any mention of dream walkers.
“Isn’t this fun?” Maggie grinned. “I love research.”
“Um… yeah.”
He found a few bits of information and wrote them down. Everything was silent except for the rustling of paper… and that awful whispering.
“So did you really start the LGBTA group just for me?” Aiden asked, needing a distraction.
Maggie looked up, tilting her head. “You were the catalyst, but once I got the idea, I thought about all the other people it could benefit. Look at how many kids showed up to just the first few meetings. There’s a real need for a group like that and I… I guess I want to leave something behind.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, look at Hanna’s pack. Brooke’s pack now, I guess. People called them the mutt pack.” She made a face. “And treated them like dirt, but Hanna turned them into a real alternative for both werewolves and ghouls. A pack that works on support and friendship, not dominance.”
A little ache squeezed Aiden’s heart. Hanna was at a fancy college out east. They kept in touch, but it wasn’t the same as having her around, and he missed her.
“Hanna passed leadership to Brooke and left a legacy behind,” Maggie said. “That’s what I want to do. I want to leave Shadow Valley High better than it was when I started.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sounds kind of egotistical, doesn’t it?”
“No, I get it. It’s like parents saying they want to make the world a better place for their kids. But why the LGBTA group? You’re not… er…” Aiden winced. He didn’t want to sound like he was trying to exclude her. And he also shouldn’t assume, although he found it hard to believe that Maggie wouldn’t have said something by now if she was anything but straight.
“Gay or bi or any of that? Yeah, sometimes I feel weird running the group, like it’s not really my business. If anyone wanted to take over or co-run it, I’d be fine with that. But no one seems inclined to.”
“Not me.” Aiden wasn’t the leader type.
She tapped her pen against her lips. “Maybe I’ll ask next time we meet. If all I did was start the group and then get out of the way, I’d be happy with that. Like, I don’t need my name on it or anything; I’m just happy to know it exists. Does that make sense?”
“I think so.” He certainly wouldn’t consider her the egotistical or controlling type. “You just want to help. You don’t need the praise or the credit.”
“Exactly.” She grinned. “I like helping people.”
Aiden slid the next book in front of him and tensed before opening it. No spell, just normal words on paper. He could almost pretend this was a normal library with normal books. Except he could just make out that whispering at the far back. “So what are you going to college for?”
Maggie tilted her head. “I’m not sure, but it’s between sociology and neuroscience. I’m looking at colleges that have good programs in both. Too bad I can’t major in magic.” She laughed. “What about you?”
He made a face. “Well, the wardens.” Thanks to Mr. Johnson, Aiden had at least another year before he had to figure out colleges or majors. He supposed he could consider that a bright side of Mr. Johnson forcing him into the wardens.
“But you are going to college, right? After things settle down?”
“Yeah.” He looked down at the book, which had a chapter on types of fae. “It all seems so far away, you know? Like a different world. When I first got here, I was desperate to get back to the human world, but now I don’t know how I’m going to function there.”
“I know. I’ve lived here my whole life. It’s… scary to think about a life where I’ll have to hide my magic. To lie about most of my life.” She perked up. “But plenty of other people have done it, and it helps to think of the outside world as a big adventure. I’ll get to meet so many new people at college.”
And leave everyone else behind. What would Aiden do without Dylan? Without Tiago? They could see each other over summer, maybe over the winter and spring breaks, but it wouldn’t be the same.
Maggie laughed. “I know, you’re an introvert. There’ll be lots of new things to learn in college too. You’ll love it! Hey, you love math, right? Have you thought about majoring in some kind of math? Or maybe computer coding? I bet you’d be good at that.”
“Maybe.” Shadow Valley High had some basic computer classes, but nothing as involved as coding. Aiden hadn’t tried it, but now he thought he should look into it to see if it was something he liked.
Maggie flipped open a book. “Okay, back to work.”
Right. He had to figure out how to protect himself from the dream walker. With his witch friend. From books that might be enchanted in the restricted section of the library. The idea of leaving the weirdness of Shadow Valley behind was bittersweet.