“All the time,” he said, frowning up at her. “I know. You said already.”
“Don’t give me lip, kid,” she said, swatting the back of his head. “Come on. We’ll get some practice in.”
He twisted, his eyes darting back to his book. “But...I wasn’t-”
“It’ll still be there,” Jean said, her smile turning vicious. “Come on, then. It’s clear you need a refresher.”
A refresher that’d no doubt take the form of her trouncing him up and down the practice court all afternoon. Daniel made a face, dragging his feet.
He knew she was right. She could do things inside Alexandria’s walls he could only dream about - call fire to her hands, yes, but more. She could warp the stone itself. Summon storms to her beck and call. Fill the air with motes of light that danced and burned.
She kept telling him that he was just young. That in time, he’d learn to trust his own abilities. The key was belief, she said. He needed to be so sure of himself that reality itself twisted to bring his will to life.
But he wanted it now.
“Daniel.”
He flinched, glancing up. Again, Jean waited in the doorway, one eyebrow raised.
“Y-Yeah,” he mumbled, hurrying after her.
Room after room passed them as they walked, following hallways that twisted and coiled through caves, through lofty towers, through airy tents. Stacked books poked through every doorway.
At the end waited their yard - a dusty field of dirt and grass, surrounded by the Library’s wings. Despite his fears about the lessons he’d face there, he found the chance to get out in the open air didn’t sound quite so bad. Smiling, he lifted his head, and-
Jean had stopped dead in the hallway. He grabbed her waist to keep from falling, letting out a squeal.
Her hand snapped down, grabbing him by the shoulder and steadying him. “Easy, Daniel.”
“Don’t just stop,” he whined.
The fingers gripping him tightened. “Don’t complain, boy. Looks like the training will have to wait.”
“W-What?” he said, his brow furrowing. Leaning forward, he peered around her legs.
Another wing of the Library stretched out past the junction ahead of them. Wooden bookshelves stretched taller than even Jean, stacked one on top of another with ladders mounted to their fronts. Stained glass dotted the walls, letting in light that sparkled with flashes of red and yellow.
But there, meandering through the rows of bookshelves, he saw it.
Someone walking.
He leapt back behind her with a muted cry, pressing his face to the small of her back. Someone else? Here? Where there should only be him and Jean? And they were glowing, lit from within with an eerie blue light that cast flickers across the ground.
High overhead, Jean sighed. He felt her moving, stooping lower. Her hands settled onto his shoulders a moment later, her forehead pressing into his hair. “There’s no reason to be afraid, Daniel.”
“B-But, that’s a-”
“It’s a dreamer.”
His blubbering faded. Her fingers slipped under his chin, lifting his face to meet hers. “Dreamers?” he whispered.
Jean smiled, her green eyes soft. “This is our duty. There’s nothing to fear.”
His eyes darted back to the bookshelves. That shape still stalked between the rows, lighting the floor with its passage.
And yet...Jean didn’t seem afraid. If she wasn’t, then it was fine. Right?
He wiped at his nose, still casting wary looks toward the...the dreamer, but nodded.
When Jean held her hand out, he took it, letting her engulf him.
Together, they walked into that mammoth wing. His skin crawled, the hairs standing on end as they got closer and closer to the...the thing.
It was a man, his eyes searching the rows of books. His hands roamed the spines, tracing out the lettering on each title. A low hiss filled Daniel’s ears as the specter muttered name after name.
“What’s he doing?” Daniel whispered, drawing closer to Jean’s side.
The Librarian slowed, coming to a stop a few paces away from the glowing man. “He’s looking,” she said, not a hint of fear in her voice.
Daniel screwed up his face. “For what?”
Jean chuckled softly, shaking her head. “It’s difficult to say. The dreamers are the souls of the departed. The lost. Those who need answers, who crave them more than anything.”
He shivered. “Then they’re...dead?”
Her hand wrapped about his. “Does that scare you?”
For a moment, he hesitated. It did. But with her there, he couldn’t bring himself to say so. “N-No.” The man continued his search. Daniel screwed his face up, watching his hands move across the books. “Then...They come to Alexandria looking for-”
“Exactly,” Jean murmured, giving his hand a squeeze. “We have the answers they need - and thus they wind up here. Understand?”
No, not really. But Daniel bobbed his head in agreement anyway.
Jean let him go, then, stepping forward. For a moment, her head turned, pointing back toward Daniel. “Sometimes they just...need help,” she said. “A friendly face. A hand to point the way, to help them move on.”
He watched, transfixed, as she turned away again - and rested her hand on the dreamer’s shoulder.
The man twitched, his head snapping to face her. His eyes were black orbs in his glowing face, fixed onto Jean’s. “It’s got to be around here somewhere,” he whispered.
“I know,” Jean said, taking a step closer.
“I know it is. She told me - she always loved that place. She wanted to see it again. I always said I’d see it too, that I’d take her. And then, she...she...” The man’s eyes glistened, and he swallowed. “So I thought-”
“I know,” Jean murmured again, letting her gaze drift to the books. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”
She slid her hand to the dreamer’s back, letting the man mumble into her ear. She nodded once, and then again.
To Daniel’s horror, she turned, leading the dreamer farther into the Library. He flinched, darting forward, but stopped when the dreamer glanced back to him.
“You’re fine,” Jean said. He looked up, finding her watching him again. She smiled encouragingly. “Come along,
