Finally, she had to stick her hand out for him to grab, fixing him with a glare that said she knew how close he was to tearing off into the library on his own.
He beamed up at her, the last of his tears finally drying. “Miss Jean, this place is huge!”
“It sure is,” she said. She watched his head spin this way and that, hiding a smirk. “There’s no hurry, Daniel. Take your time.”
“Uh-huh,” he said, beginning to tug at her hand again.
She followed after him as he led her into the next room. “Want to know a little secret?” she said, chuckling.
Daniel glanced back over his shoulder, his brown eyes perfectly round. He didn’t say a word - but he nodded, bobbing his head furiously.
She leaned in, a crooked grin sliding onto her face. “Even I don’t know how big this place really is.”
His eyes managed to open even wider, impossibly. “Woah!” Before she could say a word, his expression faltered. His brow furrowed. Jean smiled. He was young, not stupid. That was good. He gathered himself, his eyebrows pulling together. “But...why? It can only be so big, right?”
Jean shrugged, trying to make the expression look casual. “Well, you see...” She held a finger up, like she was letting him in on something. “This library? It holds everything we humans have ever learned. Ever!”
A bit of the excitement left his expression. Daniel stared at her, his face beginning to scrunch up. Her blood froze. Had it been too much? Was it too complicated, too unbelievable?
“Like...every book?” he said, turning back to the room around them. “There are a lot of books.” His tone might have been doubtful, but she had to hold him back from running off again.
“Kind of! But...not quite,” she said, her smile going lopsided. “You have science class in school, don’t you?” God, he was young. He might not. If she couldn’t sell him on this, then they were both-
“Yeah!” he said, spinning to face her again with a brilliant smile from ear to ear. “Sometimes, they let us go outside and draw things! Sam likes to draw the birds, but...” He grinned horribly. “I like to draw the bugs. She screams.”
“That sounds like fun,” she said, holding in a laugh. “Why do your teachers have you do that? It’s not recess, is it?”
“...No,” he said, pausing. His brow furrowed. “Recess is way more fun.”
“I bet,” Jean said, the laugh she’d fought to keep in bubbling out at last. “So why do you think they want you to go draw bugs?”
Again, Daniel hesitated. “They say...something about learning their parts. How they work.”
“And that’s definitely learning, isn’t it?”
“...Yeah,” he said, still staring intently at the stacks of books.
Jean smiled. “Something like that is part of this place, too. Sometimes, you have to learn with your hands.”
“I still don’t get it,” Daniel muttered. His expression was changing, growing dark.
Somewhere around them, the building rumbled. The sound echoed through the library wing, like the very skeleton of it was shaking in the wind.
Jean hesitated, glancing to the side as the last of the noise faded away. She reached out, resting her hand against the nearest bookshelf. Be patient.
The shelf quivered under her fingers - but the library fell quiet.
“Let me show you, then,” she said, smiling down at the boy. “What’s your favorite thing, Daniel? What do you like learning about more than anything else?”
His lips parted at the question, her words running through his mind. And then he grinned. “Robots! Or- no. Trains!” He giggled. “Robot trains!”
Jean’s fingers tightened against the polished wood of the bookshelf. You heard him. “Oh, that does sound fun,” she said, sweeping her hand away. “Why don’t we try that room, then?”
He spun, a confused look flashing across his face as she pointed a finger behind him. “But- there’s not a-”
His words died as he stared at the doorway set into the wall behind him. Again, he took a step back, shaking his head slowly. “I...I don’t-”
“Come along,” she said gently, taking him by the shoulder. Before he could pull free, she pushed the door open, leading them in.
The last of his protests fell away as he stared at the sight before them - rows of smooth, wood-topped tables stretched across the room, laden with gears and wrenches and parts. Pictures lay here and there, bright and colorful and simple enough for even a child to follow. Jean smiled, leaning against the door frame as Daniel dashed into the room. Idly, she scuffed at the floor with one foot. You old softie.
Daniel threw himself at the kit with eager abandon, seemingly forgetting she was there at all. Jean let him work, counting off the minutes in her head as they passed. The figure came alive in his hands, changing from a pile of useless, meaningless bits of metal into something vaguely recognizable as a robot figure.
Finally, though, he came to a stop. As though only then realizing how much time had passed, he looked back over his shoulder with a guilty light in his eyes. “Oh- I’m sorry, Miss Jean.”
“That’s all right,” she said, pushing away from the wall and approaching him. He was so damned polite. Well, that was good, too. “Did you have fun?”
“Miss Jean?”
There was a new note to his voice. Something darker, confused and just beginning to take on a worried tinge. She sighed. “Yes?”
“...Was this magic?”
A surprised laugh slipped out before she could yank it back. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific, my dear. A good scientist always speaks concisely.”
Daniel nodded, his back straightening at her words. A scientist, he seemed to be thinking, entranced. “I-I mean...” He hesitated, his shoulders rising. Just for a moment, she could see the kid in him again, hiding behind the too-polite young man. “We were in a library. And it was weird. And now we’re
