The library had always been there. Not the always of some churches and bars that came with the people who made this town. Not even the always of the stone monument on the hill nearby, that one has its construction date carved into it. No, the library was here as long as even the old roman bureaucracy could remember. The local university, if small, was only founded here many hundreds of years ago because of the library, and most scholars believe that the town only exists for the library as well.
It must have looked quite out of place back then. A gothic castle-looking building on top a hill with no real reason to be there was not a common sight for a roman or a briton of the ancient times, at least not as far as Kathrine could imagine. To her, gothic things weren’t that special, her primary school had been a castle after all. But there was something that drew her here, to the steps of this ancient mystery building and to the small university nearby.
Kathrine pulled open one of the massive wooden doors, nearly stumbling backwards onto the ground as it moved with shocking ease. Beyond the door was a massive hall, filled with bookshelves from floor to ceiling and stairs leading to other parts of the library, both up and down. From here, it looked even more imposing than from the outside. Kathrine snuck her way inside, almost scared of making a noise to defile such a quiet place.
“Hello!”
Kathrine had completely missed the reception desk right in front of her, staffed by the palest women with the bloodiest red hair she had ever seen. She was waving the newcomer over.
“First time here?”
“Uh… yea.”
“Great! Anything I can point you to or questions or do you want to just look around?”
“Don’t I need like a library card or something?” Kathrine was just a little overwhelmed by the receptionist’s fervour.
“A what?”
“A library card. You know, the thing that says I can look at books and borrow them.”
The receptionist blinked at Kathrine in confused silence. “Why would you need to borrow books? And… why would you need a piece of paper to tell you that you can read? Doesn’t school give you that stuff these days?”
It was Kathrine’s turn to look confused now. “Every other library I have ever been to needed me to get a library card before I could do pretty much anything there. How else would you keep track who you loaned what book too?”
“Our policies haven’t change since we build the library. No book has ever left these walls in human hands. You are free to read whatever you please in here, free of charge. Now, can I direct you anywhere specific?”
“I’ll have a look around first, thank you,”
“Of course. I’ll be here if you need anything.”
Kathrine waved a little goodbye to the receptionist and headed down one of the isles, not even paying attention to the section she headed into. It didn’t matter anyway, to someone like Katherine all knowledge was good knowledge.
Kathrine flipped to the next page in her little notebook. This was page number seven she would fill with names of books and the sections they were sorted in. After she had flipped through the first few books she found, a realization had dawned on her: there was no way to remember everything she wanted to read here. There is too much stuff and it’s all interesting. She first wanted to take pictures of the backs with her phone, but the feeling of paper between her fingers was intoxicating. She didn’t like her phone, and she didn’t like how useful or needed it had become. These shelves were a dream come true, no cold unfeeling glass and plastic, but pure emotion and the knowledge of what felt like millennia bound onto paper.
Kathrine put back another book after noting where it belonged and paused. She pulled it back out and carefully flipped through it again. There was something she saw. Something that didn’t make sense. Going through more and more pages, she almost feared that she just imagined it. Even if she did, it wouldn’t matter anyway, it’s such a minute detail. But there it was, a page near the end, a quote, indirect but a quote non the less from a stone mason during the construction of a temple in Eridu, dated impossibly precisely in a modern format on the 12th of March 4092 BCE. Kathrine’s head was racing. This would predate her understanding of the invention of writing, and for someone to care what that stonemason said at the time. And the date itself raised even more questions. Kathrine pondered asking the receptionist, but decided that this is something to do later, there are too many books to still catalogue for the future and maybe there are more impossibilities in them to find.
And so, she continued going through shelf after shelf, filling her notebook nearly to the end before being interrupted.
“Katherine?” It was the receptionist, without the desk to hide behind, she was quite the impressive presence. Her red hair actually reached all the way to her hips, giving a rather severe streak of colour to the otherwise almost monochrome woman. Her combination of buckled tall boots and leather corset was just missing a set of daggers to be straight from a fantasy story. Katherine was quite in awe, glancing up and down the tall receptionist. It took a few moments before she realized that she hadn’t answered yet.
“Uh, yes? Wait, I didn’t tell you my name.”
“It would be negligent to not know everyone who enters this place when it is my turn to watch over it.”
“Okay, fair.” She was not about to question that, even if it was mildly creepy.
“I just wanted to ask if you are all right. It is past midnight and you have not eaten since you arrived nearly 8 hours ago.”
“It is WHAT?”
“It is exactly 12 minutes past midnight. While I am impressed with your diligence and motivation to explore the library, I do-“ Kathrine cut her off.
“Shit! Oh fuck, I missed the last bus.”
The receptionist seemed actually worried now. “Do you have another way home?”
“No… and I can’t even get a taxi this late. I’ll have to walk I suppose.”
“I will drive you home. I do not want to risk you being unsafe this late at night.”
“Oh, thank you. And please call me Kate, okay? Only my mum calls me Katherine and she isn’t that great to be honest.”
“Of course. If you would follow me, we need to get you some very late dinner as well.”
Kate shrugged and just did as she was asked, it’s not like she had much else to do now, this was her best bet to actually get home and sleep before her first day at the university tomorrow. The receptionist silently led her to the stairs at the back of the main hall, and through a door on the side into what looked like a very cosy little restaurant, complete with a bar and balcony overlooking the forest-y hillside behind the library.
“Wait here. I will head to the kitchen.” The receptionist was already at the kitchen door when Kate managed to answer.
“You’re not going to cook for me, right?”
“Perhaps someday, but today you are only getting the leftovers. Wait here.”
Kate smiled. “I’ll take what I can get this late. Thank you.”
The receptionist smiled for the first time at Kate and gave a nod before heading into the kitchen.
Kate waited diligently, trying not to touch any of the pristine furniture and decorations, for not even five minutes before the kitchen door swung open with the delicious smell of fresh curry. The receptionist returned carrying a sizable and ornate wooden crate.
“I hope you enjoy curry, it was the only thing we had an acceptable amount of.”
Kate stared at the crate. “Curry is great, thank you.”
“I am relieved. Now I just need to return you home, follow me.” The receptionist lead Kate back into the library, out the front door and down a side path away from the library. Kate followed closely; a bit scared of being out in the woods with a stranger.
“So… uh… You know my name, can I know yours too?”
The receptionist stopped walking and looked down at the silver badge affixed to her corset. After a moment of silence, she plucked the badge from her clothes and stuffed it into a pocket.
“Apollyon.”
“You were named after biblical angel of the abyss? That’s pretty metal, almost wish my parents named me something that cool.”
Apollyon smiled. “Not after, and certainly not an angel. You can just call me Polly.”
“Sure! So, uh, we are heading to your car or something, right? Not that I don’t like a spooky forest at night.”
Apollyon began walking again, Kate made sure to quickly follow.
“We don’t usually travel by car, and we would prefer not to invite pollution to the library. So, we keep anything that looks like what you call ‘parking spots’ hidden out of sight.”
“That makes sense.”
A few moments later, a car came into sight. Apollyon approached it, opening the driver door and waiting for Kate to get into the unmarked and very sleek sports car.
“You certainly have style. I mean, your clothes, the car, everything. Damn.”
“Thank you.”
Kate sat down, making sure to keep a tight grasp on the wooden food crate as she put on her seatbelt. Apollyon followed the same motions and just started driving own the gravel path they just came. Kate noticed that there were no keys, no controls besides the steering wheel and absolutely no sound. Neither a motor running, nor the wheels grinding against the gravel could be heard. Despite adding to Kate’s long list of questions, she decided to not ask about the car. She had asked too much already.
It didn’t take long for Apollyon to find Kate’s apartment from the instructions given by an admittedly pretty tired and distracted Kate. Almost like the weird librarian had a talent for making sense of garbled information.
Kate got out of the car once it was brought to a stop in the driveway of the apartment building. She kept clutching the wooden box like her life depended on it.
“Thank you, Polly. I guess I will see you tomorrow?”
“You plan to come by that often?”
“Of course! I need to finish my list, haven’t even seen the other floors yet, and I have to actually start reading all the stuff I want!”
Apollyon smiled. “I suppose we will see each other more often then.”
“I sure hope so. Anyway, I need to get inside and eat before it gets cold. Thank you again, for the food and the ride.”
Apollyon gave a warm nod as Kate made her way to the door and tried her best to wave with her arms full and trying to unlock the door. After a few moments of fumbling, she hurried inside and up the stairs to her apartment.
