The Librarian Sees Red (Dani POV)

“Delivery!” A Dwarven courier stepped up to the circulation desk. Everyone but me turned to him with the standard “shhhhh” noise that made it sound like a balloon factory had sprung a leak.

I offered him a warm grin instead. “Hi Russ! Whatcha got for me today?”

The dark haired Dwarf shrugged. “I don’t see what’s in them. I just deliver them, and boy is it heavy.” I chuckled as I signed his clipboard and bid him good day.

If it was heavy it was probably old leather-bound books. My mouth practically watered at the thought of new ancient texts to pour over for hours to come. I started to grab a crowbar for the crate, then stopped. With a deep breath I focused on the box before me. “Crate of wood, please open wide. I wish to see what waits inside.” The wood panels shimmered and faded away, leaving a pile of red books.

Tessa was nearby rereading the Hobbit and looked up at me with a smirk. “For all the reading you do I would think your rhymes would be better.”

I rolled my eyes and gave her a glare before turning my sights back to the pile of books in front of me. Excitedly I grabbed one from the top and carefully flipped through it. To my surprise all the pages were blank. I did the same with the next and discovered it too was blank. After a few moments of exploration I sighed heavily. “Ugh. What a waste. I guess they will make pretty journals.”

Tessa put down her book and came over to look at them with me. “What are you talking about?”

“These books, they’re all empty,” I explained.

Tessa picked up a book and flipped through it. “What are you talking about? There’s writing on every single page.”

I glanced over her shoulder and was completely confused. “What are you talking about? It’s blank!”

“No it’s not. It’s handwritten, but it is filled cover to cover.” She handed it to me and pointed to the page.

“Are you teasing me or do you really see something there?” I asked hopefully.

“There are tons of things there.”

“What does it say?”

Tessa’s brows pulled together in frustration. “I don’t know. It’s like I recognize it, but when I try to piece it together it doesn’t work. It’s a language I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”

I growled. “A whole crate of new books and I can’t see what is written on even one page. This is torture.” Tessa began gathering up her things.”Wait, where are you going?”

“I have to meet Kat across town in an hour. I should have left an hour ago. I just lost track of time while I was reading,” she said as she zipped her backpack closed.

“Wait! You can’t leave. I need you to write what you see on the page so I can try to translate it.” I smiled at her with pleading eyes.

She shook her head. “I can’t, even if I wanted to go through seventeen massive journals. Sorry, you’re on your own for this. I’m sure there is a librarian here that can see it too. Maybe they can help you?” I huffed as she waved and walked away.

“This is not okay,” I mumbled to myself.