When I had walked into the library after lunch, during my Study Hall period, I had asked her if there were any new books on mythology. Specifically, retellings of ancient Greek or Roman mythology. I keep it to myself, and I always ask for recommendations from Mrs. Clark in a whisper, but I love mythology. Greek gods and mythological creatures just make a story ten times better. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Greek or even Roman mythology (if I’m desperate)—just anything with adventures where some cool warrior goes on an epic quest and encounters lots of cool fire-breathing things with many heads that is trying to kill them. Swords and armor and life-threatening danger—that’s the stuff I live for in the stories I read. If there’s nothing new that I haven’t read in the library—and I’ve read most of the mythology books the library has—I’ll settle for fantasy, I guess. Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter will keep me from jonesing for a new book for a while.
Since it was Friday, and nearing the end of the school year, Mrs. Clark didn’t have anything new for me to check-out. With a week and a half left in the school year, it was probably best, anyway. Not that I couldn’t easily read a new book in a week—I only really need one night—but there was no point in getting new books so close to the end of the year. I smiled at the thought of how many new books would probably arrive at the end of summer, ready for me to check out at the beginning of my senior year. That would make one more year, trudging through the halls of Long-Moore High School, a lot easier to deal with. Mrs. Clark would have tons of new suggestions when I walked back into the library at the end of August.
I reached into my pocket and paused the song I was listening to—Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind—and slid my headphones off to hang around my neck. Running my finger along the spines of the fantasy books before me, I hoped that a book would jump out at me. There had to be something I hadn’t read before or I wouldn’t be bored reading again. Of course, my eyes landed on my go-to books since I couldn’t find anything else, but I wanted something different. Some new hero or heroine whose adventure I could go on along with them. I didn’t even care if it was all that exciting, just new.
“Excuse me.” A kid I vaguely recognized squeezed behind me.
The stacks in the Long-Moore library are kind of tight, so I pressed forward, closer to the shelf of books I was inspecting so the kid could get past me.
“No worries,” I whispered back.
The reason for the walkways between the bookshelves being so narrow was kind of dumb, really. A circular room, the library had slightly curving shelves all around the perimeter, in concentric circles. There were five concentric circles of shelves starting from the walls of the library, each circle pushing closer to the middle of the room. Breaks in the shelves were placed every ten feet so that a person could move from one area to the other. In the center of the room was Mrs. Clark’s counter, a complete circle as well. Surrounding her counter—or desk, I guess—between her and the shelves on all sides, were work tables. Students could use the tables to do their homework, read, or simply waste time during Study Hall periods. Because so many tables were placed around Mrs. Clark’s check-out counter at the center of the room, the shelves were pushed closer together to accommodate everything. It didn’t make sense to me. The books were the most important thing, so why weren’t they given priority over tables for students? On a busy day, not even half of the tables were full, so it just didn’t make sense.
With a sigh, I turned and walked away from the Fantasy section. I wasn’t going to find anything worth reading there that I hadn’t read a million times before. Instead of hoping for the impossible, I made my way to the center of the room, out into the open, and found the Mythology section of bookshelves. When I entered the center area of the library, Mrs. Clark was working at her counter, but she looked up and caught my eye. We exchanged a smile and a nod—I knew better than to raise my voice to say “hello”—and I went about my business as she went back to hers. I quickly let my eyes scan the shelves that held my favorite genre, trying to decide which old friend I would take home to spend time with over the upcoming weekend. I almost immediately grabbed Icarus by this dude named Adam Wing. It was probably my absolute favorite Greek mythology retelling, but I’d read it a million times. I really needed to broaden my horizons, no matter how tempted I was to grab the book.
Don’t get me wrong—just seeing mythology books, whether it’s something encyclopedic that gives a straight forward description of an ancient tale, or a modern retelling of a classic myth, makes me happy. Even if it’s something I’ve read before. So, I wasn’t upset that my eyes landed on one book after another that I’d read before. I was just kind of bummed that I wouldn’t have any new book adventures before the end of the school year.
I’ll have to ask mom for money so I can go to Barnes & Noble, I thought to myself.
Mom didn’t want me to get an after-school job while I was still in high school, but she was going to have to give me a book allowance or let me at least get a summer job. Libraries are the best thing in the world, but they don’t really get new books quickly enough to make me happy. It would be nice to be able to get a new book for once instead of re-reading the same things over and over until libraries actually started getting enough funding to order new books.
When my eyes landed on the spine of a book I’d never seen before, I immediately froze, a tingle going up my spine. A mythology book I haven’t read before. I stared at the spine of the book as if I had never seen a book in my life. Ancient Tales & Epic Adventures by Nial Briar. The title didn’t really tell me specifically what the book was about, but it was about ancient tales and epic adventures, which was what I had been looking for in the mythology section. The book was in the mythology section, so it had to be mythology, right? Just as I reached out to pull the book from the shelf so that I could read the inside of the flyleaf or the blurb on the back, the sliding glass doors at the library entrance whooshed open.
Frankie.
My mood immediately did a full one-eighty.
God, I hated running into him.
He was walking through the doors, acting as if his very presence didn’t bother anyone at all in Long-Moore High School. Scowling to myself, I snatched the new book off of the shelf and turned towards Mrs. Clark’s check-out counter at the center of the room. Since I had been focused on Frankie, instead of where I was going, I bumped directly into a girl who was trying to walk past me.
“Sorry,” I muttered, trying to make it sound genuine.
I’m sure the girl said something about it not being a big deal, but my ears felt like they were flooded with hot water. As I approached Mrs. Clark’s desk, marching like a soldier heading into battle, she gave me an odd smile, as if she could tell my mood was off. Instead of whispering my normal, “Hi, Mrs. Clark,” to her, I simply slid the book across the counter to her.
“Hello, Nathan.” Mrs. Clark gave me a half-grin. “Did you find what you were looking for, hon?”
“I guess.” I shrugged, keeping my voice low to not break one of her cardinal rules.
“That doesn’t sound promising.” She chuckled as her eyes lowered to the book before her.
Her tight grin slowly melted into a deep, confused frown as she stared down at the book before her.