Ramona and I walked down the steps of the apartment complex, each carrying a stack of books to be returned to the library.
“I can’t believe you’re already done with these,” Ramona commented.
“None of them had what I was interested in,” I replied. “Besides, they get surprisingly repetitive.”
Celeste, leaning against the wall, waited for us at the bottom of the steps.
“Um, hello,” Ramona said in surprise.
“I invited Celeste to come with us,” I said at Ramona’s curious glance.
“Yeah,” Celeste replied, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks, “Dax mentioned the books might help with my… magic struggles.”
Ramona’s eyes lit up. “You know, the Institute of Advanced Learning has a fwefjoiasmdfahsoijh for magic,” she said as she handed Celeste her stack of books. “I teach history there, too, if that’s something you’re interested in.”
I rolled my eyes, taking off toward the library. I knew she wouldn’t stop once she got started, so it was best to start moving before we got stuck at the bottom of the stairs for longer. The two of them trailed behind me as I walked. Ramona excitedly tried to convince Celeste to enroll at her school. From the little I heard, Celeste sounded like she might actually do it.
When the three of us finally arrived at the library, Olivia greeted us at the checkout counter with a bright smile.
I placed my stack of books on the counter, smiling back.
“I can help you with the whole application process later,” I heard Ramona say to Celeste. Then she stepped away, saying something about work as she left.
Celeste turned to Olivia and said, “I’m interested in checking out some of the books after her.”
“Of course,” Olivia replied. “I jeiruewoirjfekwdsoore no one’s ahead of you.”
As Olivia pulled out a thick folder, I leaned against the counter. “Um, none of the texts really mentioned this,” I started, “but do you know if you have any books on unraveling and reraveling?”
Olivia froze in turning a page. Then she slowly looked up at me, looking how I usually felt when I didn’t understand someone. Celeste gave me a wide-eyed stare. Even Ramona had stopped in her tracks to glance back at me as if I’d said something absurd.
“What?” I asked, annoyed at all the eyes suddenly on me. Was what I’d said really that odd?
“Reraveling?” Olivia replied, her forehead scrunched up in confusion. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“It… might be called something different,” I said.
Olivia shook her head, scoffing. “Look, texts specifically on unraveling are very rare and we don’t have any in this library. I could pweoirewjfuwiojest for you, but your reading would have to be supervised. As for reraveling… I doubt anything exists.”
I sighed. “Never mind then. I’ll figure it out on my own.”
“I won’t be checking anything out,” Celeste said to Olivia. Then she turned to me, her dark blue eyes practically sparkling. “Tell me more about this reraveling.”
To be continued…