Chapter Three:
"What do you mean, Amber?" I asked. I had a feeling of what exactly she was going through.
"I heard voices!" She whispered urgently. "And then when I came around there were just two books lying on the floor! I'm scared." She whimpered.
"I'm sure it's just your overactive imagination." I lied through my teeth. I knew what Amber heard.
"You sure?" She asked.
"Positive." I put on a fake smile. "Why don't you just go outside in the garden? Ghosts don't like sunlight." I teased, poking her arm. The nausea in my stomach intensified.
"Okay. Is Jason out there too?" She asked.
"I don't know. Go and find out."
"Okay! Maybe I can cheer him up. He's been a total grumpy-pants." Amber seemed more than happy to run from the creepiness of it all. I sighed. Julia popped back out of her book.
"Is she your sister? She's cute. Hey, wanna meet the others?"
"There's more of you? How many?" I asked. "And yes, that was my sister."
"Hey, no need to look so dubious. Of course there are! Every book has a kami and a every kami has a book!" She sang.
"So you're all alive, huh?" I marveled to myself. Julia took it as a question to herself.
"Well, I think so. Tell me what it's like being dead, and then I'll know." She stared at me, honestly expecting an answer. I placed a hand over my mouth, stifling my laughter. Julia always took everything literally though.
"Well, I wouldn't know, I've never died." I barely avoided chuckling and ended up grinning manically.
"Well, humph! I really want to know now! It sounds new! I love new things!" Julia huffed.
"I, uh, think you're alive Julia. And death isn't exactly a laughing matter either." I offered as we walked down the stairs. She clasped her hands and jumped in my face.
"Rrrreeally truly? So I don't need to know?" she squealed. I pushed her away. She bounced easily down the stairs, pouting.
"Really truly." I sighed. Even though Julia was a grammar book, she was a lot more childish than most grammarians. How is she even jumping around like that? I puzzled. Well…she isn't exactly human either.
We wound back up in the library. A strange tremor seemed to pass around. Maybe it was my imagination. Julia jumped to the highest shelf and clapped her hands.
"Hey, guys! Jane can see us!"
Nothing happened. I cocked an eyebrow at Julia, who looked royally annoyed. Finally, an old man walked out of the reference section. He was bent with age and his face and hands were covered in warts. His nose was absolutely gargantuan and eyebrows were so long, they trailed down his cheeks. His cane thumped like a judge's gavel. His suit was a bit wrinkled and his beard swished as he shuffled forward. Clearing his throat, he greeted
"I am Cornelius Leodokilus the Twenty-third." He grandly announced. I blinked.
"J-Jane Nelson, the, uh, first?" I scratched the back of my head.
"Introducing yourself without a bow or even a curtsey? Humph." Cornelius frowned at me. "Try again." My left eye twitched. I bowed awkwardly.
"I'm Jane Nelson, sir." I tried again. He nodded his approval.
"Why have you come to our library, Miss Nelson?" He demanded.
"Because my parents wanted to spend our vacation here?" I said. "Ironically, they left this morning to go do other things." I chuckled.
"I see. So you shall be here for some time?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. Do you consider yourself, to use a low phrase of your time, a book-worm?" He asked, peering out from under his extraordinary eyebrows.
"Yes." I didn't hesitate. If there was one thing I knew about myself, it was my love of literature.
"Cite several of your favorite selections." A smile almost seemed to ghost across his cracked lips.
"The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Oresteia, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, do you also want a list of nonfiction as well, sir?" I rattled off, raising my eyebrows.
"No. That will do. Send her down, Ajax."
A younger looking kami popped out of nowhere and pressed a knob on a ornate shelf. The floor was suddenly gone and I fell through the trapdoor. I landed, my rear stinging, on a chair. Evidently, my fall had been guided by a kami. Cornelius appeared before me. There was a scented candle sitting on a small table between us. The smell itched my nose and I sneezed.
"Bless you." Cornelius grunted. Clearing his throat he began; "This is your final examination of whether you are worthy of being here among us. Fail and we will throw you to a monster. Understood?"
My mind reeled. Why did this dilapidated old kami get to decide whether or not I'd get thrown to a monster? Where the heck was Julia?
"O-Of course, Mr. Leodokilus." I bit my tongue to keep from laughing at his ridiculous surname.
"Then we shall begin." He ominously stated. "Who is Helen Burns?" I could have jumped for joy, if I hadn't been tied to my chair. This was a quiz, a test to show how much I cared about the books I read, if I cared enough to remember details.
"Jane Eyre's first friend, met at Lowood Institution." I confidently answered.
"Correct. Why did Clytemnestra kill her husband, Agamemnon?"
"Because she was bitter and angry about Agamemnon murdering her daughter, Iphigenia."
"What is Jane Austen's message regarding Mr. Wickham?"
"That not all charming strangers can be trusted."
"Was revenge at work or justice in the Oresteia?" This question made me pause. It wasn't made for facts, it was an analysis.
"Revenge."
"Well said." The lights flicked on and the room was illuminated to be very small and concrete. "You have admirably answered these questions about your great loves. But, how deep have you delved? Were the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien's only published works?" He questioned. I swallowed hard.
"Yes and no." I breathed. This was a hard one.
"Oh? And how so?" Leodokilus demanded.
"Mr. Tolkien received his ideas all throughout his life, and he began work on the Silmarillion when he was in a hospital being treated for shellshock and other injuries he received during World War One. He spent many years cultivating the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. But he had so many notes and other completed or semi-completed material that several other works were published after his death. They were all his work, but they were complied by his son, Christopher. Do those count?"
Leodokilus was silent at first. "No."
"Then no, the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit were J.R.R. Tolkien's only published works."
"Mr. Leodokilus?" I timidly asked. He raised his overly-bushy eyebrows.
"What is the monster you're planning on feeding me to?"
A shadow crossed his face.
"Child, do not speak of it. You are entirely too much like her. Your brother should have told you." He glanced furtively around. "He passed his examination long ago. We must examine every human who desires to come among us. Not all are trustworthy and true."
"But I've…forgotten."
"Do not speak its name here!" The old kami thundered. I flinched. Jason was supposed to tell me something? He certainly screwed that up.
A scream rang out from behind me. The kami from behind was writhing. A strange black substance was coming over him. It was like ink, dark and liquid. Leodokilus vanished. The darkness overtook the kami. It molded into a menacing shape, a monster. Hissing and spraying its darkness around, it stepped toward me. I ran to the other side of the room, banging on the wall, trying to find a way out.
"Help! Help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. The thing lunged for me. The wall gave way before me and I stumbled into a corridor. Cement stung my palms. Shoving off the ground, I ran, my lungs burning with panic. I busted through the door on the opposite side, slamming it shut behind me with a resounding BOOM!
My knees crumpled. The cold floor hurt against my bruised palms and I gasped as I breathed. Fumbling at the wall, I found a light switch. Flicking it on, my eyes bulged. I screamed at the top of my lungs.
The thing was oozing, making wet, sucking sounds, as it crept under the door. I backed to the edge of the room. My brain shut down, too terrified to think. The monster began to rise up out of the ooze. It stunk and I felt my lunch leave my stomach. Looking up, I watched it form. Not even walls of stone can stop it. The monster took on an ozzing, hissing form, like a ghost made of hate.
A crash came from above. Light poured in. Someone had jumped through the floor. My hands came up over my face defensively. Flames erupted in front of them. The monster screamed and wailed, burning away. Acri
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