A Witchy Inheritance

Chapter 13

"Why did you hide the library door from Marissa? Are family libraries supposed to be a secret or something?"

There was a flash of some emotion I didn't understand across his face followed by a split second of guilt before he blinked again. "Not exactly. She'll find out at some point that you're the caretaker for the family library but I don't want her to find out about it until you're more rooted in your abilities."

There was something in the way he said it that piqued my interest. "Why is that?"

Cicero pressed his lips together and looked away, then sighed. He then pushed off the door and took a couple steps towards me but stopped when he reached the edge of the staircase closest to me.

"Okay, here's the deal. There are only twelve paranormal family libraries on the planet. Two of which are pretty much lost to the magical world due to raiding and various other problems. So effectively there are ten. That means that when someone needs something that isn't in their own texts they go to their nearest magical library. You are the nearest library for everyone between Alaska and Texas. The nearest libraries to you are Hawaii, the Big Island, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There are only those three in the United States. There is one in eastern Canada and one in Brazil. The others are in Europe and Africa. There was one in Australia but it was one of the two that ended up getting lost about 50 years ago.

"This means when people basically in the western half of Canada and the United States have some sort of magic related question there going to be asking you, or specifically they'll ask your library and you fulfill those requests. Once you've had the library for a month you actually start getting paid for doing that work. Some librarians do just that as their job depending on how busy they are and the wages are something that you could probably live off of. I honestly don't know what the wages are, your aunt and I never discussed it. But it was her main paycheck while I was with her. And before you ask opting out of being a librarian is more difficult than you think it would be. It has to go to someone in your family which would be one of your two cousins and while they both thought they were prepared to take that on I can tell you they really were not.

"At least you are a librarian in your everyday life which means you have some experience with this, albeit not exact experience but some. If after that six month training, you decide it's too much for you to handle it could be, technically, taken over by one of your cousins. But that transfer is going to be another six months to a year as there is a lot more paperwork that has to happen when the librarian is alive when the library is transferred versus if they pass away."

A supernatural librarian, there had been a show I watched while I was still in my library sciences program that basically was about magical librarians. It'd been my favorite show when I was studying to be a librarian myself. I had enjoyed the fanciful nature of the show. But now that I was looking straight at the Stark truth of being a magical librarian myself I couldn't muster the same joy I had felt for that show. The idea of having to hunt down real magical objects and face real magical creatures was a bit more daunting of a lifestyle than I was ready for. And I definitely wasn't equipped for it.

I knew my eyes were wide when I focused on Cicero again. "Are magical creatures real to? Am I going to be hunting down objects or books or anything of that nature?"

The horror and fear must've shown on my face because Cicero lifted his hands in a calming motion from where he sat on the floor. "No, not really. There are some magical creatures but not all of the magical creatures you're thinking of are real. Most things like werewolves or that kind of thing, they do exist. They can be every day people or they can be magically inclined. If they are magically inclined beyond just being able to change form they are usually recruited to be a which is familiar. Beyond that there are some creatures you may have heard of, and some you haven't, and then plenty of creatures that you've heard of the don't exist. I think that going through an entire index of what species exist and what don't is probably a little heavy for your first day in the supernatural world but we can go through it if you really want to," he was cringing as he finished, clearly pleading with me not to make that choice.

As much as I wanted to know, I knew more information would probably make my brain explode so I didn't ask. Slowly I shook my head. "No that's okay. Save that for another day. Oh man," I scrubbed my face with my hands. I dropped them into my lap with an audible slap and an aggravated noise. "Am I supposed to do something with this family gift that I'm supposedly inheriting. Like how the library is apparently opened all sorts of people? Am I supposed to tell people what I see in their future?"

Cicero scrunched up his face and I could practically see him weighing his words in his mind. "You can, if it's some dire situation than your kind of expected to. But in general you use your own discretion on that kind of thing. As for the library, you can make it so that no one sets foot in that family library but you, and preferably me. If they want something you can send it to them or copy down the details of what they're looking for and send them that. You are under no obligation to let people visit that family library. That's how the one in Brazil has operated for generations. I can't remember anyone mentioning the last time a nonfamily member entered the library. The one in Australia was the same way until the most recent librarian opened it up and well, things didn't go real well."

I fought the urge to ask what exactly happened to the Australian library but I was almost at the maximum capacity of information at the moment and I wasn't sure I could handle that. Not to mention if it was something terrible I might have nightmares about it happening to me now that I had taken of the mantle of librarian.

"Okay," I paused gathering my thoughts. "How do I get these requests from people?"

Perking up a little Cicero straightened and gave an expression that was almost a smile. "That's an easy one. There is a crystal ball down there. That crystal ball is sort of like a voicemail service. When people put in an order with the library it goes to that crystal ball. And that crystal ball is also hooked up to a sort of magical scanning device so that if people need specific books or sections of books you can scan it and it will be sent to them through the crystal ball. There's a bit of a learning curve operating crystal balls but if you're even half as smart as your aunt said you were, you’ll figured out," he looked at me encouragingly, only the expression wasn't entirely convincing.

I wasn't entirely sure where to go from here. I had inherited some magical library, and some magical gift that apparently would progress whether I wanted it to or not. I didn't know what the next move would be. I didn't have the bandwidth to go explore that library or to see if any of those books my aunt had given me actually helped explain this gift. I was burnt out completely and I've been home less than two hours.

I dragged my gaze to Cicero who was watching me warily, "you can move your stuff to the extra bedroom. I’m going to grab something to eat and take it up to my room. Where I'm going to spend the rest of the night escaping into a book. Because I really cannot handle this right now. Then I'm going to go to work tomorrow as usual and tomorrow afternoon I will go through the stuff my aunt gave me and just trying get a handle on that before I even tackle the library."

Cicero winced. "I'm not sure it's the best idea to keep the library waiting. There's already not been a librarian since your aunt passed. There's surely going to be a backup."

"I don't have the energy to deal with this. This is a whole different world. It's not like it's some private collection, this is magic we’re talking about. And for all I know some of those books have spells on them that could turn me into a frog if I touch them. Don't tell me whether or not that's true," I shouted, waving my hand back and forth when Cicero opened his mouth. "I don't, I don't want to know. People can wait for those books, or information, or whatever it is they need. I'm going through my aunt's things first and only then when I feel like my brain is not going to explode and I am not going to break down in a crying panic attack then, I'll worry about the mechanics of the library," I felt my cheeks grow hot and I knew they were turning bright red. "Do I need to worry about you? Am I supposed to give you a job or food or I don't know something to do?"

Cicero’s face actually softened and the smile was tired but genuine. "No, I can entertain myself. Now that I have my phone, I will probably spend most of tomorrow reestablishing my connections with everyone, as I've been without an ability to check-in for about 2+ weeks. I’ll also reach out to my boss for you tomorrow as well. While you're getting food I'm going to put my number in your phone so that you have it just in case you need it. Yes, you might not want to use it but just in case something happens it might help to have someone on scene, wherever you might be, who has a knowledge of the paranormal world and experience covering stuff up to normal people." He didn't move after he said that. He just held out his hand as if assuming I would put my phone in it.

I stared at his hand from where I sat on the couch for several minutes before I heaved myself off the oversized cushion, pulling my phone out of my back pocket, and slapping it in his hand as I walked into the kitchen to make myself the steadfast peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had gotten me through years of not cooking in college. There was something deeply comforting about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a tall glass of milk. It might be juvenile but that level of childhood comfort was going to go a long way today.

I was halfway through prepping the sandwich when Cicero came in and slid my phone on the counter next to me. "My numbers in there under Cicero. Just in case you need it," he hesitated from where he stood over my right shoulder for a beat or two. "Good night Erin, sweet dreams. And you know where to find me if you need anything." With those last words said I heard him shuffle back into the living room and lift up the box full of his close and who knew what other belongings.

Setting thoughts of witches and cat-people aside I put all my focus into making my sandwich, pouring my milk, and prepared myself to spend the whole evening in my preferred brand of escapism, and over-the-top romance novel.