Life Of Hera

Part 19 - The Bookshelf

After school, Hera and Isabel went to the school's library. They saw a red cone with a cloth texture with legs waking around the library.
"Why is that cone walking?" said Hera.
"That's not a cone. It's the librarian," said Isabel.
The walking cone revealed his face. He was very short, only reaching the height of their waist while his hat was tall hat adding to his height, making him all together as tall as the girls. He looked up at them who seemed to be very tall from down below while holding his tall red hat with both his hands.
"So both of you are the ones being punished huh?" said the gnome.
They nodded. He walked towards the counter, took some book wrappers and handed it to them. He looked at Isabel and said, "I didn't know a kid such as yourself would get punished, Bookworm Girl."
"Long story," said Isabel.
He walked away back to his counter while holding his tall hat with both his hands, balancing it.
"I didn't know gnomes live in town," whispered Hera.
"His gnome family has been watching over the library for years. Most of the gnomes live in a hidden place in the Enchanted Forest. Ever since they stopped doing magic, the gnomes seldom come to town," whispered Isabel.
"Oh, he must be bored being the only the one around here. By the way, why does he wear such a tall hat? The hat seems to be taller than him," whispered Hera.
"Just to make himself look taller," said Isabel.
After that, both the girls took the wrappers and started wrapping the books in the library. After an hour of wrapping, Hera came across a book about secret places. She showed Isabel the book and the started looking through it. One of the places was the Enchanted Cave.
"Initially, my team wanted to explore the Enchanted Cave, but look at what's written below, " said Isabel while pointing at the words at the bottom of the page. She read, "Many explorers searched for this cave but after years and years of searching, it seems as if this legendary cave doesn't exist. This cave is said to be hidden in the Enchanted Forest and without the map to the cave, you will just be walking in circles."
After that, they put the book aside to check it out later and continued wrapping the books. The two of them came across many books about the history of magic.
As hours passed, people in the library started leaving until there was only Hera, Isabel and the gnome left. Hera and Isabel went to the second level of the library to collect the books for wrapping. They past many bookshelves, going deepe and deeper into the library until they reached a part of the library that was quite dark, with very little light. Suddenly, they saw a huge standing sign in front of a bookshelf and red tapes on the floor that were taped in a way forming a box around the bookshelf against the wall. The words on the sign read prohibited from touching, anyone and everyone. Isabel looked at Hera and said, "I've never seen this before, not allowed to touch?" she looked at the shelf "The books might be valuable. Something we've never read before! I want to know more."
"Can't you just read one of the books that are not prohibited from touching?" said Hera.
"I've read all the books in the library!"
Hera looked at Isabel, eyes wide, "Bookworm Girl indeed."
"Come on, I really want to check out these books!" said Isabel.
"Since there's no one in the library..."Hera looked around. "It wouldn't hurt to touch these books."
"Cool!"
The both of them put the books they were holding on the floor and stepped closer to the bookshelf. Isabel brushed her hands across the books, the expression on her face is as if she's in heaven. Hera crossed her arms while looking at the books attentively. Suddenly, as Isabel pulled one of the books off the shelf, they heard sounds of chains moving, the floor below them forming a semicircle to the bookshelf. Suddenly, it turned and both of them appeared in a place with many rocky walls around them.
"I didn't know that these secret passageways really existed!" said Isabel excitedly. After that, the bookshelf quickly turned back to its original position, trapping them in.
Isabel and Hera ran towards the bookshelf but it was too late. There were writings carved on the walls of the bookshelf, The books in here are as valuable as gold. The knowledge in them, powerful. If you wish to leave this place, bring me the book of a lady and a sphere. They looked at each other.
"A book of a lady and a sphere?" said Hera.
"So we have to bring the wall a book to leave."
"Let's get searching."
"Wait, Hera. You see," Isabel pointed at the words, "The books here are as valuable as gold, it means that there are books which contain pure, powerful knowledge. Let's check them out!"
"Isabel, we don't even know what this place is or if we will ever get out."
"How about we kill two birds with one stone?"
Hera looked at her questioningly.
"We've to find a book of a lady and a sphere, so we've to look at the books or maybe even read its contents. So we could check out the books and at the same time find the book!" said Isabel.
"That sounds good," said Hera.