The Time Mage

Chapter 4:The Library

I reread the letter silently to myself. There wasn't a signature or any indication of who it was from.

"Well," began Toby after a few seconds of silence, "I didn't really understand half of that, but at least we know where to go next."

"What? We can't just go to the library. It could be a trap. We could get there and find a hundred more of those robots waiting for us," I replied, folding the letter and placing it back into the envelope. 

"Ok, we'll play it safe. Instead of going inside the library we can park across the street and watch for any suspicious figures entering or exiting. That way we might still learn something."

"I don't know. I just..." I trailed off. I wanted answers more than anyone, but the excitement from that morning still haunted me. The last thing I wanted was to have to go through it again. 

"I don't mean to rush you, but we're about an hour away from the library, so if we don't decide what we're doing now then we might miss the time slot."

I looked at the dashboard. The time was 9:57 AM, giving us only three minutes to spare. 

"Alright," I decided reluctantly.

Toby pulled back onto the road and began driving towards our hometown. I reopened the letter, and as we drove, we tried to decipher what each line meant. 

"The first line is clearly the salutation, but the second line doesn't make sense," I said, after reading it for the third time. "What does 'We've met before in years to come' mean?"

"Maybe it's a weird way of saying we will meet in the library. Like, you guys haven't actually met yet, but if you show up at the library then you'll be able to say you have, or something like that."

"But we're not meeting in a coming year, we're meeting in less than an hour."

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe one of the later lines will give us more context," said Toby.

I moved my gaze down the piece of parchment. "The next line says: 'Every one of them are after me, and they're after you, too'."

"That must be referring to the robots," said Toby, optimistically. "That means whoever wrote this letter is on our side."

The thought of there being another person running from the robots was oddly comforting. Maybe they could be trusted, and hopefully they'd have answers and an idea of what to do. 

I moved on to the next line. "'They want the power you possess on your finger.'"

"This one's  easy. We already knew they wanted your ring."

"Okay, but how does this ring posses power?" I said looking at the opal stone and gold band that hugged my finger. "I've been wearing it since last night and nothing unusual or powerful has happened."

"Maybe you have to say some sort of magic word or spell. Read the last line again."

I shifted my gaze to the bottom of the parchment and read "Emmaline, bearer of the ring, mage of time."

"See! Mage! I bet you have magical abilities or something. Oh, that'd be so cool!"

I rolled my eyes. "If I was capable of magic, don't you think I'd now that by now? Like, wouldn't I have accidentally changed my hair color or made someone I didn't like blow up into a balloon and float away like Harry Potter did?"

"Maybe your powers work differently, or maybe you needed that ring in order to activate your powers and they're still charging up right now," said Toby. "Just promise me that if you do have magical powers you'll still be friends with me despite being way cooler."

"I'm already way cooler than you," I joked. 

"Wow, okay. Glad to know I have nothing to worry about," laughed Toby.

We continued discussing the letter, but only became more confused as we did. Eventually, we moved on to discussing our plan for when we arrived at the library. 

"Ok, it looks like we'll arrive five minutes before ten," said Toby, glancing at his phone which was navigating him back to town. "We can wait in the car and see if there's anyone suspicious entering the library. Then, we can either wait around after ten and continue watching the doors, or we can go inside and try to meet whoever wrote this letter. It's your call."

I let out a deep sigh. I wasn't in a very decisive mood, and I wished someone else could tell me what the right choice was. I thought about everything that was written in the letter and decided that maybe the person who wrote it would be able to give me the answers I wanted. 

"Alright," I said, "Let's go in and find whoever it is that wrote this."

Toby looked excited for the rest of the drive. We pulled into the library parking lot exactly when Toby said we would, with five minutes to spare. We sat there in silence, watching everyone who entered and exited the library doors. Every once in a while I scanned the surrounding area, checking to see if any robots were out looking for me, but everyone appeared to be human. 

When the car clock changed to 9:59, Toby and I got out of the car and entered the library. It had been a few years since I had last been here. Since starting high school, I usually used the schools library when I needed it, or opted to complete most research using the internet if possible. However, when Toby and I were younger, we would often come to the library to read and hangout after school. Entering the library caused a flood of memories to rush through my mind, and despite feeling anxious about whatever might happen, I also felt a sense of security. 

"It looks like they may have changed a few things since the last time I was here," I said to Toby who also looked around in confusion. 

"I'll ask someone," he said, and he walked up to a woman with floral patterned spectacles and a gray bun. 

Moments later he was leading the way to the far right corner. The science fiction section consisted of three tall, long shelves filled with everything from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones. Toby and I spent a couple minutes watching a tall, bald man study the back cover of Andy Weir's The Martian, but the man took no notice of us and said nothing, even when I pretended to want a book he was standing in front of. We found no one else in this section of the library. 

"That's weird," I said, scanning each aisle for a third time. 

"I know," replied Toby, who was staring at one of the shelves. "Why would A Wrinkle in Time be placed next to The Time Machine? It doesn't match the rest of the library's classification system."

I rolled my eyes hoping Toby would notice and realize my patience was growing thin. 

"Sorry Em..." he apologized, trying to turn his attention back to me, but I saw his eyes glance a few times at the incorrectly placed books. 

"The time was 10 AM when we got to the Science Fiction section. Someone should have been here. It doesn't make any sense."

"I completely agree," said Toby, his eyes glancing at the books for a third time. "Maybe this is some kind of joke."

"I doubt it. The book referenced the ring and the robots, and there's no way someone sent an army after me to get some laughs. It's beyond anything I've ever see on Impractical Jokesters." I looked at Toby, who didn't seem to be paying attention. "Seriously, Toby? Just fix the books already." 

He quickly moved to the shelf and grabbed both books. Then he scanned the section for their proper locations while I waited impatiently nearby. As he moved to place the first of the two books back on the shelves, an envelope fell out from in-between them. 

"What's this?" asked Toby, picking it up off the floor. "It has your name on it."