Within their dreams (Reverse Harem)

Chapter 21

Ivy's POV

The library is the biggest I've ever seen, with rows and rows of floor-to-ceiling bookcases. The dark oak shelves shine in the small rays of light filtering in through the windows. I take a deep breath in, the smell reminding me of the bookshop back home and a pang of homesickness hits my chest.

I've barely thought about home since I was brought here, but the library brings back the memories of everything I missed. I make my way down the rows, trailing my fingers over the spines of countless books, wondering if anyone had noticed I was gone. Was Stanley wondering where I was? Has Claire tried to contact me since I didn't show up to work? I missed spending my days at the bookshop, borrowing myself in books and worrying about the dying plants on my windowsill Stanley would yell at me about daily.

The boys took me away from everything I've known and I've not tried to go back even once. I loved having a place that was mine and now I can imagine the thin layer of dust covering all my belongings and the dishes in my sink caked with mould.

I try to swallow down my guilt, focusing instead on the girls in front of me, guiding me through the room until we get to the back of the room. Scarlette takes the lead, seeming to know exactly where we are going, while Willow and I trail behind. Even if I did eventually go back to my home, whether by choice or not, I'd always question who my family was. I only remember my foster parents and the hole in my chest of not knowing who I really belonged to eats away at me even more now that I am here. I want answers no matter what happens in the future.

The further down we get, the more unkempt it seems to be like people don't bother walking past the first forty bookcases. It makes me itch to restore it to what it once must have looked like, but I assume it must not get a lot of visitors. Claire would've yelled at me if the bookshop ever got in this state, her need for cleanliness the one thing I didn't miss. But it did make me sad to know these books were withering away under layers and layers of dust. Books are so precious and deserve to be treated like the treasures they are.

At the end of the room, there's a small door that Scarlette led us into the room thick with dust that it makes it hard to breathe. It looks like a filing office, the walls filled with binders organised into sections for every mythical creature you could think of. There is a table in the corner, piled high with more binders that someone couldn't be bothered to put back on the shelves. I wave a hand in front of my face, attempting to get a better look through the haze the dust was forming.

"This is where most of the files are kept. They're not gone through often so they might be a little dusty."

"Dusty?" Willow squeaks as she pulls out a large binder and a spider scuttles past. "Does no one bother to clean over here?"

"If it bothers you that much, why don't you cast a little spell and make it all sparkling again," Scarlette says, raising a brow as Willow grimaces at the cobwebs clinging to the pages of the folder.

"How are we supposed to find out whether I'm even in here?" I ask, glancing around at the hundreds of binders littering the shelves. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

"Yeah, it's going to take forever to go through all of these and we don't really have that kind of time."

We both look at Willow, who rolls her eyes playfully.

"Well, since we don't have much to go on, we can create a little shortcut."

Willow undoes the crescent moon broach pinned to her dress and holds out her hand.

"Give me your finger."

I hold out my index finger and she pokes the needle of the broach into my skin until a bead of blood appears. I take a quick glance at Scarlette who watches the blood pool at the top of my fingertip, transfixed. I clear my throat and she snaps out of it, catching my eye.