The Amulet of Kryshar

Chapter 7

Dylan prodded my arm. I ignored him and pointedly flipped to the next page in the book I was reading. He poked my hand with his pencil. "Ruby! Come on, please help me."

I put my bookmark onto the page I was on. "I was just getting to a good part in the story, Dylan."

"I need your help though!"

"Stop whining, bro. I have helped you do your homework almost the entire lunch time." I glanced at the clock above the glass double-doors. "Yeah, sounds about right."

"Come on, sis!" he continued whining. "I'm going to get in trouble with my science teacher if I don't finish my homework on time."

I raised an eyebrow. "Mhmm. And whose fault is that?"

Dylan sighed and leaned back on his chair. He crossed his arms over his chest. "This isn't fair!" he complained.

I tried to keep a serious face but failed miserably when a smile slowly spread across my face. I lifted up a finger and looked at my brother with an air of importance: "As a wise man once said: 'Life is never fair.'"

Dylan groaned and hid his face in his hands. I grinned triumphantly and turned back to the book I was reading. The library just received a new delivery full of brand-new books, including one book series I have been dying to read. It was about a boy getting drawn into a fantasy world, where he undergoes several struggles and dangers. He meets several allies along the way and adopts the quest of defeating the tyrannical emperor. I always enjoyed reading fantasy books so much more than non-fiction; something about the sense of adventure gets my heart pumping in excitement. Whenever I read these fantasy books, I tend to daydream. Dream that I would take the place of the protagonist of the story, that I would be the one saving the world and have awesome powers. My thoughts started to drift off into a different world when I was abruptly yanked out of them.

My brother prodded my arm again. He glanced up at me sheepishly. "So..." he trailed off and then continued, "Can you please help me now? I know you are super-smart and probably know all of this already. Please?"

I snorted and turned his workbook a bit towards me so that I could see what he wrote. "Trying to convince me using flattery? I didn't know you had it in you, Dylan. And just for your information, it isn't going to work anytime soon." When he pouted in response, I laughed. Then I raised my eyebrow again. "This is multiple choice, bro. Why do you need my help? You should know this by now." I pushed the book back towards Dylan.

"But our teacher didn't explain it well enough..." Dylan muttered. I glanced at him sympathetically.

"Then it is best if you do what you know first and then show me what you can't answer. I'll try to help you then." I smiled encouragingly and watched as Dylan picked up his pencil with a weary sigh and tried to answer the questions. Suddenly, reading the book didn't really appeal to me anymore. After everything that has happened today, I was no longer sure if I want something to disrupt the ordinary life I had. Even though I probably imagined most of the weird things that I thought I saw, I already couldn't deal with that. My thoughts were racing around in circles. If something like in that fantasy book would really happen to me in real life, then I wouldn't be able to save the world. Or survive, now that I think about it. Despite that I would still most likely finish the book in two to three days. Give or take. But right then I didn't want to read about magical things. I wanted to stay in my normal life for once, even though it was really terrible at the moment.

I flipped the cover shut and looked around me for Lena and Anna They also joined us to the school library, but they were still browsing the shelfs for a book they could borrow over the winter holidays. I would probably need a giant bag to accommodate all of the books I would need to pass the time while we were on vacation. My parents still had to tell us what we were going to do for the holidays. I got up and walked around the library. The library wasn't that big, but I didn't really mind that as long as they had plenty of books for me to choose from. Rows upon rows of wooden bookshelves lined the room. Most of them weren't entirely filled with books. Most of them were battered, old books. Most of the pages were becoming yellow and losing their crispness. Several of the hardbacks' binding was starting to come loose. I finally found Lena and her sister in the non-fiction section.