Rae followed Lin into her kitchen, which led off to what Rae had assumed was an enclosed closet. She had never exactly thought of Lin being the type of person to have a hidden storage room, but everyone has secrets, and Lin Tsai's just happened to be the last library in the world. It happens.

She hobbled forward, so that she was almost face to face with the keyhole. It scanned her eye, like any normal door, but what it revealed was certainly not normal.

Rae fell silent. She was almost too shocked to react. It was really just a broomshed filled to the brim with books, but to her, it was much, much more. She ran in and ran her hand across the shelves, cherishing the feel of each indivisual book. "Wow...", was all she could say, "Wow..."

She wanted to pull one out and start reading, deviour them like a pack of wolves. But she was afraid of damaging their delicate spines.

"No, go ahead.", Lin pulled out a book herself, "Take as many as you'd like. These books haven't seen light in many years."

Gingerly, Rae pulled out just one book, but one of the many she would borrow in the years to come. It was the next book of the Harry Potter series. Immediatly, she sat down on the carpet and started reading, because what else do you do when you are handed an unlimited supply of books?

Lin chuckled, but it eventually turned into a hard cough, "I'm okay, it's okay.", she said when Rae looked up, worried. "The library. Do you like it?"

"L-love it. I be love it.", Rae said, already packing the book in her bag.

"My family has had this library for generations. This house was my grandmother's, who passed it down to my mother who passed it down to me."

"But I thought that be illegal! Once the owner of an antique be passed away, it be supposed to be sent to the government!"

"Huh. Guess we forgot that rule.", Lin winked. Rae felt her respect for this woman soar. She was hiding an illegal library. "Do you remember the last person to live here?"

Rae shook her head, "She didn't get out much..."

"That was my mother. She passed away last year—"

"—Oh, I be sorry."

"—Don't be. I moved here to make sure the government wasn't able to get their hands on this place. It wasn't until a few days ago that I realized I didn't have a daughter, or a son, for that matter. I had no one for this library after I passed away." She gave Rae a knowing look, who immediatly blanched.

She realized what this meant immediatly: She wants to give me the library. For a second there was a thrill of exhileration, but it was quickly replaced by fear. This wasn't an easy gift to accept. It would mean a dark secret, a possible interrogation, and danger for her family.

She needed more time. "I-I better be getting home."

Lin looked disappointed, but not as disappointed as Rae was in herself. She had never been one to back away from responsibility, and now that she had been given the chance of the lifetime, she was walking out the door. She waved once more to Lin who was standing, almost ghostlike, outside the library door.

As she suspected, only Ethan was home. When she came through the door, he stepped out of his room, and Rae was struck with the resemblance he bore to their mother. A stern frown, arms crossed above his chest, and a message in a terse voice. "Where you be?"

"Lin's house.", Rae tried to casually remove her bag, but she felt like the book was additional weight. She felt concious of every move she was making. "Why?"

"Mom said you should be home after school. You be doing homework first."

Rae rolled her eyes, sighing. "Okay. I be lying down now.", already halfway up the stairs.

"You not be eating dinner!", Ethan called up.

"I not be hungry!"

She only had time to stash the book under her bed before she collapsed onto the covers, utterly exhausted. She just didn't know how to feel. About any of this. It seemed no matter what she did, someone would be in danger. She just needed time... time to decide... time...

She let herself shut her eyes, and before she knew it, she was asleep.

Rae dreamed of Hogwarts, her magical world, and then she was in the library. Her hand ran along the spines, feeling every world she knew she would disappear to. But something was wrong. There was a strange dust everywhere. And then the books were floating off the shelves and repeatedly attacking her, as if begging for her attention. And so Ethan arrived, wearing a weird black cloak saying, "You're late!", again and again.

And out of nowhere there was a siren, a throbbing headache and Rae's eyes flew open. She stared up at the ceiling fan while her breathing slowed down. The siren was still ringing though. Rae propped up on her pillow and checked the time. 3:00 a.m in the morning, no one would be awake at this time.

The siren rang louder. Rae looked out the window for the source of the noise.

It was an ambulance. And it was parked outside of Lin's house.

One thing was for sure, her time was up.
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A.N: Thank you for readingggggggg!

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! I think you can guess where this story is going... ;) Leave feedback if you have any!

:)