I'm really enjoying this so far! It's so creative. I love the idea of a cafe where you can go eat foods from books! 

Day 1, Part 3

Scuttles decided to turn right back around and wander back into Fantasy Foods. They bet that they could be of some use to Harrison- probably. For some reason, whenever they made food, anyone who ate it gave politely strained smiles, set it down, and never finished it. Which was strange, because Scuttles thought stuff like popcorn and cheese on toast was really good. Plus, people always complain about needing a variety, right? So… 

“Hello,” Harrison was collecting the dishes the CBers had left on the counter. “Mm, Scuttles, right?”

“Yep,” Scuttles agreed, then gestured to Ptheo on their shoulder. “And this is my pterodactyl, Ptheo.”

“Haha, cool! I love his glasses,” Harrison smiled.

Scuttles glanced sideways at Ptheo, who looked slightly less indigent at the praise. Hopefully, he was getting over being small for the stay at the Booklyn Library.

“Are you here to help? Or are you still hungry?” Harrison asked.

“Whelp, both,” Scuttles admitted. “But I’ll help before eating anything else.”

“Okay,” Harrison agreed, balancing the plates as he looked Scuttles over. “You good at cooking?”

“I like sandwiches with peanut butter, Vegemite, salt and vinegar chips and pickles,” They replied innocently, as a way of answering. 

Harrison choked, then roared with laughter. “You-” he said, pointing his free hand at Scuttles, “are MY kind of eater. I’d put you on cooking duty, only the customers probably wouldn’t be as pleased as you or me if you put something like that on their plates. Sorry…” He grinned, shaking his head, and disappearing through the door behind the counter. 

He came back out a moment later, with a notebook and a broom. “So, that leaves either serving or cleaning. Which do you prefer?”

“I’ll clean,” A voice came from behind Scuttles, and he glanced over to see Hex. 

“Then I’ll serve,” Scuttles said, then coughed and bowed slightly, saying “I am here to serve.”

That earned another laugh, and Harrison passed the broom and notebook with a pencil over the counter. “Switch off every now and then,” he suggested. “And any cleaning supplies you might need are just through that door, to the right. There’s a closet.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the swinging door.

“Okay,” Hex agreed, and started sweeping. Scuttles stood awkwardly at first, but then people started trickling in, and they soon found a rhythm.

~~~

WildWolf glanced over her shoulder at Fantasy Foods, considered going back in for more Keeper treats, but then patted her stomach. Nope, she was way too stuffed to do that. So, she wandered over to the reception desk, where Periwinkle and Silver Crystal were standing. 

“Hey,” she said to the other two girls, “What’s up?”

“Hello,” Peri said with a smile. “We’re going to be shelving books. You can too, if you want. Dewey said there are plenty of carts full of returned books!”

“Oooh, okay,” WildWolf agreed, and Dewey grinned at her from her seat. 

“Great! Thank you girls for the help,” she said. Then she got up, and went to an opening in the desk and walked out of it, then around the curved desk over to an area were carts full of books. “Just take a cart of your pick! Have fun,” she said, walking back to the desk. 

The girls considered the carts, and WildWolf picked a cart that had juvenile fiction books on it, dragging it away to that section. It was quite heavy, but the wheel rolled well, and she managed to get it over to the first shelf. 

“OOF,” WildWolf stated, and then pulled out the first book, searching the section in front of her before putting the book in its proper place. 

She wandered throughout that area, slowly moving down one aisle, then up another, the cart growing steadily lighter. Up ladders and down on her knees, and by the time the cart was about three fourths empty, she was wiped out. By now, she had gotten to the S section with the authors names, and she promised to put one last book away before she took a break. Pulling the book from the cart, and then looking at the cover, she saw with a jolt that the book was Stellerlune, by Shannon Messenger. She hadn’t read this last book yet, and she hesitated when she found the Keeper series on the shelf. She glanced to the left, and then the right, and then slouched down against the back of the cart, opened the book, and began to read. She didn’t see Dewey pass by the aisle with a knowing smile on her face.

~~~

“Hmm,” Marin said, up on the top of the ladder. “W.I.T.C.H. sounds interesting. A graphic novel. We could give it a whirl,” she decided, handing down the book to Cillian before shoving the bookshelf sideways and zooming down the shelf, stopping herself at a new section of books.

“Marin,” Cillian called softly to her.

“What,” Marin pulled out another book then started down the ladder.

“I think we, um, have enough books for now,” Cillian sounded like she was stifling a laugh.

Marin reached the bottom of the ladder, and looked over at her friend. “Oh. Yeah, you are probably right.”

Next to Cillian, there was a stack of books that was at least 4 feet high. Marin blinked at it, then laughed. “Think we can read them all?” she asked.

“Yep. For now,” Cillian reminded her friend with a smile.

“Where to?” Marin asked, glancing down the aisle. 

“Just a minute,” Cillian rushed off, soon returning with an empty book cart. “Help me load these on.”

And so, a few moments later, the two friends were trudging down the aisles, dragging and pushing the cart of their reading books. Once at the back, they both entered an area that looked a bit like the story time place at the opposite end of the library. But here there were bunches of bean bag chairs, overstuffed armchairs, a few couches, and lots of lamps and small tables. The windows here were covered with soft velvety curtains, blocking daylight, but successfully making this area feel like a cozy place to read on a cold and rainy day. The two girls got their cart by two large bean bag chairs, grabbed a book, and then took turns reading softly aloud to each other.

~~~

Seadragon was up in the area with all the desks and computers, typing furiously on one of the keyboards. She paused, then clicked on a link, grabbed a pair of headphones and stuck them on. Then she leaned back, listened and learned as somewhere above, pangolin was thoroughly enjoying switching between looking out the glass dome, and down at the mural. Parody and Lyric enjoyed the same.

~~~

Celine was somewhere in the children's section perusing books similar to the one Dewey had shown them earlier (she’d looked at that one first). She would find a book, and then sit in the aisle, looking through it before replacing it. After she must’ve read about half of those books, she spread out and got to know the children’s section extremely well.

~~~

Moon Wolf, Bushy Tail, and Eclipse were in that open area with the chairs beneath the domed roof high above, playing a game of chess. Well, Eclipse and Bushy Tail were playing, and Moon Wolf was watching, planning to play the winner. People definitely filled up the library. Babies who could just only walk to 8 year olds to teens to young adults to parents and old folk entered the library, chatted with Dewey for a moment before finding their desired area. Sometimes people returned books, or asked to help find some, or simply talked to Dewey about things as trivial as; “Dewey, I just LOVE your shoes! Where did you get them?”

Moon Wolf liked seeing all of this, how at ease these people were with the library and Dewey.

~~~

Somewhere, perhaps below the library, perhaps above it, perhaps right in the middle. Or maybe lurking around the next corner. But wherever it is, someone, or something always was. Just existing. They belonged to the library, heart and soul. They watched as children rushed by, excited for story time. They watched as older children and students quietly searched the shelves and read. They watched as people wrote on paper that was scattered around the library whenever an idea struck. That was a clever thing, that paper everywhere. They had thought of it themselves. They watched as adults followed their children, forever their guardians. Up in their own books, or in the computer room, with others, old or young. Everyone who went to the last story, where the dome was the ceiling and walls, were scenes changed with every step. They watched, and listened. And never, never had there been any guests who stayed at the library, all day long. No, that was new. And it was a chance for them to BE.

Dead: 0

Alive: 15 (CelineBurningBright [Celine], WildWolf, Hex, Lyric, Periwinkle [Peri], Moon Wolf, pangolin, Eclipse, Scuttles, Cillian, Marin, Endless Parodies [Parody], Silver Crystal [Silver], Seadragon, Bushy Tail [BT, Bushy])

@Celine, I would HAPPILY welcome that list of foods! I need some more stuff... I only could think of stuff out of Keeper and HP :/ 

This is amazing!!! Thank you so much for doing this!

This is really well-written! I quite like the intrigue of the last paragraph, and the paragraph about definitely sounds like something I'd do 

Day 1, Part 4

Moon Wolf yawned and stretched. The library was now closed, and night had fallen. Harrison had left after feeding the CBers one last time that day, promising to return relatively early the next morning.

All the guests had gathered near the reception desk after they all finished their food, as Dewey had asked them too. Once all of them were there, Dewey powered down the computer, and then went into a back room and turned off the electricity. 

“Okay, how are we going to see-?” someone in the crowd asked as Dewey came back out. 

Suddenly, orbs of soft yellow light lit the room like large stars. They hovered around, the lowest about 5 feet off the ground, and the highest dancing at the top of the dome. They drifted around slightly, but didn’t seem to go far or fast. It gave the library a soft glow as far as the eye could see, but somehow not diminishing the actual night sky outside the dome high above.

“Y’all can pick a lantern if you want,” Dewey said, exiting the desk and grabbing a lantern that she could reach. “And it’ll hover by you.”

She then released the ball of light, and it hovered by her shoulder. Moon Wolf, grabbed a lantern as well, and then let go of it. And it did hover just by her shoulder, like she was holding a moon by her head. Moon Wolf decided she quite liked it.

“And now, I’ll show y’all where you can sleep,” Dewey said, and the CBers who wanted lanterns took them. 

Then they followed Dewey over to the juvenile and young adult section of the library. The Librarian wandered the shelves, explaining she was looking for a good example. Finally, she stopped right by the Harry Potter books, which were on the third shelf off the ground. She then tapped every single copy of the Harry Potter books, extras and all, but no other books by that famed author, J.K. Rowling.

After Dewey tapped each of the books with her pointer finger, the books then tipped forward, revealing a space that looked much larger than the spot the books had originally filled. Moon Wolf looked closer, and saw that there was a bed in that space. Somehow, even in that bookshelf, it looked like a four poster bed with gold and red covers and red curtains. 

“Woah,” Celine said. “That’s interesting.”

“Exactly!” Dewey said. 

“I wanna sleep there,” Marin said. 

“Um, me too!” Cillian said. 

As Cillian said that, another bed seems to materialize from nowhere. It looked identical to the other, only it had the colors of Ravenclaw.

“One problem,” Scuttles said, scratching their head. “How do you fit in there? It looks like you should be a garden gnome to fit in there.”

“Try it, girls,” Dewey encouraged Marin and Cillian. “Just fold back the covers.”

The two girls look slightly nervous at playing the hamsters and being the first to get into bed a whole new way. But, they both folded back the covers on their desired beds, and with a golden flash, they disappeared into the beds, fitting perfectly.

Cillian gasped, and drew the covers up to her chin. “It’s so cool! It looks exactly how Harry’s room does, with a window over here-” and she got off her bed and wandered over to a cover of another book, looking at it. “It’s a nice view.”

Moon Wolf smothered a giggle, and glanced around at the other CBers. There were varying expressions of incredulousness and excitement.

“Wait, where’d the library go? Where’d Cillian go?” Marin looked confused, then brightened. She got out of her bed, and walked toward Cillian’s bed. About half way there, she apparently reached into mid air, turned something, and pushed forward. 

“Oh, there you are,” she said, with apparent relief. Cillian turned and grinned at her friend.

Dewey cleared her throat. “To leave your rooms, simply open the golden door you see.”

The two girls looked as though they heard Dewey, for they both walked toward the group, and appeared to open a door that they couldn’t see. With a golden flash, they both reappeared, their normal size.

“So cool,” the two girls said at the same time.

“And so, that’s how your rooms will be,” Dewey concluded. “Feel free to take any books in there for nighttime reading, but bring them out when you get up.” She then turned to the other CBers. “Same thing with y’all. And to get into your room, just tap the present book or series that are present! It doesn’t matter if some of the books are missing. There is no curfew, but I do suggest getting to bed before midnight. And once you are in your rooms, the books will fold up again. I just kept them down for Cillian and Marin so you could see what to do. Mk?”

“Alright,” Moon Wolf replied with the others. 

“K! Have fun! I’ll be in my room, behind the desk, that door, if you need me and I don’t hear you calling. Remember, leave any brownies you may catch a glimpse of alone!” and then Dewey walked away with her glowing lantern floating after her. 

Moon Wolf decided to follow WildWolf, as she had announced that she was going to the Keeper books. 

Once they got there, Moon Wolf helped WildWolf tap all the Keeper books present. Then, the books leaned forward, revealing a large bed and a Panakes tree. 

“Which do you want?” Moon Wolf asked WildWolf courteously.

“Hmm. The Panakes tree, if you don’t mind.” WildWolf said.

“Okay, sure,” Moon Wolf then reached in and folded back the covers of the large bed, and WildWolf folded back a blanket at the foot of the tree. The two girls vanished with a flash.

Inside her room, Moon Wolf looked around. It looked exactly how Sophie Foster’s room was said to look, with that large bed, flower carpet, and see through window walls. When she looked out the walls, she could see the ocean, and some of the animals that were kept in Havenfield. By the Panakes tree, she could see a small figure of WildWolf settling beneath the swaying petals of the tree.

Looking around her room again, Moon Wolf could almost imagine Sandor, Sophie’s goblin bodyguard, stationed outside the golden door across the room, even though she knew that it would just lead out to the library.

Digging under the covers, she found a bright blue elephant with a Hawaiian t-shirt on. She smiled, thinking how cool it was that Ella, Sophie’s snuggle buddy, was part of the room’s accommodation. She was tired, so she clapped her hands, darkening the walls, then burrowed beneath the covers with Ella, falling asleep almost immediately, dreaming of flying alicorns.

~~~

It was past midnight, and most of the CBers had found their rooms in some of their favorite books. And so, some dreamed of playing quidditch, of drinking the moon, of flying on Sunny’s back over Pyrrhia desert, of doing the dangerous Trial by Tale, of solving mysteries in the books of Agatha Christie, of many, many different things.

But one was on the top story, laying with their back on the mural, staring up at the stars. They didn’t notice a shadow sneaking behind them, and they didn’t remember anything from that point on, in their own memory. Someone else was in their mind, someone with different memories. And someone with the need of revenge.

~~~

They waited. All night long. Not giving the body a chance to rest. Whatever. Their mind was strong, and it controlled any urge the used body might want to sleep. They almost started to get bored, but then their patience was rewarded, in the early dawn light. Moon Wolf was sleepily trodding to the top level, wanting to watch the sunrise in the glass dome. Unfortunately, she never saw that golden glow, no. She was struck from behind, having not seen the shadow of someone she probably knew, though the mind and thoughts were not their own now. No, the only thing that Moon Wolf saw before falling to the ground was a shimmering gold covering her eyes. And then life was gone. And her story closed.

Dead: 1 (Moon Wolf)

Alive: 14 (CelineBurningBright [Celine], WildWolf, Hex, Lyric, Periwinkle [Peri], pangolin, Eclipse, Scuttles, Cillian, Marin, Endless Parodies [Parody], Silver Crystal [Silver], Seadragon, Bushy Tail [BT, Bushy])