Ooh, I died (and Cillian too). This is getting quite interesting and Dewey seems suspicious right now. So there's a golden knife, and golden figurines; is it a type of repeating motif, perhaps?

The Librarian

Dewey loved the Booklyn Library where she both lived at and worked. She was only in her early teens, of course, and she didn’t run the place. But her parents, kind and cheery, promised to Dewey that one day, she would be in charge of the precious worlds and information that resided in the library.

“I can’t wait till that day,” she would excitedly say to Story, almost every night before they went to sleep. 

“Me too!” Story would reply. “You are going to make the worlds’ greatest librarian, Dewey! I’m sure of it!”

“And you can be the worlds’ best little sister librarian,” Dewey smiled in the dark.

Story giggled. “I already am!”

Dewey would roll on her side and look over the side of the top bunk bed, seeing the blurry shape of her sister below. Dewey fumbled around for her glasses, then perched them on her nose to see Story curling up tighter in the blankets, eyes fluttering shut. 

“Yes,” Dewey whispered, “You already are. I know that first hand!”

Story opened her eyes to look up at her big sister, and gave a sleepy smile. “That’s a good answer,” she’d say, before drifting into golden dreams of the future.

~~~

“Okay, that’s enough,” Dewey’s mom said with an exasperated but loving smile. “Go outside! You’ve been here reading all morning. Where’s Story?”

Dewey looked up from the book she was in the middle of, and groaned. “But it’s a good part!”

“Every part is a ‘good part’,” her mother pointed out. “Go find your sister.”

“She’s out back,” Dewey said, hoping that knowing where her sister was would be good enough and she could continue reading. 

“Good, now go out with her,” was the annoying reply, so with a huff Dewey marked her page and shoved the book under the armchair she was in, so no one would check it out when she was gone. 

“Arrrrrg! BOOM! ka-ZAM!” 

Dewey giggled, peeking around a tree near the back doors, watching her sister play in the grass with small toys. 

“And with a gasp, Gracie dove to the ground, shards of the explosion narrowly missing her!” Story narrated loudly, tossing pieces of grass into the air. “‘What shall I do now??’ Gracie sobbed, covering her scratched face. ‘My only transport is gone! How will I get off this accursed island?’”

“I’ll save you, Gracie!” Dewey said in a deep, strapping voice before running to Story, arms outspread, flapping them up and down like wings. 

“EEEEE!” Story shrieked, “It’s a big, ugly flying creature! What shall I doooo??” 

“I’ll show you big, ugly creature,” Dewey snarled, scooping her sister up before setting the heavy girl back down again, tickling her neck. 

“Please, no, I surrender!” Story could barely breathe, for laughing so hard. 

“Who’s big and ugly?” Dewey demanded, lessening the tickles a little bit. 

Story gasped for breath, chest heaving. Then she announced, “You are!”

And so, Dewey pounced with more tickles, and Story shrieked from the touch, rolling in the grass, laughing as hard as the next person. Dewey couldn’t help but laugh along, and soon, they were both on their backs in the short grass, laughing about nothing and everything. Finally, their laughs became giggles and the giggles pants, until they both lay there in happy silence, staring up at the robin egg blue sky between the branches of the oaks. Then Story rolled over and sat up, grabbing the golden figurine and saying, “‘Well, I suppose if it’s my only bet, I’ll take the ugly animal to the skies and fly home, safe and sound.’”

“You will be safe and sound,” Dewey’s voice shifted, and she stood up. “I won’t drop you… probably.”

And so, she crouched to the ground and Story climbed onto her back, still gripping her figurine, and then Dewey ran around the trees with her sister safely on her back, soaring between the sky, and between love of siblings.

Day 2, Part 6

“Seriously?” Seadragon grumbled once everyone was gathered at the front desk, Dewey searching to see if Cillian and Marin’s stories had indeed closed. “Again? We were just here. Just here!”

“Seriously,” Eclipse snapped back. “It’s not like we gathered here for pleasure.”

“See,” Peri pointed at the two golden figurines on the desk, “It’s no joke. We don’t like it any better, either.”

Dewey came back out, carrying two books. She set them on the desk. The one on the right was a soft yellow color, with the silver words, Cillian’s Story, and the left one, a violet color, Marin’s Story. 

Peri flipped open both books, and each fell to a page where the silver writing ended. The last sentences were almost identical, reading:

‘Cillian turned and smiled at her friend, taking her hand, but as she did so, something sharp jabbed her in the back, and gold foiled over her eyes.’

‘Marin grinned at Cillian as she took Marin’s hand, about to tell her something funny, no doubt, when a pain in her back made her stiffen, and gold was all she could see.’

Peri sighed, and then stepped back so others could read it. Seadragon huffed when she saw the writing, wondering why they also got backstabbed. Surely there were other ways to… well, you know. Kill? Not that it really mattered.

“I feel that this is awfully depressing,” Dewey said hesitantly, “Seeing as Moon Wolf is also gone, and all three losses so close together. I mean, I feel saddened too. Perhaps we should go out back? Get some sunshine and fresh air?”

“Sounds good to me,” Scuttles said, and Ptheo flapped his small wings in agreement.

And so, a short while later, the group had gone through a pair of smaller double doors across the circular part of the library and out into a sunny area. Here there were trees, mostly oaks, big and strong, with an old but usable looking swing on one of the oaks. The grass was green and vibrant, and the sun made the group squint after being inside the dimmer library for so long. 

“Oh ho!” Scuttles laughed, for their pterodactyl had flown off their shoulder, circled above them a few times, before growing bigger and bigger, until he alighted on the grass, big enough for at least three people to ride on. “You grew again! A bit bigger than usual, too.”

Ptheo squawked loudly, and then lowered a wing in the obvious gesture. 

“Okay, sounds good,” Scuttles crawled on his back, and then glanced at the group below. They whispered something in Ptheo’s ear, to which the dino looked offended and indignant, but that was usually his expression. But Scuttles whispered something else, and the pterodactyl disgruntledly lowered his wing again. 

“Room for two more!” Scuttles announced, waving.

“Me!” Celine barreled forward, climbing onto the dinosaur’s back. “It’s not every day you get to ride an extinct animal!”

“I’ll come too!” Hex scrambled on, and Ptheo launched into the air just as Hex barely got settled.

“We’ll take turns!” Scuttles promised before their dino got too high to hear, and then Ptheo swooped out of sight.

WildWolf definitely felt uneasy about Dewey, but she still felt like she shouldn’t tell anyone else about what she might or might not have seen or imagined. So she sat on the swing, and was slightly surprised when Peri came up behind her and gave the swing a big push. The two girls took turns on the swing, a few others joining in from time to time as well. Ptheo gave rides to all of the CBers, and second rides, and even third rides. A few of the group felt even playful enough to start a game of freeze tag, laughing and yelling that they were frozen, someone came to unfreeze them. They all were having so much fun, and it was nice to forget the golden figures for a while, that none of them went inside for the rest of the day. Noon dipped into afternoon, and then evening, and only when the first stars started to peek out did the CBers go in for a well deserved dinner. Afterwards, many of the guests went straight to bed, some going to the rooms they stayed in last night, others trying out new ones. Lyric sat in an armchair to read before heading to bed, and Eclipse went with Hex to the last story to watch the stars pop out. And somewhere, lurking around the next corner, ready to appear at a moment's notice, someone waited for the next victim.

Dead: 3 (Moon Wolf, Cillian, Marin)

Alive: 12 (CelineBurningBright [Celine], WildWolf, Hex, Lyric, Periwinkle [Peri], pangolin, Eclipse, Scuttles, Endless Parodies [Parody], Silver Crystal [Silver], Seadragon, Bushy Tail [BT, Bushy])

Day 3, Part 7

“I’m hungryyyyyy,” Parody moaned, stumbling into the dark cafe. 

It was early morning, the sun had risen just a few hours before, and Parody was pretty sure they were the only one awake in the library. Faer stomach had woken fae quite rudely a few moments before, and so fae had scurried to the cafe, hoping that there was some sort of food left out. They’d passed Lyric on the way, who seemed to have fallen asleep in the chair she was in, a book open on her slumped chest. Parody had tiptoed by before speeding up and zooming around the corner to the cafe.

Now in the cafe, they scrounged the counter, finding a basket of slightly stale treats left out from last night. Thankful for the stale treats, they sunk down on a stool and gratefully shoved the treats into their mouth. After they’d eaten about half of the basket, they shoved the basket to the side, brushing crumbs into a neat pile, unsure where the trash was. Then they got up and left, wandering into the slowly waking library, sun starting to come through windows and any globes that were left fading away. Parody then wandered over to an elevator on the children’s side of the library, and pushed a button to summon it. The doors slid open almost instantly, and Parody got in the elevator. 

The interior of the elevator was a cozy room, about 6 feet in length and maybe four in width. The overall look of the elevator was a small sitting room, with an armchair and stool in one corner, and a bean bag chair in the other. Parody had giggled the first time they’d seen the inside, and now fae sat down in the armchair, and propped faer feet up on the stool. The first day the group had been here Parody had spent some of the morning in the elevator, reading, traveling up and down the two levels as other people used the elevator, before going to the top story and looking out the dome.

Now, they rode to the second level and got out after a few moments, then went to the ramp and climbed to the dome once again. Once there, they leaned over the railing and looked at the library down below. Fae saw a few CBers wander past below, some heading to the cafe, which had since opened, and some to the chairs and table in the open circular area. 

Parody then turned to look at the dome, but then doubled over, clutching their stomach. A shooting pain erupted inside, burning like fire. They tried to cry out, but their throat seemed to be constricting, letting in no air, and letting out no breath. With a strangled gasp, Parody went to their knees, and pain stopped as gold covered their sight.

~~~

Endless Parodies. Poisoned.

Parody was in a kneeling position, a small smile on their golden face and a book in their lap. Her story had definitely closed, the ice blue cover with Parody’s Story on the front was firmly shut, the last page dedicating to her last moments, blaming the poison in some pastries she’d eaten a while before. Pastries that Harrison hadn’t left out. Of course not, why would he? I left them out. It was easy enough. I knew that someone would wander in before the chef entered the library, not minding that the treats were stale, not noticing in the dark, the golden filling. Parody happened to be the victim this time, which was fine by me. It would help that Harrison was in charge of the place, it would give some suspicion to him, to draw attention away from me. Not that anyone would suspect me, anyway. I was quite liking turning guests into toys. Though it was quite a shame that nobody seemed to want to play with them.

Dead: 4 (Moon Wolf, Cillian, Marin, Endless Parodies [Parody])

Alive: 11 (CelineBurningBright [Celine], WildWolf, Hex, Lyric, Periwinkle [Peri], pangolin, Eclipse, Scuttles, Silver Crystal [Silver], Seadragon, Bushy Tail [BT, Bushy])