The Secret Library: The Spaces Between, page 1
THE SECRET LIBRARY: The Spaces Between
Copyright © 2019 Jonathan Gilbert
All rights reserved.
Published by Tardigrade House 2019
Auckland, New Zealand
No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.
Cover Design by saraoliverdesign.com
Youth With Sword © Leo Stock Pix/Shutterstock.com
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
For Dad
The Secret Library: The Spaces Between
J. C. Gilbert
Book 3
CHAPTER ONE
"I left in search of my father," said Darcy. He was leaning on the back of an old armchair, one of several which surrounded the fireplace. Darcy did not look much like the Darcy I had seen off just a week or so before. When I last saw him, he looked like a regular 15-year-old boy. He was a little more serious than your average 15-year-old boy but other than that he could generally blend into crowds.
And now?
Darcy's hair was longer now and tied back loosely. He was taller than he had been by several inches, his frame had filled out, and there was an aura of strength about him. His clothes were different too. His denim jacket was similar to the one he used to wear, but this one was patched up, tattered, and old.
And then there was Mr. O'Connor who had disappeared from The Library more than a month ago. Mr. O'Connor was in his nineties, but last time I saw him, he had been clean-shaven and dressed like a normal person. Now he looked like he could give Gandalf a run for his money. He sat neatly at the end of one of the couches, his eyes darting this way and that, as if he thought The Library might have some issue with him being there.
The Librarian arrived with the tea things and handed Darcy a cup. Darcy looked at the tea for a moment and then took a sip.
"Careful! It's hot!" said the Librarian.
If it were hot, then Darcy did not notice. He closed his eyes, and a look of pure relaxation washed over him.
"You didn't give him the special tea, did you?" asked Lilly. She sat kneeling by the fire with crossed arms. She had been uncharacteristically quiet since Darcy and Mr. O'Connor arrived with the stranger through what could only be described as a magic door. Lilly and I had seen a lot together, but perhaps everyone has there limit when it comes to absurdity.
"It has just been a long time, that's all," said Darcy.
"Yeah, about that. What's with the lying?" asked Lilly, "and the wig? You can't just have an off-screen montage and expect us to be all OK with this."
"It's going to take me time to explain," said Darcy.
"Well get started," said the 8-foot Scottish gorilla which passed for a librarian in these parts. "I thought I said that you weren't to enter the books. Did I not say that you would be trapped?"
Darcy looked up with sadness in his eyes. "I wish to god that I had listened to you. You cannot know what I have been through to return to you. No, I do not wish that. If I had stayed, then there is no way that I would have learned what I have learned.
"As you may remember, when I left, I had concerns about the safety of our world. With the storm inside The Library and the appearances of certain phenomena, I was becoming more and more frustrated that there seemed to be nothing that I could do. Alex will remember me saying some harsh words on that point."
I felt everyone's eyes turn to look at me. Blood rushed to my head but I said nothing. My eyes were locked on Darcy.
"For much of my life, I have had more contact with the other worlds than I should like. I was very young when my life was first threatened, and still young when my family faced tragedy. That story is for another day. What you need to know is that it all stemmed from my father. Victor Knight was an archaeologist, well, that's what my mother used to tell people. It was not an outright lie, but generally gave people the wrong impression. You see, my father's place of work was located in the world just beyond the veil. Perhaps the Librarian will know what I mean. Sometimes we sense it when we are alone or when the world is silent. You feel it in an organ which has long atrophied, but can never see it, touch it, know it. You can only sense it is there."
"It is not uncommon for worlds to have sister worlds," said the Librarian. "I'm sorry, Alex, I hadn't realized that yours was one."
"It is this other world where we get our folk law. Tales of elves and goblins, kobolds and trolls, they all come from instances where the barrier has for a time become more permeable. Halloween is famous for being such a time. But I digress.
"My father worked in a land called Aversham. He was commissioned by the High King of Arethal to carry out excavations there. The High King and his people are Fey, though they are sometimes called the Faerie or elves. It was said that their earliest ancestors used to live in Aversham and they wished to investigate this possibility. Aversham is nowadays tribal lands for the Moonthorn Orcs. These Orcs largely kept to themselves, but forbid any of the fair folk from entering into their lands."
"So they hired your father," I said.
"So they hired my father. He was neither Orc nor Fey and could therefore conduct excavations peacefully."
"What has this got to do with the hairdo?" asked Lilly.
Darcy smiled. "Everything," he said. "I never really got to know my dad. He was always away on one of his trips, and when he was home, he sat shut up in his office. Well, one day he never came home. Without any explanation, his letters stopped, and we never heard from him again. As you can imagine, this left my mom entirely cut up. It was an awful time. My mother spent all her days shut up in her room, barely willing to even take food. I was only twelve years old.
"But then one day we received a package. I opened it without consulting my mother, as was my habit. She rarely responded to me anyway, so I had no qualms. Inside the package was a notebook. It was old and weather-worn and stuffed filled with notes and folded paper. On the front, it simply read Victor Knight. And that is how I came to know who he really was and what he did. My life changed forever that day as knowledge of the other worlds opened up my mind. I saw things, fought things, which few have ever dreamed of. As the years wore on, I became more and more convinced that my father had not really died, but was still out there somewhere. I knew that Victor was both knowledgeable and skilled from what I read in his notebook, so when things in our world were becoming too challenging even for me to manage, and with a way to travel into even the most distant worlds in the multiverse, I decided there was only one thing that I could do.
"From my reading, I knew that The Library was not the only way to travel between worlds. I read of several artifacts which had existed at various times which would allow me to get from world to world and ultimately back here. When I left, it was into a book which was said to contain one of these artifacts."
"But you got lost," I said.
"I found what I was looking for, but it did not work as I had hoped. Instead of allowing me to travel freely through the worlds, it had only two directions: downwind or upwind."
"I had forgotten that we used to call them that," said the Librarian.
"I had never heard of these expressions before. I picked a direction at random and started traveling."
"Oh dear," said the Librarian.
"Yes. Oh dear. I traveled through countless worlds, never knowing how far away I was from home, from dad, from anyone. Every time I stepped into a new world, it was a new gamble. Well during this time I found that I was not the only one who was traveling from world to world like this. I thought at first that I had found my salvation, that they could help bring me back home, back to - back here. I couldn't have been more wrong. They are called the Ular Sect by those within, and villains by those without. By this time, I had lost all sense of how long I had been away. Time moves differently in different worlds and for a number of reasons you start to lose track.
"It first dawned on me that I had not been long away when I overheard one member of the Ular Sect referring to a certain book: The Book of Martin. The title plagued me for days. I knew that I had heard it somewhere, but I did not know where. Then it dawned on me. The Book of Martin was one of the books near the top of the Librarian's damnable list."
"I thought that was in your head?" Lilly asked the Librarian.
The Librarian shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"This discovery changed everything," said Darcy, "for it gave me the first indication that time in our own world had not passed by much since I left. Before this, I had given up hope of ever seeing any of you alive again.
"I tried to discover what interest the Ular Sect had in The Book of Martin. It was at this time that I uncovered their true purpose. You will not like this, Librarian. They are aware that something happened in the multiverse, aware of the void objects, and want nothing more than to collect them all and use them to seize power."
"Seize power?" I asked.
"Over everything that there is and was. Total dominion over all the multiverse."
"Bugger," said the Librarian.
CHAPTER TWO
Lilly stood up from where she was sitting by the fireplace. "So you are telling me that Trist is an inter-dimensional time thief?"
"More or less," said Darcy.
"I can totally see that in him," said Lilly. "So, how do we kill him?"
"We are not killing anyone," I said. "Right?"
Darcy appeared to hesitate. "The thought did cross my mind. When I heard that an agent was interacting with two young female travelers in The Book of Martin, I was on the brink of hunting him down myself."
"Possessive much," said Lilly. "I don't know who you are, or where you are from," said Lilly into her phone in imitation of Liam Neeson.
Mr. O'Connor chuckled.
"As long as you love me," Lilly added.
"But this issue is way bigger than just agent Trist. When the Ular Sect started gathering the void objects on their homeworld, they started to face a few issues."
"Aeoran," I said, looking to the Librarian. She clicked her tongue.
"Yeah. They could only gather a couple of artifacts before things started to destabilize. There are billions of people living on Rend, which is the name of their world. As power-hungry as the Ular Sect was, they could not risk the annihilation of their own support base."
At this point in Darcy's narrative, my heart had sunk to a new low. If what he was saying was true, then it was through actions of my own that the Ular Sect even had a chance to gather these void objects. It was all getting too big for me.
"As terrible as Aeoran and his kin are, this is why they first came into being," said the Librarian. "The multiverse has a tendency to heal itself of any major threats like this sect. It is horrifying of course, but at least if Aeoran has entered the situation, then their hopes will be coming to an end."
Darcy shook his head. "I'm afraid that it is not that simple. The Ular Sect had encountered Aeoran before and realized in time what was happening. With their own technology, they were able to seal off the fissures that had opened up in Rend and send Aeoran back to his own realm. What's more, they immediately launched an investigation into ways in which they could quell the chaos forces and defy the limits inherent to Rend."
"Impossible," said the Librarian.
"I'm afraid not, Librarian. I don't know how exactly, but the Ular Sect has found a place where chaos is unfettered. A world of chaos. It is only a matter of time before they discover how that world is able to stay so robust in the face of raw creation and use that information to further their plan. We have to find a way to stop them before it is too late."
"There will be a book in The Library somewhere linking to Rend?" I asked.
"Of course, dear. All worlds have stories, and all stories are on these shelves."
"Rend is the only place I know where we can get more information on the location of this chaos world," said Darcy.
"Then we need to find that book," I said.
"We could just toss it in the fire," said the Librarian thoughtfully. We all turned to face her. Seeming to realize what she just said she smiled her best gorilla smile. "I'm only joking!" she said.
We held her gaze.
"Oh come off it. I'm not going to kill billions of people in order to save billions more."
"You aren't doing a very good job of sounding convincing," said Lilly.
"Librarian, will you be able to find us a suitable book?" I asked.
"I should go alone," said Darcy.
"And get lost again?" I asked.
"Maybe I can shut them down from there and then I wouldn't need to return. You look doubtful, Alex. I am not frightened of sacrificing myself for the sake of keeping you all safe."
"Still a hero," said Lilly.
"Thanks," said Darcy, coloring a little.
"It wasn't a compliment. I should come along too. Trist seriously pissed me off with his disappearing act."
"No," I said. "There is no need to put more in danger than is necessary."
"Agreed," said Darcy.
"You're not my real parents!" said Lilly, pulling a face.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," I said.
Lilly laughed at my serious tone. "You have changed a lot, Frodo Baggins," she said.
"It's getting late," I said, standing up from my seat. "I should get home."
Darcy smiled. "I had almost forgotten that you guys keep up a normal life."
"Will you go see your mom?" I asked. "You have been gone a few weeks, you know."
"Like this?" he asked.
"All you need is a shave and a haircut," said Lilly. "Why don't you come to mine and I'll sort you out."
"That would be lovely," said Darcy.
"I'll get searching for that book," said the Librarian. "There are always so many entrances into a world. Is there anywhere in particular you need to land?"
"Near the capital city, New Cryton. Don't worry about the time though, Rend has an artificial chronology stabilizer. We will arrive in Rend Standard time."
"But that would mess with the flow of other worlds!" said the Librarian, exasperated.
"I know," said Darcy. "It's downwind if that helps."
"When I get a hold of whoever is responsible for all this, I might just throw them in the fire," said the Librarian.
"I've got to help Mom out with a museum thing tomorrow," I said. "We can make the journey on Monday."
"I don't like the delay," said Darcy.
"We could go sooner, but I won't be much use."
"And don't you want to see what terrible things have happened in our world while the Keeper has been away saving other worlds?" asked Lilly.
"The Librarian was right to prioritize the at-risk worlds," said Darcy.
"I will consider that an apology," said the Librarian.
"OK, Monday it is," said Darcy.
"Good," I said.
"Great," said Mr. O'Connor.
"Mr. O'Connor?" said Lilly, "I hope you don't think this is too forward, and please feel free not to answer if you would rather not, but I can't help but wonder. Why are you dressed like a wizard?"
"Well, it keeps you warm, for a start," said Mr. O'Connor.
He seemed to think that an adequate explanation.
CHAPTER THREE
I stood silently with Darcy, Lilly, and Mr. O'Connor. We were all straining to listen for any signs of activity on the other side of the door. Mr. O'Connor, wizard as he was, was crouched low to the ground and had his ear pressed right up against the door.
"The coast is clear," he said in a hoarse whisper. It was a common enough phrase, but somehow when Mr. O'Connor said it, I could believe there was an actual coast which was actually clear.
