Chapter 2 - The Librarian's Tail

...God, I hate this chapter title XD

Chapter 2! Enjoy ^^ I went through hell to get this chapter up X_x but it's here now XD

1) I just realized that the whole helping sister with quadratic equations thing happened in Death Note (it was even the same thing she was asking help for X_x) THIS WASN'T INTENTIONAL, I SWEAR! I only realized it when I watched the anime O_o
2) While we're talking about Death Note, it's awesome. If you haven't read it, go buy it. Like, right now. Go.
3) '80s music doesn't get the love it deserves.
~Sei-chan




Matt's leap from the windowsill to the library floor raised a rather large cloud of dust. His leap was also far from graceful, landing him almost completely flat on his back.

"Ohhh..." he moaned to himself, the fall stunning him momentarily before he pushed himself up onto his elbows and glanced around.

It was as he'd predicted: the building was an old library. The window he had climbed in through was in the aisle formed by two large bookcases. The dust from his fall had, unfortunately, gotten in his eyes, causing them to tear up greatly. Matt swiped at his face a few times and blinked.

His eyes then widened in shock when he realized that the shelves were filled. This place is obviously abandoned! How could there still be books here?! Matt stood right up and examined the books, picking out one novel.

They were definitely legitimate. Old and pretty worn, yes, but real. Upon closer examination, Matt found the book he had picked to be an old copy of Anna and the King of Siam. He glanced around a few times, and then flipped it open.

Why did I just do that? I'm the only person here; of course I can read this privately. Still glancing around suspiciously, he searched for somewhere to sit down and read. He stepped out of the aisle he was in and actually got a good look around the library.

There were definitely more bookshelves than he had anticipated, maybe about fifty or sixty, all carefully aligned to form aisles. At first he thought maybe the owner had only omitted a few shelves, but no. Upon closer inspection he realized that the library was still full of books. As if the only thing that left was the owner. Everything else was completely in order: the desk, the tables, the computers...nothing was out of place.

The tables were worn and a bit dusty, but still sturdy. Matt pulled up one of the chairs and began to read.

It wasn't long before he'd lost track of time (since the only clock in the library, above the front entryway, was broken) and had quickly plowed through a hefty pile of books.

It was quiet here, and he liked it this way. But...
"Something doesn't feel right," Matt mused aloud, setting The Da Vinci Code down and rising from his chair. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, since it was only a feeling that brought on his paranoia. Anything out of the ordinary, he surmised.

Then again, what wasn't out of the ordinary about a completely full, abandoned library?

Matt shrugged to himself and looked around again. He eyed the computer sitting idly on what used to be a checkout desk. Maybe there are still records; I can see when this place shut down. He walked over to the computer, fumbling around the monitor to find a button or switch to turn it on.

It took him a moment to come to a revelation, and he froze.

The monitor was warm.

Somebody used this computer recently. He pressed the palm of his hand gently against the monitor. "Judging by the heat I'd say about an hour or two ago," he said quietly to himself in a calculating way.

It was at this point that Matt truly began to feel that he was not alone. The almost silent rattling of wind against the windowpane caused him to whip his head around. Another noise brought his head whipping back around so quickly he felt dizzy.

But this noise was different.

A faint shuffling of papers.

As if someone had walked through them.

"Hello?! Is someone there?" he called loudly, finally unable to sit still. There was no spoken response, but that same shuffling again, farther away this time. Maybe up the old wooden staircase on the far end of the library.

Whoever was there was hiding from Matt. Or running from him; it made no difference. Matt was curious now, and so chose to trudge up the stairs and follow the noise. He had given up hope of sneaking upstairs, since the boards creaked under even the slightest strain.

By the time he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed how oddly dark it was. How...very damn dark it was. Were there really so few windows on the second floor, or had he really been inside the library for that long? He moved forward haphazardly, afraid to crash into something and possibly injure himself, potentially ruining any chance he had of discovering the identity of his fellow intruder.

Ugh. My kingdom for a flashlight, Matt said to himself in exasperation, groping blindly against the wall and moving forward. He felt his feet brush across scattered papers and the occasional aluminum can, but nothing extremely out of place.

Until he stepped on something that coerced a painful and unfamiliar cry. He had stepped on something slender, firm, and...furry?

"What the--?!" The shock sent him hurtling backwards, back onto the floor in a similar fashion to how he had entered the library. The apparent pain that the other figure felt sent them to the floor as well. In the darkness, Matt could make out the faint shadow of a figure nursing something long and slim in his hands.

It was then that Matt saw he had cut his arm on a loose nail in the floorboards, as blood trickled down his skin and into the crook of his elbow when he lifted the injured arm to examine the wound.

"You're hurt."

Matt's head snapped up at the voice. The oddly masculine and yet still timid voice that he assumed came from the boy he'd run into. However, he was not expecting what he saw.

The boy was leaning over him (having stood up moments ago) and glancing at the impressive cut with inquisitive and rather striking green eyes. His hair was long, unkempt, and oddly enough, a rather unnatural-looking pale blonde. It swept over his shoulders and hung freely in the air, but it failed in concealing the two things that caught Matt's eye first and nearly paralyzed him.

The feline ears sticking out of the top of the boy's head. Gray in color, only a slight tint different from his hair, but definitely noticeable. It was then that Matt further deduced (though it seemed shockingly impossible) that he had stepped on the strange boy's tail and caused him to cry out.

"It's nothing, really," Matt replied to the boy's comment, wiping some of the blood trickle away with his fingers. They swept over the wound and it stung, causing him to wince.

"It's something. Don't be stubborn," the boy said sternly, kneeling beside Matt and tearing off a piece of his sleeve with his teeth. As he wound the strip of white cloth around his cut, Matt noticed the strange boy's clothes were...somewhat dated. They looked more as if they belonged on a boy living in a much older time period, possibly 18th or 19th Century. Except for shoes, since he was barefoot.

"You feel fine giving me an order when we just met? I could be older than you," Matt said.

The boy didn't look up from his handiwork, but replied, "I'm probably eighteen. You?"

"Probably?" The addition of this word puzzled Matt and took him by surprise, but he didn't let it bother him. "Same here." He grinned a little. Okay, so he was adding a few months on. "This place is closed down, right?" A nod from the boy. "How'd you get in, then? The broken window, too?"

His gray ears perked up slightly at that. "There's a broken window downstairs?"

"You didn't know? Then how did you get in?"

"...I live here."

Okay, the catboy was one thing, but a librarian catboy?!

"Wh-what?! What the hell is this place?!" Matt cried, leaping to his feet, prepared to back down the stairs and run out.

The boy sighed and looked away. "This is an ordinary library. Old and run-down, but there's nothing weird about it. I'm the only strange creature in here." He reached up and grabbed one of his own furry ears. "These aren't fake. I'm the only person like this in this town, maybe even in this country." He paused and caught his lip between his teeth, which Matt noticed were slightly pointed. "Even so, this is my property. This library belongs to me. The Lady of the Books gave it to me."

"Who?" Why am I even still here asking a cat questions?!

"My mother," the boy replied simply. "Wait, this isn't any of your business. You're intruding on my property, and I'd like you to leave." He pointed towards the stairs with a clawed finger and allowed the silence to take over again.

Never before was there a more opportune moment for Matt to run and never look back.

He casually let the moment pass, not knowing why at first.

Then he looked more closely at the odd librarian; closely at his eyes, to be more specific. There was a vague sadness in those eyes, as if quietly requesting that he not leave right away.

Matt bit his lip, then cleared his throat. "I-I'm sorry for intruding like this."

"No, please, it's fine."

"Then could I maybe come back here again?" Matt ventured.

The boy's cheeks took on a slight pink tint, but he quickly recovered and glared a little. "And break another window, perhaps?"

"What?! That wasn't me; that window was broken when I came here!" Matt exclaimed, startled by the sudden accusation.

"Even so," the boy leaned in close and sniffed at Matt's jacket, once again surprising him, "you absolutely reek of cigarettes. I don't want that smell or smoke contaminating these books! Some of them are fragile enough!" The boy wrinkled his nose in disgust for effect.

Matt felt exasperated. Just when he thought that he'd finally found a comfortable place, a safe haven where he wouldn't have to worry about Mag, Rave, Ezil, Caitlin, Alex, his teachers or anyone else...just when he'd finally found that place, he got rejected by its owner! However, he resolved to not just give up so easily. He'd strike some kind of bargain with the cat librarian.

"If the next time I come here, I don't smell like cigarettes, and don't have a single cigarette on me, would you be willing to let me in again?"

The boy paused, and pondered for a moment. Matt could sense that the boy was considering it, but truth be told, the cat was still weighing this idea in his mind. Finally, he spoke again.

"All right, then. I'll let you have this chance," he said, sighing. "But I'll ask you that if you read a book, please just put them back. I like keeping this place in order."

"Keeping it the way it was?"

The boy said nothing to this, and stooped down to clean up some scattered papers to keep himself occupied. Matt just shrugged and finally glanced at his watch. 7:48?!

"shoot! I gotta get home!" he flew down the wooden stairs and bolted for the window when--

"Please!"

Matt turned around just in time to see a small shimmering object thrown at him. He reached out and fumbled with it for a moment before getting a firm grip and examining it in his hand. It was a dusty brass key on a string. The boy stood near the bottom of the stairs and quickly pointed at the large double-doors near the front.

"I-I'm going to be covering that broken window soon. Please use the door," he said shyly, as if nervous to ask that of Matt.

Matt glanced at the key in his hand. "Won't you need this back?"

"I have the original; that one's just a replica."

"Then you're...giving me access to this library?"

The boy blushed again, but not enough for Matt to notice. "F-For the time being, yes. Now, please. You needed to return to your home, right?" The boy headed back up the stairs. At the same time Matt trudged towards the front door; just as he was about to turn the key in the lock, he stopped and turned around.

"Wait, one more thing!"

The boy had reached the top of the stairs again and turned around tentatively to face Matt. Matt swallowed the lump in his throat.

"...My name is Matt. Matt Reed," he said, finally introducing himself since meeting the strange boy.

Said boy flicked his tail and nodded to Matt's introduction. He paused for a moment and looked at the railing before saying in a barely audible voice,

"I-I'm Stefan." And with that, he darted around the corridor and disappeared.

Stefan...I'll remember that, Matt said to himself, glancing at the makeshift bandage around his arm before pushing the doors open and heading out of the library, out of the woods, back to his home.


***
The cat makes his appearance! God I love Stefan to death X3 he's such a cutie!
So, will Matt keep his promise? And what will happen once he gets home? Find out in the next chapter of The Keeper!

P.S. About The Da Vinci Code...I have never read it, nor do I plan to. It's a library, there are books, TDVC is a book, therefore it is in the library. I will be making allusions to several books in the story.
Anna and the King of Siam (c) Margaret Landon
The Da Vinci Code (c) Dan Brown

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