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She ran her hand along the spines of the books, feeling the rough texture of the worn out paper graze the soft pads of her fingers. They were covered in a thin layer of dust; she imagined this quaint little library nestled in a small crook of Cambridge hadn’t seen that many people in recent times. Hell, she wouldn’t have been here either, preferring the Kindle she won in the tech quiz at Harvard, but her semester at college was finally over, and she had ample time on her hands.
She wanted to read a book. She needed to read a book. Needed to feel the delicate parchment in her hands, needed to inhale the old musky smell associated with library paperbacks, needed to lose herself in the rhythm of black and white words flowing on the paper.
She couldn’t decide which book to read. She could always fall back on Lord of the Rings, her go-to comfort book, but they didn’t have the first book here, and it was just wrong to not read the first book of a series. She didn’t want to read romances, not after everything that happened with Cooper recently, and those Mills and Boons always made her want to vomit anyway.
Her fingers stopped on a hardbound book with a black paper cover. The letters on the spine were printed in some bumpy gold ink, feeling like Braille on her fingers. The Odyssey.
Without hesitation, she pulled the book off the shelf, letting the book on its right to fall and lean against the one on its left. She sat down on the comfortable sofa at the back of the library and opened the book. She was halfway through the book in a few hours – she had always been a really fast reader.
“Excuse me,” she jumped when she heard the voice address her, eyes wide, clutching the book to her chest. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He was tall, slightly built like those Harvard boys, wearing a white sweater that looked expensive and out of place among the old books, but did a flattering job of clinging to his chest and highlighting a jock chest. His eyes were a glittering blue, holding a flirtatious glint to them, and his shaggy hair was slightly long, brushing the top of his neck. He’s cute, was her first thought.
He grinned at her. “Why, thank you.”
Heat flooded her cheeks in a rush of embarrassment as she realised she had said the words out loud. She resisted the urge to duck her head behind the book.
“Can I help you?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant and hide the fact that his dimpled smile had set her heart racing faster than she could code.
“I was going to ask you if you needed that book,” he indicated to the one in her hand, the one she still held close to her chest, “but you’re obviously engrossed in it.” He awkwardly shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans – dark skinny denims that clung to his long lean legs.
“Oh, this?” she pulled the book back, checking the cover as if she needed to remind herself the name of the book. “I'm sure there are other copies here, if you ask the librarian. I mean, Hamlet has, like, ten copies on this shelf alone.”
He gave her a confused look, and it took her a few seconds to realise why. “Hamlet. It’s Shakespeare.”
“I haven’t really studied Shakespeare... in any of my colleges,” he said. He stood there for a few moments, awkwardly staring at her and trying to not look uncomfortable while she blatantly stared at him. “I'm sorry, but are you going to be reading that? Because it’s the only copy here, and I need it for a college assignment.”
“Oh. Can you, maybe, um, get it later, or something? I mean, when is your assignment due?”
“Tonight,” he said sheepishly. She raised her eyebrows at him, slightly shocked and slightly reprimanding, and he felt the need to explain. “Look, I get the feeling that you're a... studious person, but I'm not, and I wouldn’t even have bothered with this assignment if my father hadn’t threatened to cut me off. So could you just...”
He drifted off, and she bit her lip, staring longingly at the cover of the book. She hated leaving a book halfway through, even if temporarily. But the guy in front of her obviously, really desperately needed the book, and she couldn’t really leave him hanging.
“It’s okay,” he started to say, “I get it –”
“Oh, for God’s sake!” she muttered to herself, before turning to him. “I’ll help you with your assignment.”
He stopped short and gave her a surprised look.
“No offense, but you don’t look like the kind of guy who’s read a book in his life, like, ever, and this monster is over 500 pages. Even if you start right now, you won’t finish it before the end of the week at best. I've already read through half of it and I really don’t want to drop it now, so I can guide you through the story while you write your assignment.”
“You would... really... do that?” His eyebrows were scrunched up, rather cutely if she let herself admit it, and he was genuinely surprised that a stranger in the library, someone who clearly didn’t know who he was, would help him out.
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t mean it.” He continued to stare at her, not moving. “So do you, um, want my help, or...”
“Oh, yeah. I mean, yes, thank you.”
She scooted to the side on the sofa and patted the space next to her in invitation. The space was small, but he managed to fit himself in it, his large warm body pressing against her side, making her shiver despite the heat. She pulled her leg up and shifted to give him more space, turning to the side so she faced him, and spread the book open in her lap.
“I'm Oliver, by the way,” he held out his hand for her.
“Oh,” she put her dainty little palm in his large one and shook it. “Felicity.”
He held her hand for a moment. “Thank you for doing this, Felicity.”
She felt herself flush as he held her gaze with his own, a genuine smile on his face now. “Um, yeah,” she said awkwardly, and then cleared her throat. “So, The Odyssey...”
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Two Years Later
He was in the air support base at the island. Slade had taken out the guard, who now lay bleeding on the floor. He tried to contact Laurel, but Slade had slammed the phone shut. The radio cackled, and Slade picked up the receiver.
“Island tower, Skyhawk 801 Foxtrot. Acknowledged.” He repeated the command when he didn’t hear a response over the radio.
“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth.”
Oliver had a sudden flashback to the blonde at the back of the library two years back, her bright pink lips moving as she read out this line to him from the thick book on her lap.
“It’s a challenge code,” Slade said, “to verify our identities.”
“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth.”
“Wait, what? I know this,” Oliver said, a flicker of a smile showing on his face. “They picked the one book I read in college.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“It’s a quote. From The Odyssey.” He closed his eyes, focusing on the blonde girl’s – Felicity’s – face, recalling that afternoon, the movement of her lips, the sound of her voice. “‘Of all creature that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing – nothing is born that is weaker than man.”
“Are you sure about this? Because if you're wrong, this plane will turn around.”
“Yes, yes, I'm positive,” he said. “‘Nothing is born that is weaker than man.’”
Slade lifted the receiver to his mouth to utter the words, and Oliver remembered the memory. Felicity was pushing one stray blonde curl behind her ear, her blue eyes roaming the page, following the words, one finger curled around the edge of the page. “Nothing is bred that is weaker than man.”
“Wait, wait!” he called out. Slade stopped, and carefully Oliver recalled, “Bred. Not born, bred. ‘Nothing is bred that is weaker than man.’”
Slade gave him a dubious look, but repeated the line. The other end of the line cackled, and then they heard, “Roger that. See you in a few hours. Out.”
He let out a relieved sigh, pumping his fist in victory. He closed his eyes, silently sending a prayer of thanks to the strange girl who helped him out, not once, but twice now, vowing to repay her somehow if he ever got back home.
Halfway across the world, Felicity opened her mailbox to a letter from Queen Consolidated. Walter Steele, current CEO, had himself written to her, offering her a position in the company’s IT Department.