Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luz and Hunter had a week of summer vacation left until Luz had to return to school and they would end up spending not as much time together as they’d liked. Hunter was not looking forward to it, but he didn’t want to risk getting Luz in trouble by attempting to sneak into her classes. He briefly thought about enrolling but, despite Camila’s alarming willingness to forge false documents, he didn’t want people to start asking questions about the new boy that popped out of nowhere and that knew an alarming amount about espionage and combat. Plus, there was the matter that he never actually attended a school before. He used to be home schooled by a series of tutors at his uncle’s home in between missions and training. Pep rallies, project presentations, and school dances were concepts completely foreign to him and he didn’t feel like he would acclimate smoothly. Luz wasn’t looking forward to the impending change either. Her and Hunter had really bonded over the last few months to the point where she would even call him her best friend. Well, also her only friend. She and the staff from her mom’s work, Wilson’s Wildlife Solutions, got along well enough, but they didn’t exactly hang out or see each other after work. She also wasn’t exactly popular at school, being avoided by students and being known as the girl who set snakes out in the halls that one time and the one who occasionally has roadkill in her backpack. The weirdo. The outcast. So going back to that lonely place without her best friend for about a third of the day, five days a week, made her feel uneasy and absolutely full of dread. 

The two had spent the first day of their last week trying to figure out what they should do to really end the summer off with a bang. The two sat in Luz’s room, Hunter laying on her bed playing Stardew Valley on her Switch trying to mine as much iridium ore as humanly possible before collapsing at 2:00 am and Luz on her PC replaying Chapter 2 of Deltarune for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“Supernatural marathon?” Luz said after sighing in frustration at her failed tenth attempt to beat Spamton NEO.

“If I have to watch season 7 again, I’m setting the house on fire with all of us in it. Ghost hunting?”

“I don’t want to talk to ghosts that were alive when women weren’t allowed to wear pants again. Laser tag?”

“We’re banned from laser tag, remember?”

Luz remembered how Hunter put his soldier training to use and, while he was efficient at shooting his targets, he went a little overboard and started flipping people over his shoulder, pinning them to walls, and putting them into choke holds. He felt bad for ruining their evening, but Luz had assured him that he didn’t ruin anything and that seeing him duel wielding laser pistols was cool to see.

She glanced at her stack of books from the Wanderer’s Library with a small booklet of the type of entities and locations that could be encountered in the Library catching her eye. Library staff had started giving these booklets out to patrons as a way to better familiarize themselves with the Library. Luz grabbed the booklet and flipped through random pages for inspiration.

“Ooh! How about this?”

She leaped off her seat and onto the bed, landing near Hunter’s socks that had paw prints at the bottom. 

“You know how there are lantern koi at the Wanderer’s Library?”

“Yeah, but we’ve already seen them.”

“Ah! But we’ve only seen schools that had one color. There’s apparently a school of lantern koi that has multiple colors hidden in the deepest parts of the library. It’s called the Dazzling Rainbow and only a few people have actually seen it. We could be one of those people!”

“You want to go cryptid hunting for a living rainbow?”

“Yeah! A single colored school of lantern koi was amazing to look at. Imagine how amazing a rainbow school will be. Now that would be a great way to end the summer.”

Hunter couldn’t lie and say she was wrong. The first time they saw a school of lantern koi was magical. Seeing them swim through the air and glow like a warm orange like a sunset made him feel warm and fuzzy. He felt like a little kid seeing fireworks for the first time. It was a sense of wonder he rarely got to feel.

“I guess it would be cool to see and, even if we didn’t find it, exploring more parts of the Library would be pretty interesting.”

“Then it’s decided! First thing in the morning, we go rainbow hunting! Get ready for the best day of your life!”

He smiled. He always loved how optimistic Luz was. Even if his mood was mostly sour, Luz had enough sweetness for the both of them.

…

Ways, or portals, always had odd placements. Sometimes they made sense, being found through a doorway or window. Others could be found in paintings, open spaces of air, or manholes. They could either be made artificially by strong thaumaturges or they could be formed naturally at complete random. The reason there weren’t an absurdly large number of people accidentally falling into these Ways was because of something called a Knock which are special requirements or actions that need to be in place or enacted near the Way for it to open. This can range from literally knocking in a specific way to giving away memories to reciting the Gettysburg Address. 

The specific Way that Luz would usually use was in a very convenient location for her, being located practically in her backyard in the Gravesfield Forest. The Way was in a tree with a thick trunk, crooked branches, and dark bark that made it look like it crawled out of Sleepy Hollow. The tree’s appearance dissuaded most people, but Luz Noceda was not like most people. She always saw the beauty in anything dark or morbid.

The Knock needed to open it was something that Luz kept close to her chest, not even telling Hunter. Whenever they went to the Library, she’d always ask for him to cover his ears when she opened the Way. Hunter always found it odd, but he obliged every time. Sometimes he would have a rogue thought that Luz, despite knowing each other and living together for months, still didn’t trust him. He’d shake his head to get rid of the thought and told himself that he was being ridiculous. Of course Luz trusted him. They’re friends. They eat breakfast together. They play video games together. They even, embarrassingly, sleep in the same bed together when Hunter has the occasional nightmare. But that didn’t mean they had to tell the other about anything sensitive if they didn't want to. Luz had a right to keep things private. 

After Luz performed the Knock, the trunk of the unsettling tree began to bulge inward. The bark began to twist into a spiral that eventually turned into a mint green colored Way. It was a strangely soothing and satisfying thing to see. It felt so natural. 

Luz offered Hunter her hand and he accepted. They didn’t need to do this. Neither of them would’ve been displaced or lost as the Way was an instant route to the Library and Hunter had been through enough Ways to not feel disoriented at the sudden change of scenery. It just felt like the right thing to do. The two stepped through the portal hand-in-hand and as they did, the Way closed leaving the tree as it was before.

…

The Library was magnificent as always. An infinite boon of unlimited knowledge and stories welcomed by anyone willing to learn. Pages, multi-armed entities that were responsible for reshelving books, crawled along the shelves like spindly spiders occasionally helping Library patrons reach and find books they wanted. Docents, humanoids with no mouths and a lantern suspended by chains replacing their left hand, could be seen assisting patrons as guides to certain sections of the Library. And finally, the Archivists, creatures of varying shapes and sizes with no eyes, sat at the front desk assisting patrons by giving Library cards and doing record keeping. Two Archivists could be seen at the front desk. The first was a large, red, centipede-like creature with hands ending at each of its limbs that was in the process of vomiting up a Library card for a patron who had a look of disgust, yet also intrigue, on their face. The nameplate in front of the Archivist read: ROUNDERPEDE: CHIEF ARCHIVIST. The second Archivist, a giant, yellow octopus with purple splotches scattered all over its skin, could be seen typing on two keyboards connected to two computer terminals with two of their limbs while using others to write on pieces of parchment and another to sip coffee from its mug that definitely did not have any alcohol in it. A nameplate in front of the octopus read: MALAISE: ARCHIVIST.

The grand hall, the heart of the Library, was filled by scholars and students studying at the numerous wooden desks that were encased by large, translucent bubbles that blocked sound to focus on their work and studies. The grand hall was lit by chandeliers that hung from the incredibly tall ceiling that accommodated the incredibly tall shelves and seemingly endless number of floors above. The walls were covered in a forest green wallpaper that held intricate patterns of serpents that could occasionally be seen actually slithering on the wall. Portraits were seen hanging on the walls that displayed numerous images, some being Archivists of the Library, pictures of scholars in robes studying ancient texts, and what appeared to be a large serpent with horns hanging from the branches of a tree offering people something that appeared to be a type of fruit. One final portrait dwarfed the others, displaying the image of the large serpent from the previous portrait standing tall and proud, its eye staring out. Under the portrait was a plaque that had a sentence written in gold lettering. 

The Garden is the Serpent’s place.

The first time Hunter entered the Library it was completely disorienting. The never ending shelves and abundance of anomalous people just walking about was a lot to take in. He had heard stories of the Library during his Insurgency days. He knew of the group, The Serpent’s Hand, who utilized the Library as a home base of sorts, but knew they didn’t own the Library itself. The Hand never got along with the Insurgency, calling them by the flattering name of “The Madmen” for their violent and chaotic behaviors. It would make sense that a group dedicated to wanting to spread knowledge and letting harmless anomalies be free would be against a group that would seek to weaponize such knowledge and people. They even barred them from entry to the Library. Hunter was worried about this fact the first time he entered, warning Luz about how he might immediately be kicked out and banned. Luz had comforted the boy and said that he was no longer a part of that awful group and even if the Library wouldn’t let him in she would raise hell about it until they did. She demonstrated this by gently pushing a pencil holder and its contents off her desk and onto the ground. She had said that would only be one percent of her fury. Hunter laughed at his friend’s absolute destructive behavior and said that he appreciated it. 

“So, where do we start?” Hunter clapped his hands together as if to officially start their search.

“Well,” Luz took out the booklet in her backpack and flipped through it before landing on the desired page, “The Dazzling Rainbow is said to swim around the more darkly lit areas of the Library. Usually around the western to northwestern quadrants. So the less light, the better our chances. Let’s go ask a Docent.”

It took the two no time to find a Docent in the grand hall. They weren’t exactly hard to miss with their striking appearance. Luz was the one who went up to it. Hunter usually let Luz take charge with matters pertaining to the Library as she had far more experience in here then he did.

“Hello! Me and my friend are looking for somewhere in the Library that doesn’t have that much light. Preferably somewhere in the west sections. Could you help us find somewhere like that?”

The Docent slowly turned its head towards the girl and said… nothing because it didn’t have a mouth to speak so instead it gestured for Luz and Hunter to follow it, never lowering its red lantern. The two followed suit, passing by Library patrons and creatures that were common in the library. They saw a renallum, a fox-like creature with front legs that ended with dark hands carrying a book in its mouth probably given by a Page to deliver to a patron in exchange for a shiny trinket; a thaumaturge levitating a stack of books, a book mimic using its spindly legs to run away from a Docent pursuing it, two avian humanoids in robes discussing their travels throughout the multiverse and the most superior type of seeds to consume, and a canine-like creature with a long neck and gangly limbs wearing a white mask resembling a human’s face with empty eye sockets. The canine looked at the two and raised one of its front legs that ended with a hand to its face and did a shushing motion, unsettling the two. 

The group of three arrived at what looked like an old-fashioned elevator. They stepped inside and saw a keypad of numbers and letters. The Docent pressed on the keypad 567-A and up they went.

Chapter Text

The ascent took almost no time at all. Hunter assumed it was due to some type of thaumaturgy, or magic, being involved. Most likely utilizing a Way or some type of time dilation. When you're in an infinite, ever expanding library, quick travel is an absolute must. 

The elevator doors opened to something they did not expect. As the two stepped out, they were welcomed to a forest. Or, at least, something that mimicked a forest. Incredibly tall trees blanketed the land, their abundant leaves plumage almost completely blocking the sky. The air was a pleasant temperature that reminded Luz of the last part of spring before summer made things much too hot. The forest was dark, but not pitch black. That would be terrible for reading. It had a sort of cool blue tint to it. The kind that brought soothing comfort and relaxation. Fireflies could occasionally be seen blinking in and out within the brush. In front of them laid a dirt trail that spiraled and twisted into multiple directions, all marked with signs to prevent people from getting lost. The two were reminded that they were indeed still in a library and saw that some of the trees had shelves carved into their bodies with books neatly placed inside. Above them, they could see a series of rope bridges and walkways connecting to what looked like tree houses that the two assumed were rooms for study and/or relaxation. 

Luz exclaimed that this was the perfect place to start looking, a firefly landing on her nose and making her sneeze which Hunter thought was cute.

Luz turned to the Docent standing in the doorway to the elevator. “Thanks for your help!”

The Docent lifted up its right hand and gave a thumbs up before its attention turned to its red lantern that started to shine brighter than usual. A look of mild concern fell on its eyes and quickly went back into the elevator. The doors shut and the elevator descended.

“Wonder what that was about?” Hunter said, scratching his head in confusion. 

“It’s probably nothing to worry about. Probably just had to catch up on some Library business.”

He felt alright accepting that explanation and shrugged.

“Alright! Let’s get searching!” Luz said, taking out a pair of binoculars.

“You really came prepared.”

“Always!” she grinned.

And so they went off, exploring the forest of knowledge that laid before them. They scoured the forested area coming across abnormal plant life such as hanging moss that had ends that resembled the hands of Pages. Library patrons often used the moss to hold items for them to give them a free hand. Luz, for some reason, shook the “hand” of the moss and it closed around her. She attempted to let go and pull away from the plant, before accidentally ripping it off from where it was hanging. The hand let go and seized temporarily before falling inert similar to a dying spider. Luz sucked air in between her teeth and gave it a “Sorry” before wiping her hand on her shirt as if to wipe away her sins. 

Hunter came across a small clearing of golden flowers that seemed to sway. Hunter found this odd as he did not feel any wind. On closer inspection, Hunter discovered that the flowers themselves were animate and appeared to be dancing and singing a soothing song in an unknown language. He caught himself swaying along with the flowers before shaking his head to focus back on his search. 

They climbed the ladders that led to the rope bridges and tree houses, hoping to get a better view of their surroundings. They were amazed to see how far up the bridges and tree houses went and how utterly expansive the forest floor was. Luz used her binoculars to see what was in the distance to see that the Forest was blocked in by large, stone walls covered in moss. As she swung her binoculars, she got a close glimpse of the ground and received a shock at how far up they really were and how close she was to the guardrail. She suddenly felt dizzy and immediately leapt back a few feet. 

Hunter went to rest his hand on her shoulder to check if she was okay. The shock and dizziness wore off quickly and she gave a nod and a smile.

“Okay. Step 1: Watch where you're standing,” Hunter teased.

She playfully punched him in the shoulder and the two continued to walk the upper layers for better views. As they arrived at another walkway, three avian humanoids in robes passed by. Two were about average sized for a person while one was tiny enough to sit on the shoulder of one of the other two.

“Excuse us.” The three passed by the two and before Luz could fully acknowledge them, they casually stepped over the guardrail and walked off the edge. 

The two’s eyes went wide with panic and went to the edge to look down. It shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise when they saw the three bird people sprout wings and glide through the air to a lower walkway. Luz exclaimed how cool that was to see and Hunter felt a sudden ping of jealousy in his chest

Feeling the sudden need to impress her, Hunter called out to her, “Hey Luz! Check this out!” He ran and leapt off the edge of one of the walkways.

Luz screamed, “Hunter!” and went to the edge to see Hunter land and parkour off various rope bridges and trees, performing multiple backflips that Luz had to admit it looked impressive. It didn’t stop her heart from beating faster  every time he decided to leap off and luckily catching himself on a branch just to do it again. Eventually, he stopped his prideful performance and walked his way back up to Luz. He was out of breath and sweating through his shirt. Luz tried her hardest to avoid looking at it as it stuck to his skin and as she screamed at him for almost giving her a heart attack.

He chuckled. “Sorry. Just felt like showing off.”

Her face was red with anger and some other emotion she couldn’t place. Don’t look at his sweaty shirt, Luz. Ignore that you can see his muscles, she thought to herself. “Oh! I could smack you right now!”

“I’d probably dodge it. I’m quick on my feet as you could-.” He immediately tripped over his shoelaces and landed face first onto the hardwood floor.

Luz, of course, had Azura-themed bandaids with her and wasted no time applying them to the small gash Hunter had obtained on his forehead. Hunter, of course, felt embarrassed that his attempt at coolness and impressing Luz didn’t fully land. The pain from the face plant eased slightly when Luz did her magical act of kissing her index and middle fingers and placing them on the injury while giving a *Mhaw!* to punctuate the act and thus signaling the completion of the ritual. At least, Hunter assumed it was magical. How else could he explain that whenever the action was applied he felt a cocktail of positive emotions? Luz was a thaumaturge, or witch, in training so it would make sense for her to know some type of rudimentary healing spell. 

The two carried on with their search, speaking to patrons on if they’ve seen their elusive rainbow, all receiving shaking heads and resulting in sighs of frustration from the two. They did see the occasional stray lantern koi flying through the tree tops, but not an entire school and definitely not multicolored. The few they saw were mesmerizing though. The way they swam and maneuvered through the high up branches and rope bridges made the two feel a small sense of whimsy. They tailed a few koi to see if any swam back to a school, but it proved to be a fruitless endeavor. When everything felt hopeless, Luz created a spark of levity.

“Wait. I think I found something.” 

Luz pointed her binoculars towards Hunter who perked up at the idea of actually finding something after an hour and a half of searching.

“What is it?”

“It’s a blond nerd!”

He gave an unamused look and said, “That’s it. Your binoculars are getting chucked.”

Hunter approached Luz with his hands raised. Luz screamed, “Ah! It’s getting closer!” before Hunter lunged at her. 

Luz tried desperately to keep the binoculars as far away as possible from Hunter’s grasp. He chased her around the large tree shelves, almost bumping into other patrons. Luz giggled. Hunter tried to keep a serious face but couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curving. Luz tripped and rolled into some large bushes at the edge of the path. Hunter became concerned at his friend being hurt and rushed over to the bushes.

“Luz? Are you okay?” he said, trying to peer through the bushes.

“H-Hunter…”

“Luz? Hang on, I’ll-.”

Luz’s hand shot out from the bushes and grabbed Hunter by his shirt, pulling him into the bushes with her. The two proceeded to roll on the forest floor, gathering leaves and sticks in their hair. She giggled manically.

“You fell into my trap!”

“You fell into those bushes on purpose?”

“Yep!” she lied. 

“I actually thought you were hurt.”

“Simply a ruse,” she lied, again. She had a bruise on her knee, but Hunter didn’t need to know that.

Hunter sighed, “Okay, okay. You got me.”

Hunter pulled a stick out of his hair and Luz shook her head of all the leaves that had taken refuge in hers. The two dusted themselves off and both sighed.

“So what now? Want to keep searching or do you wanna take a rest?”

She peered through her binoculars again to make sure they weren’t broken from the fall. She focused them onto something in the distance.

“What’s that?”

“Luz I’m not falling for that again.”

“No, really. What is that?”

Through her binoculars, Luz could see clusters of bright lights and people gathered in the distance. 

“What is it?”

She looked at him and smiled.

“Feeling hungry?”

…

The café looked like any average café you could find back home. It actually sort of stuck out like a sore thumb when surrounded by all the trees. Strings of fairy lights lit the area, reminding Luz of the fairy lights she used to hang in her room when she was little, so they brought upon a level of comfort and nostalgia for the girl. Hunter had decided this was the most peaceful and laid back floor in the Library. Coffee, a good book, and soothing atmosphere was a great combo and the other Library patrons seemingly agreed with him when he saw how packed the patio of tables were and how sizable the line was. The two decided that they deserved a break after their fruitless search for that sneaky school. The two got in line and passed the time listening to the chatter around them and also doing some people watching. Two men with what seemed to be clockwork parts integrated into their bodies were in the middle of a debate about the metaphorical vs literal interpretation of the ‘broken’ aspect of some machine deity, a woman with pale skin reading something on her phone that Hunter confirmed to be a review of something called Ambrose Transylvania by secretly peering over her shoulder, two humans talking about the rising rent in Three Portlands, and a group of teenagers discussing their upcoming semester at Deer College and how one of them was excited to take their Introduction to Basic Thaumaturgy and Alchemy 101 classes.

The line moved along fairly quickly and the two made their way to the counter. A tall man with four arms and two horns on the side of his head was behind the register in an apron and above him was a large menu of hundreds of drinks and food items. The Library saw patrons from all species and walks of life so it made sense they would have a very diverse menu. There were the usual items you could find in any café with standard coffees, mochas, teas, and pastries; but there were also very unique items on the menu as well. Fae Realm Nectar, Clown Milk Mocha, Human Blood (Regular or Diet), Strawberry “Lemonade”, Conceptual Blueberry Muffins, Bugloaf, Your Mother’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (No, Really), and Ectoplasm Eclairs.

“How can I help you two?” the man said in a surprisingly soft voice that wouldn’t have been expected to come out of such a gruff and intimidating man.

“Can I get a piece of banana bread and a caramel frappe with substitute almond milk and extra caramel drizzle?”

“Just a milkshake,” Hunter said under his breath, earning an elbow jab by Luz. 

“Alright. And you, kid?”

Hunter hated that he was actually tempted to try the Clown Milk Mocha to see what it tasted like, but decided to go with his usual café order instead.

“Can I get a medium iced matcha? Oh, and one croissant, please.”

Luz repeated the word ‘croissant’ in a higher tone and with a questionable level of pronunciation, earning a snort from Hunter. 

“Good choices. Will that be all?”

“Yep!” Luz said in a cheerful tone that Hunter thought was cute.

The cashier stared at the two almost as if he was waiting on something. 

“Right! Paying! Let me just…” 

Luz reached into pants pocket and pulled a couple crumpled dollars and some change. Hunter was about to do the same before the man waved the currency away.

“We don’t take cash here. We take secrets. Tell me a secret and you get your drinks and food.”

“Really? Does it matter what kind? Like, does it have to be something you’d take to the grave or just something silly?” Luz had some secrets she absolutely did not want to tell anyone, even for free food and drinks.

“Completely up to you.”

“Is there a catch? Like, if we tell you, we lose our memories of that secret or something?” Hunter said, knowing of how some thaumaturges could use the power of words to manipulate people.

The cashier squinted his eyes at the boy with confusion. “You watch too many horror movies. You can either tell a secret or move. You’re holding up the line.” The two looked behind them to see a line of impatient looking customers.

Hunter turned to Luz. “I’ll tell one if you will.”

Feeling encouraged and comforted with the fact someone else will be doing this with her, Luz leaned in and whispered into the man’s ear. The man lightly chuckled to himself.

“That’s adorable.”

He gave a nod and turned to Hunter.

“And you?”

Hunter thought for a moment, trying to find a secret he held that he considered not too dangerous for others to know, before leaning and whispering into the man’s ear.

The man looked at the boy with mild concern.

“Damn, kid. I was hoping for something more embarrassing, but depressive works too.”

Hunter gave a faux cough and just responded with, “The names for the orders are Luz and Hunter.”

The man gave a nod and the two moved aside for the next customer. The two stood to the side and waited for their food, the air suddenly taking on an aura of awkwardness. They heard their names a few minutes later, surprised by the quickness and efficiency despite there being multiple customers and seemingly one employee. The man handed the kids their food and beverages, Hunter grabbing his quickly and moving out of line. Luz showed concern, grabbed her food and drink, and followed him. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but decided against it, remembering what Hunter said was a secret and that he was under no obligation to tell her. Wanting to avoid the subject, she said, “So, where do you want to sit?”

“I don’t see many options,” he said, pointing to all the full tables.

“I saw a clearing on our way over here. That’d be a nice, quiet spot for us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Hunter said, secretly glad they were going to a spot where they could be alone and not feel claustrophobic in the crowd of patrons. He always preferred being alone with Luz. Being near her brought him a level of comfort and safety he wasn’t accustomed to. She also brought out the best in him, making him laugh and letting him prattle on about his interests. Back in the Insurgency, he was expected to follow orders, never talk back, stay in line, or not waste time with “pointless” or “useless” activities. Being near someone who actually gave him the time of day and was actually interested in hearing him speak was… wonderful. It put a warm feeling in his chest and made his neurons fire with excitement. He’d never felt this way before. He didn’t think he could ever feel this way. He didn’t think he would ever-.

“There it is!”

Hunter snapped himself back to reality. They had been walking to the spot, him sneaking sips from his matcha because Luz insisted he wait until they arrived, and his mind must’ve wandered off into deep thought. The clearing was small but there was still more than enough space for them. More trees with books in their trunks and glowing mushrooms encircled the clearing, fireflies occasionally flying and flashing in and out. The two sat near some small boulders in the middle and dug into their meals.

“So, were you also curious about the Clown Milk Mocha?” Hunter said before biting into his buttery croissant.

“Extremely. Like, is it made by clowns or does it come from them directly? Like are they milked?” Luz said, taking a sip of her frappe and making Hunter almost choke.

“Why would you put that image in my head? I don’t want to talk about clown udders while eating.”

“You're the one who brought it up!”

“I wasn’t implying they got milked!”

“How else would they get the milk out?”

They two laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. They spent the next few minutes eating and chatting.

“Okay, I think the Forest is a bust. No one has said anything about seeing any lantern koi schools in here,” Hunter said, sipping his matcha. 

“I mean, it is a pretty big floor. We could probably spend a whole day here and only explore like half of it.”

“As much as I like this place, we might have to diversify where we look. If we stay in one place we would be limiting ourselves and wasting time.”

“Time isn’t wasted if you’re having fun. Seeing this place was definitely a highlight.”

“You’ve never been to this floor before?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I usually stick to the standard ones. I get too overwhelmed with having a lot of choices. Infinite choices in this case. It’s not too bad, though. Even the standard floors are amazing. It would probably take me five lifetimes to read through all the books on one shelf.”

“Mmm,” Hunter nibbled his croissant. An explosion of buttery flavor ignited in his mouth. 

“Oh my god. This croissant is great!”

“I bet.”

He instinctively moved his food away from her. “Hey, I see you eyeing my croissant. Keep your eyeballs in your head.”

“Like you weren’t eyeing my banana bread.”

“You wanna trade a bite?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. I don’t want to get cooties.”

“I assure you that I got tested for cooties and the test came back clean.”

“Hmmmmm, alright. Let me just…”

Luz ripped a piece of her banana bread off and handed it to Hunter who mimicked her action with his croissant. The two tapped their dessert bites together in a cheering motion and plopped the food in their mouths. Both their eyes lit up.

“That is good!” both said in unison.

The two finished their drinks and snacks and decided to rethink their approach. They wouldn’t be getting anywhere by just aimlessly wandering in locations where their target might be. They’d be looking forever in this infinite maze of books, magic, and employees with too many or not enough limbs and orifices. 

“The school would probably be somewhere with not a lot of people since they’re so rarely seen. There are lots of places here that people probably don’t go to.” Hunter lightly gripped his chin to signify how hard he was pondering the conundrum. 

“There must be a nest or cave they rest in when they’re not flying around. Hmmm…”

“An archive, maybe? Somewhere most patrons wouldn’t go. Dark, quiet, and probably has a lot of space for a place this big.”

Luz suddenly smacked her forehead as if to punish herself for not noticing something obvious, surprising Hunter. 

“I’m an idiot! We’re looking for a school of fish. So, we need bait to lure them out.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Hunter said before pointing to himself. “We’re idiots. I didn’t think of that either. Okay. What do flying, glowing koi fish eat?”

“To the booklet!”

She took out the booklet and flipped through the pages before landing back on the lantern koi.

“Hmm. Okay it says here that they usually eat particles found in the air, anything that shines or glows, or… each other. Ew. Fish cannibalism.”

Luz turned to Hunter

“You think if a blue one ate a yellow one it would turn green?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it would.”

“Anything that glows…. Oh! Here!”

She plucked several of the glowing mushrooms off the ground and displayed them to Hunter. 

“Smart. But what if they don’t like mushrooms? They might prefer something with a bit more meat.”

A firefly landed on his nose causing him to sneeze. 

She smiled.

…

“Why did you have a glass jar with you?”

“When I say I always come prepared, I mean it!”

She triumphantly lifted up the jar filled with fireflies blinking in and out. They had spent about 30 minutes gathering a small swarm of them to act as their rainbow bait.

“So many fireflies. I could barely believe my eyes.”

“Not that hard to believe. It would make sense to find them in a dark lit forest. Makes them easier to see.”

“It’s a song.”

“What is?”

She sighed at her friend’s lack of music knowledge. “Never mind.”

She placed the jar in her backpack and zipped it up.

“Okay. Let’s go find a Docent and see if we can get access to an archive or two.”

The two looked around and suddenly noticed the lack of Docents on the floor. Usually a floor would have at least a dozen Docents to aid patrons, but besides the one that took the two up to the forest floor, they hadn’t spotted any for the last two hours. 

“That’s weird. Where are they?”

“Maybe there’s an emergency? They’re also supposed to be security, right?” Hunter said, trying to give a plausible explanation. 

“What could be so bad to have most of them to be needed?”

She tried to think of an emergency that required that many Docents. Her mind drifted to a freak magic ritual going wrong that caused a portal to open and release deadly, magical creatures into the Library. It wouldn’t be that far-fetched. Magical mishaps in the Library halls weren’t that uncommon. It was the reason why all wizards who entered the Library had to leave their registered, class 2 and above magic staffs at the front desks to avoid another incident. We do not talk about the incident. Stop asking.

Hunter’s mind drifted images of a hostile group forcing their way into the Library to steal its secrets. He suddenly felt very uneasy, rubbing his sigil mark on his wrist. To get his mind off it, he suggested they look for a map instead.

The two came across two maps set next to each other. The first map displayed the entirety of the Forest floor along with major locations such as tree houses and the café. The middle of the map displayed an image of a humanoid male with a bouquet of flowers for a head with a speech bubble stating “YOU ARE HERE”. 

They looked at the other map, both tilting their heads trying to make sense of it. It was, for lack of a better word, a doozy. It felt like staring at a magic eye hidden image poster after it was placed in a blender and set to purée. Lines crossed over each other, 2D images turned to 3D and then somehow to 4D which almost made the two vomit. Certain parts began to spiral inward, creating an almost hypnotic effect. The only part of the “map” that was discernible was a section that had a cartoon centipede pointing to an empty space and saying "YOU ARE HERE” in a speech bubble.

The two stopped staring at the map and rubbed their eyes.

“Did you understand any of that?” Hunter said, squinting his eyes.

“Nope. It was like someone shoved a handful of glitter into a kaleidoscope.”

“Tell me about it. Pretty sure I saw some new colors in there, too.”

“So the map’s a bust and all the Docents are busy. What’s our next option?”

Luz didn’t know. She racked her brain to think of a solution. Her line of thinking was halted when she heard a pair of high-pitched voices.

“Did you say something?”

“No?”

The two’s attention was redirected to a tree and looked above to see two tiny daffodils on a low hanging branch… talking? Gossiping probably would be a better word for it. That’s what it sounded like. One would occasionally whisper something into the other’s ear(?) causing the other one to giggle like a school girl. The language they spoke was not familiar at all. Their bodies were slightly humanoid with their leaves being used to mimic hands and unearthed roots that resembled legs. One let its legs swing happily off the branch while the other had its legs crossed over the other. Luz elbowed Hunter.

“Talk to them. They might know something.”

“Why me?” Hunter said, looking confused. 

“Aren’t you part tree? You can probably speak plant.”

…

…

…

…

“I said you can probably speak-.”

“I heard you and I’m not dignifying that.”

“Just try it!”

“Just because I’m made from wood does not mean I speak plant. Are you able to speak to cows because you’re made of meat?”

“I will not lie to you. I have held several conversations with cows before.”

“Luz.”

“Please. For me?”

She gives him her signature puppy dog eyes. He tries to resist.

…

He fails.

“Ugh, fine.” He begins to walk towards the flowers before quickly turning and saying, “One of these days that’s not going to work.”

She gives him a smug smile. She knew that day would never come. 

Hunter stood below the flowers and called out to them. 

“Um, hello. Do you mind helping us? We’re trying to find an archive or somewhere dark and quiet.”

The flowers turned to Hunter and, after a few moments, nodded, leaped down and landed on Hunter’s shoulder, and pointed their leaves to the left.

“Oh my god.”

Luz came over and slapped Hunter on the back. “See! I knew you could do it.”

“I hate that it worked. I hate that it worked.”

“C’mon, flower boy!” Luz grabbed Hunter’s wrist and dragged him in the direction the flowers pointed. 

The two were led to the elevator and stepped in. The flowers gestured for Hunter to move them to the keypad. He did so. The flowers punched in a code on the keypad and immediately leapt off and skedaddled back into the woods, laughing mischievously. 

The keypad read: -999-ZZZ.

Luz looked at Hunter who shrugged and closed the elevator doors. The elevator began to descend deeper and deeper into the darkness below.