Chapter Text
“Nah, it’s cool.”
“You don’t seem to like it very much, though.” The boy walking next to him, shook his head. “That I’m back. I thought you’d be.. I don’t know.. glad to see me, I guess?”
“I am. It’s great that you’re back. I haven’t seen you in three years.”
“I got the feeling you’re avoiding me,” the other continued. “In class.”
“I’m not.”
He was.
They’d kept in touch by the odd e-mail. In the beginning they’d been in contact, multiple times a week, but it fizzled down to maybe one or two e-mails in the last year.
It was like they’d been living in two different countries.
They weren’t.
But they might as well have been.
The things that were going on at his school, the things his friends did and were into, it was all so different. He couldn’t relate.
And now his friend was back. His parents had split up and his mother had moved back here.
They were in the same school, same grade and shared a handful of classes.
But his friend wasn’t the same guy anymore.
At his core he still was, he was sure of it.
But he was different all the same.
He’d gained several inches on him, had grown out his hair, dressed differently, was heavily into 80’s music for some reason? And sometimes into guys.
They were moving in different circles now.
His other mates were giving him a hard time about it, as his friend didn’t fit in with them.
Crap! There was one of them now, exiting a shop on the other side of the street.
His friend had also spotted him.
“Want to go over to him?”
“Nah, hanging out with you right now, am I?”
That earned him half a smile.
“You can come over to mine, if you like. Mom always cooks too much anyway. We can play that new game after.”
“Yeah, I…”
The mate on the other side of the street started crossing the road.
“Hey, you coming over to the park?” he shouted. “The others’ll be there as well!”
Directed at him and ignoring his friend as usual.
“I..”
The mate walked up to the pavement and didn’t appear happy by the boy’s lack of enthusiasm. “Come on!” he tried, then rolled his eyes as he looked at his friend. “He can walk himself home.”
“Go,” his friend said. “It’s alright.”
No, it wasn’t.
“Yeah, come on, man!” the mate egged him on.
What was he supposed to do now?
His eyes flicked between his friend and his mate.
Should he ditch his mate over a friend he had been having trouble reconnecting with?
Or should he stick to his friend regardless and ditch his mate?
“What are you waiting for dude? This is a no-brainer.”
The boy shook his head in frustration. “I just… can’t,” and ran into a side lane, and into the next, and the one after.. until he ran out of breath.
And that’s how he found himself in this small alley, he’d never even noticed before.
Just two rows of grey boring buildings, except for the teal coloured columns on either side of a dark blue door.
He had to step all the way backwards till his back hit the opposite wall, just to be able to read the lettering, which was pretty high up the narrow shop.
No, not a shop.
The sign said 'Interdimensional Library'.
A library then.
Out here?
His eyes lowered and stopped on the sign in the window in the door.
‘Open’
After a moment of hesitation, he walked up to the door and entered.
Well, it definitely looked like a library.
The building may have been narrow, but it seemed to be very deep. Bookshelves, as far as the eye could see.
To his left was a large brown wooden counter. Behind it sat a slender man on a stool, reading a book.
The boy walked towards him, unsure of what to say or even ask, but it was as if he was being pulled towards the counter by some unseen force.
“Yes?” The librarian asked, as he looked up from his book. The cover was barely visible, but intriguing none the less.
“Um… What are you reading?”
The librarian smiled and showed him the cover of his book. It was black, the title in white and on the front was a depiction of a snake coiled around a flaming sword.
"Good Omens," the man answered.
"I know that one!" the boy's eyes lit up. "But I've never seen that cover before."
"Oh, in this library all the books have alternative covers. Helps with the organising."
The boy raised an eyebrow at that, and looked at the spines of the books on the counter. Nothing he recognised, though.
The old man held out the book in offering. "Want to borrow it?"
"Nah, I've already read that one."
"Did you like it?"
"Very much. But.. Can't reread the same book a thousand times."
"Maybe you'd like to read a different version?"
"There is no different version. They only wrote one." he said, while pointing at the copy in the librarian’s hand.
"Well, yes. But this is just the one that was written in this dimension. Why don't you go take a look in the back?" The man waved to his right with his free hand. "Under the 'G'."
The boy frowned. "What do you mean, this one was..?"
"Go look." the man interrupted and made a shooing motion. The boy's curiosity took care of the rest. And not long after he found himself standing in front of a shelf, with a plaque with the letter 'G' attached to it.
And there it was. Good Omens.
No, not it.
They.
Plural.
There were many different copy's. All of them wrapped in an identical black cover, but all of them with a different drawing on the front.
"Pick one."
The boy jumped, spooked by the sudden appearance of the librarian, somehow miraculously standing next to him.
Wow, he must have been so distracted he hadn’t even heard the man walk up to him.
Hesitantly, the boy pulled one of the books off the shelf and leafed through it.
"How is it different?"
"Oh, that depends. In some of them, it's just a few details. Others, well, you'd have to see for yourself." The man smiled, somehow oozing friendliness.
He nodded - whether to the boy or himself was unclear - turned and walked away.
"You are only allowed to borrow one book," he said, as he headed towards the counter. "And be sure to bring it back in time. Fees are quite high, unfortunately. But alas, that comes with the territory of being an interdimensional library."
The boy inspected the drawings on the covers of the books, most of them a mixture of two animals or items and a few with three.
Eventually he picked the one with the talons and the antlers.
The talons reminded him of hawks or owls. He loved birds of prey.
He made his way to the front of the library and put it on the counter.
"Good choice," the man said as he noticed the cover. "This one is quite different from the version you're familiar with."
He then proceeded to ask for the boy's name and address, and made a quick note.
"I expect this book back in two weeks, on Friday, five o'clock at the latest."