blue eyes

Chapter 9

 The doors opened into a dark hallway. Zoe stepped out and hit a switch on the wall. Lights on the floor blinked on, slowly illuminating the hallway.

"Zoe, what the heck?"

Zoe smiled and held out her hand. Sam took it tentatively and slowly stepped out of the elevator. The walls were a dark paneled wood. Paintings of fantastical places were hung every few feet. Sam stopped to admire each one. Zoe walked patiently alongside them.

When they got to the end, there was a beautiful wood door, with flowers and leaves carved into an intricate design.

"Wow," Sam whispered.

Zoe tapped her ID on an indiscriminate place on the wall and the door unlocked. She pushed the door open and gestured for Sam to walk in.

As Sam walked in, lanterns with pretend fire illuminated one by one around the room. Sam stepped into the room and turned around slowly to take it all in. The walls were floor to ceiling bookshelves, packed with brightly colored books. Zoe stood by the door and watched Sam take it all in.

"Golly," Sam whispered reverently. "What is this place?"

"This is the legacy library," Zoe explained. "All of the books in this room were published by this company, starting with the founder in 1825."

"Wow."

"Pretty cool, eh?"

"Wait," Sam turned to Zoe. "You mean, if I get published here, my book will get to be in this library?"

"And many others," Zoe smiled. "In many languages, all around the world."

A tear slid down Sam's cheek as they resumed their perusal. Zoe went and sat on the velvet bench that was underneath the stained glass window across from the door.

"I didn't notice that from the street," Sam gestured to the window above Zoe. "Is it real?"

"Yes and no," Zoe replied. "It's a real stained glass window that was salvaged from a church that burned down, but there's another real window behind it. It's probably only visible from eye level because of the tint and glare outside."

Sam nodded. Their eyes lit up when they noticed that kids books lined the lowest shelves all the way around the room. They squatted down to look, but Zoe cleared her throat to get their attention. Once they were looking, Zoe gently kicked a rolling tufted cushion their way. Sam sat on it, then scooted along the shelves, touching the spines of the books tenderly.

"Oh, I loved this book when I was little," Sam cried, pulling it out of the shelf and hugging it to their chest. "I still have all of her books."

Zoe watched as they realized that they would become peers with that author and all of the others in this room.

"Do you think I could maybe get to meet her someday?"

"We have a big anniversary gala with all of our living authors every 5 years," Zoe said. "There's one next year, so maybe."

"I feel like my heart would explode," Sam said quietly. "Or I'd panic and word vomit all over her. Or maybe both."

"Deep breaths," Zoe smiled. "You'll be fine, even if you word vomit all over her. I'm sure the words would be beautiful and I doubt it would be the first time it happened to her. In fact, I was pretty awkward when I met her five years ago and she was super kind about it."

Sam sighed and looked around again.

"We have two hours before we need to leave for dinner," Zoe said after checking the time on her phone. "I'll be over here with one of my favorite books. I have an alarm set. Have fun."