Amy screamed. It was the wierdest sensation she had ever experienced. Now she knew what a yoyo felt like, only in reverse, as her stomach lifted into her throat only to fall back down.
Less than a minute was all it took.
Shaken to her core, Amy wobbled out of the lift but not before noticing the display said Floor: 2222. Dungeon Library. Her aunt seemed completely unaffected by the dropped movement.
"You ok my dear? You do look a little pale... It does take some getting use to... Here have a Eucalyptus and Honey lollie, it should help." Out of her pocket she produced a bottle filled to the brim with the candy.
Amy had to agree she did feel better.
It was so much colder down here, she noticed, rubbing her arms. And the light was so dim, she could barely see the stairs in the center of the room. Aunt Penelope moved in front of another set of double doors with a book carved into the wood and entered the numbers into the keypad.
"If you're up to it, Amy, we ought to be moving, especially if we are going to catch our visitors by surprise."
"I'll be fine."
"Good girl." Her aunt smiled affectionately at her before slowly opening the door.
With a name like Dungeon Library, Amy was expecting a dark, frightening place. The books heavily covered with dust, spiders and cobwebs . The prisoners would take on the roles of librarian, chained to their desks threatening to kill anyone that made a noise.
So the bright yellow walls came as a shock. This definitely didn't look like any dungeon she'd seen in the movies. They were standing on the first level, next to a set of ornate wooden stairs that descended into a library like no other. There must have been well over a million books neatly arranged in rows, supported by roots as shelving. She felt as small as an ant in the enormous room.
"Hey, here's another book... But it's not the Transference Spell book ... Awww, its blank as well."
The female nasally voice drew Amy's astonished eyes down to the leafless ancient looking tree in the center of the room where three small goblin-like creatures, wearing unusual costumes, were talking. There was no way these were Librarians. One had a long black dress with rope winding around her body and her face was sticking out the center of a huge daffodil. The one speaking was wearing what looked like a gnome's, red and green, outfit with a red pointy hat, and the smallest one was wearing a black dress with a large purple watering-can spout covering her left arm.
They obviously had no idea they were being overheard.
As Amy watched, she found the nasally goblin's blue tongue hypnotic, as it flickered when she spoke. Maybe she was half lizard?
All three were funny looking...Squat and pudgy, with grotesque boils on their leathery skin, stringy silver hair, black-rimmed bulging eyes, and crooked pointy noses. They were definitely scary... yet kind of cute, at the same time.
"Sisters we have this all wrong! Well... not exactly all wrong. We had the right colour pattern, but you both have to say a colour, each, not just one of you. Don't you see? The different vibrations of your voice creates a pattern too," the Gnome was saying.
"Oooh. Whoever came up with this was very very clever indeed." The Watering-Can Spout sounded very impressed.
"Why thank you, Sweetie. That's the nicest compliment anyone has said to me all day."
Amy tried to stop the smile spreading across her face at their expression when they saw Aunt Penelope. It was priceless.
"How did you know we were here?!" The Daffodil cried.
YOU ARE READING
The Storyteller - ONC 2022
General FictionNine-year-old Amy Winter's holiday plans have gone from exciting to total disaster. How is she supposed to have any fun being packed up and sent to stay with a weird relative she can't even remember? And Aunt Penelope is as weird as they get. With...
