What Lies In Me

Chapter 10

"What kind of library doesn't keep specific records of where the books are?" I mutter to myself. "Section E-2? There are at least fifty bookshelves in here!"

Sadie stands next to me, calmly toying with book after book, checking for dates. There are a lot of books on Babylonian history and religion in this library, we know that. We looked up several of them online before coming here. This part of the library, however, has fallen into relative disuse, and the books are not ordered properly. Hence my frustration.

"How long do you think it's been since a librarian visited over here?"

"I don't know," Sadie replies. "It's really strange; these are all valuable historical texts. They show up online, but it's almost like the librarians forgot they were here. Look, there's nobody else in here."

I don't have to look to know that she's right.

"Yeah, it's odd. I have friends that would practically drool at the sight of all of this history and culture. I wonder why nobody cares about this stuff."

"Mmmm."

A comfortable silence emerges between us, and we continue looking through the books. I can hear Jackson and Tony in another row of bookcases, making fun of the book titles. Sadie and I move apart, picking at the books we come across.

My hands are getting dusty as I move along the bookcase. I blow on the books, only to be greeted with a miniature dust storm, which causes me to turn away and cough.

"You alright?" calls Sadie.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just did something stupid."

I continue feeling my way along the bookcase, picking out and looking at promising titles, but find nothing. By the time I reach the end of the bookcase, I am still empty handed, so I go around the corner and continue searching the other side.

Sadie has also moved around the case, but she's stopped searching. She is sitting cross-legged on the floor, flipping through the pages of an old book. I decide to take a break and sit by her.

"Did you find anything?" I ask.

"Only this," she replies, turning the book to me. I take the book and look closely. A large, ornate illustration adorns the pages. The moon and sun top the illustration, shining down on a large collection of strong humans and majestic beasts. The earth, sea, and sky run together in the background, making for a beautiful image of stunning creatures.

"Wow..." I murmur as my gaze flickers from creature to creature.

Sadie cuts me off by pointing to a creature on the bottom right corner of the spread. There, though the illustration is worn and faded, I can see him. The crystalline, twisting figure of that same serpent. It is Zahrim, the snake. I pull the book into my lap and examine it closely. There in the sky is another figure, a figure that resembles the other creature we saw yesterday.

"This is it!" I look up at Sadie. "This is what we're dealing with. We're checking this book out. Where did you find it?"

"Over there on that case," she replies, pointing at it. I walk over to it, and begin looking frantically through the books.

She follows me. "There's more in that book."

"I know, but we have to look for more while we're here. We can read more of that book later. We're going to find out what we're really up against. There's no way that we're really dealing with gods."

"Demons," she corrects me.

"What?"

"The book says that they are all demons."