The Library of Powers

Chapter 7: Part 2

Selina smiled a coy smile, joking "Yeah, I figured I can trust you not to spill the secrets of my power. And, unless you took a peek in the Annex when you had your night in The Library, you haven't read it before."

Jackson had to fight to contain a smirk. Little did she know he could visit the Annex at any time, and find a copy of her book sitting on its shelves. She was right that he hadn't read it before. Getting to the Annex was a pain, and he figured it was a good idea to give a measure of privacy to people he up until recently barely knew. No, Jackson did not smirk. He nodded his head and reached out a hand to receive her book. The one she had checked out when she was only 15.

And when he felt the soft leather in his hand, he submerged into the Library.

Waking up once again in the Library's recreation of Bernard Harbour Public Library, Jackson sighed. He made a mental note that this oddity would have to be truly investigated later. Was there something special about this town's library? Without any fanfare, Jackson dived into the extreme privilege of reading another person's book.

A new Super's book contains a few things, which very rarely take up all the enclosed pages. No, it would not give him Selina's power, that only occurred the first time the book was picked up. The first page is a title (Selina's power is technically called the "Door Symposium", which greatly amused Jackson), the next any warnings about potential misuse of the power (accidentally teleporting into a solid object in Selina's case), and then pages upon pages of how to use the power. Selina had to have already been to a place to teleport there, that much Jackson knew, but there was much more to it than that.

Her plane was a hallway of doors, go through one and end up in a location she had set to that door. The number of doors is finite, but the number is very large and if she wanted more space she could "remove" a set location. And about setting locations, she had to actually think about creating a teleportation spot to make one there. It was really quite interesting, and it made Jackson wish he had a book. He once combed through the Annex, where everyone's book should supposedly be, but never found one bearing his name. Glancing at the spine, the book clearly told him it was the property of "Selina S. Demarcson", but he still imagined it read "Jackson Q. Reil".

He was halfway through dissecting how to teleport others with you when he came across a torn out page. Confused, Jackson decided to return to reality and ask Selina himself.

Exiting the library and getting up from where he had slumped onto the floor upon entering the library, he asked Selina about the page. instead of answering him, she retorted with "How could you read it, you had my book closed the entire time."

"Uh, ummm." Jackson hadn't thought about how it would look to an onlooker. It could really mess up his fake power. Damn, if only he hadn't fully entered the library, and instead kept himself in his time slowing state! "I read it so fast the human eye couldn't catch it," he answered, coming up with an appropriate lie. "Should this tear be here? It was like this when I got it, I promise."

Selina chuckled, responding with a noncommittal "Don't worry about it, it was always like that. C'mon, finish the book. You've already spent six seconds! You call that speed-reading?"

Without ending the conversation, Jackson went back into the Library. The torn page still bugged him, and he had an idea on how to find out more. Once again in the infuriatingly consistent Bernard Harbour Public Library, this time Jackson leapt from his cross-legged position, tearing open the window he had climbed out of and once again scaled the large timber beams. It was a long way to the Annex, but Jackson could get there. It was actually fairly common knowledge how to get there. Most intrepid 15-year-olds would go if they had time during their visit to the Library.