The Adventures of Lily Mirado

Chapter 4

I followed Dylan like an automaton. He said that we were going to the great library of Archives of the village. There were all the historical contents on Landotia, from its conception all up till now. The walk to the library was in silence, and even the snow was not able to calm down my senses. I risked a look to my right. Dylan had that blank look that was devoid of any emotions.

The people of Landotia returned to their usual occupations, but they lacked that cheerfulness that I had seen when I first came in the village. It seemed as if they were acting like nothing happened, but I knew better. It was indeed traumatising to see two children getting beaten up till near death by their own doings. I really hoped that the injured boy is near recovery.

“Here we are. The Great Archive.”

I took my time to wander my eyes over the tall building. It was very old, made up of yellowish bricks that were incrusted with dirt over the time. Large glass-paned windows were embedded near the roof. A large wooden door made up its entrance and a red roof covered the top of the building like an oversized hat. We climbed the sets of steps that went to the door and opened it, which creaked when pushed.

If the exterior was old and dilapidated, the interior was nothing in comparison. The walls were neatly painted with a cream colour and the sunrays passed through the windows to cast light in the library. In the far end, there was a reception where a single old woman was seated, a book in her hands. The most impressive sight was certainly the bookshelves. They contained lots of old-looking books and manuscripts that were arranged in alphabetical order. Wooden chairs and tables were scattered around and the surplus of manuscripts and books were lying on top.

We made our way to the receptionist and she looked up from the book she was reading. Her face lit up when she saw Dylan.

“Dylan, how are you, my dear? Here again for some research, I presume?”

The librarian then looked at me, smiling. “And who is that pretty young lady? She is not from here.” Wow, I wondered what gave me away. What was it my clothes? My looks? Or the fact that she knows everyone here in Landotia?

“Mrs Ascot, this is Lily Mirado. I believe she is the key to help save the Landotian, so I brought her to the Great Archive to let her know the history of our Land.”

I could see a glint of excitement in her eyes, almost like she was expecting me, and she nodded, grabbing a key.

“Why, of course. Follow me, lads.”

We followed her to a secluded area where there was a single door. She grabbed the key and inserted it in the keyhole. When she opened the door, I was welcomed with an unpleasant smell, as if that room had not been used for a very long time. There were tons of manuscripts in this room, all piled up to like tall messed towers. A single window was found at the far right.

“I’m going to leave you to do your research. If you need something, just call me.” Mrs Ascot giggled and closed the door.

“Ok!” Dylan said, clapping his hands together. “Let’s do this. You take the left and I take the right.”

I looked at him in surprise. “Are you telling me that you’ve never been here before? Why don’t you tell me the story orally? This is going to take ages!” Ok, maybe I was overreacting and dramatising the situation but it would have been much easier.

He shrugged. “Nah, furthermore, the papers will be more accurate and factual.”

I groaned in frustration. I looked at the pile in front of me. This really was going to take a long time to search for those manuscripts. Ok, let’s use the good old method. I smiled mischievously. While Dylan was combing and analysing one by one the different manuscripts, I raised my hand and some papers of manuscripts went floating in mid-air, arranged in a horizontal line before as I started to analyse their contents. The ones that I was not interested were put aside and it was already forming another tall pile.