The Library of Powers

Chapter 14 - part 3

Principal Gonner's View

All was going according to plan. Sean was reveling in the rush. Drop the clock, make a mess, then stay behind as they head into the other room. Only then could he sneak around, figure out what was really going on. He was sure the boy was up to no good. He just needed to find what that no good was.

The rest of the class was leaving, following Jackson. Sean started to sweep the glass shards, careful not to touch any lest he cut himself. He hurried, finishing quickly so he would have more time to search.

Once he had deposited the broken glass into a trash can, he rummaged through drawers, looking for anything that might help him. Pieces of gears, tools, paper, there was very little of note. He opened the backs of clocks, tried to pry open floorboards, he even crawled under the tables to see if there was anything taped under them. No dice. It was then that Sean had a revelation. Jackson would have had time to hide anything that he didn't want the class to see. He wouldn't put it somewhere someone could just stumble across. Then where would he hide his dirty laundry?

Principal Sean Gonners looked at the door, which was apparently locked. Perhaps Jackson had been the one to lock it? Perhaps it wasn't an exit at all, but a closet? He walked over, looking for a keyhole. There wasn't one. That's strange, how could a door be locked if it didn't have a locking mechanism? Sean reached for the door handle and tried to move it. To his surprise, it turned easily. He opened the door, and was greeted with not a broom closet, but a long hallway.

The door was never locked at all. It was a clever ruse Jackson had pulled. Sean chided himself for being so gullible. Now, what was this place?

He headed down the hallway, passing by doors of varying shapes and sizes. It reminded him a little of Selina's plane. Where would the doors lead? He reached out for one, a basic wooden door painted white. Opening it, he was faced with a Library.

There were hundreds of books stacked to the ceiling, not on shelves of any kind, not with any rhyme or reason, but in a way where he would have to maneuver around them. Sean headed inside, passing by the walls of books. He made a turn, down a book-made hallway that slowly widened. At the end was a larger room, bare except for a strange collection of, who would have guessed it, books in the middle. These had their covers stripped off, leaving just paper and a thick yellow paste that bound them together. These stacks were even more erratic, but lower, with only tiny gaps between them. Sean took a step back, and realized what it was. It was a model of Vera City made with books. He kneeled down, noticing Super's ladder jutting out near the center. He followed State Street with his mind, making a few turns before reaching Jin Takeshi Public High School. His high school. He staggered even further back, his back resting on one of the stacks of books behind him. He had made a terrible mistake. He needed to get out of here immediately.

Sean ran past books, trying to retrace his steps. He found what he thought was the door he entered from, but opened it to find a small bookstore, where wooden shelves held popular paperbacks. He skirted forward, pulling open another door to reveal a large, old library. He knew where he was. How could it be possible? How could he be in The Library of Powers?

He kept going. A luxurious amphitheater. A damp archive, a rope bridge leading down into an endless void, except the bridge was made of sturdy hardbacks. He stopped to catch his breath in the corner of a university bookstore, between Spanish and Sociology textbooks. The doubt started to creep in. He was going to be stuck in here forever. Sean had thought Jackson was hiding a vault but it was really pandora's box. And he was the fool who opened it.

A faint voice called out to him. He couldn't quite hear what it was saying, but it was coming from somewhere ahead of him. Maybe it was Jackson. Maybe it was a way out. Maybe it was a monster coming to eat him. He went anyways. It took him from the university bookstore, up a flight of stairs, and into a small room with a single book. Was that a Gutenberg Bible? Alas, the voice was calling him through yet another door. Now he was in a tunnel, rough rock on either side. Books were held on tight wire cases, visible only through dim fluorescents swaying above. Sean shuddered. The voice was in this room. Screaming incoherent words. He desperately grasped for the source. He was alone, who could be causing it?

A book snapped into his vision. Black, with an arcing grid of bright green. The spine said nothing, the pages frayed at the edges. it was speaking to him. No, it was his.

He reached for it.

There was a blinding flash, his sight being taken from him for a brief moment. Clocktower bells sounded somewhere far away, but it was not the clean ringing of ceremony, but the crash and crack of a mistake. They rattled and prayed, they fell and shattered on the floor like the glass pane on the clock he had dropped. Sean's hands went to his ears, begging the sound to stop.

Suddenly, it did. At some point in the confusion he had fallen onto the floor. He picked himself back up, book in hand. Only now could he read the cover. "On Certain, Untempered Growth," it read in green script. Underneath, the author's name. "Sean F Gonners."

This wasn't any old book. This was a gift, he had just received his gift. His power. He had checked out a book from the Library of Powers at 45. Thirty years later then should be possible. Did everyone have a book waiting for them in The Library? Did they just not get a chance to claim it?

Well, what could he do? The book would tell him. he didn't want to make any rash decisions, for all he knew his power could be incredibly dangerous. Although, if there was really any danger from powers in The Library of Powers, some clumsy new firebreather would have burned it down decades ago. A little testing couldn't hurt...

Before he was able to put his plan to action, he heard a loud "Sean, stop!" Looking to his left, a woman headed his way, dressed in a blue suit. Sean recognized her. It was Phoebe Winter, supervillain.

"Are you?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Are you going to kill me?"

She laughed. "No, I don't do that anymore."

"How did you?"

"That's enough questions," her right hand grasped his head. "You, Sean Gonners, are the principal of Jin Takeshi Public High School. You left early during superhero class because you were feeling sick. You went home and went to sleep. You did not enter the Library of Powers, you do not suspect Jackson Reil of any wrongdoing. This is the truth."

"Wait, wait, what are you doing?"

"Someone, is this correct?"

A voice behind him curled out, wisping across his ears. He had never heard anyone like it before. "That is what happened," the voice said.

***

Sean woke up in bed with a splitting headache. Did he have too much to drink last night? No, he was just a little under the weather. He remembered now. He needed to get going, School would be starting soon. Lifting his head, he discovered a strange book resting on his nightstand. "On Certain, Untempered Growth."