The Bookkeeper's Apprentice

As the clock struck eight, a loud alarm rang through the halls of Cherryswood High, marking the beginning of the first day of school. Teens crowded the narrow halls, rushing to their classes and chatting loudly with their peers. Laura checked a piece of paper, on which she had written her classes for the day. Finally locating her classroom, she quietly entered, finding the rest of the class already seated. She glanced at the teacher, attempting to sit quietly and without a fuss.

The teacher cleared her throat, “Are you… Laura?”

Laura stared at the ground and nodded.

The teacher raised her eyebrows, “Speak up.”

The floors were carpeted and stained with foreign substances, “Yes, ma’am.”

The teacher pursed her lips, marking a paper, “Take a seat, you’re late.”

Laura scurried to an open seat, pulling out a pen and notebook. She meant to take notes but ended up just doodling in the margins the whole class as the teacher explained the curriculum for the year. The bell rang, signaling the end of the period, and when the teacher dismissed the class, Laura swiftly made her exit, making a beeline for the closest bathroom.

She stood blankly in a small stall. She knew she had a class next period, but after what she considered to be a disaster of a first period, she didn’t have the courage or confidence to walk into her second-period classroom. Laura leaned against the wall, tipping her head up to count the ceiling tiles as the bell rang once again. She was only on the tenth tile when she heard the clicking of heels enter the bathroom. She held her breath, hoping that it was a student simply there to use the toilet.

“Excuse me?” There was a rap at the stall door.

Laura blew out her breath, hope deflating, and she opened the stall door.

A stout woman stood on the other side, large circular glasses complementing her round features. She smiled kindly at Laura, “Hello, are you not supposed to be in class?”

Laura stared, wide-eyed, “Well... technically…”

The woman chuckled, stepping away from the stall to let Laura out, “Don’t worry,” She leaned in like they were sharing a secret, “I’ve been in your position before.” She smiled and nodded knowingly. “What is your name?”

Laura gulped, not quite believing that she had gotten in trouble already on her first day in the new school, “Uhm... Laura…”

The woman clapped her hands, “Laura! What a beautiful name!” She started out of the bathroom into the empty hall, motioning Laura to follow her, “I’m Ms. Thora Everston, the librarian here.”

Laura finally relaxed at the warmth in Ms. Everston’s voice as she followed her down the hall, “Thank you… uhm, could I ask where you’re taking me?”

Ms. Everston glanced back, “The library, of course! You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Laura nodded, then realized Ms. Everston couldn’t see her, “I am…”

Ms. Everston nodded, rounding a corner and pushing open the doors to the library, “Then you have got much to learn!”

Laura’s eyes widened as she walked across the threshold and into a large room with vaulted ceilings and multiple floors of shelves overflowing with books, completely out of place for being in a high school located in the middle of a modern suburb. Laura stared in astonishment at her impossible surroundings, “What…” She started, unsure of how to phrase the question.

Ms. Everston stopped, suddenly whirling around to face Laura, “Oh! That’s right! That was your first Segway!”

Laura blinked slowly, “My first… huh?”

Ms. Everston grinned, clapping her hands in excitement as she led Laura farther into the library, “Your first Segway! They’re a sort of... how do I explain this..." She looked to the ceiling in thought for a second, "Ah! They're invisible frames that can normally be found or put in doorways or windows; they transport people that go through them from point A to point B.”

“Like… a teleporter?” Laura paused, unsure what to think, “As in magic?”

Ms. Everston smiled tightly, “Teleporters are much less discreet than Segways, and I don’t think it's much magic, not in your typical sense anyway.”

“What do you mean, ‘typical sense’?”

Ms. Everston ushered Laura forward, “I’m sorry, Laura, but we haven’t got much time, I’ll answer your questions after.”

Laura tried to stop again, but Ms. Everston wouldn’t let her. “After what?”

“All in due time, Laura! Now!” She stopped Laura in front of a rather small door compared to the largeness of the rest of the place. The door had many intricate carvings over the surface and writing that looked to be in a different language on the frame. Laura could just make out a carved cat and dog before Ms. Everston opened the door and hurriedly waved Laura through, “Come now, we haven’t the time to dawdle!”

Laura followed Ms. Everston down a spiral staircase that seemed to just keep going. Right when Laura was about to run out of patience and start asking Ms. Everston her many questions again, they reached the bottom and were stepping into another, much smaller, room. If the main room of the Library had been ancient, bewitching, and whimsical, this room wasn’t much different, but had a more comfy and earthy feel to it, like someone might have lived here once.

Ms. Everston bustled into the room and over to an arrangement of glassware in a complex metal contraption. Laura watched, mesmerized, as Ms. Everston poured several tubes into a beaker, stirred, and then poured into a larger, boiling cauldron, which funneled into a small flask that looked straight out of a witching book. When the last of the liquid drained into the flask, Ms. Everston used tongs to set it in ice for a brief moment before picking it up and handing it to Laura, “Drink this.”

Laura stared at the small flask, the gold liquid shimmering shades of red and orange in the light, “What is it?” She asked softly.

Ms. Everston sighed, “I told you, questions after.” She started clearing the glasses away, “Please, drink the potion.”

Ms. Everston calling the liquid a potion brought even more questions into Laura’s head, but she cleared her mind of doubt and brought the flask to her lips, downing the contents in one gulp, “What’s supposed to-”

Laura stumbled into the counter, dropping the flask as a wave of nausea rolled through her. She closed her eyes as a migraine slowly built against her temple and a high-pitched ringing started in her ears. She tried to open her mouth to ask Ms. Everston what was happening, but before she could, she passed out.

When Laura came to, the first thing she registered was that the world was much more vibrant than it had been before. And that scents were much stronger. And noises were louder. In fact, it seemed as though every sense had been put on full blast. Laura whimpered, curling in on herself and wishing she could go back to the oblivion that was sleep.

“Here, drink this.” Ms. Everston gently set a bottle next to where Laura was lying, “It should help with the sensitivity.”

Laura, though hesitant to drink another potion from Ms. Everston, decided that the risk was worth it if her senses would go back to normal. Like with the first potion, the effect had a split-second delay before taking effect at full force, though this time, instead of immense pain, Laura felt relief as her senses went back to what she was used to. Once recovered, Laura picked herself off the cobble floor and dragged herself over to lean against the counter, “Will you answer my questions now?”

Ms. Everston sat a steaming cup of what appeared to be tea in front of Laura, “Yes, I will.” She smiled, “Please, ask away.”

Laura took a breath, “Why couldn’t you answer questions before? What was that liquid? Why were my sense going haywire? Who are you, and what is happening?”

Laura’s mind raced, and the more questions she asked, the more questions seemed to bubble to the surface. Ms. Everston listened, still smiling, “Calm down, take a sip of tea, I will answer all of your questions, but only if you don’t go hysterical on me.” She laughed lightly, like the whole situation was amusing to her. But Laura listened, she took a sip of tea, immediately feeling her thoughts slow, knowing inherently that it was most likely another potion.

Laura took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, “Okay. Explain, please. About as much as you can.”

Ms. Everston produced a second cup of tea, sipping it slowly before starting to explain, “Well, as you are aware, my name is Thora Everston, and I am the Librarian… but I also used to be a were-spider, I say used to because I was stripped of that part of me when I became the guardian for the Book of Time. I already explained to you about Segways, but I didn’t tell you that we are no longer anywhere near Cherryswood High; we are actually now in the School for Weres, which is why the Library looked so different from the rest of the school.”

“What do you mean Weres? Like werewolves?” Laura interjected, unable to stop her curiosity.

Ms. Everston chuckled, “Sort of like werewolves, but werewolves are fiction, something of the mind. Weres of the real world originated in four groups: were-spiders, were-bats, were-dogs, and were-cats. Nowadays, there are many, many subgroups of Weres, but still the four original groups are most prominent.”

Laura thought back to the carvings on the door, “Is that what-”

Ms. Everston interrupted her, “Yes. The carvings that you saw are widely used, but are more prevalent in older structures. Now, back to your other questions,” She took another long sip of her tea, “I couldn’t answer your questions earlier because I knew we didn’t have time, and I knew we didn’t have time because of me being the guardian of the Book of Time, which, as its name might suggest, tells of time- whether past, present, or future.”

Ms. Everston paused, and Laura quickly asked, “Is that it?”

“Of course not,” Ms. Everston chuckled, “But you will learn the rest in all due time. As for the potion you drank, that was just a potion to help you get through your transformation easier,” Laura opened her mouth, but Ms. Everston kept speaking, “Which was the reason for your heightened senses; you have transformed into a subgroup of the were-dog.”

Now Laura was able to cut in, “What do you mean I transformed? I’m not part of this world! I’ve never even heard anything about it! How do I know you're not just- just- tricking me!?”

Ms. Everston grimaced, “Well, that would be my fault, I left you in the care of humans who would rightfully have no awareness of Weres… And, I know that this is all sudden and completely unexpected for you, but truthfully, this has been a predetermined part of your life ever since you were born.”

Laura rubbed her face in her hands, eyes welling with tears, “But I never asked for this… I just wanted to be a normal high schooler in a normal high school…”

Ms. Everston’s eyes softened, “I know, honey, but we don’t ask for a lot of things and get delt them anyways, we just have to roll with the punches, play our cards, and hope for the best, I’ll let you in on a secret,” She leaned forward, smiling slightly, “There’s no such thing as normal, especially not in high school.”