When he opened his eyes the sky would be gently overcast. A frost brushed morning in late autumn, cloudy and bracing. No snow. Just the tang of brackish water below the house. Please let it be true.

He opened his eyes. It was very bright. Painfully blue. His breath came out in a fog between his lips and he tracked a bird fliting lazily across his vision.

No. Just a piece of trash.

The boy rolled over and watched the wind from passing cars toss paper and dirt and the smell of ammonia into his face. Trucks rumbled by on the overpass, shaking the beams and loosened something wet that dripped into his hair. His bones ground into the concrete as he shifted and forced himself from his sleeping bag. Even mentally preparing for the chill didn't stop his body from trembling ferociously now. Cold. So cold. And hungry.

As he rolled up his sleeping bag he realized someone was watching him. He pretended not to notice but repositioned himself to make sure the man couldn't sneak up on him. The man was holding something. Cardboard?

"Nice sleeping bag."

The boy stood upright, assessing the stranger. Adult. Bigger than him, but past his prime. Probably nearing sixty- or at least he'd destroyed his body enough to look it. He'd outrun him easily but only if he didn't let the man get close enough to grab him. The man was smiling. He didn't have all his teeth. Disgusting. "I have a knife."

The man stopped moving, the smile gone. "I'm not gonna take it, just offering some friendly advice." His voice creaked like a rarely used gate. "A little bit is better than the ground even with such a nice bag."

He didn't understand what he meant and didn't care to. "Leave me alone."

Another spot ruined. He thought he'd moved far away from the foul encampments, but it was harder when he was in actual cities. He'd be stuck here a little longer. Just deal with it. Just-

"Hey, kid-"

-get back to the library for the book-

"Hey! Hey!"

-he'd take it and be on his way-

"Kid!"

He spun around. The man had been limping after him. "Stop following me."

"It's going to get real cold out still. You're young enough, they'll let you into one of the nicer shelters. You should-"

That was enough from the drunk. He hitched his bag higher and ran across the street, away from him and his piss-soaked pants that made his nostrils burn from half a block away.

The run into downtown caused more problems. For a minute the exertion kept the cold at bay but now he was shivering just as hard as before as the sweat on his neck felt like it froze instead of drying. He felt a little dizzy and forced himself to stop next to chain restaurant. The back vent blew warmth into his face. And the delicious smell of butter laden diner food that he would not be able to eat. Instead, his breakfast was a jar of peanut butter, two cans of sardines and orange juice which only mildly helped with the oily fish burps that would haunt him for the rest of the day. He pulled out his notebook and a library book, holding the peanut butter slathered spoon in his teeth while he dumped hand sanitizer up and down his arms. That done he opened one of his books from the last library. There. This book talked about Selkies too. But did it explain where they came from? Or better yet, how to kill them?

He took a seat on a stone divider, glancing up occasionally to make sure no one was taking note of him.

It would be so much better to sit in the mall food court but that wasn't allowed between the hours of 8 and 3. That got him attention. Outside he used a crusty sleeved jacket from he'd fallen in the mud. If he kept his hood pulled up, he would be safely unapproachable. But he'd found quickly that looking like that inside was not allowed. Blending inside required appearing a little cleaner, a little more like just some teenager- which led him back to the issue of school days. Just some teenager should be in school. Just some bum should be outside. Just some teenager, however, could walk into the library today, claim to be homeschooled and ask 'would the librarian please, please be able to help him with something?' and then be able to disappear with the book he'd been tracking since the middle of the state.

Of course, they needed to open first. It must nearly be nine. Please, let it be nearly nine.

The gas station attendant gave him a tired blink as a greeting when he walked in. He headed straight for the bathroom, swapping the particularly nasty jacket for a clean, gray one. The water in the sink barely improved from lukewarm but it was the best he would get to wash his hair and face and brush his teeth. He avoided looking in the mirror the best he could. Deodorant made him feel almost halfway presentable, but the paper towels left his hair damp enough his now unruly bangs froze before he made it two blocks. His lips burned and he swiped Chapstick across them for what seemed like the millionth time. It was so dry here. He stashed everything but a small bag.

He still wasn't sure why that girl was so specific about when she would get out of school, but she was accidentally very helpful. That girl was a nuisance. Way too friendly. A second visit would get him remembered for sure. If he went while she was gone he could be in and out, hopefully with a major clue and no reason to ever return. The walk out of downtown was pleasant during the day. Even more so now that he was in his semi-presentable clothes. Despite the cold he saw mothers walking with one hand on a stroller and the other clutching the leash of a dog. They all looked like they would be named 'Buddy'. An older couple shuffled down the sidewalk, arm in arm. The man even smiled at him as he passed and he did his best to return it but he wasn't used to smiling much anymore so it might have been a grimace. As he walked tiny square houses that reminded him of children's drawings replaced the brick and whitewashed apartments. The library looked different during the day.

Not better though. Last night he could tell the thing was ill-maintained from the sagging front porch and the buck-teeth stairs. He couldn't see the peeling paint then though, pale gray no longer hiding the yellow that had been underneath. The front sign made sense now. It was bright yellow, probably once a playful match for the color. Currently it offered the visual slap of a cheap car lot.

He eased his way up the porch and attempted the knob. Stuck fast. The faded sign in the window read the hours for Thursday were 9-5:30. He was sure he heard the church bells strike 9 even before he started his hike here. There were lights on. He tried the knob again, then knocked. A little harder now, about to be frustrated. He'd planned his day around this.

Finally he heard the creak of footsteps and the door opened. Partially. A spindly woman with an aggressively rouged pinched face peered out. Her eyes, comically large behind such thick glasses, narrowed upon seeing him.

"Yes?"

"Are you open? The sign says you open at 9am."

She frowned. "Yes." And opened the door only slightly wider.

He looked her over quickly. High collared dress, polished buttons and hair-sprayed tight enough to withstand hurricanes. He made a show of wiping his feet and hanging his jacket. "Thank you very much ma'am."

Her expression became mildly less annoyed. He was right. One of those kinds of adults.

"Ma'am, I was wondering if you could please help me with a book I found here yesterday."

"I can certainly try." She shook the small door open, proving that the assistant last night didn't need to climb over things like a monkey. "What is it called? I'll find you the location."

He fished out the piece of paper again. "I think it might actually already be-"

"Where?"

"-behind the desk." He finished.

"I don't understand."

"Oh, well your assistant actually helped me last night but I wasn't able to check out-"

"Who?"

"-the book. Um. The girl with the purple hair helped me."

"Lots of kids have purple hair now-a-days." Her expression suggested this was done just to upset her.

He stared for a moment, trying to get his bearings on this conversation. "I'm sorry. Do you have multiple people with purple hair working for you?"

"I am the only one who works here."

"Ok." Then why bring it up? "Well the girl-"

"I have an assistant- do you mean Miss Parker?" Her name came out like a curse word.

"I guess so...? Anyway ma'am, she said she was holding the book back there for me."

"She's supposed to help people check books out."

He cracked the knuckle of his pointer finger and took a deep breath. "Its ok, ma'am. She did help me. So is the book back there?"

She turned her head one way, then the other. "No. I don't see it here."

He started to lean over the counter.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking for the boo-"

"Young man I just told you its not here. You are welcome to look on the shelves."

But she hadn't put it back, of course. "I really think its behind the counter, could you please take another look?"

"Its not there."

"Then... where is it? Could you jus-"

"Are you suggesting Miss Parker stole it?" Her expression brightened. The makeup around her mouth cracked.

"No. No of course no-"

"You know she's a thief. She's stolen things before, probably more than I have noticed considering she started young but those are the times we are living in-"

"I'm sorry, ma'am I am not accusing her of stealing. I'll just wait here until she gets back."

"You'll need to wait for her to explain herself."

He struggled to keep his expression neutral. That's what I said! "Ok. Thank you." Frustrated he went to one of the ugly chairs and sat down in defeat. His heart was still racing from the stupid conversation. What was wrong with that woman? Ok, Miss Parker, I understand why you told me to wait now.

This library was terrible. Why didn't he bring his other books? He spent his entire day waiting for the assistant to return, too nervous that the weird librarian might just notice and hand off his book to someone else the minute he stepped out. He found out he didn't need to be too concerned since only one person stopped in.

They asked to use the bathroom and were promptly told 'no'.

All of the books he'd picked up to pass the time or dig through for possible research were just bizarre. There were no popular titles or classics only shelves filled with poor writing or extremely niche subjects. He'd pulled what appeared four out of twenty encyclopedias about surgery in the 1800s and found them shockingly dull for the titles. He'd found a book that was basically a merchants records keeping of grain sales in France. The worst was the book he'd located by the same author as the one he was waiting on. At first he'd been excited but that was quashed four pages in. He worried that Myths was going to be a big waste of time. If this book was any indication, anyway. He flipped to another chapter, hoping for some kind of change but again he found a local mythology story that appeared to be written verbatim from what the story-teller said. This one must be retold by 8-year-old with a stutter.

There was a loud thump next to him.

The book had tumbled from his hands when he jumped. The girl had dropped her bag on the table and was staring at him. "Oops- I didn't mean to surprise you! You're kinda a space cadet, huh? I called your name like four times! So, Connor, what do you think of our fine selection of books? Are you enjoying it?"

He cleared his throat. "Absolutely not." To his alarm this made her laugh. She took a seat across from him. She must have only been a little older than him. Her purple hair dye was faded, likely cheap and she had multiple piercings in both ears and a stud in her nose. Her lips were painted purple as well, nearly black and he couldn't tell if her smudged eyeliner was on purpose or she hadn't bothered to wipe it off last night. Seemed like a lot of work but he supposed that's what happened when uniforms and dress codes weren't required. Madness.

"Did you put the book somewhere special?"

"Huh?" She was digging in her backpack. "No-"

"The librarian couldn't find it."

Her head snapped back up. "You talked to her about it? Connor I told you to wait!"

He crossed his arms. "Yes of course I-"

As though sensing the conversation he heard a door snap closed above them and the clop of shoes.

"Gabrielle Parker! This boy tells me you've stolen a book?"

His mouth was open in surprise when Gabrielle turned to glare at him. "I-I didn't! I specifically told her I wasn't accusing you." He wasn't used to talking this much. The crack in his speech wasn't convincing.

Gabrielle stood, smiling directly at her accuser. "Oh, it's a misunderstanding. I know where the book is."

The librarian's deranged smirk faltered.

This time the girl didn't climb over the counter. She removed a book tucked back on a shelf. He glanced at the librarian. It should have been easily visible from back there.

"We don't hold books."

"Oops. I forgot. Anyway I'll just help him check it out-"

"I can do it. Library card?"

He frowned pulling out the smudged card again and offered it to her. The librarian didn't even take it, her lip curled into her nose. "That's too damaged. We can't take it."

"So, that was the problem last night." Gabrielle shot him a brief look. "Maybe we can just call the library downtown to confirm his address and card on file and-"

"No. Without a proper card, no checking out books." The librarian put down the book and walked back to the stairs without even turning around. Her good spirits broken by Gabrielle's innocence, apparently.

He steadied himself on the counter a heavy feeling in his stomach as he realized how badly he messed up. One hand went to the chain around his neck, turning the pendant nervously.

Gabrielle squeezed one eye shut and hissed. "Unfortunately, now she'll be checking for it every day. Sorry, Connor. I guess you are stuck reading it in house." This time she did climb the counter and dropped down next to him. "Here."

"Oh." His fingers gripped the book tightly. "I'm sorry she accused you of stealing."

"Nah, don't worry she does it all the time."

He considered this. She seemed unbothered. "It did seem like the highlight of her day."

She laughed loud. "I know, right?" Gabrielle was giving him a thorough assessment. This was not good. He had the urge to pull his hood over his eyes. He needed to stop talking so much. He frowned at her and stepped away.

"You look like you feel a little better today." She flipped the hair out of her eyes and smiled.

You mean I don't smell horrendous. "Not really. Thanks for the help, Gabrielle." He dropped his gaze and grabbed his stuff to sit at the furthest table away. He stared down at the book and considered the options. The most obvious one- steal it. He ground his teeth at the idea. Sure the girl would easily take the blame and no one would be wiser but then he'd be a thief. He could keep coming back here, just when this assistant wasn't around. She smiled too much. She-

"I prefer Gabby, actually."

Gabrielle had moved her stuff next to him.

"What?" He asked, confused and irritated. Couldn't she take a hint?

"You called me Gabrielle. I prefer Gabby. That's what my friends call me."

"I'm not your friend."

She flinched. It should have chased her off but instead she started digging through her bag. "Not yet."

He switched tactics. "Look, Gabrielle. I appreciate your help but I'm working on a project and I need to focus- what are you doing?" He leaned as far back in his chair as he could, pulling the book close to his chest as she dropped a soggy paper bag onto the table.

She held a finger to her lips and one front of him as she stared above her. "Shhhh Connor we aren't supposed to eat in here."

"...ok... so don't." He watched the bag. It smelled wonderful.

She unfroze to give him a wide-eyed look. "Are you saying you don't want a taco?"

"No thank you." His body betrayed him. He was forced to swallow or risk literally drooling.

Gabrielle smirked. "You're a terrible liar. Come on, Connor, have one!"

"I don't even know you." He insisted. So hungry... what was the harm in having one?

"What? We met last night! Here's the thing." She was unwrapping the foil to a greasy street taco piled with onions and cilantro. "If you spent more than two hours here you've noticed this place is dead. Am I wrong?"

"It's high on the list of the worst places I've ever been." Shut up! Shut up why do you keep talking to her?

"See? You get it. I know you're busy but I'm. So. Bored. I finish my homework and have nothing to do."

"Politely, that has nothing to do with me. I already told you-" He leaned back in the seat as she slide a taco towards him. "I don't even understand why you are trying to bribe me with food."

"Dude, I'm not trying to bribe you." She smirked at him and wiggled her eyebrows. "You should see your expression right now. Pretty sure the deal is done. I'm saying, I know you could probably just run off with the book and blame it on me-"

His face burned. "I don't steal things." He snapped.

"That's good to know. I do sometimes. I just wanted to say, if you do your work here with me instead of... at home..." he watched her stumble over that statement, and it was hard for him not to smirk at her. Real convincing, Gabrielle. You're a bad liar too. "Then I promise you won't regret it."

"I sincerely doubt that." He started to gather his things again. "You're strange."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't supposed to be a compliment."

"I know. Now, come on stop being grumpy and have dinner with me!"

He shook his head. "I'm good. And I don't understand why you are pushing a stranger to eat dinner with you. I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone."

Her smile faded from the goofy expression to a little bit wounded. "Ok. Well- I got some for you so you can still eat them." She slid some back into the bag and offered it to him. "Don't worry. No strings attached to these. But if you don't eat them I'll probably just have to toss 'em. Sorry to bug you." Her expression was so miserable.

His stomach hurt. He wasn't used to saying things like that to people. It couldn't be helped. He couldn't-

"I... If you really want to sit here that's fine." Wow. What is your spine made out of, string? "But we aren't friends."

Gabrielle's blazing smile returned. "Got it. Just two humans, sharing a table. Like two stray dogs who just happened upon the same overturned trash can."

"That is an inaccurate revolting comparison."

She shrugged and stuffed half a taco into her mouth. Half the onions and cilantro spilled out onto her lap. Or maybe not that inaccurate.

He tried to not eat any but his resolve broke down only minutes after opening the book and realizing that he wasn't comprehending a single word on the page. He did his best to avoid eye contact when he picked one up.

The writing wasn't much better in this book but at least he could follow what was going on. Mr. Chui was terrible at keeping his own opinions to himself. If this man had been mentioned in multiple books and online as the authority on monster hunting maybe he had the right to be a little cocky. It was jarring when he'd interrupt a story to add his two cents all the time.

The set up was him retelling a case of a hunt and then reviewing the good and bad of each one. Giving play by plays of situations and critiquing them. It reminded him of a sports announcer bashing players when they themselves could barely run anymore. Of course, that was assuming someone believed any of this was real. It was entertaining though. He was reading about how a midwife failed to protect her client from some sort of horrible monster that split in half to fly through the sky and suck fetuses out of pregnant women's stomachs when he realized Gabrielle was standing behind him.

He jumped. She jumped as well when he slammed the book closed and knocked the paper towels and foil onto the floor.

"Damn! I didn't mean to scare you. Do you not hear me calling you?

"No I did not. " Obviously... "Is it time to close?" He got onto his knees to gather the trash quickly. "sorry."

She raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, but no need to apologize. Will you be back tomorrow or have you decided to steal the book yet?"

He scowled and she laughed again. He didn't understand. "Thank you for the tacos. That was very kind."

"You're welcome. Still don't want to hang out with me?"

"I can't." He frowned more when she cocked her head. He didn't like the curious look she had.

"See you tomorrow, Connor!"

He gave her a brief nod and kept his jaw tight as he walked back into the cold.

So it went for the rest of the week. The book was a slog to get through but as he'd predicted, there did seem to be some type of code. Not well hidden either, just shuffled into the citation lines were random letters and numbers. It was an easy enough code, the numbers were pages, paragraphs and lines but to his annoyance all of the number corresponded to other numbers. B15, B103, D44 etc. It was maddening to find the code and have no idea what to do with it even without the added pressure of the library assistant poking her nose over his shoulder. The hours the library was open varied. He tried to avoid Gabrielle. One time he had nearly packed up when she appeared and gave him some soup. She was still just as friendly and always attempting to ask questions which he ignored. She didn't need to learn anything about him. He however, learned a lot about her. How her classes were going, about her little brother and his weird friends, some of her boyfriend woes and more recently that she was stressed about a chemistry final. He hadn't seen her do much other than bothering him and occasionally doing things from school. On Saturday she never showed and on Monday he managed to avoid her but Wednesday he realized that wouldn't continue. Gabrielle gave him a burger despite his arguments.

He stared down at the food, guilt and hunger moving him towards nausea. "Thank you."

"No problem." She stole a fry from his bag and returned to her own notebook.

Over a week passed by the time he'd finished the book. It was time to leave. He was thoroughly disappointed with what he gleaned when he saw an entire list of the author's works displayed in the back pages, with a pen name. The library had those books- he'd seen them. Six more books. Titles starting with B, C, D, E and F. He looked back at the title. Book A. He hadn't seen anything like these in the other libraries and he could only assume it was because most places had things people wanted to read. Gabrielle had mentioned most of the books had been donated. It must have been one person. It was too much of a coincidence otherwise. He wondered if he dared ask her if she could look up the person that had done so. Why had they collected them in the first place? He watched Gabrielle bobbing her head and mouthing the words to whatever was on her ipod. Too friendly. It would get her killed if he couldn't find a way to scare her off.

******************

***Fun fact of the day*** The librarian is based of the one I had in elementary school and her perfectly cultivated techniques to make children hate reading. : )

One of my goals is to have the style of writing and words change with the POV to better reflect my characters. Let me know if as you go on if you think it is working!