Work Text:
The Night Vale Public Library’s Summer Reading Program was starting again. Jon, Avatar of the all-Seeing Eye, didn’t have to read any of the posters to find that out: he could feel the spike of Fear from the adults around town and one Question later, he knew all about “the Time of Knives” - the only way anyone would refer to the last Summer Reading Program. Three decades had passed since then, and nobody knew why it was being brought back now.
Jon’s cousin, Carlos (who was a scientist), had not lived in Night Vale during the Time of Knives. If he had, he would have likely been one of the victims, as he was still a child when it occurred. When he saw the posters, he frowned. “Books are illegal here.” Not that it ever stopped him, but the Sheriff’s Secret Police were lax on the scientists and Jon. “And that’s not even getting into the mess with the Librarians. Why would there be a Summer Reading Program?”
“The Librarians wanted to,” Jon explained, because sometimes that’s all there is: someone wants to do something, uncaring for those affected by their actions- or, in the Librarian’s case, doing it entirely because they wanted to affect others with their actions.
“...right…” Carlos watched Jon from the corner of his eye. “Please tell me you’re not going to sign up.” While sometimes Jon was content to just stand by and Watch, there were some events that he wanted to get a closer Look at. The sandstorm from a few months ago- the one that brought forth doppelgangers and induced crazed violence in everyone exposed to the winds- sprang to mind, as well as Jon forgoing the proper safety wear in order to pet Khoshekh or the Captain (two of the cats floating in a fixed point in the men’s bathroom at the Night Vale Community Radio Station).
Jon did not respond, and Carlos sighed. “Jon.” Even through his exasperation, he added, “You can go, but give me a full report of what happens during it. Maybe you’ll find something we can use against the Librarians, or really any information about what they are…” The potential for new research squished most of the remaining concern. “...and- anyway, uhm, be careful.”
“An update on the Summer Reading situation. Fourteen young people between the ages of five and seventeen have already been reported missing, and are feared to be in the Public Library, and possibly learning. Attempts by the Sheriff’s Secret Police to enter the Library, rescue the missing children, and put an end to all Summer Reading activities have failed, as all doors and windows have mysteriously disappeared from the Library exterior- just like it was before the renovations. Our tax dollars paid for those doors and windows and we shouldn’t be expected to stand for library administrators just deciding to disappear them on a whim- even for a valid reason, like jealously guarding their possession of our stolen children- without at least putting the issue to popular vote!
Anyway, in light of this development, the City Council has declared a Level Orange Fear Alert. They advise that all Night Vale citizens avoid the Public Library and provide the Council with any information they may have on the whereabouts of the missing children, on librarians’- oh.
Oh.
Oh no.
Listeners, I, uhm- I was not planning on listing out the missing children, in respect for their families, but it seems that among the missing is… Jonathan Sims, local Avatar of the Beholding and someone I consider quite close. He has stopped by the Night Vale Community Radio Station on many occasions, sometimes with his cousin Carlos- the scientist- and more often to visit Khoshekh and his kittens. I… please, if you have any information on how to help him, speak it into one of his Eyes placed throughout town.
…I’m… going to take a moment to process this… let’s go to Traffic.”
Piper ducked behind a bookshelf, shivering. Unlike a few of her peers, she had not signed up for the Summer Reading Program, perfectly happy to live her life without the trouble that came from books and the reading of them. She had not expected to be seized by a Librarian’s sharp talons, seemingly at random, and whisked away to the Public Library.
Now, with her heart pounding and her lungs constricted in fear that her breath would be heard, Piper was hiding for her life. She had yet to find a usable exit- at one point, even pulling books off the shelves to see if any of them were secret levers hiding a hidey-hole- but it was either hide like a snake from a hawk or die like a human in the empty desert. She chose the former.
The tall shelves of the Public Library provided decent cover- better than the ‘Desert Defense’ unit of Gym Class, in any case- but she was working at a disadvantage. The Librarians knew every inch of this building and no doubt had something to do with the lack of exits. They were capable of killing someone without a second thought: the only reason she survived her capture was because they wanted to savor her downfall, otherwise, she would not be alive to hide.
“...this one?” A whispered voice could be heard barely, sounding more like static mixed with a light breeze than someone speaking. At first, Piper worried that the Librarians were learning to mimic human speech, but as she focused, she realized it was actually another kid. “Are you sure?”
“I am,” Another, calmer voice said. “Look, ‘Library of Jurgen Lietner’.”
“And you’re sure he only collected dangerous books?”
“Any book is dangerous if you throw it hard enough, or drop it from a far enough height.” A pause. “...yes. This book has the Mark of the Hunt on it. It will be able to help us.”
“And all I have to do is read it.”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s-”
“Wait- Tamika,” The second voice interrupted. “This book will change you. Are you sure about this?”
“Yes. Anything to stop the Librarians.”
“...okay.”
Piper mustered up the courage to poke her head around the corner, to see who was there- and found not two people, but an entire gaggle of them, ducked down low but not sitting. Each of them looked ready to run at a moment’s notice and many of them startled when they saw Piper, but once they realized she was human and not a Librarian, they made motions for her to join their group.
Only one person did not look up as she joined them: the girl holding the book (presumably ‘Tamika’), flipping through its pages with her eyebrows pinched in focus and an unrivalled determination. She was in the middle of the group, everyone else around her, as if to defend her from the Librarians.
“What’s she doing?” Piper asked, though it took several tries to get the words to come from her mouth. “Why’s she reading?”
“That book’s made by the Fear Gods,” A nearby boy wearing a tie-dye shirt with a government-approved logo on it explained. “It-”
“It’s not made by the Fear Gods,” Another kid interrupted, their hair a wild mess. “Someone else wrote it and then the Fear Gods gave it the ability to give other people powers.”
“How would that even work?”
“It works better than your explanation!”
They argued like that for a while, somehow moving from whether or not the books were written by versus blessed by the Fear Gods to the socioeconomic impacts of Invisible Corn versus Invisible Pie. Another boy, this one with his hair dyed pink, explained, “She’s going to read it, and then pass it around to anyone else who wants to use it.”
Piper frowned. “Why wouldn’t someone want powers from a Fear God?”
Pink-haired boy shrugged. “I’d rather not- not from the Hunt. I don’t really like the sound of it… but the Spiral sounds fun.”
“Oh.” That made sense… not every power was cut out for everyone. “...what kind of powers does the Hunt give?”
He listed them off on his fingers as they came to mind. “Being able to sense when a target is near, increased strength and endurance, and sometimes traits from carnivorous animals, like werewolves, snakes or deer. But-”
“...wow…” Tamika blinked, staring at the surrounding bookshelves- no, through them. Her gaze fell upon something, and her mouth widened, and widened, and widened some more, revealing glistening, sharper-than-usual teeth. “There.”
She stood up, stumbling to her feet with the grace of a ravenous man seeing a feast after days of starvation. A boy with eyes that glowed green took the book from her hands, holding it carefully under his arm.
The crowd cleared a path to let Tamika out, and she passed by many people without acknowledging their presence, but just as she made it to the end of the aisle, she turned to the ground. “What are you waiting for? Come on.”
The crowd exchanged glances, as if asking each other who she was talking to. Many semi-accusatory stares fell on the boy now passing the book to another person, but Tamika quickly cleared up any of the confusion they had. “All of you. You’re not useless- none of us are. Against all of us, and with the abilities we can get from this book, the Librarians don’t stand a chance. Nothing stands a chance against us. Never again.”
“This just in, listeners: we’ve received reports that the entrances to the Night Vale Public Library have reappeared, and the missing children have begun to emerge from inside the building. The children have been described as wild-eyed, feral, some staggering upright and some running on all fours like animals, caked in effluvia and far more emaciated than the time of their absence would seem to account for, but otherwise well, healthy, and many of them with a new Fear God patron: The Hunt. At the head of the dazed and shambling pack was their apparent chosen leader, twelve-year-old Tamika Flynn, her mouth clenched in a blood-crusted snarl and carrying the severed head of a Librarian in one hand, and a gore-streaked sticker chart in the other. Eyewitnesses who dared get close enough to read the chart reported that Tamika had even finished Cry, The Beloved Country, which is very impressive for her reading level. Well done, Tamika!
Oh! Jon, local Avatar of the Beholding and a personal friend whom I was deeply concerned about, is carrying the book that seems to be the reason behind the Hunt’s presence! Now, you may be concerned about him carrying this book- as books are heavily regulated by the City Council- but as per the Fear Book Amendment, any books connected to the Fear Entities are permitted to be kept by Avatars. So if you want to become a patron of the Hunt, maybe ask Jon if you can take a look at that book of his- I’m sure he’d be more than happy to agree.”
Carlos opened the front door. “Cecil? What are you doing here?” He paused. “Wait, I didn’t- that came out wrong. You’re always welcome here, you know that, right?”
“Oh, I, that-” Cecil, suddenly ambushed by that question, did not have the mind to formulate a proper response. “Neat. I, actually- is Jon here? I came to make sure he was okay. After- well, Librarians.” He waved his hand in a ‘y’know?’ motion, mentally begging his mouth to shut up.
Carlos chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, Librarians.” He paused, before the rest of the sentence caught up with him. “Yes, Jon is here. He’s in the- this way. Come on.”
They walked through to the lab, where Jon stood on a chair to reach a lab station table. He was poking at the Hunt’s book with some gizmos and gadgets and whatcha-ma-call-its, but he still Looked up as the two of them approached.
“Jon!” Cecil rushed to his side, placing his hands on his shoulders. “Are you all right? The reports said you were all right, but I know that people don’t always see everything and that you are a very smart child who can hide things that may be perceived as ‘weaknesses’. Did the Librarians get to you? Do we need to find a way to kill flesh-eating germs that read books?!”
“I’m fine,” Jon assured him, gesturing at the book. “I just want to know how the book works.”
“Ah, right. We’re all scientists at some point, I suppose that point for you is ‘now’.”
“Exactly,” He agreed, glad to have someone who understood him. “Can you help us? Carlos wants to explain the book with science.”
“Well,” He glanced at Carlos, smiling. “I have been quite interested in science recently.” It allowed him an excuse to see Carlos. “I would love to help you- if you would have me?”
“...Cecil,” Carlos’ teeth glinted in the lab lights as he smiled. “You’re welcome to do science with us anytime.”