Future Warnings from Midnight

Chapter Seventeen: The Children's Section

Yuki crept along the children's section of the library. He thought over the last time he had the hidden item of power in his keep. He had sought to keep it in his hands for a while. The boy thought he could make his old man sweat a little. He could cause some minor trouble. Instead he had caused his sister and himself a world of trouble. The Spring and Summer fairies were breathing down his neck for the change. The Fall and Winter court were between more patient. Yuki closed his eyes as he thought over how he had carried the Glass Apple in his pack that day. He could hear the rustling and checking in of those at the librarian's desk.

The boy peeked from behind the bookshelves. More children were marching in. He held his breath. Now he would not be in the serve of the Scarred Man nor of the Spring and Summer Fairies. No he put his lot in with Nana and Sir Styx. Yuki had learned the dangers of trying to deal with a Dream Weaver. He had made one request with Nana and Sir Styx. He wished for his sister to be unharmed and happy at the end of the whole mess. Yuki would not allow for anything bad to happen to her.

He grabbed a picture book from the selection. He sighed at his luck. It was just another lame fable. The writers for the children's section really do not like giving all the dangers in the world for small children. It was why Yuki preferred the adult section. The boy scanned the area as saw a picture of the girl he bumped into here. She was in a framed painting. Yuki had read and knew the name before from his last visit. But now it was becoming more and more important for him to remember her. Yuki started at the image. Under it was written, "Shannon the Junior Detective." It was from a popular book series... One that somehow was based on a real person. Yuki stared at it some more. It has something unreal about it... Like a dream of a child... Not just some adult writer.

Yuki though for a second more as the children call laughed and cheered for the daily reader. It was clear his time here would not yield him much information. But he needed to find a something. Nana did not send him here on a fruitless task. The boy walked along to the fables meant for the children. One about three little pigs, another about a princess in a tower, another about a large man and a blue ox. He dragged his hand along the shelves as if he were really going to take one. The librarian looked at him from the desk. Yuki turned his eyes in the opposite direction. He swore he would not speak to another adult so long as he could help it. It seemed all the human adults he knew did him and his sister wrong. . . He had wandered into the non-fiction area. Yuki stopped for a moment as he held his hand over two books. The first had a faded spin and a picture of a sea shell. The second was a book titled "Puzzler's Wand for Beginners." They had been hidden behind the "Shannon the Junior Detective" Series.

The boy paused at the sea shell book for a moment or two. He knew something about it was familiar. His time with the Dream Weaver did not make him ignorant of that the Scarred Man gained for a well completed Weave. The Dream Weaver would be able to complete a story. A story which he would inspire someone to create a piece of work out of. Yuki flipped opened the book. It has a tale about a mermaid who fell in love in with a vampire. It was an unhappy tale. Yuki rolled his eyes at its title, "Forlorn Watery Moon." It was truly a girly book. He lifted up "Puzzler's Wand for Beginners" and found a series of notes jammed inside of its cover. The boy picked up the notes and raised an eyebrow. He could hear the librarian speaking with someone at the front desk. The boy slipped the books into his pack. The detective from the circus was there.

Mary and two other approach, the boy frowns at their arrival. Hears the echoes of the children's laughter in the selection. He grows nervous. A haunting melody came back into his mind from the thought of the tune and dancing. The children are chanting a merry tune and clapping their hands. Yuki quietly reminds himself that he had escaped from the wrath of Sweet Pea. The memories linger on. He absorbed the pain from Mika to spare her the memory at the price of the Dream Weaver. The boy felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead. The Scarred Man was good at removing stings and strings from fate. That Dream Weaver could do anything to reality if he was allowed. Yuki knew it from being stuck under the kept of the Scarred Man for all of his youth. Yet he, unlike Mika, knew that there was a time before being part of the Fujita household. It was a time among the fairies. A time even before that in the harsh of the winter's snow and being ushered about by another. A tall woman. . . A tall woman with long flowing black hair and white cloak. She kept a lute on her back and had a chipper smile on her face as she lead Yuki and Mika about. The tall woman was sick. She could not care to Yuki and Mika anymore. The woman lead them to a small hut with the Scarred Man inside. She gave him her lute and vanished from sight in that insistence. The flash of memory fell away as Mary's steps drift over to the adult area of the library.

Yuki held tight to his pack. He knew he must speak with the detective.

"Alright let us go right away!" Orel nodded.

Mary turned to Yuki, "We will be taking your books!"

"Wait! I need to go with you!" Yuki frozen in his place as the two went to leave.

"Why should we allow a kid to come with us?" Orel said.

"Orel he's the one that is related to the Dream Weaver. Maybe he can help," Mary motioned to Yuki, "What do you say?"

"Yes, I can help you... I think I know something the Scarred Man didn't say."

"What is this all about a Dream Weaver, Mary? Do you mean the Scarred Man?"

"We have a lot to talk about on our way to the Witch Academy!"