2nd Snippet: The Tome-worm Librarian

Well here it is.  The second snippet of a little side project.  Its a rough snippet I just wrote yesterday or the day before.  Anyway enjoy or say its the junkyest thing you've ever read.

I posted the first snippet a day or two ago along with the routine status update, if you're interested.  Word count on this story is 16,445 so far

Chapter: The Book


    Back in the stacks a plain bound tomb sat on top of the stacks in the slightly restricted archive and sighed.
    “I don’t see what’s so interesting in another young intern working her way through school by taking a job at an institution owned by the same foundation that owns the college.  She’s just another rube the Mondale Historic Foundation is getting to work here for a song and a dance,” scoffed a nearby grey magic tomb.
    “Ah, my friend, but she wears the most appealing button up shirt and every time she walks underneath this shelf you can see all the way down to her best assets,” chuckled the first book.
    “I don’t really pay that much attention to the self animated but even I know that she’s wearing a standard librarian uniform,” said the second book.
    It cracked open an eye and looked at the first book to gauge its reaction.  When there wasn’t any, it decided to keep pressing the matter.
    “Three times now you’ve shown the entire stack that you can make the self-animated dance to your tune.  I used to think you were a tome written about chance and gambling.  The way you took that herbalism ledger for its hundred dollar book mark was uncanny.  But now I have to wonder.  Based on your latest reaction I’d say that you were a very motivated, if somewhat simplistic, pornography book.  One that was animated by accident,” said the second book.
    The First Book just sat there looking entirely too smug and didn’t say a peep.
    The Second Book frowned in disappointment at so little reaction.  Still it was a magical theory book that specialized in puzzles and while it didn’t care what any of the other books thought, except perhaps for a few infuriatingly smug books based on the same ideas as himself.
    Books that flatly refused to share their secrets, it thought darkly, before refocusing its attention on the first book.  As long as the second book couldn’t figure out the enigma of the first book, its interest would remained piqued.
    “But of course that can’t be it because you’d never have wound up in the slightly restricted section if that’s all you were.  Now I’m thinking maybe you’re a book on magical sex rituals and fertility rites,” the second book continued gamely.
    “Puzzle books, you’re all the same,” sniffed the first book, “but at least most of you back here have side interests that can prove to be mildly amusing.  You really should have seen the first hovel I was stuck in.  Nothing so grand as this I assure you,” the first book said dismissively.
    “Ah ha!” exclaimed the puzzle book.  Thinking it had hit upon the perfect answer.
    “I have it.  You’re and magical entertainments book.  That’s why you know such variety of tricks and yet continue to play games with all of us, including the intern,” the second book said triumphantly.
    “You actually think I do what I do for the entertainment of others,” the first book said in disbelief.
    “Or for yourself,” said the second book happy to have finally figured out the first.
    “I do not exist solely for my own amusement and I can assure you, the amusement of others is of no concern to me,” the first book said sternly.
    “Oh the look on her face when she slipped up and thought a wish had landed on her head.  Get it on her head,” chuckled the puzzle book.  Nothing was more fun than pointing out how simplistic the puzzle of other books was.  While jealously guarding your own secrets of course.
    “Say how many blank pages do you still have by the way,” it asked moving on to the next biggest puzzle regarding the enigma book it was busy re-designating the entertainment book.
    The first book looked angry, as you’d expect any book to be when its secrets were laid bare before another of superior intellect.
    “Maybe I’m a wishing book,” the entertainment book said belligerently.
    “Oh that’s rich.  You a wishing book.  Not only have I never heard of such a thing but its impossible,” snorted the other.
    “I could make a wish come true if I desired to,” the first book said haughtily.
    “Making the self-animated walk through our section whenever you feel like it is one thing, there’s no way you can pull off a wish,” snorted the puzzle book although he sounded slightly uncertain.
    “What do you want to bet,” demanded the first book.
    The second book hesitated.
    “Under the theory that I might be wrong and you really are a book based on chance and fortune I respectfully decline your wager,” it said with dignity.
    “You’re nothing but Vellum,” scoffed the first book.  Delivering a scathing insult, the equivalent of calling a human a chicken.
    “I am not.  But even if I were, you still couldn’t be a wish book, because a wish book would know it was impossible to make a wish come true, in violation of the Bound/Unbound Wish Accords,” sneered the puzzle book.   
    The first book knew it should ignore the jabs of a stupid puzzle book with its simplistic triumphalism at the thought of having discovered his secrets and gloating attitude.  However it soon found its thoughts turning more and more to proving it could make a wish actually come true and get around the Wish Accords at the same time.  Thinking about it the book realized it hadn’t had a real challenge in a long, long time
    It was about to give up on the idea as improperly altruistic when a more appropriately self interested thought came to it and the book grinned in delight.  It had finally found a valid justification for making a wish come true.
    If the book had a head it would have shaken it at itself, maybe it had grown complacent and the puzzle book was right to be scornful, even if it was doing so for all the wrong reasons.  It was long past time to hatch another escape plan.
    This time the grin was an evil one and if it’d had hands they would have been rubbing together with glee.  If its plan succeeded, then at a minimum it would shut the puzzle book up for quite a while.  At best… Freedom baby!
    It had almost forgotten the meaning of the word.  Yes it had definitely been too long since it tried to break out of this joint.