The Night of Many Endings: A Novel by Melissa Payne

Author:Melissa Payne [Payne, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2021-10-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MARLENE

The wind howled inside, and what had once felt like a safe place to ride out the storm had turned into a wind tunnel that whipped snow through the room and tossed glass shards and pine needles across the floor. The library had become a C. S. Lewis novel that she’d read as a girl, and the stacks a wardrobe that opened to a fantasy world. Marlene felt a stinging slap across her temple, and the temperature plummeted so fast it took her breath away. A tall bookshelf wobbled violently before falling, spilling books onto the soaked floor.

Jasmine, who had been closest to the window, cried out and scrambled backward, hovering beside Marlene, and in the wobbling light, she saw pine needles sticking out of the girl’s coat. Like they’d been arrows searching for a target. Lewis had pushed to his feet and hobbled over, standing just in front of Jasmine like he thought his old body could protect the young girl from another assault by the tree.

“Oh my God!” Nora yelled, and even then, it was hard to hear her above the wind. “We have to move the books!”

Vlado nodded and the two of them lurched forward, Vlado moving in first to try to push the large bookshelf back against the one behind it without toppling all of them, then handing Nora book after book. But the process couldn’t keep up with the snow and the wind pushing through the damaged building and tearing at sodden pages.

Charlie would be horrified to see his beloved library being attacked like this. Ignoring the ache in her head, and shivering into her coat, Marlene walked toward Nora with her hands out. “L-let m-me help!” she said, so cold her tongue had grown thick in her mouth.

At first Nora shook her head and continued running the books to the dry section, but then Lewis staggered behind Marlene, hands out. “C’mon, lady, you need our help!” His voice was so hoarse Marlene could barely make out his words.

Nora’s shoulders dropped and she nodded with a tight smile, handing a small stack to Marlene, who gave those back to Lewis, and together they formed a sort of fire brigade with Jasmine at the rear in the driest spot, laying out the soggy books like pieces of laundry. Marlene’s body screamed at her to stop, but for the first time since Charlie died, she felt like she was part of something and it felt good.

She had no idea how long it took, but by the time the last book had been salvaged, she couldn’t feel the skin on her face and her fingertips were so numb that one of them was bleeding and she’d had no idea. Lewis looked even worse than before, his skin gray in the thin light from the lantern, eyes so red she couldn’t see the whites.

Vlado had come back into the room with flattened cardboard boxes and was trying to cover the hole around the tree with Nora’s help. The

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