Elemental Fire by Maddy Edwards

my
shoulder, but it was no use. The door would not budge. I was trapped in my own
attic.
     

 
    Chapter Eleven
     
    “Fine,” I said, turning around. I
could only hope that if the thing I was talking to had been inclined to hurt
me, it would have done so by now.
    “I will light the other lamps,”
said the voice. Before I could protest that I didn’t want the Nocturns who were
running Public to see where I was, the lights flicked on.
    “Don’t worry,” said the voice.
“The windows have long since been covered.” I did remember seeing heavy velvet
drapes over the windows, but since they had been there when I arrived at Public
for my first year, I hadn’t thought much about them.
    “Who are you?” I demanded, trying
to keep the fear out of my voice. “What are you doing here? How dare you enter
my library?”
    There was a soft laugh, and
something I couldn’t make out came toward me from down one of the rows of books
that spiraled endlessly in front of me.
    I tried to focus my eyes, but
there was nothing wrong with my eyes. The problem was that whatever I was
looking at was not entirely solid.
    Coming toward me was a white,
wispy figure, small, as small as a child and much smaller than my little
brother. He wore white robes and a large hat. He basically looked like the
mages in stories, only on a smaller scale. He had a large nose and spectacles
and gave me a bright smile. If he had been green I would have thought he was a
pixie.
    I stared open mouthed. “You’re
dead,” I said, shocked.
    “Well spotted,” the ghost
affirmed. “My name is Sigil.”
    “But, what?” I sputtered. I had
no idea how to respond to this, except that it answered the question of why
this denizen of the library had never stolen food from the kitchen to live.
Sigil watched my face closely. It was hard to tell how old he’d been when he
died, but I guessed he had been much older than Risper or Dacer.
    “Ghosts are not respected
creatures in the paranormal world,” he explained. “We are considered part of
the ‘sixth’ or lesser types of paranormals. I am with your Mrs. Swan and the
Slime Dwellers. Now I live here.”
    I shook my head, still too
surprised to move. “You must have more of an explanation than that,” I said.
“Let’s hear it.”
    Sigil laughed softly again.
Strangely, his lips didn’t move when he talked and his belly didn’t shake when
he laughed. It was like sounds coming from a hologram.
    “You first, my dear girl. It has
been many a year since I’ve had a visitor, though I used to have many. I know,
from my last visitors, that elementals were dying. . . .” Despite the lack of
movement in Sigil’s face I saw sadness light his eyes. “I wish I had paid more
attention.”
    I realized now that Sigil must
have been around for the end of the elementals.
    “They let you stay here?” I
demanded. “Why?”
    Sigil blinked. “ They didn’t let me do anything. The
last librarian of this fine library was a friend of mine back in our school
days. Once I became a ghost I had nowhere to go. I wandered for many years,
lost and alone. I tried to live in several places, with my family, for example,
but I couldn’t do it. They kicked me out, chased me away with fire and
pitchforks and incantations. They hated me. They were embarrassed by me.
Eventually I ran out of places to go, so I came here. I like being among the
books. . . .”
    He stretched out his arms to take
in the library. I had to admit, the place had a certain charm to it. I could
see how he would find comfort here.
    “At first,” Sigil continued,
sounding almost giddy at having a chance to talk to another paranormal, “I hid,
just as I have for the past few years. I was very afraid that I’d get found out
here as well, and then where would I be? I would watch the librarian go about
her business, a lovely woman by the name of Mabelle. I thought I had kept well
out of the way, but one day she came right up to my hiding place and told me to
stop