Treasure Twice Over
The library's basement is chocked-full of donated books. Susanne "Sanne" Pascral has volunteered to examine each one and sort them into piles so the library knows what to do with each.
At the same time, she uses her second sight--her witch's eye--to search for rare, precious magical books that can be hidden inside ordinary-looking books. For Sanne, this otherwise dull sorting can be a treasure hunt.
In the library above, a child screams.
It was not a popular event, the book sort, even in the civic-minded, volunteer-rich town of Marigold. It was largely mind-numbing work, requiring an examination of each old textbook, beat-up how-to guide, and psych self-help paperback from last century. The understaffed library meant to get to all the donations from townsfolk and estates, but never did.
Hence the call for volunteers. Usually it was just Sanne.
For Sanne, it was treasure hunting. Who knew what books were hidden in these piles? What ancient lore might be tucked within a book, legible to one who knew how to read between the lines?
Sanne made her way down stairs to the basement. There, a chair faced a tiny clear section of table, surrounded on three sides by stacks of books, like a fort under attack. Against the walls, the stacks started at the floor and ended at the ceiling.
READ MORESanne's task was to put a sticky note on each book with a brief description, then sort the books into three groups: keep, toss, and above-my-paygrade.
Pride kept the last pile small, and Sanne's love of the written word and what it could deliver kept the toss pile nearly empty. The least among them might contain multitudes.
It was a good hobby for a witch, book-sorting.
COLLAPSE
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