Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria

Chapter 49: Would you like something for the pain?

The thunder no longer came in soft rolls. It hit with deafening cracks and competed with the blare of sirens.

Marco was still on the roof, licking his wounds. He didn’t care that he was getting soaked. His leg, badly bitten, was too painful for him to move. However, as torn and bloody as he was, he was satisfied he’d taken care of Bait. Actually, he was pretty proud of the way he’d handled the whole thing and couldn’t wait to tell Cicero.

“You were lucky.”

Marco jerked his head up in surprise. He saw only the rain hitting the dark tiles of the roof. The voice spoke again in a low murmur. “Lucky this time. Maybe not so lucky the next.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m your inspiration.”

“You are? Why can’t I see you?”

“I work behind the scenes.” Lighting streaked white veins across the black sky and Marco saw the blur of a shadow where the voice came from.

“Would you like something for the pain?” Without waiting for an answer, the shadow swept over and covered Marco like a cloak. The pain disappeared and he no longer felt the rain falling on him.

“Isn’t that better?”

“Yes, very nice,” said Marco, feeling pleasantly drowsy.

“What are your plans now?”

“Plans? I don’t know. I should find Cicero and see what can be done about putting out the fire.”

“Don’t worry. The firemen will take care of it.”

“Good. That’s very good,” Marco answered groggily.

“We need to have a talk, Marco.”

“We do? I just want to sleep.”

“Yes, you will sleep soon enough. A nice, long nap. But first, I want to ask. Have you really thought about what it means to be a Guardian?”

“Sure.” Marco peered out through half-opened eyes, wondering who he was talking to.

“You should be aware of some things. Can I tell you now?”

“Okay.” Marco sighed contentedly. He felt happy and warm, in spite of being wet. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

“You should think about what it means to be a Guardian. For the rest of your life, you will be bound to the Book. You cannot leave it, put it aside, or go on a journey, even a short one. No matter what, you will spend the rest of your days as the library cat. Day after day. Year after year. It’s not an exciting life. Not the life of adventure you had planned.”

“Really? I hadn’t thou…”

“I know you hadn’t. That’s why I’m here. To help you think.”

“Oh, well thank you.” Marco could barely stay awake and was not at all sure what this thing… or whoever was talking to him… was saying.

“You will never be able to tell anyone what you do. Not even the librarians will know. You will live in obscurity, petted by old women, tortured by small children. No one will appreciate your sacrifices.”

“That doesn’t sound…” Marco struggled to stay awake and think coherently.

“Exactly. I thought you should know. Being a Guardian is not anything like being a hero. It’s more like being a slave.”

Marco couldn’t stay awake any longer. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

When Marco woke later, the rain had stopped and Lily was licking his wounds.

“This looks bad,” she said.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s a very deep wound. It could get infected.”

“Really, I’m okay.”

“Mum gave me some special things to say for wounds. It should heal up in no time.”

Lily was so confident in her abilities that Marco surrendered. He was out of sorts but didn’t know why. Slowly, the strange conversation he had on the roof came back to him.

“I heard that evil thing talking to you,” she said.

“You did? You were here?”

“Yes, and I just want to tell you that you shouldn’t listen to voices like that. They don’t care about you. They don’t care about anybody. They are mean and selfish and you’ll end up just like Bait if you listen to them.”