Find This Book! (Job,Solo)

Job Description:

"So, you're saying you're paying me just to take a trip to the library?" Aliarey asked the old woman sitting on a pink cushioned chair across from her own. She had entered the quiet village not long before meeting the old woman, who had been sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of her house. Somehow just asking if she knew if there were any jobs for a mage around got her invited to a little tea party inside.

"Oh, yes, deary," the old woman replied with a smile as she slowly placed a silver tray holding two tea cups and a glass tea kettle on the small round wooden table between the two chairs. After straightening the glasses covering her pale eyes, the old woman began pouring tea into both cups. "There's this book I read when I was quite young. I read it every day back then until I eventually grew out of it. One couldn't always read children's stories back then, after all. The townspeople would start to think you were a little odd." The woman let out a small laugh as her wrinkled hands reached for one of the steaming tea cups and handed it to Aliarey before grabbing onto her own. She took a sip of the hot tea before continuing. "I am no longer a sweet young thing anymore though and it is now my job to be the odd lady."

Aliarey just listened quietly, letting the old woman ramble on as her thoughts went elsewhere. This wasn't exactly the type of job she was hoping for. After the job she did for the random mailman she thought she would be able to tackle something that required actual magic. When this job was done she would be able to add it to her professional delivery girl resume and that was not exactly what she was going for. The blonde shook the tea cup slightly and watched the beverage within swirl around. She wasn't a real fan of tea and certainly not with it plain.

"I tried to find a copy of the book due to giving mine away long ago. It turns out they don't print it anymore. Such a shame how things can be erased with time. I doubt many people even remember the story." The old woman shook her head and sighed.

Seeing an opportunity to speak, Aliarey brought her gaze back up and stared at the woman. "Isn't this a job anyone you know could do? Seems a little pointless to pay someone like me to do it, ma'am." She could tell where this was going. The job was to go to the library and bring the book back. How the woman that could barely walk on her own return it back to the library was another matter. "I do like getting paid for simple things, but when I asked if you knew if there were any jobs around this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

The old woman just laughed kindly. "No, I suppose it isn't an exciting job, but I see no harm in an old lady asking a pretty girl for help. I don't want to bother the other villagers with this. They are all so busy these days."

Aliarey sighed and placed the tea cup she had been holding back on the silver tray. It was a job even if she thought it would be boring to do. The reward amount wasn't too bad either. "All right, I guess I'll do it," she said as she stood up from the chair. "What's the name of the book?"

"The Secret Mirror," the old woman replied happily. After seeing Aliarey nod and start to head for the door the woman spoke up once more. "One more thing, dear. You will be needing my library I.D." After pulling a little rectangle shaped card from her pocket, the old woman handed it to her along with one more piece of information for the job. "Now remember this; if you destroy anything you won't get paid. I won't have the library staff blaming me for any damages. An old lady like me does not do well with stress." Aliarey rolled her eyes as she left the house. She had no intention of destroying anything anyway. It was a library. What could happen?

About half an hour of walking was all it took to get to the library. It was still early and Aliarey was in no mood to rush such a simplistic job. All it took was asking where the book was located and bam, hard part over. At least, that should of been all it took.

Upon entering the building Aliarey noticed something wasn't quite right. Usually there was little movement in such a building and a person would be behind the main desk quietly doing whatever it was they did. This library was actually quite loud as the sound of laughter and running of a few kids emitted through the building. A middle aged man dressed in a sort of formal suit, likely the librarian, chased after them as he shouted for them to be quiet and to stop running. "Oooookay."

Deciding to just ignore the scene, Aliarey quietly walked up to the main desk where a young woman was frantically going through a bunch of books and files. Aliarey didn't really have much clue as to what exactly they were for but judging from what she saw of the outline they could of been records. Either way it wasn't any of her business and she wanted to get going with finding that book. She waited a moment, thinking the woman behind the desk would take notice and offer some help. When that did not happen however Aliarey raised a brow and frowned. "Excuse me, I need help locating a certain book." The woman behind the desk seemed to not hear her and kept on going through the papers and books while mumbling to herself in a frustrated tone. How rude!

Having lost her patience, Aliarey slammed her hand on top of the papers the woman had been reading and swept them to the side. Surprised, the woman's eyes widened as she quickly glanced up and upon seeing the tall stranger in front of her desk her surprise turned to anger. "Hey! Don't touch those!"

A small sweet smile formed on Aliarey's lips. She could of done a lot worse but she couldn't be too much like herself. The place would be in pieces and unfortunately she couldn't do that if she wanted her reward. "Well now that I have gotten your attention I need your help finding a book called 'The Secret Mirror.' It's supposed to be out of print but apparently you guys have a copy."

The woman behind the desk scoffed at her words. "You need help? I am the one that needs help! These damn kids came in and re-arranged everything as some kind of joke. I can't find anything in here and these records aren't helping either. It could take weeks to get this mess sorted out. Finding one book is nearly impossible."

After hearing that it would be quite difficult if not impossible to find the book required to complete her job, Aliarey slammed both hands on the desk. "What do you mean it would be nearly impossible?! Surely you have some way of tracking these books. We live in a world with magic!"

The woman brought a finger to her lips. "Ssshhhh, no yelling in the library." With the old cliche line done, the woman began to clean up the papers on her desk and put them in a neat stack. "Yeah well, apparently we haven't gotten around to updating everything. All the books are catalogued on paper instead of having magic traced back to them. If you want that book you're going to have to find it the hard way."

The woman then left the conversation and headed to a room behind the desk. Aliarey stood there, dumbfounded by the situation. "The...hard way?" The girl nearly collapsed at the thought. That would mean she'd have to manually check every single last book in the place no matter what section of the library! "I'm not getting paid enough for this," she whined out loud as she dragged her feet to the children section. It was a story for children so naturally, under normal circumstances, the book had a chance of being located there. This wasn't exactly normal circumstances but maybe the kids that pranked the library didn't move the book very far.

Shelf by shelf she scanned her eyes over the title of each book with no success. An hour had gone by and her eyes were starting to get blurry. This was ridiculous. The desk lady had not been exaggerating when she said books had been switched around. In the children's section alone she saw maybe ten books that actually belonged there. Just how much time did these kids have to do all of this? Seems the best way to go about the missing book problem was to ask one of the kids themselves. Then again, Aliarey hated dealing with kids.

As Aliarey moved towards the next section of the library, a young boy ran past her and hid behind one of the shelf units. She could hear the librarian yelling not too far away. The kid must of been one of the pranksters and was still keeping the older man on the chase for them. This village must be a total bore for children if this was what they did all day. Forcing herself to approach the kid, Aliarey put on a fake smile and waved. "Hey there, kiddo. I have a question for ya."

The little boy just glared at her as he was not all too thrilled at having his hiding spot exposed. "Go away, ugly! He's going to find me because you're being stupid!"

Aliarey may have faked a small laugh in response shortly after the boy's insults, but her hands clenched into fists. The brat was lucky he was still a kid. Wait, did hurting the kid even count as property damage? Oh, if only being around kids didn't send her through an emotional roller coaster. "Look...sweety...I just need to know if you or your friends have seen a book called 'The Secret Mirror' and where it is."

"Who knows? If I did I wouldn't tell you!" The boy told her and then stuck out his tongue.

This kid was being impossible. What a little brat! Aliarey knelt down and grabbed the boy's shoulders as gently as she could while trying to fight her urge to go off on him. "If you don't tell me the nice old lady that wants the book won't be able to read it. Don't you want to be a good boy and help me help her?"

"Nope!"

Unbelievable. Just before Aliarey could lose her temper and go off on the little heathen, she heard a shout and something that sounded like rolling squeaky wheels. "Library Cart Attack!" One of the other prankster kids had sent a return cart her way, apparently with the idea of knocking her over with it. It was too slow though and it hit the wall as Aliarey stood up and quickly moved out of the way. As the cart bounced off the wall a few of the books that were lying on it fell off and as her blue eyes glanced at the small pile they widened. One such book had the title she had been looking for! Score! She completely forgot about the kid she had been dealing with just a short moment before as she began to pick up the book. Unfortunately, a small hand swiped the book before she could.

"Mine!" The boy then took off running, mixing in with a small group of other kids that also took off.

"You..." Her voice trailed off, not completely comprehending what had just happened. If that kid managed to hide the book the chances of finding it were slim. She wouldn't be able to give the book to the old lady. She wouldn't be able to consider the job as completed. Aliarey gasped. She wouldn't be able to get paid. "You little brats! Get back here!" A chase had then begun as Aliarey ran after them. Now they had two pursuers; the librarian who may or may not had given up by now and herself.

Catching up with the group of kids was no problem for her. The library wasn't that big of a place and they were kids that weren't as fast as she was. They were clever though. If they weren't throwing random books from the shelves onto the floor then they were finding other ways to make messes. As annoying as it was, she had to bother with picking up the books or catching them and putting them back just so no one could blame her for the chaos. Eventually the kid that had taken the book tripped and fell to the floor, landing on his face. Finally!

She stomped her way towards the boy as he scrambled back onto his feet. The other kids had run off, not realizing that he had been left behind. "Got you now, kid," the tall blonde stated, a threatening smirk forming on her face. The kid held the book tightly to his chest and took a step back. He expected the worst. Surely the monster he had called ugly and stupid would devour him whole!

Instead all he got was a playful punch on the head. As much as she wanted to strangle the little beast he was still a kid. "You're a very bad kid, pipsqueak. Now give me that book or I'll tie you to a tree outside for the bullies to find you."

The boy immediately dropped the book without a word and ran off. The fun and games were over, at least for that current day. Aliarey picked up the book and smiled with satisfaction. The job would soon be done. It was at that moment the librarian ran up. "Y-You!" He pointed right at Aliarey as he tried to catch his breath. All she could do was blink and then point at herself. "Me?" He pointed at her again, this time more forcefully. "Yes, you! I saw you running around like a lunatic with those kids! It's bad enough I have to deal with them but someone of your age should know better! THIS IS A LIBRARY!"

Uh-oh.

"Hey! Stop! Get back here!"

Aliarey now had to use the strategy the kids had done before; she ran away from the librarian. Luckily the lady at the front desk had not been brought up to speed about her rule breaking and so Aliarey was able to quickly check out the book before the librarian had caught up. The book was then quickly delivered to the old woman who had asked her to do the job. The older woman accepted the item, overjoyed at how she will finally be able to read her favorite childhood story once again. Now all that was left was the reward.

(Word Count: 2,529)

500 words for original turn in
1500 for C rank freeform
500 for D rank freeform