Arii had a problem. It was an easily-fixable problem, but it was a problem nonetheless. She had just finished the book she had been reading, and now she wanted to... no, she needed to read the next one in the series. However, it was past the curfew that her family had set and she wasn't allowed in the library at this time in the evening. But she really wanted that book to read. So Arii decided that she was just going to have to go get it anyway. 
She looked around, noting the setting sun visible through the glass walls of the main room of the house, turning the sky beautiful colors and reflecting brightly off the ocean. She could smell the sea and taste the saltiness of the breeze coming in through the open window. The soft hush of the waves was a perfect background noise for reading, Arii observed.  
She thought that Mo, her older sibling, would surely be in their room studying, so she figured nobody would be out to see her awake past her bedtime. Her family was highly practical and she would be staying up late the next night, so it would have been a wise decision to go to bed early, but she was too enthralled in her story.  
Arii shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, then walked silently down the corridor to the library's huge, and luckily well-oiled, double doors. She opened the doors as quickly and quietly as she could manage, then entered the huge room and shut the doors just as fast. She darted to the nearest shelf and hid behind the floor-to-ceiling structure, just in case anyone was in the library. She glanced anxiously around the sheltering corner of the bookshelf, and her eyes widened. Mo was in the library, after all!  
They were calmly selecting books off the shelves, walking up and down the stairs to reach the different levels, completely unaware of the other person in the library. Arii was instantly grateful for how careful she had been.  
The library was shaped in a circle around the central feature, a huge, old tree that shed its bark and supplied wood for the books and scrolls that lived around it. When you stood near the tree, you could see all the way up to the top level and the ceiling, which seemed very far away. Because of the tree, the library always had an earthy, natural smell that you could almost taste. Also, it was always warm, even on the coldest of days.  
The shelves radiated away from the tree like sun rays, and they connected to the outside wall of the library so you couldn't get behind them. This was Arii's main problem. If she moved to a different shelf, she would have to go into the middle of the library. If she did that, Mo would surely see her, and send her back to bed without her book. So, she was trapped here for the time being.  
This also meant she was completely at a loss when Mo began moving along the shelves closer to Arii's hiding place, taking out scrolls and books as they went. Arii considered climbing the stairs to the next level, but she realized her footsteps would be too loud in the near silence of the library.  
Mo moved closer and closer, and in return, Arii got more and more anxious that they would see her. She calculated that by the distance of the sounds they were making, Mo was in the next aisle over. As Arii was contemplating whether she would have a better chance running for it than staying where she was, Mo took out a scroll from the other side of the bookshelf separating them. There was now a gap that Mo could potentially see her through. Arii knew her best chance now was to stay as still as possible so she wouldn't be spotted.  
Just as she was sure Mo would look through the gap and find her, she heard light footsteps on the hardwood floor, accompanied by the scraping of claws as some creature walked towards them. Arii jumped. Mo froze in the other aisle. The creature coming towards them was clearly the library dragon, also known as a bookwyrm.  
The library dragon was their family's guardian of the library, monitoring the borrowing and returning of the books and scrolls and caring for the huge tree. But the bookwyrm's most important job was something else. Whenever one of the books or scrolls got old and started  
falling apart, he rewrote them, painstakingly, word for word. Thanks to him, the family owned several books and scrolls from a long, long time ago.  
Mo's voice came from the other side of the bookshelf, jolting Arii back to the current situation.  
"Sorry to disturb you, Eyvrie."  
Eyvrie replied, "It's alright. Perhaps you could help me with something?" His voice had a distinctive accent and the way he talked sounded melodic.  
"I can try, but there's little I know about this library that you don't," Mo answered.  
"Excellent! Do you know the author of Treatments for Small Ailments on Trees?"  
Mo was quiet for a moment. Library dragons were known for being able to memorize all the information, like titles and authors, needed for their job. Eyvrie was also known in the family for his knowledge about trees. This was a little odd, and it was made more so that Eyvrie had asked in a louder voice, one that Arii was able to hear clearly. Library dragons usually talked pretty quietly.  
Mo finally responded, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure it starts with N. I'll show you." As Mo and Eyvrie walked away, they came within Arii's line of sight.  
The bookwyrm was not too big of a creature, about the size of a large house cat. His wings were shaped like a bat's, but with feathers. He had a long tail that tapered to a point, and a narrow snout with horns ringing his head. His entire body was covered with small, shimmering scales in all shades of blue, green, and purple. He walked quite like a cat, silently and stealthily, and his tail swayed from side to side as he moved.  
As Eyvrie walked by, he turned his head and winked one large, intelligent eye at Arii. Arii, astonished, just gawked at him. As soon as her sibling and the dragon were out of hearing range, she ran lightly to where she had gotten the first book and grabbed the next one in the series from the shelf.  
She took the risk of dashing to Eyvrie's desk and scribbling a quick note that she had borrowed the book, because she knew that he wouldn't be so helpful again if she didn't. He shared this trait with most bookwyrms. Library dragons were serious about their commitments.  
Arii hightailed it back to the main room where she had first started before anyone saw her. She settled down behind a couch so she wouldn't be seen while she waited. A little while later, Mo padded by, completely unaware of her presence. They trotted nimbly upstairs and went into their room. Arii realized in surprise that the sun had set, and now the moon was rising. Some time thereafter, Mo's light turned off behind the door and Arii knew that they wouldn't be coming back out. She opened her book and became entranced by the new world, while her own reality slowly faded away around her. She started right where she left off... 
 
I wake up slowly, my consciousness coming back to me in pieces. I hear voices around me, but I don't remember why I was asleep in the daytime. In fact, I don't remember much of anything. I think this should bother me, but it doesn't. I feel strangely detached from the rest of the world.  
I can vaguely make out two figures standing over me in the gloom. I wonder why they're there. Somehow, I manage to open my eyes a little more. One of the figures speaks.  
"Is she waking up?" 
"I don't know," the other figure replies, leaning over my bed. "Can you hear me?" 
It doesn't even occur to me that they could be talking to me. I can't do anything but watch and listen.  
"Did you ask her about the test questions she was supposed to know by tomorrow?" the first figure asks.  
"No, obviously not! She can't do schoolwork like this." 
"I meant before she fell into a coma, obviously." 
"She's still pretty confused about most of it, she'll have to hurry to catch up..." 
 
The book started slipping from Arii's fingers, and darkness was ringing her vision. Her only thought as she fell asleep was to keep reading...