“… and you can find those here in the library,” Jessie said. The pink-haired woman’s tour of the academy grounds ended inside the largest library Mark had ever seen. He looked upward to and realized there were several more floors to the giant library. Most of the tables were occupied. “You’ll be spending a lot of time here since the books can’t leave.” Jessie started walking further into the library.
“They can’t leave? Why not?” Mark asked as he followed her. She walked along the wall and turned into a hallway. They passed several windows with what Mark thought were study rooms inside. Until he saw one room in use; a student lay in a pit of mud inside the room.
“There’re books in here from over 100 universes. We like to keep them from ending up somewhere they don’t belong. But there are some pretty neat exhibits too.” She stopped walking and pointed through a window. “This is my favorite.”
On the other side of the window, a large clear vase sat atop a black pedestal. The vase held a single golden, flaming rose. A soft, weak flame danced along the top of the rose petals.
“Whooaa,” Mark said. “It’s beautiful.”
“It’s called a Dragonbreath rose.”
“Where are the rest?” Mark asked.
“No one knows. The Earth this one came from is gone.” Jessie said, then shrugged. “So, that’s the tour. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Mark nodded. “What’s fun around here?”
“Oh my gosh!” Jessie grinned. “You saw the mud pits, right?” She pointed down the hall at one of the windows.
“Yeah?”
“And you don’t know what they are?”
“No?”
“Come on!” Jessie grabbed his hand and pulled him toward one of the rooms. “You need to try the AlterNet!”
