The Guardian of Threshold by A. A. Volts Page B

distressed.
    We waited for her to shut down the computers and the last of the remaining lights, and then we followed her outside, where she insisted we wait for her to lock the doors.
    During our time at the library, the weather outside had grown even colder, something I’d thought impossible.
    Ms. Jane opened her rather large red purse and searched desperately for her library keys. Her cheeks were now rosy, having recovered some color due to the cold weather.
    A few seconds passed before I heard the clinking sounds of keys as she pulled them from the bottom of her purse.
    “Okay, have a good night,” said Ms. Jane as we all made our way down the stairs to the sidewalk.
    She hopped in her yellow Volkswagen Beetle and left Jonas and me there, looking puzzled.
    We walked the next two blocks in complete silence. I was concentrating on skimming my newly acquired book while Jonas just walked beside me silently, which was a rarity.
    “Let me ask you something,” said Jonas, not sounding like his usual self. “You’re not having a thing with my sister? Are you, mate?”
    “Ah? No! I’m not having a thing with your sister. Why do you ask?” I said.
    “You two have been acting strange lately,” said Jonas, matter-of-factly.
    “You know, she’ll date someone, sometime,” I said, trying to gauge his reaction.
    “I feel bad for the poor lard-ass already,” said Jonas, cracking his knuckles as if he was trying to convince me of his determination and strength.
    It was definitely not the answer that I’d hoped for.
    After that, we continued walking toward La Luna’s in awkward silence.
    ***
    Before long, we arrived at La Luna’s.
    “Carla isn’t going to be happy,” said Jonas, looking around at the usual places we sat. “There she is!” he said, pointing frantically.
    As we walked toward the table, Carla looked at us, seemingly upset. She seemed anxious, but maybe she was just embarrassed to be sitting alone.
    “Where have you guys been?” she asked impatiently when she saw us. “I’ve been sitting here for over half an hour, looking as though I was stood up, just waiting—”
    “Mark had to make a quick stop at the library and I had to go with him,” said Jonas, as if I had forced him.
    “Nice try, but the library closes at six, and it’s now 6:25,” said Carla, looking at her watch. “For all I know, you guys stopped at the video game store. Again.”
    “It’s true! We went to the library and saw a spirit,” said Jonas, taking Carla and me by surprise.
    “Right,” said Carla, opening the menu.
    “He’s not lying,” I said as I sat in the empty seat next to Carla and proceeded to open my menu. I felt like pizza, but I didn’t think it sounded appealing enough, so I ordered some cannelloni instead.
    As we sat in the solarium of the restaurant, the weather took another turn for the worse. I looked outside and noticed that small, delicate snowflakes had started to fall, accumulating slowly on the glass pane.
    “What do you mean, you saw a ghost?” asked Carla.
    “I didn’t say that I saw a ghost. What I said was that we saw a spirit, which is very different,” said Jonas.
    “That’s the same thing,” said Carla, rolling her delightful eyes.
    “No, it’s not,” said Jonas. “A ghost is scary while a spirit is not.”
    “Ah… are you sure it was a spirit?” asked Carla, still not believing him. I was trying to decide if I should intervene and back him up or just stay out of it.
    “I’m sure. I’m not making this up, I swear,” said Jonas, sounding very confident. “Mark saw it too! We both did.”
    “It’s true, I was there,” I said.
    We explained what had happened in great detail over our meal.
    Carla didn’t seem to believe us at first; I didn’t blame her, I hardly believed it myself, and I was holding the book Mrs. Barnes had given me.
    “She found us this book. She wanted me to read it.”
    “May I see it?” asked Carla.
    “Sure, here. From what I understand, it has