SHASTA VS THE SECRET SECT
Maggie's Note: this is a short story I wrote about the backstory of Alcatraz Smedry from Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians (Brandon Sanderson) 's mother, Shasta Smedry. I never quite finished it, but enjoy this small rough draft!
Authors Note:
I refuse to start this book the way my son does. I will not tell you that I am a bad person, or a liar, or that I’m awesome, or that I’m an idiot or coward, because I am not any of those things. I mean, I am kind of all of them, but still!
I understand that lately, there’s been some anger in the Free Kingdoms about the books my song has been publishing. A little bit of confusion. I have a few words for you Free Kingdomers on that topic: You heard lies before. Before my son wrote those books, there were many lies, exaggerating my son's true story. Don’t believe them.
I decided to write a book of my own. That is the book you are currently holding. You see, there have been other lies about me, Shasta Smedry, or, er…..Fletcher. These have been exaggerated as well. So i took charge as I always do, and here I am, writing my Autobiography.
I understand that in the Hushlands, this will be published as fantasy. DO NOT BE FOOLED. That’s all I have to say.
"Chapter 1"
So there I was, falling through midair directly next to the Empire State Building in New York City. (Yes, I can and will start the first chapter the way my son does. Just not the author's note. Don’t judge me.)
Look, it was really stupid. I had gotten thrown off the balcony somewhere near the top. Was it stupid of me to get thrown off? No, of course not. It was stupid that they even had a balcony up there. I mean, when do people give exact access to an easy-for-all Librarian throw-off-this-balcony device on the top of the Empire State Building?
How did I get there? I’ll get to that.
(That’s right. Alcatraz got his genes from me, after all. Of course I’m gonna start this book with a cliffhanger that I won’t get to until the end of the book.)
Ok, let’s back up a little bit. Rewind. Going back. Beep beep beep. Here we are, two weeks before I fell to my impending doom.
I was sitting on a bench, right outside a library called the Arkansas Primary Library. My blonde hair was held in a ponytail, and I was wearing a short, white, leather dress that itched. I could almost hear my mother saying, “Beauty is pain. Bear it, and keep up your appearance.”
A little bit about my backstory. Both of my parents were Hushlanders, and neither of them really knew about the Librarian lies that constructed their lives.
I was the youngest of twelve. I was favored by both of my parents, as the youngest always are. Most of my siblings got hand-me-downs, except for me and the oldest, my brother Kyle. I don’t know where the rest of my siblings are, or even if they know about the Free Kingdoms. They’re all still mysteries to me, and I expect that half of them are dead.
Oh, I almost forgot. Small important tidbit: my name wasn’t Shasta at the time. It was Elaine.
I hated my parents, no matter how much love they gave me. I could see past the spoiled little brat, Elaine, that they wanted me to be. I preferred to be the one that was hated, not loved.
Why?
I have no idea, so don’t ask.
You can imagine my parents’ reaction when they woke up one morning to find that their favorite child was gone.
Yep, I ran away. I couldn’t bear the entitled child I was. So I ran away from that, too. I was on the run for over a year. I went a lot of places that year, running and changing my appearance and working on my personality. Anything to get away from Elaine Fletcher. I decided that wasn’t my name anymore. I kept the last name Fletcher, though. Why not? I had respect for my siblings and my father. I just hated them equally as well.
After about a year, though, the police eventually found me. I always knew they would. But at that time, I had made too many alterations to myself, cutting my hair and face, stealing makeup from trash cans and making it permanent. (Now kids, never cut your own hair. Ever. And don’t cut your face either. It hurts. Permanent makeup is ok, though make sure you have an adult’s approval first.)
The police couldn’t pinpoint me, and I would refuse to tell them my name, as I hadn’t decided it yet. Elaine obviously wouldn’t do. Freya was cool, though too much like a Norse goddess. Sally was stupid, and Lexi was too sharp.
Having no where to put me, the police were going to put me in the foster system. (Ironic, isn’t it? Of course I put Alcatraz in the foster system, I didn’t have anywhere else to put him. Yes, I understand that it was the same for me. Shut up).
But they tried to put me in the system. But on the way to my first house, I got out of the car in the middle of the road during a red light and ran off, escaping misery.
Having nowhere else to go, I went to the nearest building. A Library. The Highbrary, to be specific. I had landed in the most dangerous place in the whole world, and that was my first home.
The doors were locked. I picked them, breaking inside. There must have been some sort of meeting or something that day. I still don’t know.
I told the Librarians my story, and they took pity on me. I soon became the adopted child of an entire cult of Evil Librarians. They promised to give me community and housing in the Highbrary as long as I would do their bidding. After years of working for them, I soon found out about the Free Kingdoms.
I immediately became immersed in the world that was hidden from me all my life. I became a full Librarian at age 15, really early to become one. I was raised believing that Free Kingdomers and Smedrys were the enemy. (They are).
I joined a sect, and soon started working at the Highbrary itself, the highest place in Librarian ranks. They were the ones who gave me my new name. I lived there for ten years, until the leader of my sect decided to send me off on my first mission.
This is how I ended up in a tight, white, leather dress, sitting on a bench and staring at the Arkansas Primary Library’s window. I was waiting for a group of Smedrys to come. Vanky, the leader of my sect, had heard word of an infiltration here and supposed that that was the perfect first mission for me.
I had been sitting there for forever. If Vanky was so sure that there was an infiltration led by Smedrys here, wouldn’t it have already started?
That disturbed me. I finally decided to leave the bench.
I stood up, in a sudden rush. I ran inside, to the nearest desk. Two Librarians stood behind the counter. I rushed over, slamming my palms across the desk urgently.
“Look,” I whispered with a sudden alarm in my voice. If I failed this mission, my first mission, I would lose my rank. All those years of training would be for nothing. “I’m Shasta, and I need access to the back immediately.”
One of the Librarians raised his eyebrows. “Look, Shasta, I’m sorry, but we can’t let customers back ther. Now, if you need help finding the non-fiction section, or perhaps your way out—’’
“I’m a Librarian.”
“I,” the man said, slapping his palm on the table as well, “don’t care. Now either check out a book, or get out.”
I smacked him, but he didn’t seem to care. So I slapped him three more times, all ineffective. I raised my Highbrary ID and grabbed the front of his shirt threateningly. “My name is Shasta Fletcher, sent here by Vanky Sima of the Highbrary. My rank is 9, second to only Biblioden and the Highest, and my sect is none of your business. There will be, or maybe has already been an infiltration led by Smedrys in the Library that we are standing in right now. Now, are you gonna let me in or not?”
The man had gotten this frightened look in his eyes and was whimpering. He reached under the desk and pulled out a Library card. I snatched it out of his hand and let go of his shirt, wiping my hand off on my dress. I sent him a shooting glare and stamped off in the direction of one of the book stacks that was clearly covering up the entrance to the rest of the library.
I shoved aside the bookshelf and shoved the entrance door open. It opened into a long hallway with carpeted floors and five doors on either side. At the end of the hallway, it forked into two others. I could hear a faint, humming noise, almost like voices.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a glass cylinder. I tapped it twice, and it turned into a double-sided spear. Moving stealthily, I creeped along the edge of the hallway to one of the doors at the end. I pressed my ear to it.
“—soon realize we’re here,” a voice was saying. “It’s not logical to stay, there’s nothing here!”
“They should have been here!” a second voice said. “All the evidence qualifies for it, I don’t understand!”
“We need to get out of here,” a third voice said. “We’ve already been here for far too long, and I swear I could’ve heard someone outside five minutes ago! I’m tired of you leading us into these useless infiltrations, Attica!”
Attica Smedry. Of course. Other than Leavenworth Smedry, held the record for most infiltrations. Unfortunately, most of those infiltrations were successful. I held my ear up to the door once more.
“I quite like these infiltrations,” a fourth, perkier and old voice said. The old Smedry. “They give me a chance to explore, to have fun, to leave Nalhalla, and—’’
“And to bother the Knights of Crystallia,” said the voice that I now recognized as Attica Smedry. If it’s both Attica and Leavenworth, that could be bad. I was sure that Vanky couldn’t have known that they could be here. If she did, then she wouldn’t have assigned me to this mission. It was far too advanced for my first mission. But then again, I was the top of my class. And rank 9, and it’s hard enough for averages like me to achieve even a 7.
I coughed. (I couldn’t help it, you try holding a cough for more than five minutes.)
The voices in the room fell silent. I cursed under my breath. I could hear footsteps heading toward the door. I backed up and entered a fighting stance, one hand in a fist and the other holding my double-sided spear.
The door opened, and I attacked, stabbing my spear right in front of me and…missing. Well, not necessarily missing, just that there was nothing to stab at.
I looked around furiously. Then I heard a laugh from the floor, and I loomed down, revealing a four foot man. He pointed at me. “Reason #435: short people are always missed by swords!”
I growled and stabbed at him, but he dodged it. I tried again. And again. Pretty soon, I got lost in the fight and didn’t notice three figures emerging from the door. It was only when an arrow missed her by three centimeters that I came back from the wonderful world of uncontrolled rage.
I turned, eyes flaming, to see the worst group of people you wanna see on your first mission. Leavenworth Smedry, Attica Smedry, and Yuma Smedry.
Leavenworth Smedry had graying hair and was wearing a tuxedo, as Smedrys usually do.
Attica had brown, tangled hair and also wore a tux. He had a dagger in his right hand.
Yuma Smedry had a white blouse and black pants. Her pitch black hair held loose, and she had a bow armed with arrows that happened to be pointing directly at me.
I blew a loose strand of hair out of my face. I took cautious steps back, getting ready to fight and holding back a grin as I did. The thrill! I got to fight Leavenworth and Attica Smedry at the same time! If this went well, I might be promoted into rank 10!
But at the same time, these were both very dangerous Occulators. If anything went wrong…
Then, as I was overthinking this, something actually great happened. Leavensworth smiled at me, dropping the lenses that were in his hands and opening us arms s though for a hug.
“Why, why why!” Leavenworth said, beaming. “Is this our reinforcements?”
I hesitated. Reinforcements? If Leavenworth Smedry suspected that I was the reinforcements, even though I wasn't, this could either be a disaster…or one of the best opportunities of a lifetime!
I forced these thoughts out of my mind, replaying what so much librarian training had taught me. Don't rush. Think first. Don't do something stupid when something smart could've easily been mistaken for it. I considered all of the possibilities that could happen if I pretended to be on Leavenworth's side. I could spy for years and help out the librarians ranks a lot. I could be promoted to rank 10. I could take down the Free Kingdoms from the inside, if it worked out well. Or, I could just alter a mission. Whatever these three Occulators were gathered for, it had to be important, so I could end up saving the librarians empire from that.
Or I could just get fired for an unaccomplished mission given up on for reckless spying.
But there were more good possibilities than bad ones.
So, after a millisecond of thinking all this through, I smiled proudly at Leavenworth and put a hand on my hip casually (because I'm obviously a baddie) and said, "Well, it just so happens I'm here for a certain Leavenworth Smedry and his accomplices. But I'm not hugging you."
Chapter 2
Now, when I was in Kindergarten, still living in my parents' house, our class had everyone make each other write Valentines for everyone in the class on Valentine's Day. They were supposed to be nice, saying great things about each other and making everyone feel great about themselves.
I'm sure that everyone did just that, including myself.
Oh wait. I'm me.
There was this one girl, Clara. She was the snobby girl in my class. No one really liked her, especially me. So when I was asked to write a Valentine for everyone, I took advantage of the opportunity and did the task assigned to me. I wrote everyone a Valentine.
That is, everyone except Clara.
And when the snobby, stuck-up, good two shoes Clara went whining to the teachers about how she didn't get a Valentine, they went hunting for me, naturally. When I was confronted by the principle, I was called a series of things. Mean. Excluding. But the one that stuck most in my mind was reckless. I had been called reckless by many of my siblings before, and would be called reckless for most of my life.
Wanna know why?
Oh, yeah! It's because I am reckless!
That word echoed through my head as I confidently told some of the most powerful Occulators in the world that I was the reinforcements. Reckless.
