“I suppose…” Alex said, albeit hesitantly. Part of her was still wary, but there was another part of her, like Jordan and Bear, that was excited by the possibilities. “I’m never going into that hopscotch room again though, you hear me?”
Both boys nodded and Bear pointed out, “It wouldn’t matter anyway since you could just make another door appear.”
“I have no idea how I did that, so let’s not count on it happening again.”
“The look on the librarian’s face…” Jordan snorted, before mimicking the little man, “Very well.”
They burst out laughing at his impersonation and when they were calm again Bear asked, “So, when do we get to have our first Library adventure?”
Alex thought for a moment before saying, “I want to solve this Aven mystery first. Can you guys wait until the weekend? That gives me four more days. I’m sure I’ll find something by then.”
They hid their disappointment well—if Jordan’s pout and Bear’s sigh could be considered hidden expressions.
“The patience will be good for you,” Alex said, yawning. “All that chocolate has made me sleepy. Or maybe it was everything else that happened. Either way, I need to crash.”
She stood up and headed to the door, only turning around to say, “Don’t forget, you can’t tell anyone about the Library.”
“You can count on us,” Jordan promised, waving her out of their room.
Eighteen
It took all week, but by Saturday morning Alex had finished searching through all of the yearbooks from the previous fifteen years. She was sure Aven couldn’t have been older than that, but still she’d found no trace of him anywhere.
The more she thought about it, the more Alex was convinced to just leave it alone. She might not ever see him again anyway, and for some strange reason, that made her feel oddly disappointed. There had just been something about him; something so… appealing. Half of her had been enamoured, and the other half… repulsed.
There was something else about him, too. Something not quite right. Alex remembered feeling the need to please him, to do whatever he asked of her. She’d never felt so compelled, so tempted, before in her life. Even just thinking about it made her skin crawl, so she resolutely decided to let go of the entire Aven issue. It was time to move on.
“Hey, Alex!” Jordan called out as he jogged over to her.
She was sitting underneath her favourite tree by the lake, enjoying the beautiful day and attempting to clear her head. So far, no such luck, so she was glad for the distraction. “What’s up, Jordan?”
He took a seat beside her. “What are you doing for Kaldoras?”
“Kaldoras?” The foreign word triggered a memory of Darrius telling her about the Library and the upcoming annual holiday. “It’s sort of like Christmas, right?” At Jordan’s blank look, she mumbled, “Never mind.”
Sometimes Alex found it easy to forget she was in a whole new world. And with everything else going on, she had failed to remember that there was only a week left until classes were suspended for the break. She definitely wasn’t looking forward to what was sure to be a lonely holiday, since most of the other students were leaving to visit their families. Added to that, it was also the first time ever that Alex wouldn’t be with her parents for Christmas, and she felt sad just thinking about that.
“I’ll be staying here,” she said, trying not to sound too miserable about it. “It’ll be a good chance to catch up on homework.” Eugh. What an awful prospect.
“How ’bout an alternative?” Bear said, appearing from behind them and sprawling onto the ground. “I was just talking to Mum and she told me to bring you home with us for the holidays. Ordered, more like. Once Mum starts insisting, you really don’t get much of a say in the matter.”
“I couldn’t possibly,” Alex said, though she was touched by Bear’s offer. “Kaldoras is for family time, or so I presume.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bear said. “We always have heaps of people over to celebrate. It’s not so much family time as it is a global event—especially with Gammy’s cooking.”
Alex still wasn’t sure until Bear added, “And besides, Jordan’s coming too, so it’s not just my family.”
“You’re going?” Alex asked Jordan.
“Sure am,” he answered, as if it was a silly question. “Ever since I met Bear, I’ve spent Kaldoras with his family.”
“How come?”
“My folks are always busy around the holidays,” he said, sounding slightly bitter. “Fundraisers, royal galas, charity balls… the whole socialite shebang.”
Her eyes widened. “Your parents are socialites?”
“For lack of a better word,” he mumbled, not meeting her eyes.
Alex was curious and she found it difficult not to ask more questions. But she could tell that it was a sore subject, so she didn’t press him.
“In any case, I always meet up with them at the New Year’s Eve Gala,” Jordan said, as if there had been no interruption. “My parents like to parade me around like a peacock, gushing over how talented I am and how proud they are.”
He paused before continuing in a quiet voice, “Three hundred and sixty-four days of the year they hardly know I exist. And then, for just one day, they act like I’m the centre of their universe.”
“Jordan…” Alex didn’t know what to say, so she just placed her hand on his arm.
He smiled, but it was half-hearted at best. “Don’t worry, Alex. I’m used to it.”
“And there are benefits,” Bear said, plucking a blade of grass and shredding it between his fingers. “The Gala is the biggest New Year’s event amongst the upper classes. Blackmail certainly has its perks.”
Jordan saw Alex’s confusion and he smiled again—a proper smile this time. “A few years ago I told my folks that if they wanted to drag me along to play the ‘happy family’ charade, then they had to let me bring whoever I wanted with me. Bear has come with me every year since and, unless you have any objections, I’ll be dragging you along this year as well.”
Kaldoras at Bear’s house with her two best friends, and a New Year’s Eve party. Alex’s holiday was certainly looking up.
“Now,” Jordan said, his eyes sparkling with anticipation, “I could be wrong, but I think someone promised us we’d check out the Library this weekend?”
“You know, where I come from, most teenage guys avoid libraries,” Alex said. “If you’re not careful, people might start to think you’ve become nerds.”
“Hey, now,” Bear said, feigning hurt. “We prefer the term ‘library folk’. It’s much less derogatory.”
Alex and Jordan stared at him, before all three of them cracked up laughing.
“Library folk?” Jordan gasped out. “Where did you pull that one from?”
“I don’t know,” Bear said. “Must just be my superior wit.”
Alex sent him a sidelong glance. “That’s it exactly.”
“Well,” Jordan said, composing himself. “Let’s go and be library folk, shall we?”
It was only when they entered the foyer that they realised they had no idea where to start.
“Can’t you make another door appear or something?” Jordan asked.
“I told you,” Alex said, “I have no idea how I did that the first time. It was probably just a fluke.”
“You said that you just knew you could do it, right?” Bear asked. “Why don’t we wander around and see if you feel something similar again?”
It was a logical suggestion, but Alex felt uncomfortable walking around and staring at the portraits and tapestries while waiting for something—anything—to happen.
“Miss Jennings?”
She glanced up and noticed the librarian waving at her. After exchanging perplexed looks, the three friends headed in his direction.
“Good morning, sir,” Alex said.
“Yes, yes,” he muttered distractedly. “Might I ask what you and your friends are doing?”
“Uh—” She hesitated, unsure what to tell him. “We’re just trying to get into the Library, sir.”
He raised a bushy eyebrow. “You didn’t think to use the stairs? Like every other time you’ve been here?”
Alex shifted awkwardly on her feet. “Well, we’re not really trying to get to that particular part of the Library today.”
“Nonetheless, I dare say it’s as good a place for you to start as any. More so than walking around aimlessly in my foyer.”
She nodded, understanding that perhaps they were looking in the wrong place. “Thank you, sir.”
“Where are we going?” Jordan asked as Alex led the way to the staircase.
She shrugged. “He suggested we go down. He might be cryptic, but I doubt he’d give advice without reason.”
Partway through their trek down the stairs, Alex noticed something strange. “Does anything seem different to you guys?”
The three of them paused and the boys looked at her questioningly.
“Nothing?” she asked. “Never mind, then.”
They continued their descent until her friends finally noticed what she’d already observed.
“Why are there so many stairs?” Jordan asked.
The study level of the Library was only a short trip down from the foyer and that was where the staircase ended. For some reason, even though they were on the same stairs that should have taken them to that level, they had already descended much further down—at least four floors so far—without passing any kind of exit.
“Fascinating,” Bear murmured, tapping his knuckles against the solid stone wall.
They continued walking down, until finally they reached a dead end.
“I wonder what—” Alex started to ask just as all three of them stepped off the stairs and onto the stone floor. Her words were cut off when the torches blew out and darkness surrounded them.
“That’s just great,” she said. “I don’t suppose either of you brought a flashlight?”
Silence.
“Guys?”
No answer.
“Yeah, okay, you’re hilarious. What do we do now?”
Still no response.
She swung her arms out, fully expecting to smack into one of them, but all she found was empty space. Her heart started to beat wildly at the thought of being all alone in the darkness.
The flames suddenly flared to life again and she felt a hand grab onto her shoulder.
“Thank goodness,” Alex said as she spun around. “Why didn’t you—AHHHH!”
She scrambled backwards to get away from the—thing—that had grabbed her. It looked like a man in a suit of armour, except there was no man inside. There was absolutely nothing above the shoulders, just empty space where the neck and head should have been. It was a headless, rust-covered suit of armour. And if that wasn’t creepy enough, it was also holding an enormous battle axe in the air, as if ready to attack.
She didn’t have a moment to wonder at its strangeness before the axe swung towards her face.
Alex automatically threw herself out of its path, hitting the ground hard. She scrambled to her feet and gaped at the suit of armour which had just—impossibly—tried to behead her. Regardless of how unnatural it sounded, she hadn’t imagined its attack.
Proving her thoughts true, it moved a step forward while raising the axe again, prompting Alex to react instinctively. She didn’t think; she just spun on her heel and ran away as fast as her legs would carry her.
The dead end had transformed into a long torch-lit corridor, but she had no time to question the strange architectural phenomenon as she sprinted for her life down the hall. She could hear the suit of armour coming after her, its heavy metal clunking with every step it took.
In her mad dash, Alex noticed hundreds of closed doors all along the hallway, interspersed between the solid stone brickwork and flaming torches. Each door looked different from the next, with a dizzying assortment of sizes and shapes. While some were completely normal, like those which were wooden and simplistic in design, others were made out of brushed glass, strange glowing metals, and even—in one case—some kind of iridescent rainbow cloud.
As curious as she was, Alex was too focused on running away to think about entering any of them. But when the corridor abruptly ended in what looked like a medieval dungeon, she regretted her lack of exploration, since there were no doorways left and she was now trapped.
She spun in a circle, taking in the cobwebs that covered almost every surface of the room and the slime that dribbled down the walls from the ceiling. There was even a set of rusty manacles hanging from the roof. But the most disturbing feature was the human skeleton perched in the corner. Bony hands held the pommel of a gleaming sword, and the head was shielded by a helmet which thankfully covered the entire skull.
It was a disturbing sight and Alex couldn’t help but stand and stare for a moment. Then she heard the sound of grinding metal as her pursuer caught up to her and she turned away from the skeleton to face the animated armour.
“Now listen here,” Alex said, hoping it could be reasoned with. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I want to know what you’ve done with my friends!”
The suit of armour stopped in front of her and she felt her confidence grow. If it hadn’t been for the metallic screech of warning then she wouldn’t have had time to duck when the massive axe whooshed towards her head again at an alarming speed.
For the second time that day, she hurled herself onto the floor and rolled out of the way. She quickly rose to her feet before ducking away again when the axe swooped a second time. Her reflexes were much improved—mostly thanks to Finn’s unwavering disciplinary tactics in PE—but she was definitely not capable of fighting this thing. Still, she might be able to knock it over.
The axe swung at her again and, as she dropped to the ground, she kicked out at the knee joint of the armour. The suit wobbled slightly, but if anything, she’d done more damage to herself, since her foot was now throbbing from kicking the unyielding metal.
“This is bad…” Alex murmured and she dodged the approaching axe again. She couldn’t keep throwing herself to the ground every time it came at her. It was time to try something else.
After the axe swooped towards her once more, she rolled quickly to her feet and launched herself at her attacker. Alex had hoped to catch it off guard and cause it to topple, but as she straddled the rust-covered torso, she found it to be as immovable as an oak tree.
She, however, was not so fortunate.
The armour wrapped its gauntleted arm around her waist and threw her across the room. She smacked into the rough stone wall with a sickening crunch and collapsed to the ground.
“Oww.” Alex made a groaning sound and pulled herself into a sitting position. She didn’t think anything was broken, so she couldn’t account for the crunching noise until she realised that she’d landed on the skeleton. Her natural reaction was to roll away, gagging, but when she noticed the sword again, she managed to set aside her disgust.
Alex rose painfully to her feet and reached for the weapon, shuddering as she pried the skeletal hand off the pommel. She gripped the sword tightly and turned back to face the suit of armour, raising the blade in front of her. It was heavier than she’d expected, but it was still usable.
Before she could so much as blink, the axe was once again swinging towards her head. She was trapped in the corner and had little option but to put all of her adrenaline-fuelled strength into lifting the sword to meet the axe mid-air. The two weapons collided with a horrible metallic screech, and Alex quickly deflected the blade away from her head.
The axe swung at her over and over again, and each time she met the weapon with her sword. But, unlike the suit of armour, Alex was quickly running out of energy. She wouldn’t be able to continue deflecting its attack for much longer.
“Somebody, please help me!” she cried out.
Her whole body trembled with the effort of maintaining her defence
. Sweat beaded on her forehead from exhaustion and fear. Her weakened arms almost dropped the sword after another jarring attack, but she renewed her grip when something caught her eye. Both the sword and the axe had the same engraving etched onto their blades; it looked like a coat of arms with a decorative shield split into three parts.
The breastplate on the suit of armour had the same picture engraved where the heart should have been. Turning her head slightly, Alex found that the helmet on the skeleton was also etched with the same emblem. And from out of nowhere she had an idea.
When their blades met mid-air in the next attack, instead of deflecting the axe, Alex gave one heaving push forward, causing the armour to stumble back slightly. Using her downward momentum, she directed her blade into the bony neck joint of the skeleton lying at her feet. It immediately turned to dust, leaving the helmet sitting amongst a pile of ashes.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw the axe coming towards her head again. Dropping the sword, she scrambled to pick up the helmet, thrusting it in front of her face like a shield. The impact of the axe on the helmet sent her staggering into the wall and she gasped out a grunt, straining against the armour’s strength.
The front of the helmet was facing towards her and the coat of arms pulsed slightly with light. Something about the light reminded her of the TechnoConnectivity Devices, which helped her to realise what she needed to do next.
Mustering her last reserve of strength, Alex heaved against the axe with all her might, pushing her attacker off balance and backwards a few steps again. It gave her the room she needed to move into position.
Just as the armour regained its balance, Alex leapt on top of it and held on for dear life. It stumbled again but recovered quickly, and she felt rather than saw its gauntleted arm reach out to throw her off once more. Before it could do so, she tightened her grip and jammed the helmet onto the collar of the armour, pressing her palm to its now glowing coat of arms.
A flash of blinding light filled the room and Alex was thrown into the wall—again. When the light faded and her eyes recovered from her daze, she gaped at the sight in front of her. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”