|Ace>

  The hours crawled by. The library grew increasingly quiet as people filtered out. Outside, darkness fell completely, and the windows reflected only the interior of the library.

  I rubbed my eyes, fighting the strain of reading for hours. We had found absolutely nothing. Worse yet, Excalibur had replied to my message - ZeMaster was loosely part of the urban exploration scene, but not significantly. The most her people knew was that he frequented the arcades in the southern Eclipse District.

  The silence in the library had become absolute. A clock somewhere in the distance ticked away, marking the approach of the curfew. I glanced at my UI - only a few hours left before we'd be stuck there for the night.

  Something moved at the edge of my vision.

  I turned quickly, but saw only empty space between the bookshelves. The shadows between the stacks seemed deeper than they should be. I shook my head, blaming fatigue for my jumpiness. But the feeling persisted. Sitting out in the open by the edge of the balcony, I couldn't shake the sense that somewhere out in that sea of books, someone was watching me. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as every small creak of the old library seemed amplified - the settling of shelves, the groaning of floorboards, the barely audible hum of the faerie lights.

  I gathered up my papers and retreated from the railing, moving back toward the wall where Cherry had her head down on a desk in front of a mountain of letters. Her snoring was the only normal sound in the otherwise oppressive silence.

  I shook her arm. "Hey, Cher."

  She snorted and jolted awake, blinking rapidly at the pile of papers in front of her. A defeated groan escaped her lips. "Please tell me you found something."

  "I think something found us." I whispered.

  We both glanced around the library. The long shadows stretching between bookshelves seemed to shift. Somewhere in the stacks, something made a soft thump, followed by what might have been the slide of a book being removed from a shelf.

  "Do you think they know why we're here?" Cherry asked.

  "I think the game knows everything it wants to know about us. ... Hey, you know, there is a connection between those two."

  "What's that?"

  "Out in the desert looking for a lost city and exploring unknown places here in the city - they're both isolated locations where it's easy to get lost."

  Cherry looked at the shelves surrounding us. "Do we run?"

  "We're probably overreacting." I said, trying to sound confident. "Let's just... calmly clean up, then walk over to the front desk."

  I helped Cherry gather the reader's letters and carry them over to the archive room in the corner of the library. We put them back in the cabinets, then returned to pack up my newspapers.

  But looking at my table, something felt off. I frowned, scanning the surface.

  "Wait a second." I opened my inventory and checked it, then looked back at the table. "Where did my notebook go?"

  We searched both my table and Cherry's desk, but it was nowhere to be found. I distinctly remembered placing it beside the stack of newspapers.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Cherry and I once again looked out at the library - at the shelves that now seemed to be closing in around us. A small thump echoed from an aisle nearby, followed by what sounded like footsteps moving slowly between the stacks.

  Wordlessly, we backed away, retreating toward the archive room. Cherry's hand found my arm, her fingers digging in slightly as we moved. The door was locked - I'd just locked it after returning the letters. I fumbled for the key, my hands suddenly clumsy with adrenaline.

  The lock clicked open, and we piled inside, slamming the door behind us and locking it again.

  I leaned against the door, trying to steady my breathing while Cherry paced the narrow confines of the archive room.

  "Ok, what do we do?" I asked, pressing my ear against the door to listen for movement.

  Cherry threw her hands up, nearly knocking over a stack of folders. "I don't know, why're you asking me?! Every time we try and run, I get tased!"

  "Ok..." I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think clearly. "Maybe we should call someone? Get someone from the Sewer People to escort us?"

  Cherry's laugh had a slightly hysterical edge. "Oh, yeah, why don't you call our parents to pick us up? What are we, children?!"

  "Well do you want to go out there?!"

  "Let's just make a break for it!"

  "Do you want to get tased?!"

  "Third time's the charm!"

  "You've already been tased three times!"

  "But I've only run away twice!"

  I took a deep breath, forcing myself to lower my voice. This wasn't helping. "Alright, alright. Let's... take this slow. Don't panic - if we panic, they can lure us into a trap. Let's walk out there and head for the front desk. We'll return the key, walk outside, and check into the first inn we find. Be vigilant, and stick to the plan."

  Cherry nodded. "Ok. We've got this. Just stay calm."

  She crowded behind me as I turned around and got ready to open the door. My hand was slick with sweat as I gripped the key, sliding it into the lock. Slowly, I turned the knob and pulled the door open, bracing myself for whatever might be waiting.

  The doorway was completely blocked by the silhouette of a figure standing directly outside.

  Cherry screamed and jumped backward, grabbing my shirt and dragging me with her. We fell back into the archive room in a tangle of limbs, my elbow slamming into a cabinet with a metallic clang.

  The figure continued to stand there, unmoving, and as my eyes adjusted to the contrast between the archive room's dim light and the brighter illumination of the library, I could make out more details. It was Livitha, watching us with an expression of profound lack of amusement.

  "Are you two quite done?" she asked, her voice flat. "That Loyalist pencil-pusher told me you were doing research for us and wanted these returned to you." She held out our tape recorder and my notebook.

  I slapped my forehead. "We gave my notebook to Jorral!"

  Cherry and I untangled ourselves, and she took several deep breaths as she stood up. I stepped forward to take our items from Livitha. Our finished article was neatly folded inside. Jorral had not only transcribed our interviews but had organized everything into a complete draft.

  "Thanks."

  "Have you found anything?" Livitha asked.

  "Nothing significant - just some clues on where they may have 'gone missing.'" I quickly summarized what we'd found about Big Iron and ZeMaster.

  Livitha listened carefully. "Interesting. That lines up with what we've found about people going missing, but to think it could be happening that far out of the city... This is more serious than we thought. Thank you."

  As she turned to leave, I asked, "Are we in danger?"

  She paused, looking back over her shoulder. "That's hard to say. I don't think any of us are safe anymore. Watch your backs."

  "Hold on a second!" Cherry called out as Livitha started to walk away.

  Livitha stopped, turning back toward us with an impatient expression.

  Cherry shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Is there, uh... anything else we can help with here?"

  I grabbed Cherry's arm and pulled her aside, lowering my voice to an urgent whisper. "We're trying to stay out of trouble here! Do you want to paint a target on our backs?!"

  Cherry whispered, "I don't want to spend the next year hiding in the records closet - the only way we're getting through this is hitting them first! I'm not going to 'go missing' without a trace!"

  I thought on that. Much as I hated to admit it, she had a point. Whatever was happening, it seemed to be finding its way toward us. "And these guys might be able to protect us..."

  "Exactly!" Cherry nodded emphatically.

  "Ok." I turned back to Livitha. "We want to help you get these guys."

  Livitha studied us for a long moment. Finally, she gave a slight nod. "I'm sure we can find a use for you. Come on."

  We followed her out of the archive room and through the library.

  "Where are we going?" I asked.

  "The Eclipse District."