"It's perfect," Reynie said, his eyes tracing the blueprints in front of him.
"No system is perfect," Mr. Benedict reprimanded, "But, they will do." Mr. Benedict folded up the papers and tenderly placed them in his desk drawer. Mid morning sunshine bounced through the office, warming the two men. A chess game sat, interrupted in the corner, for though it wasn't in Mr. Benedict's nature to get excited, he had been eager to show Reynie his plans. The blueprints detailed the foundation of a large group of buildings, located on Nomansan Island, just off the coast of Stonetown. For many years, Reynie had known it as the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. But if all went as planned, it would soon become the KEEP.
"Modifications have already begun," Mr. Benedict continued, "All the extra security measures should be installed promptly enough, and I expect my brother to be relocated there within a year's time." His gaze drifted, and Reynie prepared to catch Mr. Benedict, an old habit he still hadn't broken, even though it had been many years since Mr. Benedict was cured of his narcolepsy. Reynie understood that Mr, Curtain was never an easy subject for Mr. Benedict. He couldn't imagine the emotional turmoil that came with designing a prison for one's own brother, though he'd certainly tried.
"Sir?"
Mr. Benedict looked back at him, his smile returning as if it had never left at all. "Yes, Reynie?"
"Perhaps we should finish our chess game." The young man gestured at the board. The victor was evident to both men (alas this was how most of their games turned out) but Reynie didn't mind losing. He learned something new each round, whether it be about chess or another subject entirely, and to him that certainly felt like winning.
Mr. Benedict smiled at him. "I wholeheartedly agree,"
And so they played chess. The match was won quickly, but neither was in the mood to leave and they began another round. They grew lethargic in the sunlight, and when Number Two was sent to retrieve them for lunch (for they had been summoned several times), she found Reynie asleep in his chair and Mr. Benedict quietly reading a book across from him. When Reynie had been awakened, and the three had joined the others at the dining table, a feast of fresh fruit and sandwiches awaited them. As Reynie ate his lunch, surrounded by his family, he wondered how his life could get any better. It's true, there was very little capacity for it to improve, but there was an incredible capability for it to get much, much worse.
In the future years to come, Reynie would spend many hours contemplating how it had gone wrong. There had been many factors, one being the lingering corruption in all government systems; another being the incompleteness of the KEEP modifications. Though with each rumination, Reynie always found himself coming to the same conclusion. If only Mr. Curtain had been transferred to the prison sooner. If only the Citadel had been less assured in its capability to hold such dangerous criminals. Then maybe, Reynie wouldn't wake up one morning to news headlines reading "CONVICTS ESCAPE FROM CITADEL PRISON,". Maybe he wouldn't have had to evacuate the town he'd grown up in, made a life in. Maybe his world wouldn't have come crashing down.
