Chapter 3: Guesswork
"Nemo, would you hurry up?" Mary yelled.
"Huh? Oh, right... Leon. I just thought I heard something." Nemo said, now standing less than a foot from Lucian's hiding place.
"It was probably a rat, come on. Leon won't be happy if you make him wait again." Mary said.
"Coming..." Nemo muttered.
Lucian breathed a sigh of relief as the footsteps faded into the distance, "That was too close." He got up, making sure that nobody else was around and heading for the doorway leading deeper into the library. A book laying open on the table caught his eye, it looked like the one those two had been reading before they left. Lucian walked over and picked it up, reading what it was open to. It was written in some language or code he had never seen before, but before he could even consider stealing it, Lucian suddenly heard footsteps coming from the hall behind him.
"I can't believe you forgot the book, idiot!" A voice said, Lucian recognized it is Mary's.
"Sorry, I got distracted." Nemo sighed.
Lucian set the book back down and darted through the other door just as the two keepers returned to the room.
"See, right where I left it. Nothing to worry about." Lucian heard Nemo say as he pressed his ear against the door.
"Nothing!? If he, or one of his friends found this out, there'd be hell to pay." Mary whispered.
"You've got a point, Glenn can be a real jerk sometimes, but he's nothing compared to... well, you know." Nemo said.
"Come on, Leon and the others will be waiting."
"Who's Glenn and this other guy they were talking about? Hmm..." Lucian pondered for a moment, waiting until the footsteps faded. "Only one way to find out." He slowly opened the door, making sure the room was empty before dashing through and chasing after the two keepers. He easily caught up, and kept a fair distance behind them. Down a couple corridors, left, right, right again, up a staircase, Lucian began to wonder if he would ever find his way back to the passage out. He turned another corner after the two he was following and came to an abrupt stop.
A long room stretched out before him. Even more bookcases lined the walls, and a huge table sat in the middle that nearly went from one end of the room to another. Two grand chandeliers hung from the ceiling, giving the room a brightness that, up until this point, Lucian didn't think was possible in a place like this. Three Keepers were sitting at the table, each of them glanced at Nemo and Mary as they passed through the room and climbed a spiral staircase in the far corner of the room.
"So much for that plan." Lucian muttered, turning away from the room and heading back the way he came.
Once again he found himself wandering through seemingly endless hallways, occasionally passing a Keeper or dark room, but still unable to find another staircase upstairs like the one he saw in the bright room. It had been over ten minutes before he finally decided to head back to the bright room and try to figure out a way safely across it. On his way back, he passed by one of many dark rooms, the door was slightly ajar and whispers were coming from the other side.
Lucian crouched by the door, listening carefully. A man's voice was whispering angrily at someone. "...ow that? It's getting to be a problem. Unfortunately I'm already under too much suspicion as it is, so I don't dare try to stop them directly."
Another man's voice, much older than the first, answered. "I know that as well. That little group is getting close according to my source though. I'm also a bit suspicious of a certain scribe, one of them has gotten interest in the forbidden library. I suppose it's not unusual for them but still... this one's different."
"You mean the boy Artemis brought to us recently? I highly doubt it. Artemis himself is more of a threat."
"Not the child. Her name is Mia, she has talent and curiosity. If she heard about this it would surely get her interest considering..."
"Oh yes, her. She's one of the few I'd gladly be rid of, along with those annoyances Leon and Artemis. It's a shame it would ruin my plans."
"If you'd like, I could take care of her for you."
"No. We can't take any chances. I need you for other things. Just keep an eye on that girl for now, maybe we can use her."
"As you wish. I had better be going now, I have to meet someone else."
At this, Lucian quickly moved away from the door and behind a small table in the hallway. He waited for one of the men to leave, but nobody came through the doorway. He hesitated a moment before sneaking back over and peering in the room. It was empty, another door across the room was open. Lucian grumbled something under his breath and turned away. Following everyone that was suspicious would keep him here forever, and that didn't have anything to do with the book he needed to find. If these people had a problem with Mia, he couldn't care less, as long as they didn't stop her from giving him the information he needed it wasn't his problem.
Lucian hurried down the winding halls and soon found himself once again staring into the large, brightly-lit room. There was now only one Keeper in the room, muttering something quietly and looking though a bookcase with his back to the room. Lucian dashed silently across the room, taking the chance that no other Keepers would come down the staircase he was running for. He was halfway up the staircase by the time the keeper at the bookshelf turned back to the table.
A short hallway greeted him, there was a door at the end and two more on each side. Lucian crept along, glancing into the rooms as he passed them. Each one had at least two Keepers inside, leaving Lucian to wonder how he was supposed to find a book if he couldn't find an empty room to search through. As he passed by the fourth door, a woman's voice made him stop.
"Leon, what are you looking for?"
Lucian looked into the room, a woman with long blonde hair was sitting at a table covered by books, and a man with short black hair was searching through a bookshelf.
"I'm trying to find that book again. I know it was in this room." Leon said.
"The one that started this obsession of yours? Who would have thought a book about artifacts could start such a thing." the woman said.
Artifacts? If these people find it interesting, maybe it's one Mia would be happy with. Lucian thought.
"It should be right here." Leon said, pointing at an empty spot on the shelf. "Is it in that pile you have, Anita?"
"Oh, yes. I got it shortly before you arrived. It's right... wait, that's not it." Anita mumbled, looking through the books on the table. "I thought I put it right here, it must have gotten mixed in with the others..."
As the two keepers dug through the books on the table, Lucian noticed one on the ground nearby. It was too far to go after without being noticed, and Mia had taken all his tools. He searched though his pockets, hoping she might have missed something, but all he could find was pocket lint and a couple coins. He took one of the coins and tossed it into the far corner.
"Did you hear something?" Leon muttered, glancing toward the corner after the coin landed.
The second they both looked away, Lucian stepped in as quickly and quietly as he could, grabbed the book on the floor and hurried out of the room. He continued down the hall and the staircase, stopping just before the bottom so he could read the book's title. The cover was blank, and everything inside it was written in the same unusual text as the one he had seen earlier. He cursed under his breath and closed the book, slipping it into one of his cloak's pockets.
The Keeper that had been in the room when Lucian went upstairs was gone, and most of the candles in the room had been put out. Lucian made his way through the room, down another staircase, through more winding hallways and doing his best to remember the way he had taken on his way in. After a few wrong turns and close calls, he managed to find the room with the passage out. He made sure there was nobody in the hall before closing the door, moving the crate out of the way and crawling into the narrow passage out of this confusing labyrinth.
Lucian once again struck his head at each of the turns, and then on the crate blocking the exit. He slid it out of the way, and immediately heard a girl's voice.
"It's about time you got here! I've been waiting almost two hours!" Mia whispered crossly, grabbing Lucian's hood and pulling him out of the tunnel. "Did you find one?"
"It would have been easier if you had told me everything in there was written in code, and shown me how to read some of it!" Lucian snapped, pushing her arm away.
"Not so loud, do you want all your efforts to be wasted by getting us both caught?!" Mia said sternly, glancing at the door. "Now give me what you found."
Lucian grumbled something, removing the book from his pocket and handing it to Mia. She quickly flipped through the pages, Lucian couldn't tell if she was even taking the time to read any of it, or if she could. "Well?"
Mia looked up in surprise, as if she had forgotten he was there. "Oh, yes. This should tell me everything I want to know, except..."
"Except what?"
"Well, we'll worry about that when we come to it." Mia slipped the book into her robe and walked over to the door. "I had better show you the way out now. We have to be quick and silent, so I'll tell you now. Meet me outside that bookstore at midnight in three days, I should have some answers by then."
"How do I know you'll even show up?"
"I only know how to get background information on these things. Finding out where they are now and getting them is why I need your help. Without you or some other thief, this is a hopeless effort. At least with you I don't have to worry about motivation. You want to avenge your uncle, don't you?"
Lucian didn't reply, but Mia could tell by his expression the answer was yes.
"Good, now let's get you out of here."
Lucian walked slowly down the street, keeping an eye out for the city watch. He was glad to be out of that place, but annoyed that he didn't get a decent explanation from Mia. Before he knew it, he had come to South Quarter. He crept down the main road, avoiding the lone watchman that was patrolling the street, and turned down an alley. He walked through the old wooden door at the end of it, down a narrow hallway and stopped at the third door on the left. He removed a key from his pocket and went to unlock the door, but it swung open before he ever touched it. The next thing Lucian knew, someone had grabbed his shoulder and pulled him inside.