The Missing Mortals, page 5
They read in silence for several minutes. The only sound was the faint ticking of the grandfather clock on the floor below. The second floor of the library was similar to a loft in an apartment. When on the second floor, one could look over the railing and see the majority of the ground floor of the library including the fireplace and reading area on its east side. The only portion of the library that couldn’t be seen from above was that portion directly beneath the loft.
The second floor had its own lighting, which consisted of three rows of relatively modern rectangular fluorescent lights. The lighting for the ground floor was more ornate and consisted of six chandeliers that hung on long chains from the high ceiling of the main library. Anyone on the second floor could look out over the rest of the library and see the tops of the crystal chandeliers.
When they had first entered the library, there had still been a little light coming in through the large windows on the south wall, so they hadn’t turned on any of the lights downstairs. Once upstairs, they had only turned on the two small lamps on their table so they could read. In the time they’d been sitting there, darkness had descended outside. Emma paused a moment in her reading and looked around. Except for the small circle of light cast by the table lamps, the rest of the library was in total darkness. She suddenly had the strange inexplicable feeling that they were being watched. Emma felt the hair rising on the back of her neck and shivered. She looked across the table at Doug. He was completely absorbed in the journal he was reading. Her gaze wandered to Martha and then to Sebastian. None of the others seemed to have noticed anything unusual. Deciding that she was just being paranoid and thankful that she wasn’t alone, she returned to her reading.
Soon she was once again engrossed in the story of Rebecca and Darius. It was clear from Rebecca’s writings that she and Darius were very much in love and very happy together. Every now and then, Rebecca would express her desire to have a child. She expressed regret that she had not yet conceived, but she was hopeful that God would bless them with a child someday soon. It made Emma sad to think that it would be seven more years before Rebecca’s prayer for a child would be answered and sadder still that Rebecca wouldn’t live to raise the child she’d so desperately wanted. It just wasn’t fair.
Emma’s thoughts shifted to the loss of her own mother; that hadn’t been fair either. Emma felt the familiar sting of tears at the thought of what might have been if her mother had lived. With an effort, she turned her attention back to the journal but not before Doug had noticed tears glistening in her eyes.
He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but he didn’t want to embarrass her in front of the others. Besides, he was almost certain he knew the cause of her tears. Rebecca’s tragic story had Emma thinking about her own loss. He’d been thinking about his mother too. He couldn’t understand how she could leave him like she did, and because he couldn’t understand, he couldn’t forgive. In an attempt to dispel his own gloomy thoughts, he asked of the group in general, “Has anybody found anything? Remember we’re looking for places that would have been special to Rebecca and Darius.”
“That’s the problem,” Sebastian said with a sigh. “How are we supposed to know what was or wasn’t special to them?”
“Well, you can sort of tell from what Rebecca says,” Martha began, and then she realized to whom she was talking. With a sigh of her own and a brief shake of her head, she decided to try another tack. “Maybe you should just mark the pages where Rebecca mentions going somewhere with Darius. Then we can all look at them and decide if it’s a possible location for one of the sculptures.”
“Okay,” Sebastian agreed, “but what should I mark the pages with?”
“Honestly, Sebastian. Do I have to think of everything? Just tear some pieces of paper to use as bookmarks.”
“I don’t have any paper.”
Martha opened her mouth to deliver what most certainly would have been a stinging reply when Doug broke in. “I think there’s some paper behind the counter downstairs. I’ll go get it.”
Doug had to turn on one row of the second floor’s overhead lights so he could see to go down the stairs. Emma was glad for the additional light and hoped Doug would leave the lights on when he returned.
He quickly disappeared from view as he descended the stairs. They could hear him rummaging around behind the checkout counter for a few moments and then the sound of his footsteps on the stairs once again. He reappeared with a grin on his face and a stack of paper in his hand, which he held up in triumph. As Emma had hoped, he left the single bank of overhead lights on and approached the table.
“This ought to do it,” he said as he sat down. Then a thought occurred to him. “You know it might not be a bad idea if we all took some paper and marked pages like Sebastian. Then once we’ve gone through all the journals, we can compile a list of the most likely places.”
“And if we don’t find the sculptures in those places, we’ll start looking in the unlikely places,” Emma added.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Martha agreed. “Let’s try to get completely through each of the journals we’ve got tonight. Then maybe we can finish the other six tomorrow.”
“If we do that, we’ll be in here all day tomorrow and tomorrow night too,” Sebastian complained.
“Maybe we will,” Doug replied. “But remember we’re doing this for Lord Dinswood.”
“Yeah, Sebastian,” Martha said. “After all he’s done for us and the school, it’s the least we can do.”
“I know, I know,” Sebastian agreed reluctantly.
Feeling a little sorry for Sebastian, Emma said, “If we’re lucky, we’ll only spend one more day in the library. Then we can spend the rest of the time outside looking for sculptures.”
As Emma had hoped, Sebastian’s expression brightened at the thought. “That’s right,” he said with a grin, his good humor restored.
They stayed in the library until everyone had had a chance to finish going through their journals. Emma hadn’t found anything more in hers, but she noticed that Sebastian and Doug had each marked at least one page in their respective journals. She was dying of curiosity, but it was getting late. A glance at her watch confirmed that it was ten o’clock. They’d been in the library two hours. Deciding it would be better to wait until they’d gone through all of Rebecca’s writings to share what they’d discovered with each other, she closed her journal and yawned.
Seeing that the others were finally finished, Sebastian jumped up with an energy that Emma envied. After an afternoon of swimming and an evening spent playing badminton, Emma was exhausted. Sebastian acted as if he’d just awakened from a good night’s sleep.
Doug stood up and stretched. He’d been sitting for far too long and was more than ready to call it a day. The others quickly followed suit. Once the journals were safely put away, they turned off the table lamps and Sebastian, Martha, and Emma went downstairs. Doug stayed upstairs just long enough to turn off the overhead lights. As no one had thought to turn on any of the lights downstairs, Doug’s action plunged the library into almost total darkness. Martha let out a little shriek of surprise.
“Hey, guys, somebody’s gonna have to turn a light on down there so I can find the stairs,” Doug called from above them.
Remembering that there was a light switch just to the right of the library door, Martha began feeling her way like a blind person. Heading in what she thought was the correct direction, Martha promptly bumped into Sebastian who was attempting to do the same thing. A few sharp words were exchanged, followed by a good deal of jostling.
For her part, Emma was frozen to the spot. She was experiencing that same eerie feeling she’d had a while ago—the feeling that someone was watching them. In rising panic, Emma looked around as her eyes began to adjust to the dark, all the while telling herself that she was just being foolish. Suddenly, she detected movement off to her right. Turning quickly, she saw a dark shape coming toward her from the area underneath the second story loft. The shadowy figure, which was outlined by the meager light coming in through the west windows, seemed to be gliding along soundlessly on a cushion of air. Convinced that she was seeing a ghost, Emma was just opening her mouth to scream when the lights came on. Emma blinked in surprise, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw that her ghost was actually Dean Harwood.
Both Martha and Sebastian jumped in surprise when they turned away from the light switch to see Dean Harwood standing there.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Dean Harwood said. When no one spoke, Dean Harwood hastened to explain why he hadn’t made his presence known sooner. “I came to see how you were getting along. I was just starting up the stairs when I felt a draft. It was then that I noticed that one of the windows was open. I went over to shut it and was just on my way back when the lights went out. I’m afraid I scared the daylights out of Emma.”
Emma wondered how he knew that, but if she could have looked in a mirror at that moment, she would have understood. She was as white as any ghost she could have imagined. Dean Harwood was smiling at her kindly. Embarrassed now at being so foolish as to believe in ghosts, Emma looked away.
Doug, who’d been trying to find the upstairs light switch again, came to the top of the stairs and looked down to see what all the commotion was about. Seeing his father, he said, “Hi, Dad.”
“Hello, son. I just came to see how you all were getting along on your research,” Dean Harwood repeated.
“We’re making a list of all of the places where Darius might have hidden the sculptures. We’ve got a few more of the journals to go through, but I think we’ll be finished by tomorrow. Then we can start looking.”
“Good. Just let me know when you need to go somewhere, and I’ll make the necessary arrangements. Remember now, I promised your parents that I’d accompany you on all of your searches, so don’t get impatient and go off on your own.” Dean Harwood looked at them all in turn, obviously waiting for their promises of compliance.
“We won’t, Dad,” Doug said for the group.
Dean Harwood nodded and turned to leave, but when he got to the door, he stopped. Turning back, he asked, “Did any of you open that window?”
They all shook their heads in the negative. With a frown, Dean Harwood said good night and left. It was obvious from his expression that he thought it was odd that one of the windows was open. Emma began to wonder about it herself. The castle was air conditioned, so why would someone open a window? Figuring there must be a logical explanation, Emma decided she’d let Dean Harwood solve the mystery of the open window.
After Dean Harwood left, Doug quickly descended the spiral staircase, and together they all left the library. After a murmured good night, they went to their respective dorm rooms to get ready for bed. If this had been a school night, they would have gotten in trouble for being out after curfew. During school, curfew was nine o’clock, and lights out was at ten o’clock. School was not in session, however, so the regular rules did not apply.
As she walked with Martha to the suite they shared, Emma thought about the task Lord Dinswood had assigned them. Tomorrow would be Wednesday, so they only had the remainder of this week and then two more weeks to complete the job. Once school began again, they wouldn’t have much time for searching. However, the time factor wasn’t Emma’s only concern. She had begun to worry that they wouldn’t be able to find the other sculptures at all. She could only imagine how disappointed Lord Dinswood would be if that were the case. He had looked so ill the other night; Emma didn’t think he could take any bad news. After all Lord Dinswood had done for the school, Emma was determined not to let him down. With a firm resolve to spend all day and all night in the library tomorrow if necessary, Emma prepared for bed.
The next morning, Emma awakened to the patter of rain on the window above her bed. It was a gentle steady rain, the kind that could last for hours. Emma got out of bed and looked out the window. The sky was a dull gray for as far as the eye could see. It was going to be a dreary rainy day—a perfect day for doing research in the library. Even Sebastian couldn’t object to spending time in the library on a day like this. Emma was sort of glad that it was raining. At least now they wouldn’t have to listen to Sebastian whining about wanting to go outside.
Quickly, Emma got ready for breakfast, and by the time she’d finished brushing her teeth, Martha was awake and getting dressed. Emma and Martha were the first ones to enter the dining hall, but it wasn’t long until Doug and Sebastian made an appearance. Breakfast was completed with little conversation. Even though it was raining outside and there was nothing else better to do, Sebastian still seemed to be pouting about having to spend the day in the library. Emma just hoped he’d keep his feelings to himself.
By dinnertime, they had each managed to get through another journal, and they had begun a list of places where the remaining sculptures might be hidden. As the day had worn on, it had eventually stopped raining, and the clouds had begun to break up with the sun peeking through every now and then. There were still two journals to go through, but Emma didn’t have the heart to make Sebastian stay in the library all evening. He had been very good all day long. He had kept his fidgeting to a minimum and hadn’t said a word of complaint about having to stay inside. She felt that he had earned an evening of freedom, and she said as much to Martha. Martha agreed with her completely and suggested that just the two girls stay in the library after dinner to look through the remaining two journals. When they shared their plan with the boys, Sebastian was elated, but Doug hesitated. He didn’t feel right about the girls having to do extra work.
When Sebastian left to empty his dinner tray, Martha said to Doug, “You’d be doing us a favor by keeping Sebastian out of our hair. He’s been sitting all day long, and I don’t think we should press our luck.”
“Yeah, Doug, if you don’t go with him, he won’t have anything to do, and then he’ll be back in here driving us crazy,” Emma added, and then another thought occurred to her. “You could make arrangements with your dad to check out the first location on the list. We’re running out of time, and we need to start looking as soon as possible.”
Realizing that the girls were right, Doug finally agreed, and soon after dinner was completed, he and Sebastian left to go talk to Doug’s dad and then spend some time outside. The two girls returned to the library. Emma really didn’t mind staying inside. She had gotten caught up in Rebecca’s writings. Rebecca and Darius had certainly had an interesting life together, and even though Emma knew the story didn’t have a happy ending, she was eager to read what Rebecca had had to say when she’d learned that she was finally going to have a child. It was for this reason that Emma asked Martha if it was okay if she took the last of Rebecca’s ten journals. Martha didn’t mind in the least. She had not been eager to read Rebecca’s last entries. She hated books and movies that ended tragically. If she knew ahead of time that they were going to end badly, she refused to read or watch them. Generally, Emma felt the same way, but she found herself drawn to Rebecca’s story in a way she couldn’t explain.
After retrieving the last two journals from the shelf, the girls sat at the same study table they’d been using all day and began to read. They read in silence for what seemed like minutes, but when Emma finally looked up, she realized that it was starting to get dark outside. Without a word to Martha, who was engrossed in the entry she was reading, Emma reached up and switched on one of the table lamps. A half hour later, Martha closed the journal she’d been reading.
“Did you find any places to add to our list?” Emma asked. The list they’d compiled before supper already contained ten locations to be checked out. It seemed like an awful lot of territory to cover in the amount of time they had. Emma was secretly hoping that Martha hadn’t found any others, so she was relieved when Martha shook her head in the negative. So far, Emma hadn’t found any in her journal either. Of course, Rebecca had been pregnant during the time frame Emma’s journal covered. It had been a difficult pregnancy, and Rebecca hadn’t been going out much.
“How about you?” Martha asked in return.
“No, and I don’t think I will. I’ve only got a few entries left to read. Rebecca’s getting ready to have her baby, so the doctor has confined her to bed rest.”
“You sure you want to read the rest? We’ve already found out what we need to know.” Martha looked at Emma with concern. Knowing that Rebecca was going to die shortly after the birth of her baby was going to make those last few entries hard to read. Martha knew how much Emma still missed her own mother and was worried that Rebecca’s story would bring those feelings to the surface again. She didn’t want to put Emma through that unnecessarily.
Emma understood Martha’s concern, but she was determined to finish. She’d just as soon be alone when she did though. “Yeah, I’m going to finish just in case Rebecca might mention some fond memory from the past. You don’t have to stay though. Why don’t you go ahead and call your mom like you mentioned earlier? I’ll finish up here and then meet you in our room.”
Martha did have some things she needed to do, but still she hesitated. “You sure you don’t mind?” She looked at Emma and realized that, in a nice way, she was trying to get rid of her. Understanding Emma’s desire to be alone, Martha agreed.
