fandomhigh | Library: Friday [16.11]

Best not to ask how Karal got his hands on the key.

Edited 2007-11-16 12:57 (UTC)

Karal closed his eyes, offered up a brief prayer to Vkandis for both guidance and protection, and unlocked the door. With Altra standing alertly by his side, he opened it, braced for what they might find.

He let out a short surprised breath when all he saw was more library. Rows and rows of books, in all different shapes and sizes, and he took a hesitant step inside.

There was a feeling of being watched, as if some great predator hovered just out of sight, ready to pounce if they put a foot wrong. Altra flattened his ears. "I think," Karal said, looking back over his shoulder. "We are very lucky. Be careful, please, and if you find something, just call for the others."

Peter followed Karal in and noticed immediately that his spider-sense wasn't going to be of any use. There was too much potential danger all around right now. But it didn't seem likely to make an attempt on anyone's lives yet, which was a good thing. "So, do we have any clue how to actually find what we're looking for? Some sort of really weird Dewey Decimal thing, maybe?"

"I assume we're taking it as a given that we've found lots and lots of books?" Willow asked as she looked around. There was possibly a little drool at the sight of all that potential research.

If the situation wasn't so dire, Chris would be in heaven right now.

"I think the trick is finding the right book," he replied. He considered Peter's question. "Maybe we should spread out and do some kind of methodical search. We're looking for something about the island's history, right?"

"Maybe there's someone in here we can ask," Zack said.

Because of course anyone they'd find in here would be friendly and helpful, yup.

As always, Adah trailed behind the others, her eyes taking in the stacks upon stacks upon stacks with her hand to the strap of her messenger bag, clutching slightly. Part of it was for apprehension, which she blamed entirely on the members of her party at the moment, and part of it was to keep her hand from drifting luxuriantly over the spines of the rows of book. So very, very tempting, but tempting like jungle flowers were: touch them, get your hand bitten off....or worse. And that's what this was? The deepest, darkest heart of the literary jungle. She felt a little tremble; it was a good thing the others were there, yes, but not for what she was thinking earlier. Now merely because otherwise, she probably wouldn't want to leave.

"Do you suppose Special Collections has microfiche?" Willow asked. "Because that's where the really old records would probably be put. If anyone in charge of those records was at all organized and, I have to admit, based on the whole dog zoning law flamewar, the odds of good organization are small."

Rodney felt like he had gotten all worked up for nothing since there didn't actually seem to be any immediate danger. In a way, he was really asking for it. "This is going to take forever," he groaned.

"Not if we split up," Chris said, taking a quick head count. "There are... seven of us total," he said. "We split the rows up and each take... however many there are divided by seven?"

And somehow make sure none of them get sucked in, he added mentally.

"Okay but 7 is a prime number and I'm not fond of the idea of cutting any of you up into body parts for the sake of attempting to be even," Willow said.

Karal blinked. "Seven? I'm sure there should be eight." He turned, looking them over. "His anyone seen Ed? Glory, don't tell me we've lost him in here."

"I'm RIGHT HERE!" Ed yelled from behind a stack of books. "WHAT? ARE YOU SAYING I'M SO SHORT YOU CAN'T SEE ME OVER TOP OF A BOOK?"

"Nobody said that," Zack said. "But it doesn't help that you are that short."

Grinning a little wryly at the short one for a moment, Adah turned her eyes toward Willow and Rodney, and suddenly, but softly, released a long, detailed number, complete with decimal. "Rows," she added, shifting slightly awkwardly. "Each. If we split them up evenly, with a margin of error to include the fact that I have a feeling that what we see is not what we're going to get in this place."

Chris winced a little, feeling bad about overlooking Ed, but then blinked at Adah in surprise. That was some pretty impressive mental math.

"Okay, so, let's each of us pick a row to start and maybe we should set up check-ins at various intervals to make sure everyone is okay?"

Rodney acknowledged Adah's impressive calculations with a nod in her direction. He was pretty sure she was in his math class. "Too bad we can't send up flares in here if we get in trouble or find something," Rodney said a little wistfully.

"I find a loud scream never goes out of style in these situations," Willow said.

"Okay, if there's trouble, scream, throw books in the air, whatever you need to do, somebody will get to you," Peter said. "But try not to get into trouble. That'll make things much easier."

"Not getting into trouble is the best idea..." Karal trailed off, attention caught by a flash of pink, half seen from the corner of his eyes. He spun around, but couldn't find it again, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

There was something out there, watching. "Just, be careful."

"Yeah, cause books are going to be a major health hazard," Ed said, with a slight roll of his eyes as he headed off to one of the aisles.

"Don't say that!" Willow called after him. "You're just begging to get eaten by one!"

Well, if the little guy could do it... Rodney steeled himself and set off for his own aisle while trying to ignore Willow's warning.

Peter went into another aisle. A sharp buzzing in his head make him turn around just in time to see a flash of pink, but then it was gone. He turned back around and started to look through the shelves.

So, that was it, then. Adah considered that fact that, despite the plan, it would probably be stronger to the party as a whole if she weren't to go alone. She figured that Willow was probably right in saying that Ed had just about doomed himself, so she decided to stalk his way down his aisle. Yeah. Because the crippled girl would be able to help a lot in the appearance of doom. But, at the same time, the cripple girl probably shouldn't be alone, either.

Library: Friday [16.11]

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