The girls spent the rest of the morning on their hands and knees at the very back of the main hall, sifting through returned books and checking the library map for where each pile they were making should go on its designated shelf. The doors opened as planned at 10:30 and although the first hour was very quiet with barely anyone coming in, as it approached lunch time there seemed to be a few groups of tourists and the odd actual visitor looking for something in particular.
Zoe made her way back to the information point as Rebecca shelved some of the returned books. She climbed into her big leather chair and began to read the manual as she tried to get to grips with the database. She was glad that she hadn’t been approached by anyone and asked for help yet as she still didn’t have a clue how anything worked. Rebecca had been a good trainer, but she was so funny the girls had spent most of their time messing around and cracking jokes.
She looked up at the gold leaf roses all along the ceiling and wondered to herself how much all of the artwork in the library must be worth. She watched the tourists wandering around, snapping photographs and picking up the odd old book to show to one another. She remembered how she and Ross had once visited a bookstore downtown and he bought her a copy of Wuthering Heights. She closed her eyes and sighed.
Don’t do this to yourself, she thought. You’re having fun… Don’t make it all about him…
She blinked back the tears just in time before Rebecca came bouncing around the corner with two mugs of coffee.
“Right,” she said. “We’ll have lunch up here today,” she placed the cups down and clapped her hands together. “Normally we get half an hour, but I guess you probably have tons of questions, and to be honest, I can’t be bothered going out for a walk… Plus, we have to go down into the archive in about an hour.” She rolled her eyes and pretended to put a finger down her throat.
“The archive?” Zoe asked.
“Yeah,” Rebecca said as she sat down and blew on lightly on the top of her coffee. “We have a selection of rooms that are technically underground here… And they’re called the archives… I hate going down there, they give me the creeps.”
“That sounds awesome!” Zoe said a little too enthusiastically.
“Well, you won’t think that when you’re covered in dust and spider webs and freezing cold while trying to take an inventory to make sure nothing has gone missing,” she laughed.
“Missing?” Zoe was suddenly very intrigued. “Why would anything go missing?”
“Look at this place,” Rebecca whispered. “Some of the books in here alone are worth fortunes… Never mind the sculptures and artwork.” She leaned in closer and raised her eyebrows. “And that’s the stuff they have on display… Imagine the things they don’t want people to see.”
“Seriously?” The hairs on Zoe’s arm stood up on end.
Rebecca nodded and sipped her drink. “They made you sign that secrecy act thing didn’t they?” She spun on her chair.
“Yes, but they said that was because this was a heritage site…”
Rebecca raised her eyebrows again.
“It’s because you might see things the rest of the world doesn’t know about.”
Zoe sat back in her chair and cradled her cup of coffee in her hands. She couldn’t tell if Rebecca was messing with her or whether she was being deadly serious. In any event, she couldn’t wait to get down to the archives and see what they were all about.
“So when are we going down?” she asked, pretending not to be too interested.
“After lunch,” Rebecca opened one of the desk draws and pulled out two packets of chips. “Not exactly a five-course meal, but it should hit the spot,” she shrugged.
Zoe wasn’t even hungry, but she accepted them with a smile.
The next hour seemed to drag painfully along as her mind raced with what she might see down in the archives. It was the sort of thing she had seen in movies or read about in books, but when she had applied for and taken the job, it had never even crossed her mind that there may be secret rooms or even secrets of history hidden within the library walls.
Rebecca didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but it was exciting Zoe beyond belief. She thought back to her interview and of how Mrs. West had handed her the secrecy form. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time, maybe because she was used to dealing with confidential information at the law firm, but now it was taking on a whole other meaning.
“Right then,” Rebecca closed her laptop and got to her feet. “Should we head down there and get it over with?”
Zoe was on her feet before Rebecca had even finished her sentence.
“Yes,” she said. “Show me the way.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes and began her walk down the long center section of the main hall towards the back.
At the end of the hall, there was a set of doors and when Rebecca opened them they led out into a long hallway. It was colder out there and the lights were dim. Zoe immediately felt herself shiver and pulled the scarf tighter around her neck.
“It’s right down at this end.” Rebecca looked at her over her shoulder and walked down into the darkness. The further they went, the more the light seemed to disappear, and it looked like this part of the library was largely neglected.
“No one comes down here,” Rebecca said. “It’s just a place for the janitor to dump all of the broken chairs.”
Zoe looked around the hallway and realized in the darkened corners were crumpled and broken bits of wood. It was a mess—a dusty, forgotten mess, and Zoe felt sad that parts of such a beautiful building were being left to rot.
Rebecca stopped at a door at the end of the hall.
“Here we are,” she said as she turned and looked back at Zoe. “Are you ready?”
Zoe nodded and held her breath. Rebecca smiled and pushed the door. It creaked open…