Halo Of Fire: An Angel In Trouble

History and Mystery

We met with Jordan right outside the designated door, Tyler beat us there by a long shot. He had much longer legs than we did standing at 6'2" tall. The classroom we stood in front of was dark and they were the only one there waiting for us.

Jordan smiled, "Great! Now that we're all here, I got all the paperwork filed and I'd like to proudly announce that the History and Mystery club is back in business!"

We all whooped and hooted, "That's great!" We hugged and high-fived each other.

"So this means we can snoop around the school without permission?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes and no, we actually have permission slips and Prof. Rederr is our advisor," Jordan said, flipping through a folder and handing us laminated passes.

"Our advisor?" I asked confused.

"Well, yes. All clubs need to be headed by a professor or faculty member. It's policy." Jay said with a nod, "And he insisted."

"Oh," I said with a subdued nod. "Where is Ophelia?"

"No idea, she said she was going to pick up some stuff in her dorm room and she would be back. I hope it's soon. Because we have to go to the basement"

"Why do we have to go to the basement?" Cecily asked with a disgusted tone. I noticed Tyler bump her with his elbow in a teasing manner and both their auras flushed a light pink.

"Because all the paperwork the History and Mystery club had, was filed and archived when they terminated the club. The archives are in the basement because there was no room in the library. Well, actually, technically it's part of the library, it's just that it is in the basement of the library. So initially I thought we could meet here and do our research here but it actually turns out that we have to go to the library to get the paperwork."

"Should we call Ophelia to meet us there?" Cecily piped in, pulling out her phone from her leather backpack.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea let's do that. Tell her not to bring any of the stuff she already has until next time. I don't want her lugging whatever information she has all the way over to the library if we can't use it right away".

She nodded, "Sounds good."

Jordan led the way to the library and then down into the basement of the building, to which they had a key to access the cage the archives were in. The basement was as old as the building the library was. As we went down the steps beyond the emergency exit double door that separated the poor mortal students in the library from our godly beings that had access to the basement, the temperature dropped significantly and there was a strong stench of mold and humidity in the air.

"They don't really air this room out do they?" Cecily mentioned scrunching up her nose.

"There are no windows," Jordan stated as they flipped through a set of keys on a blue fabric lanyard.

There was a fence-like wall that ran from one side to the other of the room all the way up to the ceiling. Making it impossible for anyone but mice and moisture to reach the documents on the other side. There were lines and lines of file cabinets and shelving units with boxes on them that formed four long but narrow corridors. It was dark at the end of the room that seemed to span the length of the library.

"Where are the lights?" I asked.

"Oh, they only put lights at the very front. We'll have to use our phone flashlights as we go down the aisle." Jordan replied as they selected the key and slipped it into the lock of the cage door.

"So why is it that students don't have access to the archive?" Tyler asked.

"Well, most of the information is bureaucratic and not necessary for our studies so the stuff stored here isn't very useful to most students. However, it's available to them if they want it. They just have to know to ask the librarian."

"But do they know?"

They shook their head, "Obviously not. Most don't even know the basement exists."

"Do you get access because you're president of Student Government?" I asked in a teasing manner.

"I do in fact have access because I'm president of Student Government." They said very smugly as they pushed the gate open and it squeaked to a halt. "OK what we're looking for is anything pertaining to the H&M club, and maybe anything pertaining to the school itself. We need to find the map of this wretched place."

"We've officially become a fashion club," I commented with a laugh. "Maybe we should find a different abbreviation for the club? We could come up with a whole new name?" I offered.

"Yeah, maybe we should come up with a new title for the club, it's kind of long and bulky," Jordan said walking into the cage and beckoning us to follow.

"I have no connection down here." Cecily said unhappily looking at her phone, "How is Ophelia going to find us?"

"I can go upstairs and wait for her," Tyler offered.

Though I knew deep down that Cecily wanted to be the one to go upstairs rather than Tyler, we all agreed and he disappeared up the stairs. So Jordan, Cecily, and I started rummaging through the long stacks of paperwork and file cabinets hoping to find the paperwork pertaining to the club. The task was grueling from the start. The papers we sorted through were delicate, brittle or wet, the ink smudged in certain places due to water damage and there were pages that stuck together and never planned on letting go.

There was dust and mold everywhere and not long after we had started Cecily started sneezing like crazy so she had to leave and go upstairs at regular intervals to relieve her sinuses. On her way down the first time, she was accompanied by Prof. Rederr.

"Hi everyone!" He said cheerfully, walking into the cage with his hands in his tweed pant pockets. His amber eyes glinted in the light of the incandescent lights even at a distance from me and a chill ran down my spine.

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Veronique