Brotherhood of the Wolf

Chapter 10.1: Legacy (Part 1)

"Do you still have your fake ID?"

There's a rare moment of silence on the other end of the line as my sister's  brain processes my question.

"Uhm, yeah," she finally says. "But you know that you're legal for pretty much everything now."

"I do. Thanks," I reply, anxious to get to why I'm calling. "This isn't like that. It's more of an undercover thing."

"Ooh, undercover," Lark says and I can now tell that I have her attention. "Now you're talking. What do you need? A little spying? Do you want me to tail someone?"

I like her enthusiasm, but unfortunately it's misplaced and I'm now almost reluctant to reveal the truth. But I can't do this without her, so I take a deep breath and just say it.

"I need you to go to the library and do a little research for me."

The phone goes silent again and I worry I lost her.

"Hey, Lark. Are you still there?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies with a lot less enthusiasm. "I'm here. But did you just say library and . . . research?"

My sister has never been the bookish kind, but she says the words like they're contagious. I need to turn this around or she'll find some excuse to get out of it.

"Uh-huh. But listen. Last night, I had a very strange . . . I guess you could call it an encounter in one of the oldest buildings on campus. And I need to find out more about its history," I say, blurting it all out in one breath.

"What kind of encounter?" asks Lark, once again focusing on the wrong thing.

I'm glad she can't see me balling my fist in frustration.

"That's not important unless I can somehow tie it to . . . well, anything that you can find. But I'll tell you later, I promise," I say, hoping that this is enough to convince her.

"Okay, but why me? You actually like this type of stuff. Don't you?" she asks, not making any of this easy.

But I guess I deserve the runaround for not letting her stay with me. The poor girl had to get an actual job to support herself. I'm a true monster!

Holding in a snicker at the thought, I instead give her my best attempt at a summary.

"The building has contentious ties to people who are still alive and at the university, and if I start poking around,
some of them might think I'm doing it for the wrong reasons," I say, trying to reveal only as much as necessary.

Lark sighs. "Fine. I'm in. What do you need for me to do?"

"I'll text you a list of names. Start there.  And make sure you use your fake ID when you enter the library and when you sign in at the archives," I say, recalling the usual process. "Most of what I'm looking for is from the late 1800s so unless Packard has digitized it's collection, you'll be looking for either hard copies of documents or, more likely, microfiche."

"Micro what?"

I shake my head. "Fiche. Listen, there are archivists and reference librarians who will be happy to help. You've got this."

"Are you sure you can't do this?" she asks in a last ditch attempt . "You're the expert --"

"I might be new on campus ,but my name will be recognized. No one knows you here, especially with using a fake name," I say.

She pauses. "You're really worried about this, aren't you?" Lark asks, turning serious. "What do you think I'll find that's so dangerous?"

"I don't know," I lie. "But keep this in the down low as much as possible and send me what you find as soon as you can. I'm texting you the names now."