ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴀᴡɴ

Chapter 16

Noah put his hand in his pocket, Josephine watching his face twitch through the reddish stone in the middle of the portrait. He made a satisfactory noise as he pulled out a key holder with a bunch of keys stringed to it.

He picked out a small key, unstrung it from the bunch and pushed it into the keyhole in the portrait. With little effort, he turned the key clockwise and a rumbling noise erupted. Noah and Josephine stepped back instinctively as they watched the stone roll away to reveal a hollow shape, cobwebs standing at the entrance.

Noah and Josephine pulled up a disgusted face, staring at each other. "Monday's got you hoping," Noah remarked as he pushed his hand into the hole. His hand touched something papery texture. He frowned and took his hand out of the hole.

He took his phone out his pocket, turning on the flashlight. "What is it?" Josephine asked but Noah didn't respond, bringing the flashlight closer to the hole. He brushed his right hand repeated on his jeans before putting it back into the hole to retrieve an old rolled up piece of paper.

Josephine moved closer to him, shocked to see what was in his hand. Noah exhaled audible, briefly looking at Josephine and turned his attention back to the paper in his left hand. He rid his phone of the flashlight, placed it in his pocket before opening up the paper for Josephine to get a clearer view of:

11.5.3.18.12.14

18.10.9.3.2.6

"Library indexes?" Josephine asked, confirming her thought was a nod from Noah. "Why the library anyway?"

"I have no idea why the library but I think we have to check it out," Noah announced, hurriedly leaving the room, Josephine trying to keep up with his pace. They signed out of the Central Hall of Heritage, jogging down the stairs. They turned towards Hunters Street, a street away from the Central Hall of Heritage. They turned left, only to be welcomed by a five storey building: CODEX BIBLOTHECA, the sign posted boldly read.

Noah and Josephine turned to look at each other briefly, walking through the archway leading to the corridors. Quickly, they made their way to the reception.

"Good afternoon," the young man behind the desk greeted cheerily. Noah and Josephine simultaneously replied back, holding two smiles on their faces. "May I see your library cards?"

Noah reached into his bag, opened a small compartment, slid it to the man; Josephine dug into her purse and pulled out her library card, handing it over to the young man. He brought the two cards closer, scrutinising them as he typed on the computer before him. He exhaled, handing the two cards back to Noah and Josephine with a smile on his face. "You may go in," he stated, and they both nodded—his attention wasn't on them anymore but on new arrivals to the library, also handing over their cards to the receptionist who Josephine thought she'd seen his nametag, 'Nick'.

Noah looked behind him, hastily ascending the stairs. Josephine placed a hand on the cold railing, making her way up the stairs behind Noah. As they got to the second floor, Noah halted abruptly and Josephine's forehead creased. "What's wrong?" she whispered.

"The numbers. I thought of it and the library indexes have only four numbers; the section number, shelf number, the row number and the book number," he stated, pulling the paper out of his jean pocket, straightening it out. "I'll have to eliminate two repeated numbers and they are 18 and 3, leaving us with four numbers. I'll take section 11 and you take section 10. We'll meet back here, okay?" Josephine nodded her head and they walked up to the third floor and separated, both going in the opposite direction.

*****

Josephine carefully walked through the room, scanning for Shelf 9. "Shelf 7...Shelf 8...Shelf 9," she murmured, looking at the huge shelf. She moved towards, careful not to make a sound. She looked at it, and made a satisfactory noise under her breath. She ran her hands on the hardcover books till her hand got to a smaller book, more like a notebook. Josephine bent down to take a look at the number under it—number 6?