From the Journal of Lorraine Ellis
April 18, 1923
I take back every awful thing I have said about Jesse Gordon.
Father and Wesley were in the office. Wesley was telling him all about the Brotherhood – a secret society tasked with recording the past for future generations – while Jesse took me to their achieve room. Jesse, I later found out, was not a part of the Brotherhood, but one of the Knights, who protected them. To the Brotherhood members, though, Jesse was nothing more than Wesley’s good friend. The Brotherhood and the Knight have not been on good terms apparently.
The room was underneath the ruins of Seward House. When Father and I had gone before they had found us, I noticed a sort of doorway leading underground. This was the doorway Jesse had led me through.
Down and down we went, until we reached an area in which he had to light a torch. This illuminated a room, carved from the stone that was below the ruins of Seward House. It was circular, lined with shelves that held large, leather-bound books. Each book had two distinct markings on the spine: a location and a year. Another, hallway-like area disappeared into the darkness, so there was no indication of just how many there were. At the center was a large table with a wooden chandelier hanging above, holding dozens of unlit candles. More candles sat on the table.
I could feel him watching me with those eyes of his as I scanned each book. He seemed fascinated at my fascination. As I roamed the shelves, Jesse was there at the front of my mind. It did not help that he was so close. A feeling started in my chest, spreading through my veins as I tried to concentrate, and it did not help with every word he spoke.
There was one book in particular that caught my attention, sitting alone at the table. Jesse said, “Out of all the books in this place, this one’s probably the most important…this explains why they’ve written it all down.”
He had said Wesley would explain more, so I picked it up, holding it carefully in my hands as we headed back toward the steps.
But as Jesse extinguished the torches and I started up those steps, everything went wrong.
The second to last was a trap, set for anyone who did not know about it. I was fully intent on skipping it, but my skirt…my foot caught and I went down hard on that step…
I heard Jesse curse just as the iron grate flew down between us.
He reached a hand for me, pointing.
He wanted me to go get Wesley, but it was already too late.
Jesse…he is gone.