The Billionaire's Possession (Voted Best Reads for Cats)

Chapter 7/library

I stood outside the library and waited while Alexander Strong drove off. It was a cold lonely place. I looked at the tall metal chain link fence. I had a vague memory of my mom bringing me here as a kid. That was before the virus and before the librarian when mad very very mad.There was a sign 'Trespassers will be shot on site' it said. Strangely I knew it was true, they would shoot at you here if you didn't have a library card, fortunately, I did.

I approached the fence at the gate post. The chain link fence was not rusting but gray with the light snow of rough chemical decay. I pressed the red button on the squark box. There was static on the line like I was on a land line reaching down past an electric tempest in hell. Nothing happened I pressed again. the static stopped.

"Don't press that button," said an annoying woman voice and the static started again.

'Come on you battered flat dog of a grumbling grit'. I thought. I wasn't giving up this easy. I had been to a library before. I pressed the red call button but before Mrs. Stich could complain again I got in quick.

"Mrs Stich. It's me Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn McCadock. I've come to borrow a book. again!" I said very very quickly. That triggered something.

"GO AWAY," said Mrs Stich.

I got desperate and pressed the button again.

"PLEASE," I said.

"GO AWAY," said Mrs Stich.

I pressed again.

"PLEASE," I said "I want to borrow a book."

Mrs. Stich paused. The opened the connection.

"Do you have meat?" she said.

"What?" I said pressing the button.

"Do you have meeeeeeat?" she said again.

Meat? WTF? "Meat? Why no I don't have any meat are you hungry?" I said.

"If you don't have any meat you need to run past the dogs very very fast." said Mrs. Stich. The buzzer sounded. I pushed the gate and at the same time heard Doberman's bark with terrible delight at being released from their cages. I sprinted towards the iron door of the library. I reached it but it didn't open. I banged on to the door.

"Mrs. Stich" I shouted "Mr.s Stich. Let me in. Please" I banged on the door.

"Hold your horses I'm getting there," said an elderly voice behind the door.

The dogs got closer and closer. I could hear them barking in excitement. Just when I could see the flashing white and pink of the dogs' throats as they came rushing at me. Just when all was lost. The solid door fell away and I fell from the light into the dark. I found my self panting heavily.

"Welcome to Spring falls public library," said Mrs Stich in her nasal voice. She pushed door closed on the dogs. "You like the dogs? They are new. You can never to bestow careful with the possessed being arrested right here in Spring falls. Are you returning?"

Mrs. Stich walked over to the checkout desk. The library was dark with only a few lights on. I got myself up from the cold marble floor.

"I thought you chained the books to the shelves?" I said.

"I did chain the books to the shelves. You can never be too careful. Non-returners are everywhere." said Mrs. Stich."What do you want?"

"I came for a book," I said.

"You can't have them there mine!" said Mrs. Stich. As she leaned forward her white beehive hair door came threateningly over me. She was old, and she smelt of a can of sardines for some reason. I didn't want to think about why.

What confused me was how she lived. Who paid for her food? The dogs, the barbed wire. The world outside had practically a wasteland. Boston was a graveyard. Did the county still pay her? That was insane, but then the country was insane, so in a way, it made perfect sense. I looked around and saw the old posters with happy people talking about the gift of learning.

"What about the gift of learning?" I said.

Mrs. Stich sneered and walked behind her well-fortified issue desk.

"Do you have the title author of the book you're looking for?" she said formally.

"No," I said.

Her face grew red."Then get out of here!!!" she shouted pointing to the door now leading to the hungry dogs.

"I've got I've got the number," I said desperately

Mrs. Stiche's flow of anger stopped.

"You have?" she said calming down quickly.

"04005562" I said "04005562"

"That one," Mrs Stiches said reluctantly. "why does everyone want that one?"

She started and walked off into the maze of shelves. Mrs stitches had chained down all the books which people regularly asked for. Other books were left on the shelves but you couldn't get them yourself. I could hear the tapping of her shoes followed by screeching of a ladder being dragged. After a long time she returned with the book. Then handed it to me.

The book was called mazes and labyrinths. I opened it and flipped through it. There were pictures of many different types of maze and then suddenly a bookmark appeared. It was the same style as Mr Wallaces one it had a maze as a logo.

'FOLLOW THE LABYRINTH AND ALL YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED. FOR THE NEXT STEP ASK YOURSELF IF THIS IS GETTING CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER?'.

Curiouser And Curiouser? I realized this was a clue to some kind of puzzle. But why to that? Where did this go and what was this clue? Curiouser and curiouser... it sounded familiar. Perhaps it was the name of a book or film I had once read.

"Be nice to the book" said Mrs Stiches.

"I'm trying to remember the book or film with CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER in it. What day is the internet on?" I said.

Mrs Stiches looked at her computer 'you had this book out four years ago" she said. That was a fat lot of use. I had to guess the name of the author or she would not get it for me. Then it hit me.

"I would also like Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll" I said to Mrs stitch. She looked deflated.

"I'm only doing this because I have to. You realise that." she said.

She returned five minutes later wth Alice in Wonderland. Inside that book was another bookmark with the same labyrinth Picture and the same writing.

'The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead'

After a huge deal of grumbling, I got the book by Whitehead out. This one did not have the Bookmark. I took as much of the cover off as possible. There was still nothing to be found. I started to read the book it told the tale of a slave girl who escaped from her owners and she was assisted by those against slavery who formed a metaphorical railroad. The girl in question was passed from 'stationmaster' to 'stationmaster' and slowly taken to the free north. I guess this was what the Labyrinth was doing. Helping the possessed like my self escaped to some better place but where? Every so often I came across a sentence which had been highlighted almost a random. I sneaked over to the children's reading area and grabbed a sheet of drawing paper. Writing the highted words down I immediately guess the code. The first Word that was highlighted was the next word in the message. Skipping through the book I wrote the message down bit by bit. The last Word bent my world.

'WELL DONE YOU HAVE PASSED THE FIRST TEST. PHONE 555 3141592 TO GO DEEPER INTO THE MAZE - GREG'

I froze Greg was my dad's first name. 

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A/N Sorry couldn't resist letting out another chapter. We are at #229 in Sci-Fi carts and got a bit happy about it. See you Thursday!