Parador (Juggernaut #2)

Twenty Seven

After they had showered and dressed, Jayce led them up three flights of stairs to the library.

Shelves of books lined most of the walls from floor to ceiling with additional shelving jutting into the room at right angles. Two desks sat parallel at one end of the room and a large low table covered in green baize occupied the other end.

In the middle of the wall opposite the door a filled but unlit fireplace was accompanied by a pair of oversized leather armchairs. Any wall space not filled with books or windows was instead home to unfamiliar artwork and maps of worlds and countries none of them recognised.

Jayce touched a finger to a biometric sensor hidden in the frame of a painting depicting a tall, bearded man in a velvet red cloak that looked almost real. The painting slid aside to reveal a hidden safe.

'Your things will be safe in here. Even your staff will fit, Tila.'

'I'm keeping it with me.'

'Why? You're not going to need it. Leave it in here. It'll be okay.'

'It's okay with me, thanks.'

'Tila, stop embarrassing us,' said Ellie. 'Nothing's going to happen.'

Tila grunted but handed it over along with her pack. 'Fine. How do I get it back?'

'Just touch your thumb here, like this. That's it, now your print is in the system. I'll do Ellie and Malachi next, and then any of you can open this when you like, okay? It's the guest safe, and you three are the only guests.'

Tila insisted on testing the safe by opening and closing it with each of their fingerprints, twice, before she entrusted her staff to it. Behind her, Ellie gave Jayce a little embarrassed smile.

Meanwhile, Malachi had found something else interesting in the room. He pointed at the green table. 'What is that?'

'That's called a pool table. You ever played?' said Jayce.

'Where does the water go?' said Ellie.

'Not that kind of pool, Ellie,' said Malachi.

'But it's a game?' said Ellie.

Jayce reached underneath the table and pulled out a wooden tray. On it was a triangular frame filled with coloured balls. He placed them at one end of the table and set a single white ball at the other.

'An old game. My dad likes it. I'm not very good,' said Jayce.

'How do you play?' said Malachi. He stroked the baize with his palm. 'I assume you have to get the balls in to the holes?'

'You got it. You use one of these cues and you have to hit the white ball into the others.'

He tossed Malachi a tapered stick about the length of Tila's staff.

'Like this.' Jayce bent over the table and his fingers formed a bridge on the table surface. He rested the tip of his cue between two knuckles, drew back his cue and in one smooth motion he struck the white ball low, and just to the left of centre. It careened down the table into the triangle of coloured balls, sending them clacking in all directions. The white ball, meanwhile, rolled slowly back up the table toward the corner pocket on Jayce's left, and fell in.

Ellie clapped. 'It went in! Did you win?'

'Um, no.'

Tila looked on doubtfully. 'Wouldn't it be easier to just hit the coloured balls instead?' she said.

'Well, yeah, but that's not the game,' said Jayce.

'But it would be easier,' she insisted.

'It's against the rules, T,' said Malachi.