The Relentless Past

Ch. Sixteen

Ch.Sixteen

William slid down on the bench beside Audrey, much to her discomfort.

He smiled at them both and looked down at the table, scattered with books and magazines, few of them were newspapers. Audrey had a book in her hand and Maddie seemed to be scrolling up some article on her phone. She noticed William, jumped up a little, her glasses threatening to fall off  before she proceeded to close all the books.

William raised an eyebrow to that.

"What are you doing here?" Audrey asked, she shifted a bit to extract herself from William who scooted closer to her.

"I happened to visit the library to drop in some worksheets. Then i noticed you people here. " William said, he got up and chose a book from a nearby shelf before seating himself down again. The book was relatively thin.

"The question, though, is what are you reading?" William asked as he leaned near Audrey to take a quick look at the book in her hands. Audrey could distinctively feel a few blonde curls on her cheeks, and she took a small sniff and was immediately addicted to the smell. Too bad, William went away the next second.

"Royalty?" He questioned, playing with a small curl near his forehead. Audrey found it pretty cute and endearing.

"No. It's a fiction." Maddie said. She narrowed her eyes at Audrey and asked her to agree with her..

    It was careless of Audrey to not close her book, they couldn't risk some mere human finding out about this. Sure this was a library and they had students reading about it but basically this was under the "vampire" section. Probably the humans thought of it as fiction. That would make sense.

"ahh I see." William took the book out of Audrey's hand. Their pinkies brushed against each other for a slight moment that almost made William drop the book. Almost.

He flipped to the last page and read. He, then laughed and said, "it has no proper ending though? Seems more like a biography."

"It's a series. It's a cliff hanger." Audrey provided helpfully. William sure was smart. Way too smart for his own good.

"Oh my. Tell me about it though?" William cocked an eyebrow towards Audrey, who stuttered for a brief moment.

"It's practically about a king and his queen. A vampire kingdom. Their lives and what they go through. I wouldn't tell you the plot though, that would be a spoiler." Audrey laughed a little.

"You shouldn't read the book though, it might not be to your liking." Maddie suggested.

"I'll see about that." William said so, in the next flash of moments he was swung around with a pair of hands on his shoulders. A boy, obviously a nerd, judging from that huge hoodie that dropped down his shoulders to reveal his ridiculously white shirt. His square rimmed glasses and the bangs  that refused to expose his forehead.

"Ouch, Cody!" William yelled as he headlocked the slightly shorter guy. Suspiciously , the librarian hadn't reprimanded them.

The said Cody sat down near Maddie and laughed, shook of his bangs and smiled. He took a glance at Maddie, then looked away. His ears tinted red gave him away.

"Cody meet Audrey! And this is Maddie." William introduced. Audrey gave a small wave and Maddie greeted him with a small hello.

"I'm sorry for interrupting! I was just passing the I saw William here so I dropped in." He laughed. Audrey noticed the stares directed at Maddie from Cody and laughed. A nerdy person for her nerdy best friend. What a fabulous match.

"It's okay." Maddie said half heartedly as she continued to scroll at the article on her phone. William and  Cody talked about a few games for for next 30 minutes. Audrey inquired about them out of politeness. She learned they had been friends from junior high, William was interested on the researches Cody would do in biology and henceforth he would visit him regularly to ask about any update. The fact that Cody was interested in biology got Maddie excited as she demanded to know more.

Cody seemed flattered at Maddie's opinions on biology and they seemed to bond really well. Audrey noticed the slight joy in Cody's eyes whenever Maddie smiled. Great.

William and Audrey studied their own respective books. William had a really thin book, but he hadn't moved from pg.3 since forever.

Audrey read her book for a while longer before  she grew  hyperconsious of the way William's knee touched hers. The skin there seemed to burn her down. She lost count of the paragraph  was reading.

The team of 4 sat there for the entire afternoon. Maddie noticed a lot of the students were leaving, she looked at her watch to see it was  already a little past 4.

"I'm sorry I think we need to leave." Maddie said, she closed the article on plant biology which Cody and her had discussed for the last few hours.

"Same here. It's getting late." William shrugged. That boy still hadn't moved a page.

They all stood up to pack their bags. The librarian seemed relieved as she wouldn't have to stay here any longer to entertain the last group.

They had spent quite a few hours with each other but it still seemed stiff between them. Audrey moved first to return the books on the shelf. She turned past one shelf putting the books in, as she went. William put back his thin book.

Maddie had a hard time arranging her magazine, but with the help of Cody it turned out relatively easier.

Audrey walked past a shelf to put the last of her book in when she noticed a title that said, "The next crown prince analysis." The book seemed heavy and Audrey decided she would rent this book. Any small clues for the next prince would be beneficial. She turned to inform Maddie about the book when her fingers lightly touched the hardcover of the book. The said book fell back into the shelf opening up a large hollow. A said doorway of some sort.

Audrey missed her footing, her sneakers falling inside the pit as she tried grasping some thing frantically. Her arms went flying as the center of her body fell back, she noticed Maddie gasping wipe open and screaming her name. Cody dropped the books from his hand.

A hand grabbed Audrey as she fell into the deep hole which was initially a bookshelf. William  grabbed Audrey's arm with one hand and the other reached behind her waist to shield her. They both fell inside the hole, Maddie snapped from her daze and scrambled past the desks to reach the damned opening when it closed right on her face.

Maddie banged the shelf but it refused to open.