Something Unexpected

Chapter Nine

The following morning,Five woke up like a man on a mission. He was determined to dosomething that would let Klaus know that he cared for him and was grateful for the night before. Five quickly gets dressed and headsstraight downstairs into the kitchen where he finds Grace making apot of coffee.

Five hesitates beforemaking himself known to her. He steps in. "Good morning, Grace."

Grace turns around andgives him a sunny smile like always. "Good morning, Five." Shewipes her hands on her apron. "What are you doing up this early?"Her sunny smile turns into a frown. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Hequickly reassures Grace. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I wouldget up."

Grace nods but continuesto frown. "Normally, you don't come down until the sun has been upfor at least an hour."

"I know." Five tellsher as he grabs a coffee cup and pours himself a cup of coffee. Hesits down at the kitchen table and takes a sip. He then looks up atGrace. "I have a lot to do today."

The smile reappears onGrace's face with Five's words. "Oh, okay."

Five sips his coffee insilence. He tries to think up the best way to thank Klaus but nothingcomes to mind. Five realizes how little he knows about his siblings.He knew quite a bit while they were younger. But then, Five had to goand be stupid and land himself in the future for too many years andhis siblings become different people.

And then, a light bulbclicks on in Five's head. Vanya's book! He remembered reading it andlearning a few new things about his siblings who were now adults.Five downs the rest of his coffee, thankful that it wasn't too hot toscald his mouth. And dashes back up to his room.

In his room, Fiveimmediately grabs his copy of Vanya's book. He opens it and beginslooking through it, trying to find anything about Klaus. But all hefinds are pages and pages of his math equations written all over thewords. Five quickly closes it and tosses it over to his bed.

"Damn it." Five sighsand runs his fingers through his hair. He needed to find anunblemished copy and fast. He would have to go to the library wherehe first found one.

Unless... Five pauses.Maybe his father had one in his library. Five was pretty positivethat his sister would send a copy to their father as payback for allthe neglect and abuse he caused them their whole lives.

Five blinks downstairs tothe library and begins going through all the shelves, hoping to findthe book. In spite of their value, Five pulls every book off theshelf. By the time the sun is open, the whole library looks trashed.

Pogo's voice appearsbehind him. "Is there something I can help you with, Master Five?"

Five turns around, afrantic look in his eyes. "Not unless you can tell me where Dad putVanya's book?"

Pogo looks around at themess Five had made. "I'm afraid I do not know where Vanya's bookwent." Pogo takes a step into the library "But I can tell you isthat after your father's funeral, your sister was hiding something inher coat right before she left."