Weekly updates (Wednesdays/Thursdays)
°•○•°•○•°
Once they all quieted down, the old woman spoke to Siena and James. "Let us direct this argument a little more towards philosophy. Think of our many worlds, as possible worlds. Possible fictional world...
They landed inside the familiar office-lab with a soft thud, Siena teetering on her Victorian kitten heels due both to fear and tiredness.
She kept clinging to James long after he steadied her, refusing to face the people who were bound to be waiting for them in the room, as she whispered again and again, "What if they caught us? What if we were separated?"
Luckily, her shaking voice was hoarse from her unshed tears and muffled by the fabric of his frock coat, perfectly inaudible to both Albert, who had been pacing the room when they had appeared, and Alicia, who had been pretending not to be asleep in the armchair which someone had brought for her into the office. Only the mysterious man seated on a chair placed by the curtained window seemed to have overheard Siena's questions and scribbled something into the notebook he held open on his lap. The image made James think that the man might be a writer, and he pushed the idea at the back of his mind to analyse later.
He looked down at Siena who was looking up at him, her hands closed in fists around his coat, and wrapped his arms around her in a quick embrace, whispering, "Hush, we'll talk at home." He was sure that the Bibliophiles would never let them leave immediately, should they gather that this quest didn't go quite as smoothly as the previous one, that they had been spotted, and almost caught.
"Welcome back," Alicia said, walking towards them, voice thick with sleep, her eyes blinking against the ambient light filling the room. "It's... almost five in the morning," she added, looking at her watch. "Christopher went home a few hours ago; you've been gone for so long, we were beginning to worry."
"How long?" James asked.
"Three days, almost four," Albert replied.
"Goodness, you must take her home, James, now. Are you all right, Siena? What happened?" Alicia interrupted, lacing her arm around Siena's waist, noticing her state as she approached.
"We're just tired, Alicia," James said, feeling the amount of time they had spent inside the book catching up with him too. It was the weirdest feeling; he had never felt this tired before, and yet, while he had been inside the book, he hadn't felt tired at all.
"He's right, Alicia, don't worry. I just need to sleep. Would you please bring our things from upstairs? We're running out of clean clothes. And could you call Jake, we'll tell you everything tomorrow..."
Alicia nodded, and the moment she vanished out of the room, Jake stood in the doorway. "I heard you arriving. The car is ready," he announced, smiling at them.
"Thanks, Jake. Goodnight, everyone," Siena said, leaning into James as he placed his arm over her shoulders and led her towards the door.
"We'll see you tomorrow," James added as they left the office, the two men's goodbyes trailing after them down the long, gloomy corridor.
Alicia reached them just as they settled on the backseat of the car and helped Jake put their bags in the back. Siena forced her eyes to stay open long enough to wave at her through the window as the car started to move, the orange beams of the street lamps reaching the interior intermittently. Then she let her eyelids close and followed the men's conversation through a haze of sleep, her head resting against James' shoulder, her hand enclosed in his.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
