Legend & Lace

12. Greetings, Tiny Human

Chapter 12

Greetings, Tiny Human

"Have I mentioned how much I love being behind the scenes and not the one breaking into places?" Kenna grinned as her fingers flew over the keyboard of her laptop. She was in the process of bypassing Paddon Manor's security system and setting up live feeds from inside. "Much less dangerous, but just as exciting. It's like playing a video game, only you guys really could die if you got shot..."

Cruz fitted the earpiece in his ear. "Good thing is if we get caught at least we know the family who owns in the place. Not like they're going to call the police."

I was the only one ready, pacing around with my hands in my pockets as I kicked rocks with my shoe. The car was parked just off the road a few miles from Paddon Manor and even closer to the ruins of Seward House, which was how we were going to get into the library.

"We've still got a little while, Miss Hattie," Drake smiled at me, taking my hands to stop my pacing. "We have to wait until they're not in the library, you know."

"I know. But it's past midnight. They should be up in the manor and asleep, not there doing who knows what..."

"And they're gone," Kenna piped up. "Emmy was the last one up. They're going up to their rooms as we speak."

I looked over at Drake just as he handed me my backpack. "Well, are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," he nodded. "We're going in and out. That's it."

"No promises."

"Um, there better be promises. The last thing we need is..."

I reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him toward me so I could kiss him and shut him up. "Let's just go."

Drake, Cruz, and I started for the tree line. Our flashlights illuminated the trees, creating shadows where the light didn't reach. We didn't talk, the only sounds coming from Kenna through the earpiece as she told us everything she was doing and our footsteps crushing the leaves and breaking fallen branches.

I didn't know if it was the anticipation, but it seemed like it didn't take any time at all to get to the ruins of Seward House. In the darkness, there was an eeriness to them. The shadows danced in front of me, chased off by the light as I swept my flashlight over the stones.

"This is so much creepier at night," Drake said quietly from behind me.

"Agreed," Cruz muttered from somewhere to my left.

My footsteps on the stone echoed strangely through the ruins as I tried to find the archway that would lead us straight to the door of the library. It seemed like years had passed since Drake and I went through that same door when it had been less than two. With all three of our lights flashing on it, the archway - with the carved out words Praeteritum, Praesens, Futurum - seemed to glow.

"It and out, guys. No hesitating," Cruz said as I reached around to pull the key from the side pocket of my backpack.

"Well, let's go then," I urged, heading for the door underneath the archway.

The stairway seemed a lot longer than it had been before as Drake led us down. Maybe it was my anticipation of getting the final journal of Lorraine's or just knowing I was going into a place I'd spent so much time in before and missed in the year and a half we'd been gone.