The Underground Book Trade

Prologue

Roseline Beuquin ran with scuffed sneakers down the cracked and suspiciously stained sidewalk. She tripped on a flying shoelace, nearly sending the armful of thick books flying into the rushing tide of cars. As she regained her balance a tall, thin boy with graham cracker hair stumbled besides her. "Here, take a few more, will ya, Joe?" Her brother nodded solemnly, holding out two bare arms into which a bundle of bulky objects wrapped tightly with rough cloth was carefully lain. His body shook in protest at the sudden increase of additional weight. It was already struggling with the bulking orange backpack tugging at the shoulders. Roseline tapped her toes impatiently until the red haze above her turned to green and the current of quickly moving metal boxes ceased. She darted across the black tarmac, hugging her bundle to her chest. Joe followed, brown eyes dashing nervously across cars filled with indifferent people.

The pair walked with tense shoulders and fixed eyes through the snaking streets. They arrived at last in front of an anceient building which had obviously been filled with splendor in its own time. Now its once glowing red brickwork was stained in dark blotches of the uknown and with the faint scars of graffiti. Roseline knocked sharply on the door as Joe turned to the now slowing current of traffic with his keen suspicious eyes.

The oak door which had craters of past violence darkening its surface opened slowly. An angular face peeked out. Joe shifted uncomfortably and even Roseline withdrew with a twitch as piercing green eyes squinted at the bundles in the adolescent arms.

"That is them?"  the beautifully articulated words sting the air with suspicion. Roseline straightened nervously, trying her best to emanate confidence. "Yes," she said simply begging her voice to sound calm. The angular face nodded and the door opened into a long hallway, flickering with candlelight.

"Nobody saw you, I assume?" the entire figure which belonged to that voice was now visible. Slender shoulders dressed in plain clothes lie beneath the eyes peering at the nervous pair. "We don't think so." Joe replies, voice stretched taunt with both adreline and nerves. "Very well," the man said. "I'm Markus" he continued simply, lifting the bundle from Joe's arms. "We are obliged to appreciation of the bravery displayed between the both of you" Roseline beamed as Markus turned and strode down the dimly lit hallway. "You understand how much danger these items entail I hope," he said to the pair behind him."Yes, everyone knows the laws," Roseline returns.

Markus turned suddenly into a  a room lined with shevles and thick wooden tables planted in the center. He looks turns to look at the teens. "Even adolescents can be sentenced for the rest of their lives to rotting in a dank cell for carrying these." he said, his face written with solemnity,  though approval cleamed in his eyes. "Even death is an option available to the judges."

Joe gulps as Roseline nods curtly, "We know." She unraps her bundle and places a mound of old and abused books onto the table.