The Librarians ...and the Sleepwalking Caretaker (Budapest Mysteries - part 2)

Where are we?

They cautiously opened the door and exchanged a surprised glance.

"O.K., this is really starting to get strange," Stone said, expressing out loud what the rest of the group was thinking.

On the other side of the door stood a forest, a sight that reminded the Librarians and their Guardian of that terrible day when they had lost the library and Excalibur had wounded Flynn.

Shaking the feeling of déjà vu, Ezekiel was the first one to step into the vegetation. Looking back, he smiled when he realised that he had come out from the inside of a trunk. Flynn was close behind him, convincing Jake, Cassandra and Eve to join them as well. There was no indication of a gate of any sort on the bark of the tree when the door closed shut after the last traveller had walked through it.

"Where are we?" Asked Cassandra.

Carsen and Baird exchanged a knowing glance. Flynn made a gesture inviting her to find their location on her smartphone and she smiled in return, remembering his old-fashioned localisation method.

She only needed a few seconds to get a result, but she frowned and launched the search again, while her companions gazed at her quizzically. Her second attempt was a match to the first one, helping her decide that it had to be accurate.

"According to my geo localisation app, we are in Brocéliande."

This was greeted with silence at first.

"Brocéliande as in the Arthurian legend?" Finally said Ezekiel. "I didn't know it existed for real."

"It's a legendary forest alright, but it's said that Brocéliande is the Paimpont forest in Brittany," explained Jake.

"Brittany, in France?"

"Yep."

"Why on Earth would Jenkins want to go there?"

The Guardian had a pretty good idea why. Unlike her companions, she remembered everything what had happened when the loom of fate had been tempered with. More importantly, she had witnessed Jenkins save Flynn and overheard his real name.

"Yes, why indeed," Carsen insisted staring at her.

All eyes turned towards her. Of course, the Librarian had noticed that she didn't seem as surprised as the others by this apparently odd choice. Then she realised that she had never taken the chance to properly talk to the caretaker. Every attempt she had made had resulted in him eluding the conversation. Thinking about him, she had to admit that the man was all but forthcoming. Elusive, secretive, lonesome were the first qualifying adjectives that came to her mind.

"Who said that he came here willingly?" She heard herself reply.

Flynn seemed disappointed by the answer, but Ezekiel nodded:

"Yes indeed. Take the Annex for instance. It shouldn't be in that state. Something's wrong here. Plus, Jenkins would never have left like this."

He had spoken with such conviction that Jake frowned:

"What makes you so sure of it? He never..."

The thief interrupted him:

"He doesn't like us, blah blah, wants us out, blah blah. O.K., the man's a little weird, but I know that he cares. He wouldn't walk out on us."

Eve suddenly smiled, recalling the conclave episode. Jones and Jenkins had been forced to work together. Furthermore, they had built something like a special bond.

"Now that you mention it," she carefully said, "I do believe that you are the one who knows him best. I do trust your judgement."

Ezekiel couldn't believe his ears.

"What? You believe me?"

"If you say that Jenkins wouldn't leave voluntarily, then yes, I do."

The thief straightened, pride taking over the frustration he had felt those past months.

"So what do we do next?" Asked Cassandra. "We can't just search the entire forest..."

"Let's follow Jones' intuition," suggested Stone. "Maybe it can lead us somewhere."

"Like to Merlin's tomb?" Smiled the thief.

He was pointing his finger towards a pile of big stones that looked out of place in the surroundings.

"How do you know..." Started Jake. "Forget that. After all, you're Jack..."

"And thus, we shall follow your lead..." Finished Flynn, pushing the young librarian in front of him, and motioning the group to start moving.