Gravity Rises (S2)

OCE: Part Three

"What are you looking at?"

Mabel's hand was suddenly jerked away from the Journal, and she looked up at Pacifica, trying and failing to keep her panic from showing on her face. Pacifica's narrowed eyes were full of suspicion, and she stepped down from her stool. "Well?" she demanded.

Mabel stood frozen, trying to decide what to do. Could she bump into the Journal and slide it back in? It was only partly sticking out. Maybe —

Pacifica pulled the Journal from the shelf before Mabel could decide on an action. She frowned down at the cover. "I recognize this," she said. "Gideon has one just like it."

Had, Mabel thought. Gideon's Journal was in her backpack, the one that was still on her back. Her heartbeat sped up as she realized that she had both the missing Journals in the room with her — and if Pacifica took them, all would be lost.

Luckily, Pacifica hadn't searched Mabel's pack — yet. Unluckily, she was holding the first Journal in her hands. "He was looking for this exact book when we took over the Mystery Museum. Said that Stanford wrote them. You're looking for it? Or just coincidence?"

Mabel opened her mouth, but Pacifica cut her off. "No, it couldn't be coincidence. Otherwise why would you pull out that particular book out of all the ones in this library? You must be looking for it. What are you planning? Why do you need it? Was it Stanford's idea? Is he the mastermind behind all this?"

What Pacifica thought "all this" was, Mabel couldn't begin to imagine. But she said nothing.

Pacifica dragged Mabel off to the far side of the library to a desk against the wall. Then she cuffed Mabel to a lantern bracket and went over to set the Journal on the desk. Out of Mabel's reach. Her heart sank.

"We're done here," Pacifica said, reattaching Mabel's handcuffs to her own wrist. "I may not know how to stop your spirit, but I can put that on hold if it means getting you far away from your prize. Let's go."

Mabel dug her feet in and pulled against the handcuffs, but to no avail. Pacifica was stronger than she was, and she simply pulled her off balance. Mabel had to follow, had to watch the first Journal disappear as they left the library.

She had been so close!

She felt like plodding along behind Pacifica, matching her gait to her mood, but she couldn't even afford that luxury. She had to keep up with Pacifica's brisk pace, or else she'd fall on the unforgiving stone ground.

Instead, she set to memorizing the path they took from the library to Pacifica's room. It was no easy task: The tunnels looked completely identical, and there was nothing to use to visually keep track of where they'd been. They passed a couple of guard details, the Order members giving Pacifica a respectful nod, and that just reminded Mabel that even if she could make a break for it, the Order members would catch her long before she got back to the library.

The farther they got from the library, the more disheartened Mabel became.

When they got back to Pacifica's room, Mabel was, of course, immediately cuffed to the same lantern bracket again. Pacifica stepped back once she was finished, frowning. Then she held her hand out. "Hand over your backpack."

Mabel just stared at her.

Pacifica realized her mistake and laughed. "Oh, that's right. You can't. Guards!"

Mabel clapped one hand to her ear, but the cuffs prevented her from reaching the other one. She couldn't even cover her ears from Pacifica's screams! First the panic of almost dying, then finding the first Journal only to get it torn away from her, and now this? And they were about to find the second Journal, too.