Paige and the Lost Library of Atlantis

Paige and the Lost Library of Atlantis Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Paige was somewhere. Light fluttered around her closed eyelids. Maybe there was an afterlife, because she knew she had felt her light going out. Opening her eyes, she tried to sit up but couldn't. Her wrists and ankles were held down by thick black straps. She felt cold, hard metal against her back. Her body ached far too much for this to be heaven.

She craned her neck and looked around as much as she could. She was strapped to a metal table in the center of the room. The walls were made of glass, although she couldn't see much beyond them. The bright lights above obscured her vision. She started to thrash against her restraints, trying to free herself. As she felt the straps dig painfully into her flesh, she noticed a figure. He was standing behind one of the glass walls.

He was not looking at her, but down at a see-through device in his hands. As she took in his powder-blue hair and matching robes, she recognized him. He was the guy from the Atlantis Library.

Paige was fed up with being kidnapped. Poor Billie probably thought she was dead. Tears started to well up in her eyes as at the thought of Billie grieving for her. She tried to brush them away and remembered she was freaking tied down.

"Hey! Let me go! This is how you thank me for trying to save all of existence? Granted, it is accidentally my fault, but it's also your fault!" Paige screamed at the man behind the glass.

The man, startled by her shouting, looked up at her. He started to walk along the glass wall until an undetectable doorway slid open for him. He slowly approached her bed if you could call it that.

Paige began shouting again. "You created The Erasers! I saw you. I saw the files in The Protector's Atheneum. What is going on? Why am I strapped down? Where are my friends?

The man started to respond, not quite looking her in the eyes. Paige, impatient as ever, interrupted him.

"What did that door do to me? Am I dead?"

The man smoothed his robes before answering. "Well, that was quite a greeting. Hello, my name is Marcus. I am the Head Director. You are in the Atlantis Library, the headquarters of the Atlantis Protectors. You are correct, we did create The Erasers, albeit with good intent. You are..."

Paige interrupted him again. "My name is Paige. Paige... wait, why can't I remember my last name?" As she thought about it, most of her memories of her life before she met Billie and started at the library were vague. Her parent's names and faces a distant blur. It frightened her that she had not noticed this memory glitch before now.

Marcus cleared his throat. "That is what we would like to find out. Please forgive the precautions, but we must be careful, we must be vigilant in protecting ourselves from The Erasers and the darkness. Too much darkness and The Erasers will spot this world like a lighthouse in the dark."

He walked closer to her, continuing to speak. "This place is protected from the magical wards in the world outside. Most wards are removed as soon as one steps over our threshold. I assume that someone placed a memory ward on you, and when you entered our hideout, it began to dissolve. If this is true, you may begin to recall things you have forgotten."

Paige let this information roll through her mind. Billie had said she was from a destroyed world; maybe someone had erased her memory. But what could have warranted something so drastic? Marcus still hadn't answered most of her questions. She took a deep breath and tried to speak to him calmly.

"Why did your glowing door lock try to kill me?" Paige asked.

"The blood lock detects your physical status as a protector. Now, the soul lock, the glowing one on the door, as you called it, detects the light and darkness in your soul. We can not risk exposing ourselves to too much darkness if we want to stay hidden from The Erasers and keep this world safe. You have so much light in you, but hidden underneath is a sea of darkness. It was as if you had no idea it existed. Once the lock detected the anguish underneath your memory wards, it barred you from entering."

Paige was confused. "Then why did you bring me inside at all? All I remember is feeling the light buzzing inside me, then, well, frankly, I remember feeling my body starting to die. Then I woke up, without Billie or The Curator, strapped to this table."

"The Curator, what exactly is she The Curator of?" Marcus sat on the edge of her table. "She has been screaming at the top of her lungs about who she is, sounding all sorts of indignant."

Paige laughed bitterly. "Yeah, that's her alright. She is the Curator of The Protector's Atheneum. Billie says it's like a fancy library for all of the protector's knowledge."

He scratched his chin, thinking out loud. "Ahh... they must of stepped up when we disappeared, very good, very good. Oh, as to your question. We decided to let you in, and your companions, because we have heard talk of the broken treaty. We try to keep tabs on the rumor mill to keep ourselves informed of all the goings-on. The Erasers are very likely to wipe out all of existence indiscriminately, so we figured we should give saving all of existence a try."

Marcus leaned close to her and reached for her wrist. He gently released her straps, releasing her ankles as well. "Apologies for the restraints, my dear. We were not sure what your reaction would be upon waking, especially with the possibility of disappearing memory wards."

Paige sat up slowly, rubbing her wrists. "Where are my friends? Can I see them?" Paige was anxious to see Billie.

"Of course," He replied. "However, you should know, we have tried to talk to Billie. She is uncooperative and inconsolable. We tried to inform her of your condition, but she only lays on the floor, catatonic. The only time she moved or spoke was when a couple of our guards tried to pick her up and place her on the bed. She began to scream and lash out at the guards. We were forced to restrain her and strap her to the bed."

He wiped a hand over his face and continued solemnly. "Your Curator has worked with us. She has even tried to get thru to Billie. She recounted the events outside the door to us. You should know that Billie essentially watched you die, from her perspective, at least. It was as if something broke inside of her as she watched your light fade."

Paige felt her heartache for Billie. She failed to hold back tears as she tried to make sense of this. The glass doors behind Marcus slid open again. The Curator walked in slowly. As she spotted Paige, alive and awake, she ran up to her and uncharacteristically hugged her. Her speech came out in a jumbled mess.

"I can't believe you're alive. Marcus tried to tell me, but I almost didn't believe it until I saw you with my own eyes. I watched your light fade out. I watched as you collapsed into Billie's arms. We had just begun to carry what we thought was your dead body down that awful flight of stairs when your body shimmered, and then it disappeared. I watched as Billie's fire went out. You were gone, and then she was gone too, and I was alone. But now you're here." Then, seeming to remember herself, she sat up and pulled off her glasses. She cleaned them with her pink hankie, straightened her clothes, and stood up.

"I suppose we should go and try to rescue Billie from her grief. Maybe seeing you alive, with her own eyes, will snap her awake." The Curator turned around and strode away from them, toward the glass door.

Paige looked up at Marcus. "Is that ok? Can I go to Billie, please? I know we have things to do and a universe to save, but I can't do that without her."

Marcus sighed heavily. "Yes, of course, but we must make haste. We must figure out who you are and why your wards are there, oh, and save all of existence."

"Oh, is that all?" Paige laughed. She stood up gently, and with Marcus's help, made her way to the door.