Chapter 24

The two boys sat on stools next to each other outside the heavy oak door, that barred them entrance to the professor’s office. The perfumed scent of an herb that was difficult to identify through the strong smell hung in the air in the corridor. It tickled Raiel’s nostrils uncomfortably, as if someone was poking a straw into his sinuses, making him want to sneeze, and if he did not have a good reason to be here, he would have fled the scene hastily.

Along the corridor were many doors like the one they were waiting by, and each door had different decorations outside – some had exotic and imported potted plants flanking the door frame, while some had vibrant wall-rugs with intricately detailed patterns weaved into the fabric, capturing glorious battles or serene landscapes of natural beauty. A couple of offices down, there had even been placed two hulking statues of slim, long-muzzled animals with large ears and wide, staring eyes, watching anyone who would enter the room they guarded. Raiel wondered how they had gotten those gigantic stone carvings in here. There were also those who had chosen to leave the space empty and blank, likely thinking the decorations a waste of time, devoid of purpose. The door they hoped would soon open for them was one such door.

For a long while they sat silent, the excitement having drained quickly after they had taken their seats outside the office. They were both still determined to get their answers, but the boyish glee that had been brought forth by the prospect of solving the mystery, despite the dark and potentially dangerous subject, had all but vanished.

“How long do you think it’s going to be, still?” Raiel asked, his chin resting in the palm of his hand as he suppressed a yawn. They’d probably been waiting for a good hour and a half. “I’m getting hungry.”

“Yeah, so am I.” Yaeth replied without looking away from the crack in the floorboard he had been staring at for the past ten minutes.

“Do you think he will even tell us anything?”

“Honestly… I’m not sure. Maybe?” Yaeth said with hesitation. As their exuberance had deflated, so had their confidence in asking the teacher waned.

Just as Raiel was about to propose to go out and find some snacks for them, footsteps sounded from behind the closed door. Both boys turned in their chairs, listening intently for any indication of further movement inside the office.

“Is he-…” The door handle clicked down suddenly, and the door swung open, revealing a stout man, slightly below average height. The documents in his hand was his sole focus as he pushed the door open the rest of the way, holding a mug in the other hand. He wore a long, brown coat with extra pockets sewn onto it where space allowed it, held fast by a tight, buckled belt. He must have gotten a new one since he lost the old one. His hair was a disheveled mass of grey and dark curls that fell all around his head.

A sharp gasp escaped Raiel before he could stop himself, and he took an involuntary step back. He did, however manage to stop himself from hissing threateningly at the man, like he had done last time he met him. It had been a while, and Raiel was not happy with the reunion.

Yaeth looked back at his friend with a frown that seemed to ask what the hell he was thinking. The professor also looked up, noticed them with a slight jolt, and gazed at the two boys with a puzzled expression.

“Aah, boys, that’s right. You were waiting for me, were you not?” he asked with a small smile.

Yaeth paused as his frown deepened, his mouth hanging open as he searched for the words he wanted to say. “You forgot about us, Professor Graven?” he asked.

“I am afraid that your assumption is entirely accurate, Mr. Baran. My work claims my mind, and any irrelevant thought flies off to distant lands.” the ageing man answered smoothly, tucking the stack of papers under his armpit and using his free hand to feel around his pockets. When his hand reemerged, it held three shiny red balls.

“Cherry tomato?” he offered, holding the small orbs out toward the boys. “I grew them myself. They really are quite delicious, if I may offer my creation a bit of flattery.”

Raiel did not dare to take a single step closer to the seemingly mild professor. The man did not seem to have recognized him, but who could say what a closer look could do. When Yaeth took a tomato with a sigh and stuffed it in his mouth, Raiel kept his distance, a wary look in his eyes.

“Will you not at least try one, my boy?” the older man enquired, shaking his hand in gesture.

“Aah, no… I’m-…” Raiel was interrupted when Yaeth shoved a tomato into his mouth. “Just eat it already!” he said, sending Raiel a pointed look. If one hopes for a favor, one does as one is told. Raiel understood as much and squished the tomato between his teeth, the cool juice exploding from the ripe snack.

His eyes did not leave Graven for a moment as he sought the man’s face any signs of recognition. When Graven’s eyes met his, he flinched slightly, cursing himself for the obvious nervousness he was showing in front of the man. He was not sure what he was afraid of – most people who knew him also knew where he had come from. It was nothing like a fiercely protected secret. Yet, the way he had acted towards the man when they had encountered each other within that stand of trees so long ago… If that had planted animosity in the man, he, as a professor in the school, could probably make his life more difficult than it already was.

When the unkempt man’s gaze lingered on his own, Raiel felt the cold sweat emerge along his spine. A sharp eye scrutinized him for all of two seconds as Raiel’s heart galloped its way to his throat while his stomach dropped. Then, the professor directed his focus back to Yaeth with a dismissive expression, shrugging his shoulders slightly, putting suspicions to rest. There had definitely been a hint of recognition on his face, but unable to make sense of a gut-feeling, the old man had taken it no further.

“Hey, princess, you can contemplate your life in there.” Yaeth called, waving one hand in front of Raiel’s face as the other gestured to the open door to the office. Raiel snapped out of it, realizing he had been standing, mouth open, looking at nothing. With an inward sigh, he made his way into the office.

“Not. A. Chance.” the professor declared, delivering each word slowly and clearly.

“But, Professor Graven, we really need to see those texts to write properly about internal strife within the noble court. It’s important!” Yaeth begged, having constructed an impressive lie, full of details, to explain their reasons for seeking out the information.

“Be that as it may, Mr. Barran, my word is final, although I admire your persistence. I advise you to pick another topic to write about and forget about this. Although it is not exactly illegal, deliberate sharing of such matters is strongly discouraged. I will not say it again.” The professor explained wearily, clearly fed up with Yaeth’s behavior. “Why are you even here, Mr. Baran? You might recall, that I teach you herbs and potions, not history and politics.”

“With a collection as extensive and complete as the one contained within your personal library, Professor, how could we not come here first?” Yaeth cooed, a wide, shrewd smile plastered to his face, gesturing to a solid door in the corner of the room. “You do have records of the events, do you not?” he then asked, smile growing even wider.

The professor scoffed, a half smile of his own finding its way to his lips. “Flattery will get you nowhere, my boy.” he said, “This is not a matter on which I will be swayed. That goes for the other professors, as well. It is not an understatement to call the information you seek dangerous.” the professor said with gravity. Then he chuckled.” And as for whether or not I possess a copy of the records… That too, shall be knowledge I keep to myself. Good day, boys. A pleasure to meet you, Raiel.”

Raiel sat silent in a chair beside Yaeth, his mood taking a dive. Had they just lost their chance to find out more?

He gazed at both boys with raised eyebrows, then looked to the door – a clear gesture.

Outside the office, Yaeth sighed as he stepped out and closed the door behind him. “Well, that went… you know.” he said and they began to walk back to the dorm together.

“Do you think he had them?” Raiel asked.

“Were we not looking at the same man? He definitely has them. I imagine that it’s true, that he can’t show it to us, and I believe the reasons he gave us are true as well, but he has them. No doubt.” The answer was clear to Raiel, then. That information would create the bridge he needed to cross to learn about the circumstances of the deaths of his parents. If he could find it in there, then it was simple.

“We’ll just have to take it when he’s not there.” Raiel said, catching the eye of his roommate. Yaeth saw the steel in the gaze, and he shuddered slightly.

“We can’t. It would be breaking in, as well as stealing. It’s against the law. We should just ask another teacher.” He tried, in an attempt to dissuade his friend from the dangerous idea.

“You heard what he said: no teacher would say more than he already has. Can you think of anything better?” Raiel challenged.

Yaeth paused, brain working to think of another way, and then, when he could not, he tried to think of a way to get his friend to abandon the idea. He sighed again. “No…” He let the word draw out.

“Will you help me?” Raiel asked, and saw the conflicted look in Yaeth’s eyes as he considered his answer.

“I… I can’t.” Yaeth said with hesitation. “They could expel us from school. Raiel, it’s not worth the punishment when we’re caught.”

“It is to me.”

“Please, listen to me.” Yaeth uttered, palms up, voice pleading.

Raiel looked away from his friend, unable to meet his eyes. “Sorry.” he muttered as he walked away.

Raiel spent some time preparing. He emptied his backpack of everything he owned and stored it all in the drawer next to his bed. Then he borrowed a few sheets of blank paper from Yaeth to bring with him. He couldn’t afford to actually steal the records if he wanted a chance at remaining undiscovered, so his only choice was to copy the writings with his own hand.

He tried to eat something as he waited for night to take hold of the campus, but his nerves made it difficult to get the food down. As he sat on his bed, munching on a slice of cold meat from dinner, that he had managed to grab before the cafeteria closed up for the night, the wolf pup floated into his thoughts. What would become of that little one if he was forced to leave? He dreaded the thought, and was ashamed to realize that he would still carry out the deed, nonetheless.

With a click of the door Yaeth entered, looking spent. Raiel knew his friend did not agree with his decision to break into the professor’s office, and again, although he knew of the distress he caused his friend, he would go. He had to know.

“Hey.” Yaeth muttered, tossing his backpack onto his bed, following it down, his head hitting his pillow with a muffled thud. He heaved a great sigh, but said nothing more.

Raiel finished the meat and fell back onto his own pillow, as well. “Hey.” It was all he could think of, and the embarrassing silence that followed stretched on until it became impossible to break. They sat like that, silent, before Raiel sat up suddenly, sending a shock through his roommate. He went to the door. “Toilet.” he mumbled as he left. Yaeth didn’t answer.

When he came back, Yaeth had closed his eyes, but Raiel didn’t know if he was sleeping yet. He sat on his bed for another fifteen minutes, his thoughts whirling in his head. Doubts and self-reassurances following in each other’s heels. Eventually, he had had enough. It had been dark for long enough, now. He hefted his backpack over his shoulder, the blank papers and a pen laid safely within.

“Are you going?” It was Yaeth, but when Raiel looked the boy still had his eyes closed.

“… Yes.” Raiel tried to convey determination through his voice, but when he said it, it didn’t show as clearly as he had hoped.

Surprising Raiel, Yaeth rose from the bed, his face impassive as he stretched his back. Raiel prepared himself to fight off Yaeth’s attempt to keep him from leaving, but was once again surprised when the other boy reached for his own backpack, throwing it over his shoulder.

“Let me get my coat.” he said, searching through the pile of clothes in his closet. He opened the door to their room, careful to not to rattle with the handle. “You coming?” he asked as he slipped silently into the dark, windowless hallway beyond.

Raiel was speechless, struggling to comprehend his friend’s behavior. Only when his sensitive ears caught the stairs creaking under Yaeth’s weight did he follow, a small smile finding its way to his lips.

“I’ve scoped out the building, and we would have to break the window to get in that way, which is out of the question. We’ll have to go through the front door.” Yaeth said as they walked among the darkened buildings, blackness reigning supreme.

“You… scoped it out?” Raiel asked, the phrase new to him.

“That’s right. And there’s only the one way in, as far as I can see. An office building has no need for a back door, after all.” he said.

They continued on in silence, and when the dark, looming construction came into view, several windows still shone brightly with cozy lamp light. Sometimes, the light would flicker, the source blocked by the movements of the late workers.

“Let’s hope old Graven isn’t in his office at this hour, as well.” Yaeth mused, dropping the professor’s title when he wasn’t within earshot. He pursed his lips in thought, attempting to keep his inward nervousness from showing on his face.

Raiel gulped, but didn’t respond to Yaeth’s words. He did not know what he would have said, anyway.

As they neared the door, Yaeth dug out a pair of long, thin metal sticks with slightly hooked ends.

“What’s that?” Raiel asked, a small, subconscious infusion in his eyes allowing him to glean the shapes of the tools.

“Lock picks. To get us in.” Yaeth replied, kneeling in front of the door, inserting the two picks into the lock beneath the handle. Raiel let Yaeth work around with the lock for a moment before wondering aloud.

“So… what’s supposed to happen now?”

“I’m trying here, damn you.” Yaeth hissed through clenched teeth, tension evident in his voice.

“Yaeth, get up and away from that door!” Raiel snapped with as quiet a voice as he could allow himself and grabbed his friend by the neck of his shirt, pulling Yaeth up from the crouch, sending him stumbling away from the door. The picks came free of the lock with an audible click. Raiel wondered if whoever was in there heard the metallic sounds as clearly as he had. He hoped not.

Just as Raiel had managed to push them both up against the wall, shrouded in the darkness of the building, the door opened, casting soft light onto the path outside. A woman clad in comfortable, flowing clothes stepped out into the crisp night air, taking a deep breath. Raiel saw the smile on her face, bathed in the light of the lantern in her hand, completely oblivious to their presence.

She stood for a couple of tense minutes, the boys standing as still as they could manage to in the shadows. With a content sigh, she stepped back into the office building, the door clicking shut behind her, the path once again left dark. They stayed where they were for half a minute more, before they dared to move.

“Can you her anyone else in there?” Yaeth asked Raiel, whose ear was pressed to the wooden door, a frown on his face.

“Don’t think so.” He stood up and tried the handle. It opened with hardly a sound.

“It’s open.” he commented, casting a glance back at Yaeth. His roommate passed him, grumbling, choosing not to answer. Raiel couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

The corridors seemed longer in the darkness, and the light streaming out from under some of the doors only served to further darken the rest of hall. From the front door, the two boys made their way up the stairs to the second floor, where Professor Graven had his office. Yaeth stumbled on the steps twice, and each time, the hollow thuds that followed sent Raiel’s heart flying into his throat. He looked back at the other boy, scowling, but Yaeth could not make out Raiel’s expression and just asked him if he had heard anything suspicious. Raiel bit down the snide comment and instead kept going, leaving Yaeth to wonder.

Just as they set foot on the second floor, Raiel barely heard a door somewhere down the corridor swing open. The change in lighting was miniscule, meaning the door must be one of the ones further away from the stairs.

“Back! Go back!” Raiel whispered, the franticness in his voice encouraging Yaeth to get his ass in gear, and only Raiel’s grip on his wrist kept Yaeth from tumbling all the way down.

They laid themselves flat against the staircase, hoping and begging that whoever was up there was not going down to the first floor. Along with rhythmic steps on the wooden floor, a pulsing light gradually brightened around the bend. Unfortunately, Raiel couldn’t see much more than a couple of strides into the deep hallway, before the corner cut his line of sight.

As the steps neared, a hand holding a lantern of similar design to the one in the hand of the woman who had stood outside the building appeared, and an older man with thin hair and a thin beard trod along with sluggish steps, mug held loosely in a single finger. Raiel laid his head down against the sharp step, desperately hoping not to be noticed. He could feel Yaeth’s panicked breath on his ankle.

Raiel debated whether to simply take off at full speed, chancing the escape and the possibility of their faces remaining unseen, when the weary man walked into a room directly across from the stairs. He carefully set his lamp down on a table and disappeared into the room.

Seeing their chance, Raiel nudged Yaeth with his foot and crawled the rest of the way up on all fours, his friend following, breath held in fear. It would not go well for the two of them if they were caught now.

As they passed by the room, stealing silently towards the shadows of the corridor, they heard the old academic rustling with pots and water, mumbling to himself. The door to Professor Graven’s office was within sight, and Raiel sped up slightly, eager to be away from the open hallways. No light streamed from under the door.

With a firm grip on the handle, Raiel eased the door open, the hinges well-oiled and silent. They stepped into the office, which was only slightly brighter than the corridor, closing the door behind them, shutting out the rattling of metal from the small kitchen.

“Why was the door unlocked?” Yaeth wondered aloud, but before he could answer Raiel’s stomach fell as a realization struck him.

“I forgot to bring a lantern!” he hissed to Yaeth.

“I know. Which is why I brought one myself.” The boy shrugged his shoulders.

“How did you know?” Raiel as, puzzled.

“Educated guess.” Yaeth said, and Raiel could hear the teasing tone in his voice. He punched his friend in the forearm. “Let’s go.”

The door in the corner opened as easily as the other had. “I don’t like that the doors aren’t locked. It’s weird.” Yaeth commented again, his voice trembling slightly.

“Isn’t it good for us? Makes it easier to get in.” Raiel wondered. Yaeth didn’t answer, a frown on his face as he lit the lantern.

Professor Graven’s personal library was much more extensive than either of them could have imagined. It took up the entirety of the space next door, an office room refurnished to contain the sheer mountains of books.

“How are we going to find anything in here?” Raiel asked, voice incredulous and hopeless.

“I… I don’t know. It’s a mess. I can’t discern any order to the piles.” Yaeth answered, similarly dispirited. “It’s like he just threw them on top of each other haphazardly when he got a new one, not a care for their preservation…”

Yaeth set the lantern down on the floor, careful to keep it as far from the dry, brittle pages as possible, and they began their frenzied search for the records. They spent the next two or three hours frantically looking through the titles, Raiel grabbing books at random, while Yaeth tried to make heads or tails of the mess, hoping to find even a shred of order in the pile upon piles of books.

“We can’t find it! We can’t even be sure exactly what it is we’re looking for!” Yaeth exhaled in frustration, his breath coming short from tiredness and fear.

“But you said it was definitely here!” Raiel countered.

“What the hell do I know?” Yaeth exclaimed, immediately slapping a palm against his mouth, listening for footsteps, even though they were fairly certain no one would be here at this hour. “Besides, look at this place. It would take days to go through it all… The sun’s rising soon, and we can’t be here by then.” he whispered, drawing an arch through the air, his arms casting long shadows on the shelves and piles of books.

“We haven’t found anything yet!” Raiel insisted. “We can’t just leave empty-handed after coming this far!”

“What do you suggest we do, then?” Yaeth hissed through barred teeth. “This is just one big, fucking mess! I don’t even know what the hell we were hoping to find!”

Raiel wished he had an answer to give, but none came to mind. “Shit!” he muttered, clenching his jaw in frustration, barely holding himself back from trashing the place. Yaeth was already slinging his backpack over his shoulder, snuffing the lantern and checking everything to make sure nothing seemed too out of place. Reluctantly, Raiel got his pack as well, the sheets of paper within unused. He could only admit that Yaeth was right, and that there wasn’t much they could do. Any extra effort would be in vain, when they were found where they should not have been.

Raiel wanted to yell at the top of his lungs as they made their way down the corridor again, none the wiser than when they had arrived. As expected. The building was now completely vacated, as not even those academics were crazy enough to stay awake all night. Through the windows, the first, infant rays of sunlight streamed into the building, lighting their way just enough to allow Yaeth to go down the stairs without cracking his skull open at the bottom.

The fresh morning air would have softened his mood, if Raiel wasn’t already too upset to notice it.