2 the library secret

On the floor at the most secluded side of his bed, Careth was swimming through the tales of his storybook. His eyes gleamed as he downed the page line by line, in awe of the artistic use of the language by his favourite author.

He did not hear his door creak open, nor did he pick up the light and gentle steps of Merry Gensweathe, who approached this oblivious boy that was currently indulging in a fantastical world contained in one book.

"Hey!"

Careth instinctively slid the book under his bed and turned to the source of the sound, aghast. "Merry! You scared me!"

"Sorry. You were so engrossed I didn't want to interrupt." She lied flat on his bed, her head drooping over the side so their views of each other were inverted. "And you seemed excited too. That's a rare sight."

"I- I wasn't excited," Careth said, rubbing his neck. "But, it was my mistake. I should've heard you come in. If it was a normal servant instead of you..."

He casted a look at his hiding place, then grimaced. "... I would've been done for."

Merry sat up, folding her arms. "There's nothing wrong with you liking to read stories. I don't understand—so what if it's deviating from your 'duties as an heir' ? You deserve to slack after all those classes and training."

Careth merely laughed. "Easy for you to say. No wonder it's so refreshing to have you here." He leaned back, closing his eyes. "Takes my mind off duties for a while."

"Then let's make sure we get the most fun out of it!" She said, plopping down next to him. "What do you want to do today? We still have an hour left to ourselves."

He pondered, then snapped his fingers. "I wanted to get new books from the library. I've just finished this one, actually," he popped his hand under the sheets and retrieved the item. "This one is pretty good. It's a martial arts novel set in the ancient times, where a young descendant harnessed an evil power to defend his homeland. The use of language was very eloquent, and there were lots of hidden meanings in between the lines—"

His ears went red as he realized what he was saying, and abruptly stopped himself. "I'm sorry. Back to the subject, could you help me sneak the sack into the library?"

Merry nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! And when we get there, you can continue telling me about the story. I'm interested."

_

The library was in Careth's opinion, his second favourite place, with the first being his room. The large oak doors would groan when pushed, a warm greeting to the interior that was an oasis of knowledge and imagination. The checkered floors glinted under the sun's touch, which shone through the hemispherical glass dome above, illuminating the library. Lines and lines of bookshelves stood parallel on each end, stretching deep into the Iibrary's depths. Down in the middle, a carpet rolled until it reached an endpoint, where a huge desk sat and multiple chairs flanked. Each bookshelf had books filled to the brim with it, tight and packed like an overflowing can of sardines.

"It's sad that this place is hardly ever used." Merry slid her finger along a shelf, dust accumulating at the tip like snow. "All these wonderful stories, trapped behind unopened pages, reduced to mere decorations."

"Well, I only ever come here to get academic-related books," Careth explained, gesturing towards the center of the room. "But other than that, the storybooks here remain untouched."

Careth shut the bolt on the doors and proceeded to a bookshelf, running his hand through the spines of the books. Once he felt it, he removed the decoy wooden cover that was used to conceal the empty space, and replaced it with a real book he had picked out.

Merry laughed wryly at their trick, which was a three sided wooden cover with the middle section painted with all the little details matching a real book. "Your servants are still quite dim. We've been doing this for years."

"Perhaps, but it is not wise to assume," Careth replied, jumping down from a higher shelf. "They may have known, but just chose not to say anything—they could be watching us, and planning to catch us at the right time."

Merry shrugged. "I'd doubt that. No one here wants to taint your family name. That'll just be sinking their own boat."

"You never know. There might be spies from outside town." He glanced over the titles on the spines, cherry-picking. "Father always told me to be careful, because there's eyes and ears all over this place. And, you wanted a fairytale right?" He tossed a novel towards her.

She caught it swiftly and placed it into the sack. "If only they could accept you having interest in things not related to money-making. Oh, could you get that too?" Merry pointed to a black book with golden writings. "It looks pretty."

Careth did as told, also curious about the content inside. It's cover was made of Oom skin, which was hard and dry, and soaked in black dye. The calligraphy on the spine was beautifully done, spelling out the words 'The Boy Under' in cursive.

He tipped the book, expecting it to drop so he could slide it out of the shelf—but the book remained still, at an acute angle.

"Strange. Is it stuck—"

He was cut off by the whirring of a mechanism, gears turning and the sound of wood creaking. Careth immediately backed up, striding over to Merry who clutched the book sack worriedly. Both children looked at each other, and jumped simultaneously when something popped up from the floor.

It was a metal ring, attached to the floorboard. Merry was the first to approach it, with more fascination than caution, while Careth was the exact opposite. She lifted the ring, which she had deduced to be a trapdoor, and revealed a short flight of stone stairs leading down into the unknown.

Merry leaned forward before she was yanked back by her friend, who uttered, "No, no, no. You are NOT going down there."

"What? Don't tell me you're planning to tell the servants?" She said, raising an eyebrow. "A mysterious entrance in this forsaken library, now uncovered by two children with deepening curiosity. Don't tell me we're just going to ignore it?"

Careth crossed his arms. "We don't know what's down there! What if it's dangerous? Sullers could be lurking for all we know!"

"We're both trained to fight them! We can use this sack as a weapon—think of it as a chain and mace." Merry swung the bag over her head, circling with bravado.

"Training is not the same as the real thing. Besides," Careth looked to the side, shameful. "I failed my last assessment."

Merry sighed exasperatedly. "Okay, we'll just go as far as the light touches. Then, we're out. Deal? Sullers can't come up here anyway. If we do encounter one, just run up the stairs and slam the door shut."

Careth was about to make another excuse, but upon seeing his friend throw herself into the pit, he had no choice but to follow suit.