Chapter IV: The Entrance
The next day Aiden was in his locker putting away some things and looking for some books, when Lenz arrived and greeted him, the young man who was surprised that he had arrived only asked him:
-and that you didn't arrive with Hobson?
-I went by him, but his parents told me that he was busy with some tasks, that he would catch up with me later," Lenz replied.
-hey, do you think I managed to decipher the note?-Aiden asks
-a genius like him, I doubt it will take more than a day to solve it-
The bell rings to enter the class and they both leave. Arriving at the classroom, they both hear Hobson yell at them to wait for him. He arrives tired because he had to run down about three hallways to get there in time, and Aiden says as he catches his breath to speak:
-Why so tired? This classroom is not far from the entrance - Hobson was going to answer him but Lenz interrupts him and says:
-I told you that Hobson is not good for gymnastics, true, there is the test... although I was surprised that it came so quickly, well done my friend! -
Already with his breath back, Hobson says to both of them:
-What do you think? I have some good news.
-You better not count them, then you have to go to class, look at that, I don't think that teacher is very friendly, come on," says Aiden.
Everyone enters the class, at which point the teacher stands up from her desk and begins to say:
-Good morning students, I am Professor Monnet your literature teacher, for this first part of the semester you will read the following book, pass it on
All the students spread out the books, they were thick and looked like they had about five hundred pages, so Aiden looks at the book, glances at it quickly and says:
-This must be a joke - in that Professor Monnet listened to him and said:
-Does it bother you, Mr. Rowell?
-no, no, it just seems too long-looking at Aiden, the teacher starts to say:
-well, open the book to page three, I want a report on the first three chapters before the bell rings-
Everyone begins to complain, since the first three chapters were equivalent to fifteen pages, Professor Monnet asks for silence and tells them:
-no complaints! -I want the reports on my desk before the bell rings, get to work.
The bell rings, everyone turns in their reports and leaves the classroom. Hobson reminds the kids that they need to talk about "it", so Aiden sees Madysin and tells her that they need to talk, and she walks over to Emma and tells her to go ahead and catch up with her; so no one will hear them, the kids go into an empty classroom down the hall, Hobson pulls out the note and starts telling them:
-I've already solved the second part of the puzzle, it's a code.
-a code? -Aiden asks
-Yes, look at the second part of the riddle that goes like this: One to see in Eight times to grow Nine are the birds that the bell tower must have to make a strong noise where everything starts to grow; I had to read it like eight times until I realized-
-does he tell you what? -Madysin asks him
-Tell us, the suspense is killing us," says Lenz.
- the sentence has three numbers 1, 8 and 9, these are written in a slightly different way and also begin in capital letters as well as the letter "F" of a strong noise, and if we write them all together, what do we have?
-189F, What does it mean?
-I researched it, and it seems that these are the book codes that were previously used to identify them
-that means that the entrance is in the library, precisely in a book- says Madysin to the others
-Exactly!, you have to find the book that this code belongs to.
-And... so we go to the old library after school?
-No, although almost no one visits the park it is very busy in the afternoon," says Hobson
-Besides, I promised that girl What's her name?... a... yes... Brithany, that I would go out and see the city when we got out of class- says Aiden
- Aaa it's true, the appointment with Brithany... I didn't remember - says Lenz
-Then we have no choice but to go at night," says Madysin.
- but there are a lot of security guards watching, it's not going to be easy," Hobson told the others.
-I know how to get there without being seen," says Lenz.
The others are impressed because Lenz said it so confidently, to remove the doubt Madysin asks him:
-How do you know how to get to the park without the guards seeing us? Have you done it before?
-Of course, I go out almost every night to the park (everyone makes a face like they don't believe what I'm saying). What? There is better wifi in the park," answers Lenz.
When he said that, everyone believed him but remained doubtful about what Hobson was saying:
-and why do you need a faster internet?
-to watch my favorite TV show... What? ...I can't watch it on TV because mom always goes ahead of me to watch her soap opera," answers Lenz
-Well, then we'll go tonight, okay?
They all say, and Aiden tells them that so no one suspects they'll tell their mother to help them by telling the other parents they're doing an assignment, after which they all leave the classroom. It's getting late, and as promised, the young man goes for a walk with Brithany around the city, although the outing wasn't entirely pleasant since he had to carry his shopping; they arrive at the park, Aiden places the bags on a bench and sits down, Brithany having a milkshake, he says:
-and tell me... What about you? I want to know more about you.
-what can I tell you, I've been moving from city to city because of my mother's job, and because of this I haven't had any regular friends, I've always had to say goodbye- says Aiden
-I'm sorry, I imagine you've had to go through some difficult things... from now on we'll be great friends and you can count on my support.
They both stared at each other, and Brithany began to make a face like she was getting ready to kiss. She got closer and closer, until finally when she thought they were going to kiss, Aiden's phone rang and he answered it, and when he finished talking, he told Brithany that he had to leave because he had to help his mother with some things.
At nightfall, the young man and his friends arrived at the park without any guards noticing them thanks to Lenz, managed to sneak into the old library and enter. At the entrance to the library Lenz starts walking and says:
-We are here, now what? in that an old man with a cane touches him on the back, he gets scared and the old man tells them:
-Young people at this hour? What are they doing here? Why don't you go back to where you came from?
-We can't, sir, we need your help," says Hobson.
-You need my help... then explain to me what you're doing here at this hour.
-it's hard to explain sir, we don't have much time... please help us- says Madysin.
The old man notices part of Aiden's necklace hanging from his chest, and out of the blue he changes his mind and tells them:
-Okay... how can I help you?
-We need to know the book this code belongs to," says Hobson, handing him the paper with the code.
The old man goes to the counter, pulls out folders full of papers and tells the young people:
-in some of these papers you can find the code with the location of the book-
-Is it serious? It will take too long, there are too many papers," says Lenz.
-We have no choice, let's start now... let's get to work," says Aiden.
Everyone begins to check the papers, after 3 minutes Hobson notices an old computer on the counter and says:
-stop! There's a computer. Why didn't you tell us from the beginning, sir?
-Oh, my apologies, I hardly ever use it, I'm a bit more classic, you know," says the old man.
Hobson, writes the code and the results show that the book is at the back of the library, everyone goes there and starts to examine the books; after some minutes Madysin finds him telling the others to come closer, when everyone sees the book they wonder what now? So Lenz thought of taking the book and pulling it back as they did in mystery movies to see if something was revealed, but when he did, the book did not move, it was very hard; instead, he made Lenz fall to the floor, while they were lifting it Hobson started looking at the book's spine and noticed long oval shapes along it, he starts touching it and suddenly one of the ovals was turning, this one turns it revealing a lock, so the young man tells the others:
-hey guys! Check this out.
-a lock? Rightly so, and the book was not moving," says Lenz.
-Look at the shape of the necklace, why don't you try Aiden," says Madysin.
Aiden approaches, takes off the necklace and inserts it into the lock, fitting it perfectly and turning it slightly to the left, the bookcase begins to harden, part of the bookcase where the book was begins to slide revealing an entrance. The young man removes the necklace from the lock, everyone hears the voice of the guards approaching because of the noise, everyone enters and on the other side there was a lock like that but with a lever on the side, Hobson had previously said that it should serve to close the entrance, Aiden introduces the necklace into the lock and before using the lever the old man tells them:
-Hurry up! There's no time, I'll cover you... I'll be fine - Aiden pulls the lever and before the gate closes he asks the old man:
-Thank you very much, sir?
-Graham... it's Mr Graham, go! Quickly! -answers the old man
When the entrance is closed, everything is dark and nothing can be seen, everyone turns on and puts the flashlight of their cell phones, which they light up and notice that they had to follow a few stairs down. As they go down the stairs to see where it led them. On the other hand, in the library, the guards enter and begin to look for the origin of the tremor, one of them notices the old Graham sleeping, and shouts to him to wake him up saying
-Waking up and drooling, Mr. Graham says:
-sorry... what do you want? Is there something I can help you with? -
-Two minutes ago there was a tremor that seems to reside in this place, didn't you feel it? Didn't you notice anything strange?
-Tremor? -Here in the library? Excuse me, but I didn't feel any tremor sir, did you not see me?
-he's right, maybe, and came from somewhere else, so I ask this old man- the guard notifies the radio that there was nothing wrong and tells the others to leave, as they were leaving the library Mr. Graham tells him:
-When the guards leave, the old man goes to the counter and begins to say to himself: "What I have to do to protect these young people, I don't even drool in my sleep.
On the other hand, as they were getting to the bottom, the necklace began to glow, the closer they got the brighter it got; Madysin realizes and warns Aiden, he takes the necklace off his sweatshirt and when they finished going down the stairs the necklace emitted a light so strong that it put them all against the wall and blinded them, after the light went away and everyone could see well, so from nowhere the same spirit that had appeared to Aiden in his room appeared, but this one had something different, it had a white robe with gold on some sides, everyone was surprised to see that spirit so strange and right in that place.