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"Criptus and Dilectus"

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MR. OGUSTUS WORDS still haunted my mind even as we left the classroom. Everything about how he explained the beginnings of the earth left me baffled. I was led to think about what he had said, the question ringing in my mind.

What if each religion only had a portion of the truth?

It was a theory worth researching. Mr. Ogustus was one heck of a great storyteller, that's for sure.

I stopped myself from overthinking things as Claire paced beside me. After all, we had Mr. Ogustus for the whole week, and something told me he had barely scratched the surface of the whole ordeal.

There were so many secrets he held in those twinkly brown orbs. Secrets which led me to ask, how on earth had he come to acquire this knowledge? He said that knowledge or history from a thousand years ago had been driven to myth and speculation, so how is it he knows secrets from above and beyond?

"I see Mr. Ogustus left not only me outrageously intrigued," Claire slightly chuckled, side-glancing my way. I nodded, pulling out my notebook and pen. It was the one tool I would always have to carry on me, and not in the comfort of my backpack, I figured. Jotting down what was on my mind, I handed it over to her.

"Do you believe him?"

Her eyes trailed over the words, handing the book over to me with an unsure look.

'Honestly, I don't know what to think. I'm Catholic; he certainly didn't seem to deny the existence of something close to what we call God," She shrugged. However, her eyes took on a different expression, as if she was also in deep thought, "he also acknowledged the existence of primary evil," she sighed, turning to face me as we stood in the hallway, now allowing the rest of her features to morph into the ongoing battle she seemed to be having inside her head.

I realized Claire and I were a lot alike at that moment. She liked to discover, to hunt, to understand things. She was handling this topic the way she was handling me, like a puzzle she couldn't wait to decipher. I honestly didn't mind it.

She was the first person my age to look at me differently.

'It is just like he said, he wasn't particularly denying any one of our religions. He may have focused a lot more on Greek mythology and Roman history and tapped into a little Christianity and all other religions that do not technically believe the universe was created by a big bang or other chaotic ways, however, I am led to believe he hasn't yet even crossed the threshold."

I nodded, actually following along.

I liked mysteries; they were my favorite type of novels to read when growing up, and I browsed through all of Sherlock Holmes and Nancy Drew and reread them for added benefit. Yes, it was one of my favorite genres, to explore, to discover, but don't get me wrong, I had never taken myself as an explorer.

I always thought I wouldn't survive a day in the jungle, an hour in the desert, or a second in Antarctica, and that is the reason why I read. It was a safe way to accomplish the task. I mean George RR Martin said it best himself. Reading was the best way to discover anything without endangering yourself or leaving the comfort of your room.

Fall in love a thousand times, see the end of time in a thousand ways. I had done it all, and I was still breathing, and most importantly, I was safe.

As much as I loved adventure, I loved it in the safety and comfort of my own home, allowing only the non-existent limitations of my mind to do the exploring. However, this particular mystery was much more real as it was right before me. It was not a dangerous mystery with dangerous outcomes and so, by default, it was much more appealing.

I loved me some feisty fiery protagonists, jumping about with swords and- uh... charging bravely straight into battle, but this was the real world. In the real world, people thought things over before diving headfirst into danger.

I had zero love for long heavy sharp-edged weapons, and I was a terrible horse rider.

As much as I have fantasized over the idea of finding true love as my parents did, I prayed it came over a meet-cute, an 'I bumped into you,' kind of way and not in an 'I was your slave you mistreated and fell in love with you, blood-sucking brute.'

Yes, I did go through my vampire phase.

Or have a never-ending love story that includes me dying after every first kiss and reincarnating. Way too much work, too much.

Better still, I hoped I didn't have to do anything too drastic to prove my love for anyone if ever I did find the supposed 'the one'. I mean as much as I loved me some Freyre, I would not last two seconds in a dungeon undergoing torture. Starvation is the worst torture technique there is out there, by the way. It's slow- and it's foodless.

I Would. Not. Survive.

"Criptus and Dilectus," Claire randomly stated, "you know I bet," she trailed off, taking a step closer to me, "there's something about all this," she circled her two fingers downwards as she said this, a mischievous look exploring her face, "in the library."

The pace of her words increased as she rambled on, "Yes, there must be something about that in the library. Plus, you haven't seen the size of that thing, and all the books there look like they could be a gazillion years old," her expression then morphed into one of calculated retreat.

"I mean uh, that's if you want to, we could always uh... go... uh... look at boys or something?" she asked, her statement flipping to suggestive, her hands clasped behind her back as she swung back on her heels, a light blush glowing over her pale skin.

I looked at her as if she was crazy, taking my pen and notebook,

'Library...please'

I stressed, and her eyes lit up faster than I could say go, a wide smile bulldozing her previous unsure expression, pulling me along in her annoyingly catchy fashion, "you'll love it, I promise!" she squealed tugging me along.

And just like that, I was back on the Claire Express, being tugged along the long hallways, occasionally accidentally bumping into people. We ran, or rather skipped, through the glass hallway. I momentarily turned to gaze at the view. I would have to stop by here sometime and just take in the beautiful view of Kingsland at this angle.

We reached the stairs, and this time, instead of going up, we turned, avoiding a head-on collision with a pair of girls coming through from a large wooden oak door.

'Hey watch it!" one girl screeched, moving out of the way, pulling her friend too, just in the nick of time as we came to a rushed halt in front of the large open doors. Fixing our uniforms, we took calm breaths before quietly walking through.

"Criptus and Dilectus, Criptus and Dilectus," Claire murmured under her breath as we walked in, "I keep thinking I'll forget those names,' Claire rambled, "It's a big place, it will take hours to find what we're looking for. How about you take Criptus, and I'll take Dilect- Talanda?"

I nodded, airily moving past her, eyes wide, frozen in time as I stared into the magnificence before me.

Marbled floor, tall walls, and books, books, and even more books, lined as far, as low, and as high as I could see. I could feel fireworks explode in my belly as if I had just met my one true love. This couldn't be real. The library wasn't big; it was freaking humongous! It was like walking into a museum of books! The ceiling was extremely high, and everywhere you looked there were rows and rows and rows of books, aisles upon aisles. We had a rather large library I simply adored at home but truthfully it was nothing compared to this.

I wondered how anyone managed to get or find the book they required—scratch that, how do you not get lost in this maze of a library? On either side were large staircases that looked like they belonged in the grand hall of Buckingham Palace that led to a second and third open floor with the same fashion of rows and aisles. The architecture of this place needed a bonus the equivalent of the Taj Mahal.

"Talanda?"

I nodded yet again, gulping lowly, still unable to turn away from this paradise. Claire chuckled,

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

It was then I turned a little to look at her, slightly agreeing before she took my hand with a short squeal,

"C'mon, it wasn't built to only be gaped at." I followed her in, my head doing a three-sixty as I marveled at all that was before me.

Walking in, we had to pass the librarian's desk, occupied by a particularly interesting woman.

She was biologically speaking, a dwarf, with spectacles that sat on her nose firmly, and long brown hair that fell past her shoulders.

She was nose-deep into stamping books; she didn't look up to see if anyone was passing, but somehow, she sensed it, perfectly stating,

"Any new students of the Archives of Greater Knowledge must be informed to adhere to the rules, take a paper," she huffed.

How she knew we were newbies was kind of creepy. We glanced at the pile of blue papers at the corner of her large desk. I glanced at Claire, and she shrugged with wide eyes, lowly whispering, "I've never been inside the library."

I hesitantly reached out to take a blue slip, almost certain she would suddenly uncover a long ruler hidden somewhere between all those books, smacking my hand away, but she didn't even bother to look up. Claire took one too, and we slowly walked into the library.

It turned out to be a list of rules of the library that we had to follow, or we would be kicked out.

1.      Indoor voices must be used at all times in the library.

2.      No eating in the library.

3.      Do not rip or fold pages from the books—no dog ears either.

4.      Students are not allowed to use magic or any other abilities in the library unless in the case of a supervised emergency.

5.      Upon selecting a book, please hand it to its section librarian.

6.      Only two books are allowed to be taken from the library per round.

7.      Do not take books from the Archives without going through the section librarian.

8.      The library remains closed on Sundays.

9.      Books mistreated or not returned before the deadline will receive a suitable punishment.

At the very bottom of the slip, in bold, it was outlined:

We regret to inform you that due to the insufficient number of available librarians, there will be no personal assistance offered. Please use the section signs to navigate the library.

DINI-Chief Librarian (T.A.G. K.)

"Okay," Claire hummed, her eyes scanning the library, "this is going to be..." she trailed off, glancing over at me, "fun."

I chuckled at her sarcastic enthusiasm. My eyes caught sight of the first section sign pointing towards it as Claire followed my finger.

"Section A-a," she read aloud. She pointed to another sign a few rows away, "And there's section A-b."

We moved along sections, Claire commenting about the size of the library, while I acknowledged there were about six to seven rows between each section. Sections A-a and A-b were the ones with the fewest, sporting 4 rows.

Needless to say, by the time we reached section C-r, I began to understand why this place was huge. Claire's cheeks were a light red, as she blew a strand of hair from her face,

"I'll leave you in this row; you should search for Criptus. I'll come back in about an hour and thirty. Just before lunch."

I nodded, though my attention was focused on peering through the dimly lit setting of the row that I was in. Not entirely convinced it was safe to venture. It mimicked a dark alleyway if the library was a city.

Moving deeper in, I squinted in the darkness, trying to spot a ladder. I knew it had to be somewhere in this dark haunted aisle. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the ghost of Hitler jumped before me.

I put my hands out in front of me, to avoid accidentally bumping into the ladder. It was smart thinking because it wasn't long before I felt the rough wooden texture of it. I pulled on it to drag it to the back of the aisle, but it remained in a firm position.

Huffing, I placed my notebook at the side of my backpack pocket, using both hands to tug. It didn't even budge, not a bit, and I realized this thing was extremely heavy despite how light it looked.

"Are you planning on murdering me?" a male voice resounded from above my head. I almost decapitated my head with how fast I jerked it upward, my heart thundering within me.

Shoot.

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