Chapter Five

Tuesday, July 26, 2020 at 8pm

Another boring shift at the Brookside Public Library. Nick had always warned her about taking on new customers because it could be a setup. Any new customer should always come with a referral from an existing customer you trust, she remembered his warning. Usually that was how she operated, but today was different. Business had slowed down quite a bit since a new drug got introduced to the market that increased stamina and sex drive. Paranoia and the munchies couldn’t compete with that. With business not being as lucrative as it was a few years ago, Destiny wasn’t in a position to be choosy about her customers. Any new business was welcome. Rent was due soon so she needed all the extra money she could come by. But after 45 minutes of waiting for the new guy, she grew more and more suspicious with each passing minute.

After Destiny reached the history section, she noticed a dark figure in what appeared to be a green hooded cloak down one of the aisles. The stranger had his back to her so she was unable to tell who it was.

“Hello?” Destiny called. The stranger didn’t respond. The stranger still did not turn around to face her. She left the cart and slowly walked down the aisle towards the hooded stranger.

“Hey, Newbie?” She said. Rather than turn around, the hooded stranger continued to stand with his back to her. The aisle seemed to grow longer with each step she took.

“I don’t have time for games. Do you want the bud or not?” She asked, trying to mask the fear in her voice. The floor creaked beneath her as she continued to head towards the figure. She was more than halfway down the aisle when the hooded stranger walked to the left.

“Hey!” Destiny called. She decided to pick up the pace. When she got to the end of the aisle, and looked to the left, no one was there. Destiny noticed in the far corner, a few aisles down, the green cloak was lying on the ground but the stranger was nowhere to be found. In the distance she heard the loud creak of the library’s rickety front door and then a slam. Whoever that was, is gone now, she thought.

“Asshole.” Destiny mumbled.

Destiny walked to the corner and leaned over to pick up the green cloak. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a small hatch on the wall that looked like a door built for a large dog.

How had she not noticed this before? She thought. There was no handle so Destiny pushed against the door trying to force it open. It didn’t budge. Then Destiny noticed a tiny indentation on bottom left corner of the hatch that looked like a keyhole but it had an odd shape.

“Weird.” Destiny said to herself. She put the cloak over her shoulder and walked back to the book cart. “Guess I’ll just finish up here and head home.” She said.

It took her only few minutes to put away the books in their proper place. When Destiny got back to the reception desk, she checked her phone. It was 12:07. No missed calls or text messages from newbie. Destiny shook her head. She grabbed her purple satchel, carefully placing the bag of marijuana and the green cloak inside

She hung it up in her closet next to a marijuana plant. The plant often came in handy as an extra means of income or just when she was feeling stressed. Destiny chose to grow her own rather than rely on a supplier. It was comforting to know she could never run out.

Destiny plopped down on her bed. She wanted to fall asleep but her mind refused to settle down. She was haunted by the events of the day – the hooded stranger with the green cloak, the secret door with the weird lock, and Newbie not showing up to pick up his order.

---

Time was ticking slowly as Destiny waited anxiously for twelve o’clock to come. She had been racking her brain as to what the message from the wolf meant and what she was trying to say. Who was that person in the green cloak? And what the hell was up with that mysterious door?

The thought of some mysterious stranger lurking around the library left Destiny with an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Destiny looked up at the clock on the wall. Shit! It was barely eight-thirty. Destiny had already sprayed down all the tables and chairs with disinfectant. All there was left to do was wait. And wait.

“Fuck this.” Destiny said. She took out the joint from her pocket. She always tried to keep a small amount of marijuana rolled up and ready to smoke at a moment’s notice in times of stress like this when she really needed it. Destiny pulled out her lighter and began smoking the weed. She knew it was risky to smoke in here given Ms. Waters’ unfailing ability to sniff out trouble, but in this moment Destiny didn’t care. She continued to breath in the welcome aroma.

The dark wolf appeared through the shadows once again.

“Hello, sister.”

“Not now, wolf.” Destiny said irritably. She waved her hand shooing the wolf away. “Leave me the fuck alone. I’m not in the mood.” Then the wolf did something she had never seen before. The wolf growled deeply and ferociously. She lunged at Destiny and bear her large yellow teeth in her face. Destiny was paralyzed in fear.

“YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME!” The wolf’s voice was thunderous and booming. Destiny was frozen still. The wolf quickly softened her voice. “My dear, dear sister. It is up to the three of you to find the tree. It will save her. It will save all of us.”

“What three of us? And what tree?” Destiny questioned.

“Listen to your heart, sister. It will show you the way…” With that the wolf disappeared from sight.

Suddenly, the front door thrust open and standing there was Ms. Waters. Her hair was down and her clothes were disheveled. The buttons on her fuzzy pink sweater didn’t match up and her white collared shirt was buttoned low, revealing her upper chest and neck. What in the world had she been doing for the last two hours, Destiny thought.

Destiny instinctively extinguished the joint on the desk somehow believing that Ms. Waters wouldn’t notice. She quickly threw the rest of the joint in the trash can underneath the desk.

“Ms. Waters, what are you doing back here?” She looked like she had been jolted out of her sleep. She was out of breath and clutching her chest.

“What is that smell?” Ms. Waters asked. Before Destiny could come up with a decent lie, Ms. Waters said, “I came to relieve you for the night. You’re young. You deserve to have some fun.” Destiny stared at Ms. Waters in disbelief. Was she hallucinating again? Destiny thought.

“Well run along now, hon. Matter of fact, take the entire weekend off as well and I’ll see you Monday.”

“But, Ms. Waters…”

“Don’t worry, dear. I will make sure you get paid for all three days. You’ve been such a great employee these last six months...” Destiny was thrown by Ms. Waters’ odd behavior. Although she wouldn’t mind having the rest of the night off, she knew there was something funny going on.

“No, that’s alright Ms. Waters. I can stay.” A look of worry came over Ms. Waters’ face.

“What’s wrong, Ms. Waters?” Destiny asked.

“Oh, nothing. I think I’m coming down with something.” Ms. Waters cleared her throat. She used the hair tie that was around her wrist to pull up her hair in a messy ponytail. She then tried to straighten her clothes by tugging down on them but was unsuccessful. She still looked a hot mess. “But I still want you to go enjoy the rest of your weekend…” Suddenly the library phone started ringing. Destiny and Ms. Waters both stared at each other, watching the other closely. Ms. Waters picked up the phone right as Destiny reached for it.

“Brookside Public Library. How can I assist you?” Ms. Waters said. “Hello? Yes. I don’t--. Okay. I will.” Destiny could hear the phone click and a dial tone. Ms. Waters hung up the receiver. What the hell was that about?

“Who was it?” Destiny asked. The nervous tension was almost palpable.

“Wrong number.” Ms. Waters said. She was obviously lying and Destiny needed to find out why.

“Okay, Ms. Waters I guess I’ll go home then.”

“Alright, dear. See you on Wednesday.”

Destiny grabbed her bag and exited the library. Luckily, she had forgotten to lock the side door so she hastily went around the corner to the west side of the building to where the side door was. Destiny peered inside one of the windows to see if she could spot Ms. Waters but she didn’t see anyone. She slowly opened the door and peeked her head inside. The coast was clear.

Destiny walked through the heavy door, being careful not to let it slam behind her. Destiny moved gracefully along the outside wall carefully making her way through the aisles. To her right was the reception desk where she heard Ms. Waters on the phone.

"Yes, I realize that, my lord...I understand...it won't happen again...yes the girl left...yes, sir...I will see to it personally..." She heard Ms. Waters talking to someone and wondered if it was the same “wrong number” from earlier.

Destiny lurked in the shadows of the library and waited patiently for Ms. Waters to turn her back to her.

"Are we sure we want to....no, no sir...absolutely not I would never questions you...yes, yes I see...yes, my lord. I will make the arrangements. It will be done as you wish." Ms. Waters hung up the phone.

"Bastard." Ms. Waters attempted to whisper but her voice echoed against the marble tile. She walked toward the far left corner of the library to the history section.

Destiny followed behind her, careful to lurk in the shadows. Ms. Waters was standing in front of the hatch. She took out something shiny from her pocket and inserted into the strange keyhole on the hatch. She twisted it and there was a loud click. Destiny expected her to open the door but she didn’t. Instead she left and exited out of the front door.

Destiny walked over to the hatch. There were muffled voices coming from behind the wall that grew louder and louder. The door slowly started to open. Destiny ran and hid behind one of the stacks. She moved some books aside so she could see.

Out of the hatch came two individuals wearing similar green cloaks like the one Destiny had found the night before. The two appeared to be having some sort of argument but it was hard to tell because Destiny couldn't understand the language they were speaking. They crawled out of the hatch, first one, then the other. The second cloaked stranger reached back through the archway and pulled out a huge black bag. The first person grabbed the other end of the bag and they lifted it up and grunted. The two strangers were still speaking a foreign language. They carried the bag down the aisle and across the library through the front door.

What the hell was that? Destiny thought. Here was her chance. The cloaked strangers left the hatch open. Destiny darted to the door. She had to get on her hands and knees to crawl through the door. There was a long passageway. It smelled of rotted wood and must. Destiny's dreadlocks were like a broom sweeping up all the dust and cobwebs. It was pitch black in the tunnel that Destiny couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face. The only light came from behind her barely illuminating the entrance. It's not too late to turn back. Destiny thought. But she felt she had to keep going. The more her eyes adjusted to the dark, the more she could see a hazy gray light coming from the other end of the tunnel.

Suddenly something small and furry brushed up against her foot. Destiny jumped, bumping her head against the wall. Ouch! Destiny touched her head where she banged it and felt something moist, she couldn't see it but she could smell it. She knew it had to be blood.

Destiny heard the tiny squeak of a small creature and knew she was not alone. Fucking rats! Destiny thought. She had more than enough experience dealing with them while she was on the street but they still gave her the creeps.

Destiny continued crawling through the tunnel, praying she would soon reach the end. Only moments later she felt the texture change beneath her hands from jagged and rough to something smooth and hard.

Finally, Destiny was able to stand to her feet. The surface of the passageway had torn through her pants revealing scraped knees. From what Destiny could make out, the room was quite small. The walls were shrouded in vines of ivy. The room was completely empty. There was a large door on the right side of the room. Employees only. Keep out! A sign on the door read in giant red letters.

Destiny expected the door to be locked but to her surprise when she turned the knob it opened right up. Inside was a dimly lit hallway leading to two enormous double doors with a slight glow of a purplish light coming from underneath it. Destiny trepidatiously made her way down the hallway to the double doors. Alongside the walls was more ivy.

The double doors were made of thick, sturdy oak and were more than twice her size. There was a large seal that fell equally on both doors. It was of a tree with long branches that stretched far and large roots that dug deep in the ground, intertwined and tangled together, inextricably linked. There were some foreign symbols on the door that Destiny didn’t understand.

“I’ve seen this somewhere before...” The tree looked vaguely familiar to Destiny. But she couldn’t pinpoint where she had seen it.

Destiny was so mesmerized by the sight that she didn’t notice someone had come up behind her.

“What are you doing in here?” Destiny heard someone say. Before she could turn around, she was suddenly knocked over the head with something hard as a rock causing her to drop to the floor.

“Who is that?” A man’s voice asked.

“She’s just some girl who works for me.”She heard a woman’s voice say. Destiny was rapidly losing consciousness. She was able to open her eyes wide enough to catch a glimpse of Ms. Waters.

“What are we going to do with her?” The man Ms. Waters was talking to wore a green cloak but no hood. The hood was off so Destiny was able to catch a glimpse of his face before her eyes closed shut.

“Get rid of her.” The man said. It was the last thing Destiny heard before she passed out.

---

When Destiny came to she was in an unfamiliar room. There was no one to be found but she still heard voices echoing from somewhere. It was a man and a woman’s voice, arguing.

“What are we going to do now? That girl saw us last night.” The man said.

“I told you, I took care of it.” The woman said.

Destiny moved slowly towards the sound of the voices careful to stay in the dark and remain low to the ground.

“Oh right. You took care of it. The lord is not going to be too happy when he finds out that you didn’t take care of her.” The man said. The two were standing by some shelves near the foreign languages section towards the center of the library. Destiny was carefully hidden in the science section across the room still close enough to see them. It was Ms. Waters! She was talking to a man who looked to be in his fifties. The man was white. He had black hair with flecks of gray. He was wearing glasses, a baby blue collared shirt, and tan pants. He looked studious like a professor or scientist.

“She's just a harmless girl. It would only draw more suspicion...” Ms. Waters said. Shit! Were talking about her?

“If this all blows up, it’s on you.” The man warned. His voice sounded familiar. Was he the one from last night?

“He’s never going to find out. Let’s just stick to the plan.”

“I’m not sure about this anymore, Julia. Should we really be doing this? I mean, we could lose everything.”

“We have no choice, David. Don’t you want to see your son again?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Oh, David. I know you’re worried. I am too but everything is under control. We just need to have a little faith.”

“I know. I know, babe. You’re right.” They embraced each other.

Suddenly Destiny’s phone started ringing. It echoed throughout the library, alerting Ms. Waters and her companion. Destiny searched frantically for her phone inside her tote back.

“What’s that?” The Ms. Waters asked.

“We’re not alone.” The man concluded. Shit! Destiny grabbed the phone and silenced it immediately.

The two began searching through the library for where the sound had come from. Destiny could hear the clunk of their shoes on the marble floor. She had to make an escape but how. If she ran for the door now they would see her.

“Hello? Is anyone in here?” Ms. Waters called. “Come on out.” She was in the aisle directly next to Destiny. Destiny was trying desperately to hide behind the books on the shelf. She was crouched down to the ground nearly crawling. She made her way to another aisle but saw in the distance that the man was headed right for her. Destiny tried to hide in the corner but she was trapped. It would be seconds before he saw her.

Destiny had to think fast. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the library number. The loud ring of the old phone stopped the man in his tracks.

“Were you expecting a call, David?” Ms. Waters asked him.

“No.” He called.

“Well, answer it. It might be him.” The man walked back to the front of the library and answered the phone.

“Brookside Public Library. Can I help you? Hello?” He said. “Hello? Hello?” Destiny took the opportunity to make her way down the aisle, along the back wall, quickly making her way towards the side door.

"There's no one there. Wrong number I guess." The man hung up the phone. Destiny was almost to the door. She kept glancing behind her to make sure they hadn't followed her. She tripped over a plant, knowing it to the ground. The sound echoed loudly.

Destiny hastily made her way to the door. Almost there, she was only a few feet from but freedom. Before she could reach, Ms. Waters stepped out in front of her.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ms. Waters taunted. She looked down and recognized Destiny. Her face softened. "What are you doing here?" She whispered.

"Who is it?" The man called out.

"Ms. Waters..."

"You have to get out of here. Quick." Ms. Waters whispered. She opened the side door slowly. "Go..." She whispered.

Destiny welcomed the opportunity and made a break for it. She flew out the door and fled the library without looking back.