“Your collection here is truly impressive, Ms. Kent. Thank you so much for your help this evening.”
I smiled politely and nodded and tried not to blush. I always try my best to keep a professional demeanor around the patrons of the library, but there was something special about Tania Mazona that made me feel a little star struck. She possessed a certain charisma and intelligence that I found to be extremely attractive, not to mention that she was absolutely gorgeous. Not only was she strikingly beautiful, she was also very tall. I am nearly six feet tall myself, but this woman was practically an Amazon.
“I’m just sorry to have kept you here so late, Ms. Mazona. Many of our more obscure titles are not very well indexed I’m afraid.”
Tania was looking for very specific information and it took me a while to track down an appropriate resource. We had been chatting and getting to know each other throughout the search and I had completely lost track of the time. I realized that it was about an hour after the library’s usual closing time. Most of the lights were off and the rest of the library staff seemed to be long gone. The main doors were probably locked, but I had the master key in my pocket. We casually made our way towards the main entrance so that I could let Tania out.
“I’m just grateful that you managed to find this book on Homeric potsherds, Ms. Kent. My antiquities shop recently acquired a collection of broken clayware from an archeological site in Thessaly. I’m hoping that the illustrations in this book will help me to classify some of those items.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how many people tried to trick antiquities dealers like Ms. Mazona into buying worthless junk. I was extremely pleased to be helping her with research that might ultimately impact her livelihood. “Well, I just hope that your source is reputable. I suspect that you see lots of scams and attempted forgeries in your line of work.”
“Actually, the person brokering this particular deal is a very close friend of mine and I trust her completely. Her name is Athena Nikos and she’s an archeologist.”
My jaw dropped when I heard the name of the strange young woman that I had recently accused of stalking me. “I’m sorry, did you just say… Athena Nikos?”
“Yes, do you know her?” Tania gave me a curious expression. She seemed to be waiting for me to provide a specific reply, but I had no idea what she expected me to say.
“Not really. We met yesterday, but only briefly. Ms. Nikos seemed to be rather distraught and… confused.”
Tania seemed slightly disappointed by my response, but I had no idea why. “Oh, uhm… well… Athena has been deeply concerned about a friend of hers recently.”
I was starting to feel a bit guilty about the way that I had treated Ms. Nikos. Perhaps I had jumped to the wrong conclusion about her. “I believe she mentioned something about that yesterday... Is her friend sick or something?”
Tania paused and gave a bit of thought to her reply. “Hmmm… You could say that her friend definitely hasn’t been acting like herself lately.”
“Is there anything that I might do to help?’
“Don’t worry, Ms. Kent... Athena and I will get to the bottom of this particular mystery very soon.”
This was yet another very nebulous conversation, but I decided that it was really none of my business and that I shouldn’t be prying into the affairs of others. “Well, please pass along my apologies to Ms. Nikos if you see her. We had a very odd conversation and I, well… I thought she was a little crazy to be completely honest.”
Tania smiled. “Ha! It’s ok… I’m sure Athena will understand.”
As Tania and I made our way through the endless aisles of books, my mind wandered to Ms. Pryor’s private collection of ancient literature stashed beneath our very feet. I was pleased to have found the book that Tania requested, but I also suspected that I could find even better antiquities resources in the underground collection. Tania was an expert in Homeric relics and I was certain that she would be fascinated by the translation of the Lost Diary of Astynome and some of the other scrolls and artifacts that were down there. Unfortunately I had no way to access the hidden chamber and I had been warned by Ms. Pryor herself to never speak of its existence to anyone.
It was difficult to keep a secret of that magnitude to myself, especially in the presence of someone who could really appreciate the value of the collection like Ms. Mazona. Given her expertise as an antiquities dealer, she would no doubt be overjoyed to explore the many works of lost art and ancient resources locked away in the subterranean archive. As an archeologist, Ms. Nikos would probably also find it fascinating.
I wondered if Tania or Athena would be interested in helping me to find a way to get down there.
“Ms. Mazona… Does your antiquities knowledge extend to ancient books?”
Tania paused and I could tell from her expression that she was obviously intrigued. “It does to some extent… How ancient are we talking about?”
I glanced around. The library was closed. We were all alone.
I stepped closer to Ms. Mazona and dropped my voice to a whisper. “Are you familiar with the Lost Diary of Astynome?”
Tania looked at me curiously, wondering why I was suddenly being so conspiratorial. “I’m familiar with the name ‘Astynome’ from my studies of the Trojan War… but I’ve never heard of any lost diary… why do you ask?”
I took a deep breath as I tried to figure out how to tell Tania about the hidden chamber filled with forgotten books without her thinking that I was making the whole thing up. “What if… what if I told you that I knew of a place… wait… did you hear something?”
We both froze and cocked our heads to the side as we instinctively held our breath and listened. I could hear the sound of approaching footsteps coming from between the rows of bookshelves.
“Hello? Who’s there? …The library is now closed!”
I started to get a little nervous when no one replied. Tania’s posture changed dramatically and I could see that she was instantly on high alert. Her hands clenched into fists and she seemed ready for action. “Ms. Kent, are you expecting anyone to be here at this hour?”
I shook my head no. It sounded like a group of several people moving through the library and they were making no effort to be stealthy. In fact, the footsteps seemed to be getting much louder.
Whoever it was… they seemed to be coming straight towards us.
Tania grabbed my forearm and suddenly bolted towards the main entrance, practically dragging me behind her. I could hear the footsteps approaching behind us and they were running faster now also. I could make out the low murmur of male voices and the squawk of a walkie-talkie, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying.
Tania was moving swiftly despite her high heels and we were almost to the main entrance. All we had to do was sprint across the main lobby and we were home free. I didn’t know who was chasing us, but I didn’t want to find out. I was struggling to get my keys out of my pockets without slowing our pace. Tania shouted instructions in my ear.
“Ms. Kent, listen to me very carefully… When we get to the door, I want you to exit the library and shut the door behind you. I’ll be staying inside. I want you to keep moving until you reach the security phone under the telephone poll on the south side of the parking lot. Call for security and then hide… Do not look back!”
Was she crazy? Did she seriously just tell me to leave her in here alone with the guys that were obviously chasing us?
“But… but what about you?”
Tania Mazona smiled and rolled up her sleeves...
“Don’t worry about me… I’ll be just fine.”
Tania Mazona is the OC of
Athena Nikos is the OC of
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