This is Episode 4-9 of a serial urban fantasy & paranormal story.

◀ Prev • [ All parts ] • Next ▶

 

Part 4-9: Squares

Eventually, I had to admit to everyone that I’d never set foot in the town’s central library, and therefore could not visualize it well enough to auto-warp there. This led to a very unproductive and annoying conversation about the last time I’d been to one, which was probably in grade school.

“Everything’s online,” I said, as I trotted half-blind down the middle of a street, residential wifi routers assaulting me on both sides, harmless cars fraying my nerves as they appeared and disappeared.

“Regardless, it’s a great place to chill, pause the zap-n-pop of the world, and collect your thoughts,” argued Fergus, who’d reported that the ticking noises had subsided significantly since leaving the office.

“There is also a magic to seeing what is in the most lonely books,” added Persi.

“And not everything is digitized,” said Deluxe. “Entire historical perspectives are preserved in analog in these buildings.”

“I am not getting a library card,” I said. “Can we talk about the plan, or anything else?”

No one took my bait, because the plan was terribly straightforward: see if we could find the same shelf or arrangement of books somewhere in the library. From there, we might be able to piece together whatever The Minder had in store, or unlock the next step to his mad lesson, or whatever.

I kept the diamonds-and-squares business to myself for the time being, wanting another glimpse at the checkered pattern before I started freaking anyone else out. It had come from the yellow book, which was with Fergus and Persi, who were going to get to the library well before I did.

In fact, they’d already completed the mission by the time I’d arrived in the parking lot.

“This has to be it,” came Fergus’ muffled voice. Upon arriving they’d stashed a headset into the top pocket of a backpack, so as not to look like psychos in public. This also meant Deluxe and I couldn’t communicate directly with them, so we were back to cumbersome text message relays.

“They sent me a photo Alena, care to see?” asked Deluxe.

“Sure.”

I shifted focus back to the condo, and she flipped the wifi off so I could get a good look at her cell phone. It was a lone shelf, indistinct from any other library bookshelf I’d ever seen or could imagine. Its only interesting feature was that it seemed to be by itself versus part of a big collection of shelves, if thats how libraries still worked.

“Dunno,” I said. “Nothing rings a bell for me.”

“Hm,” she said, and texted something back.

A moment later, Fergus said, “It is. I feel it, man.” A pause. “Persi too.”

“May need you to confirm, Alena,” said Deluxe. “I did not find evidence of an active rogue signal at this location, but I can probably disrupt the wifi for you if it helps. However, if you can manage without, that would be preferable.”

“Why?”

“My connection isn’t wholly secure. If I actively interfere with the network it may trip a watchdog. Child’s play to timeline these texts and then our friends are painted with federal markers too. I’d need several hours to write an encryption I’d be comfortable with.”

“’Cause of your government spooks, eh?” I said.

I received a level, sober stare in return, which gave me little comfort.

“Right then. I’ll try my best.”

Back in the parking lot, the four-storey central library lorded over the town’s biggest plaza. Wide and pillared, it had a congressional look to it, especially with the flagpole planted outside the main entrance. Its windows burned with free Internet access, as the occasional blue hued human came and went. This was not going to be fun.

The temperature ticked up as I approached, moving from stuffy to stinging as I crossed through the door. I could tell where the routers were—intolerable suns battered down from the high ceilings, leaving only the very bottom of the floor visible.

Crawling was the way to go. On my hands and ghost knees I went, baring my teeth, navigating through columns of shelves that rose up and were lost almost instantly to a wiggly mess of raging diamond nothingness.

“It sure is quiet up here on the second floor,” said Fergus in a weirdly patronizing tone. I assumed Deluxe had instructed him to say something that might help me. “But kinda spooky, all the way in the back, hey?”

“Yes it is quite the distance from the stairway,” said Persi, her voice distant.

Awesome, I thought. I had to find a stairway and climb into the painful blast. Had it been this uncomfortable when I first jumped in? In that maintenance hut, in the park? The router had been in it, right above me. Maybe the library had special business grade super-Internet or something.

Eventually, I found the steps, or at least some steps. As feared, they rose up into the cloud. I couldn’t see past the fifth one. The wavering diamonds swirled about, little acidic snowflakes, spinning and daring me to come meet them. I watched, sucking on my lip, steeling my nerves to either plunge in or cave and ask Deluxe to risk the shutdown.

Procrastinating, my thoughts wandered to the checkerboard squares. They didn’t hurt at all, and would be a welcome sight over this stabby, ethereal chain link fence. Diamonds were just squares, so why didn’t they seem like it to me? A chain link fence was made of diamonds, not squares… unless you tilted your head and ignored the top and bottom of it, and made yourself see the shapes however you liked.

I conjured the image of Deluxe and Dack’s weird little chess game hybrid, what had Persi called it? Court-something, it was literally only yesterday we’d been playing.

Yesterday, shit. Felt like a million months ago. How was I still functioning? Pure adrenaline? Magic? What was Clockworld doing to my brain? My complexion? What if my future children were all born without faces thanks to mystical-DNA mutation bullshit?

Distracted by these tangential thoughts, it took me a moment to realize Deluxe was trying to get my attention. But I couldn’t focus on what she was saying, because I was actually doing it—the checkerboard pattern had melded into the diamonds. They shifted and stopped their wavy dance, slowed, became the squares they always were.

I kept concentrating on the idea of a Future Alena suffering from alien diabetes, because the trick seemed to be to not focus on the diamonds/squares. Just let them be what you knew to be true, have your conscious thought elsewhere. Example: doctors and nurses puzzled over why Alena’s brain melted, they’d never seen such a thing! A frightening yet amusing notion to ponder while hunkered at the foot of a public library staircase, but I’d done stranger.

And now, I could see all the way up, as the checkerboard patterns melted into the back corner of my head. It didn’t hurt anymore. I knew the diamonds could come back, they really wanted to be seen for what they were, but I’d achieved that two-faces-and-a-vase thing: I could not unsee the squares.

Finally, with the wifi conquered, I could listen to Deluxe.

“Sorry, say again,” I said.

“Alena! What’s going on?” she said, breathless. “Rogue signal at high frequency, co-opting all library networks, make ready for hostiles!”

“Um,” I said, standing and starting up the steps. “I believe I found the cause of the signal.”

“Details girl, pronto!”

“The cause,” I said, “is me.”

 

 

Continued in Part 4-10

◀ Prev • [ List of parts ] • Next ▶

 

🎁 Win prizes for reading!	🔖 Collect episodes or parts as NFTs
Learn more	Free NFT Bookmarks on Polygon OR Commemorative Hive NFTs

📚 Get on (or off) the readlist by asking in the comments	🔮 Read The Childseeker’s War: a full fantasy novel on Hive	👻 Check out Starlight Spectre: a horror novella on Hive
✒️ Learn about the Scholar & Scribe writing community	🍕 Join the Hive Pizza Guild: a community of creatives	🗺️ Worldbuilding project (Sneak peek!)

 

📚 Readlist 📚

These users get pinged on new parts & earn occasional token airdrops!

@relf87 • @jonimarqu • @wrestlingdesires • @cescajove • @gwajnberg • @yeckingo1 • @twicejoy • @pero82 • @candnpg • @emaxisonline • @olaf.gui • @emrysjobber • @thinkrdotexe • @thoth442 • @leemah1 • @henruc • @alex2alex • @arc7icwolf • @susurrodmisterio • @mavericklearner • @seki1 • @alessandrawhite • @grindan • @samsmith1971 • @shadowspub • @lisamgentile1961 • @stevermac1966 • @engilhramn • @joseal2020 • @oblivionlost • @treefrognada • @alicia2022 • @slothlydoesit • @iskawrites • @hhayweaver • @jhuleader • @wanderingmoon • @ivanslait • @acidtiger • @ganjafarmer

Thank you for reading. I own the license for all images in this post. Episode 4 cover art was made with a Canvo Pro license. Follow me or the #huntingmidnight tag so you don't miss new parts! I can also @ tag folks to alert you, just ask in the comments to join the readlist.