It felt like an eternity to walk to the huge wooden doors. The wooden door was somewhat similar to what she had witnessed in the library.
It had carvings and intrications which looked too simple and yet completely out of the world. Crescent would have loved to stand right here and keep on admiring the door some other day.
Today, however, she couldn't let herself be swayed by any other thing. She had a strong urge in her heart to just go straight, take the key from Icarus and go to that secret library.
But she knew she would need to take it slow. And he was not even here today.
Crescent pushed the door lightly and peeked in. Her eyes raised in appreciation because what greeted her was a hall with huge racks and racks of books.
The hall was old, too old to easily pass as an ancient. The walls and ceiling were stoney. In fact, the air inside was also cold as compared to outside.
Anyone could easily mistake it as an ancient court of justice. Crescent wouldn't lie but sometimes she got surprised with how they had kept it preserved even after all these centuries.
As soon as she took a step inside, a sound echoed in the hall. It was a sound of bells tinkling, one after the other and right when Crescent stopped in her tracks, it stopped as well.
It took her aback. Crescent stood at her place, scanning not just the marvellous place but also trying to find the source of the noise.
Was someone here?
She took the next step forward, and the bell rang again. With that, she halted once more.
Had the tinkling of the bells been a pleasant sound, Crescent wouldn't have minded it at all.
However, it was anything but that!
The sound was sharp, too sharp to straightaway travel through the ears to grab that particular nerve of the brain and wring that.
Was it a mere sound being produced automatically?
Crescent had her eyes zoomed at the floor. She thought of something and stepped forward. The sound blew up in the surroundings.
It was the sensory response. Must be for the security reason. But if it was so, why was not someone here yet?
"Excuse me? Is anybody here?"
The way the sound echoed it can't be just her to hear that and get irritated by it. Especially the researchers should be the first ones to get irritated.
Crescent waited, looking all around to find a door or something. She could see the sight of a staircase not too far from her, taking her to the next floor whose front landing was visible to her when she cranked up her neck to certain degrees.
"Hello?" She went with another try. As she wondered what to do next, even attending the idea of dialling Professor Smith, something flew above her, causing her to instinctively bend.
Taken back, she moved her neck to see what it was.
At the top of one of the racks sat that.
A crow.
Here? Crescent found it extremely weird.
Within seconds, the lights went off surprising her once more.
Except for the bare minimum light filtering in through the ceiling window, there was no other source of light. And she stood there in the darkness.
The weather for the past few days had been rainy.
Even right now, the clouds thundered out loud up in the sky. Crescent dared to take another step again. Since the light was out and the generator seemed to be off too, the bell must not ring.
But she realised she was wrong when that sharp sound whipped in.
Crescent licked her lower lip in slight disbelief and a pinch of more irritation. How was this even possible?
Was she supposed to stand here all day and night, waiting for someone to make an appearance?
Professor Smith did tell her some time ago that Icarus was out of town but his personal assistant was right here. She should have taken either his phone number or learnt his name.
Crescent pursed her lips and decided to go forward. What would happen with the sharp noise except for the irritation?
With that, she sauntered around, and only then did she realise how wrong she was!
With every step taken forward, the noise got more and more sharp and unbearable.
She was at the corner by now, just about to look at the nearest rack when she felt a whisper by her ear. "I was wondering who could it even be to trespass with so much audacity."
This voice... Crescent had gotten too familiar with this particular tone in the past few days.
She slowly turned around and it would be a lie to say that she was just surprised. Even the bare minimum light could not stop her from making out the face of this man.
"Why is it you again?" She incredulously let out these words.
Disbelief.
Pure disbelief shone on her face.
And this man let that signature resurface over his lips.
Oh, how she had grown to dislike it!
"Don't you think I should be asking that?" The man leaned in, Crescent was too surprised to even realise how close he had gotten to her within a second.
His breath spawned over her face as he muttered and tilted his chin a little to the right. "Tell me, lady, have you fallen for me? That you are stalking me everywhere I go?"
Crescent parted her lips to speak and instantly took a step back. "What are you here for?"
She looked firmly into his eyes. If she had the power to look through the people, she would have loved to know every inch of what was going on in there.
It couldn't be purely too much of a coincidence that he was everywhere she needed to be.
His eyes sparked with amusement as his eyes went to the document in her hand. He took a step back and with a snap, the lights were back. Crescent noticed him doing that.
"Samuel." He called out a name while staring into her eyes. Something had changed with his face as if everything had become clear to him.
It took a minute before someone came. "Right here."
Crescent stared as another man, seeming a bit younger than this mysterious person, came over. He was dressed in a crisp suit and it was only now that Crescent realised how the front man was also dressed up in a suit.
In fact, he was always dressed up in a suit only.
"Greet the lady. She is here for a long time." And with that, the man turned on his feet and went back. While passing Samuel again, he stopped and whispered something in his ears.
Something almost like a realisation dawned on that guy called Samuel and he nodded.
Samuel came forward and bowed a little. "May I know why you are here? I am the incharge of this place for now?"
"Professor Smith sent me here. I am the student assistant for Icarus." She let out the words, still bewildered though.
"Alright, I got it; you must be Miss Crescent?"
"That's me." She nodded, her eyes moving back to the place where the man disappeared. "Who was the man earlier?"
Samuel paused. His face was blank but somewhere hidden from all, his finger twitched a bit as he let out the words. "A peon." Immediately, his mind was struck with something painful. And he had to force himself to stay calm.
"Peon?" Her eyebrows furrowed, a peon dressed up in a crisp suit? She did not believe him.