Ezekiel strolled through down the hall, towards the annex, a slice of extra-cheese, double-pepperoni pizza held between his fingers. “Jenkins,” he called.
The double doors that separated the annex were closed, but through the glass Ezekiel could see Jenkins at his desk. He was sipping from a cup of tea, his research spread out in front of him.
“Mr. Jones, I am working,” he said, as the doors opened. “I closed those for a reason.”
“And I am here to work too,” Ezekiel replied, a casual ease in his stride. “Is the door fixed?”
“No, not yet,” Jenkins sighed. He walked to the globe, the wires were a fried mess.
The others went through the door three days ago, the globe went up in flames, and there had been no word from anyone. The only two remaining were Ezekiel and Jenkins.
“I tried tracking their phones but got nothing,” Ezekiel announced, abandoning his pizza. “They’re definitely off the grid. I have a notification set up, incase something changes.”
Jenkins paused, looking at Ezekiel for a moment. “Very well, Mr. Jones,” he said. “I’ve been looking through things that could’ve caused the globe to–what did you say? fry?–and so far, I have nothing for certain. Any known artifact that could’ve caused it are in the library or are known to be destroyed.” Jenkins took a moment to think over his work. “I believe they were pulled into another world–alternate universe, pocket dimension, something like that. I can’t tell for certain without further readings, but that is the only thing I can think of that would cause something like this.”
“So how do we solve that?” Ezekiel asked. “What do we have that can track and take us to the others?”
“We have a few things, actually,” Jenkins said. “The Looking Glass…that might work. If we can find a way to bind that to something used by them–any or all of them–it might create a strong enough portal that we could at least get a mark on their whereabouts, and maybe let them through.”
Jenkins walked to the card catalogue. “The mirror is in the hall of mirrors, naturally, but we could use the Eye of Wotan to strengthen the mirror’s power.”
“I’ll get that,” Jenkins said. “You get the mirror.”
Nearly half an hour later the pair were hooking up wires between the artifacts.
“I have Cassandra’s notebook,” Jenkins said, holding up a small black journal.
“She dropped that on her way out,” Ezekiel nodded. For the first time since his friends had gone missing he felt real fear. “They’ve been gone for so long…”
Jenkins let out a deep breath. “Mr. Jones, if there’s one thing I know about our friends, it’s this: they are alive. They’re strong and, more than that, they’re intelligent. Spending precious time worrying about their safety is something we cannot do. Focus on the task.”
Ezekiel swallowed the knot in his throat and did as he was told, his hands working quickly to connect the items.
A few minutes later, the mirror was shimmering and on the other side were the three other librarians, and their guardian. The four, without hesitation, ran through the mirror–crashing into Ezekiel.
“Thank god!” Eve cheered. “What took you guys so long?”
“The door was–is broken!” Ezekiel said, pointing at the crisp globe.
In the annex, hours later stood Ezekiel and Jenkins. Ezekiel was packing up his things, readying to leave.
“You did well today, Mr. Jones,” Jenkins said, not looking up from his now tidy desk. “I commend you.”
“You too, mate,” Ezekiel smiled. “See you tomorrow.”
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