by H. Duke
She took a few moments before shaking her head.
Slowly, as though he didn’t quite believe her, Randall loosened his grip. Her feet touched the floor, and he seemed poised to grab her if she made a run for the gate. She didn’t. They were right. There was no way she could make it past that mob.
“Close it,” Dorian said.
“No. Rico might try to come back. If he does…” It was already after four in the morning, there was less than an hour left before the portal would close, but there still might be time.
Dorian considered this for a moment before nodding. They watched the gate, and the groundlings watched them back.
At ten to five, Dorian spoke softly. “I have to go.” Barty nodded and walked towards The First Adventure of Braddy Evers, closing it. April watched the gate shut on the staring faces of the groundlings, a tear rolling down her cheek. Dorian walked to the loose floorboard where The Picture of Dorian Gray was hidden. He pried the board loose and opened the book.
“What now?” Randall asked as the gate yawned open.
“We wait until evening,” Dorian said. “The boy should be safe once the story moves on. Then we’ll be able to find him and take him back here, no worse for wear.”
April looked away. There were a lot of ways that plan could go wrong. What if the UNCs found him before then?
Barty pointed at the unconscious groundling. “What about him?”
“How long will he be asleep?” Dorian asked.
Barty lifted his chin. “Until I remove the enchantment.”
Dorian nodded. “Good. Raoul will be here in a few minutes. Go downstairs, tell him you need the groundling someplace secure and safe for the rest of the day. He’ll know what to do.”
“Who’s Raoul?” April felt so numb that it took her several seconds to realize that she’d been the one to say the words.
“The maintenance man,” Dorian said.
Her breath caught in her throat. The last time Dorian had mentioned the word maintenance was the night they found Andre. He’d been the one to dispose of Andre’s body and remove any evidence of his death from the library.
“Who is he, anyway?” April asked.
“Raoul is no ordinary custodian,” he said. “Most people are unaware that the stipulations in Werner’s will included one other employee who could not be fired.”
“The janitor?” April asked. “Why?”
Dorian shrugged. “Not even Mae knew for sure, but what we’ve surmised over the years is he has a certain… skillset. He’s the one we turn to when we’re in a pickle.” The clock began to chime. “I have to go, unless we want to mess things up more than we already have.”
He stepped through the gate into the streets of nineteenth-century London. He remained facing them as the gate closed, his eyes meeting hers for the last few seconds before the crack met over them.
April stared at the stained-glass window for a few seconds, then tried to walk over to a chair to sit in it but stumbled. Her limbs felt heavy, like there were giant weights attached to them. Randall reached out and steadied her.
“Whoah—you need to get home and go to bed. You need some sleep before you come back for your shift.”
“But the janitor—”
“Barty will take care of that.”
Barty nodded. “Of course. Leave it to me.”
Randall nodded to Barty. “I’m going to take her home.”
“Wait,” April said. “You’ll need to lock up… where are the spare keys Rico brought in?...” she looked around desperately for them, but they were nowhere to be found. Rico must have brought them through the gate.
“Maintenance will lock up,” Randall said. “Come on.”
She wanted to protest more, but she was so tired… she allowed him to lead her down the stairs and out to her car. He deposited her in the passenger seat, like a father with a small child. It made her feel safe, like someone was taking care of all the big decisions.
He drove her home, leaving her car in the driveway. He watched her get into the house, and then walked down the street.
She trudged up to her room, sure there was no way she would sleep… but she fell diagonally onto her bed, her feet dangling over the edge, her head nowhere near the pillow. She was unconscious immediately.
Chapter Eight
Her eyes opened next a little more than an hour before she was supposed to be at work. She stumbled into the bathroom, wincing at the witch-woman staring back at her from the mirror. Her hair was matted and tangled, and her makeup had smeared down into raccoonish circles under her eyes. She made herself as presentable as possible, then walked out to the dining room.
Gram was eating lunch. She eyed April, and April knew she was going to say something. Luckily, she allowed her to make a sandwich and brew a pot of coffee first.
April sat down at the table with some trepidation. “Hey, Gram.”
Gram murmured a greeting back but didn’t immediately say what she had to say. Finally, when April was halfway through her sandwich, she said casually, “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“What?” The bite of turkey and bread that April had been working on almost fell out of her mouth. She forced herself to chew and swallowed. “Why would you think that, Gram?”
Gram shrugged. “You’ve been coming home so late these past couple of weeks. To tell you the truth, I’ve been a little happy about it. I think it’s good, if you’ve found someone.” She paused. “But it was quite a shock when I heard your car pull up at five thirty in the morning, look out, and see that Randall guy dropping you off in your car. Not only is he too old for you, I have to ask myself, what is April getting into that she can’t even drive herself home?”
April’s heart broke at Gram’s worried expression. “Randall’s just a friend, Gram. I wasn’t feeling well so he dropped me off. He lives nearby.”
“I see.” Gram paused. “Well, you know I hate late risers,” she fixed April with a stern look, “But I can’t say the notion of you having a beau is a bad one.”
“Really?”
“I’m not a nun, sweetie, and neither are you. You’re a grown woman, and you’ve been working so hard… you deserve to have someone to take care of you.”
April remembered the letter Gram had written. She’d mailed it the previous day. Would it hurt to let her think she had a boyfriend somewhere in the city? Until the ink rot was under control, April would be spending late nights at the library. It would be nice to have a cover story, something to tell Gram so that she wouldn’t worry—and wouldn’t scold her when she slept in until noon.
“Well, I didn’t want to say anything, but I have met someone,” April said. It was true, after all. Not that she could tell Gram that she’d been sleeping with a genie. “I wouldn’t call him a boyfriend, though. Not yet.”
To her surprise, Gram smiled. She looked relieved. “Oh, hon… that’s great news.”
“I didn’t think you’d be so happy about it.”
Gram grimaced. “I was pretty worried when you first started staying out so late. What can a girl your age be getting into that late at night? Nothing good. You have to admit this is the best-case scenario.”
April winced, thinking of all she’d put Gram through. Gram needed to preserve her health; she shouldn’t be worrying about April.
Gram continued. “But if it’s not Randall, why did he drop you off?”
April shook her head, thinking fast. “Randall’s his roommate, he, uh, works during the day and had to go to start his shift, so Randall had to drop me off—I was too tired to drive. That’s also why we meet at night.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“The library.”
“What’s he look like?” Gram said, leaning in and raising her eyebrows with a conspiratorial grin.
“You know—tall, dark, and handsome. Middle Eastern.”
“What’s his name?”
Oh, shit. “What?” April asked, completely caught off guard. She still didn’t know t
he genie’s name.
“You do know his name, right?” Gram was only half joking.
“Of course. It’s… it’s Dorian.” April said the first name that popped into her head.
“Hmm. Dorian. Doesn’t sound Middle Eastern.”
“Yeah. One of his parents is American.” It was amazing how easily the lies slipped from her mouth. She hated lying to Gram, but if this made Gram worry less…
“Well, I’d love to meet him sometime,” Gram said.
“We’ll try to arrange it,” April said. “But like I said, he works during the day and you go to bed so early…”
Gram laughed and covered April’s hand reassuringly with her own. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Your old Gram won’t embarrass you, and I understand if it’s not a take-him-home-to-the-family situation. But if it does get serious… well, I’d just like to know the people who are important to you, is all.”
“Okay, Gram.”
Gram patted her hand. “Get a move on, now. You’re going to be late for work.”
April sighed. Work. Back to the library. She wished she could crawl back into bed and hide under the covers or disappear into One Thousand and One Nights for good. But she had to keep it together, for Rico’s sake.
On her way to work, she found herself taking a longer route. She wasn’t sure why until she passed Andre’s apartment. She only knew which one it was because Andre would stop by the reference desk and say, I stay just a block away at the Chateau Knoll Apartments. Nothing fancy, but it’s clean and the neighbors are nice and quiet most of the time. I live on the top floor, corner apartment. Can see the library from my bedroom window.
She slowed as she drove by. Only one apartment matched that description. Was his ex-wife inside, worried sick about her son? Had she realized he was missing yet?
When April walked into Mae’s office, the first thing she noticed was a folded piece of paper set conspicuously on top of it. She picked it up. The note was written in small, precise print.
We have a problem. I’ll meet you after close.
-Maintenance
Damn it. What could possibly be the matter? It had to be something to do with the groundling they’d abducted.
She didn’t have much time to fathom what might have gone wrong because she saw Becky, accompanied by Rico’s mom, enter the Werner Room. Rico’s mom looked like she’d been up all night and hadn’t showered that morning. They walked over to the reference desk and spoke with Janet. April groaned when they started walking towards her office.
Becky knocked. “Come in,” April croaked, slipping the note into her desk drawer.
“Have you seen Rico? Andre’s son?” Becky asked. Any anger she’d displayed towards April previously was absent, replaced with concern.
“He’s been missing since last night,” Rico’s mom said, a desperate glint in her eyes.
April tried to screw her face up into a look of surprised concern. “Really? What time did you last see him?”
“Around nine. We got into a fight and he ran off.” Her lips pressed into a regretful line. There was no trace of the overbearingness she’d exhibited the last time April had seen her. She just looked like a haggard mother whose child had gone missing. “I thought he was just blowing off steam. It’s a safe neighborhood. I expected he’d be back within the hour. I didn’t think…” her face crumpled, and Becky reached out an arm and patted her shoulder.
Rico’s mom continued. “He went off in this direction. I thought maybe someone here saw him.”
“I was at the library last night,” April said, “I didn’t see him.”
“Did he say anything to you when he picked up Andre’s stuff yesterday?” Becky asked.
April shook her head. “He just asked about his dad’s things.”
Rico’s mom looked up. “Is it okay if I hang some fliers around the library? Maybe someone who comes in here has seen him…”
“Of course,” Becky said. “You can use the staff printer. I’ll show you where it is…”
When April went out to the desk, a flyer stand had been added to the array of brochures. A photocopied picture of Rico took up most of the page. Have you seen this boy? was written across the top. The picture was a school photo. In it Rico’s hair was much shorter than it was now.
April sighed, angling the stand so she wouldn’t have to see Rico’s face. They’d get him back tonight. They’d somehow convince him not to say anything to anyone about being sucked into a book. Everything would go back to the crappy way it was before.
The rest of her shift passed agonizingly slowly. Randall nodded to her when he and Rex came in around six. She could feel him watching her out of the corner of his eye. Even Rex seemed to scrutinize her.
A couple other patrons who were in the room left, and then it was just her and Randall. He came up to the desk. “Did you get any sleep?”
She nodded. “I passed out as soon as I got to bed.”
“You ready for tonight?”
“I think so.”
He gave a forced laugh. “I guess that’s all we can hope for, isn’t it?”
He started to head back to his seat. She spoke. “Thanks. For dragging me out of there last night. I don’t like it, but this is the best way to help Rico.”
Randall nodded. “No problem.”
Looking for a way to break the tension, she said, “Gram caught you dropping me off this morning. She was convinced you’re my lover.”
Randall’s eyes raised. He cracked a grin. “I bet she was thrilled.”
“She said you were too old for me.”
“She’s right about that. I could be your dad.”
April told him about telling Gram that she had a boyfriend. He nodded at the information. “At least she won’t worry.”
“She’s actually pretty excited by the idea. Unfortunately, she wants to meet my ‘boyfriend’ sometime.”
Randall thought for a moment. “I suppose Barty could pose as your boyfriend…”
She laughed. “Right.” She’d just have to figure out how to tell Barty that his name would be Dorian for the night.
~~~
After close, April showed Raoul’s note to the others. Rex started to growl, and they turned to see what had riled him. A form emerged from shadows in the hallway.
The man had olive-toned skin and a pencil-thin moustache hugged his upper lip. His face was wrinkled and heavily lined, but he walked with the ease of a much younger man. Next to him was the groundling, who surveyed them with a scowl.
“Raoul,” Dorian said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand. “It’s been a long time. I wish I could say it’s good to see you.”
“Raoul?” April asked. “You’re the janitor?”
“Head of Maintenance,” Raoul said, he offered his hand, and she took it. “It is a pleasure to meet you. You have large shoes to fill.”
“Don’t I know it,” April said. “So you have the same sort of no-fire contract as Mae, right? Oswald Werner hired you.”
Raoul nodded. “That’s a story for another time. Right now, we have a bigger problem.” He pointed to the groundling. “He woke up soon after Barty left this morning.”
Dorian fixed Barty with a hard look. “Until you take it off, huh?”
Barty shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.
Raoul patted the groundling on the shoulder. “Go on. Tell them your name.”
The small groundling stepped forward. “My name is Braddy Evers, and I do not take kindly to being pulled from my home in the middle of the night!”
“Braddy Evers,” April said. “The main character? That shouldn’t be possible, right?”
Dorian’s face had lost all color. “It’s not. He has to be there for the story to proceed.”
“But… the grandfather paradox,” April said. “If he’s not there, what does that mean?”
“I don’t know. This has never happened before.”
“There are a couple possibilities,” Barty said. “I’m no time travel exper
t, but it seems to me that if the story deviates from what’s written in the book, then it’s not the same world anymore.”
“What does that mean?” Randall asked.
“It means that if we open that book”—he pointed to The First Adventure of Braddy Evers—“It won’t go into the same world. This book can only take us to what’s written inside of it.”
“But Rico’s in that world,” April said. “What does that mean? Are you saying we can’t get to the world where Rico is?”
“I’m sorry, April,” Dorian said.
“We can’t give up just because Barty has a theory,” April said. “No offense, Barty.” She looked at Dorian pleadingly. “Is there no hope at all?”
Dorian looked uneasy. “Time works differently in the books, as you know. The rate of difference fluctuates. It’s possible that the next part of the story hasn’t happened yet.”
“It’s possible that my theory is wrong,” Barty said. “It’s just a theory, after all.”
The groundling—Braddy—crossed his arms. “And I would very much like to go back to my home and away from all this hullaballo, thank you very much!”
April nodded. She’d been thinking so much about getting Rico back she hadn’t stopped to consider that they’d turned Braddy’s life upside down, as well. “We’ll get you back,” she told him.
Randall rubbed his beard. “You must have been in bed when the boy broke into your house, right?”
Braddy nodded. “The sound woke me up. I thought it was drunkards from the party, so I called out and told them they had the wrong house. The noise only got louder, so I walked out to give them a piece of my mind. All my neighbors were standing at the doors and windows, but they weren’t… themselves,” he said, his brow furrowing. “As you can imagine, I wanted to get out of there. The boy was already climbing out the back window and that seemed as good an exit as any. He ran off, and I circled around to the front to see what the blazes was going on.” He glared up at Dorian. “That’s when I was snatched off the very ground I was standing on.”
“Did you see where the boy ran?” April asked.
“Off into the woods. I didn’t watch him much further than that. He’d broken into my home, after all.” Braddy fell into a chair, crossing his arms disapprovingly. The chair dwarfed him so that he looked like a pouting child.