Chapter 8 6

It was colder outside than Blake thought.After staying in the warm dean's dormitory, the air outside felt chilly, almost like winter.He hugged his body to keep warm. The moonlight shone on the path of the college, and Blake's hands and feet could not be controlled, and he stumbled, trying to find his way in the silvery night.All around him were ghostly shadows.He didn't want to turn on the flashlight until he was safe in the library, lest he get in trouble for sneaking out by himself. The corridor loomed in front of him, and he walked quickly. Passing through the first corridor supported by hidden beams, he stopped.Maybe it was a suspicious ghost, so he turned around.Someone is following him.

He stood still and listened carefully. Nothing was heard.Not even a rustling sound. Then he stood beside a pillar and stalked the entrance to the old library across the courtyard.The only thing that can be vaguely seen is the blurred tooth grooves on the stone, biting the night away.Other than that, nothing.Not even half a figure.It must be his imagination at work. He moves on.The stairwell climbed into the surrounding darkness, and the sound of footsteps was his own, scraping off the gravel, bouncing off the walls, echoing after him.He walked faster and faster. In the next atrium, he took a moment to collect himself.The buildings that looked familiar during the day turned into indistinguishable black shadows at this moment.

When the trees move, they are gloomy and bleak, like bats flapping their wings and rustling.His heart beat faster. He recognized the library, the wall of darkness in the distance, and ran towards it. Climbing up the stairs, I saw the small glowing keypad lock at the door, and the numbers on it were burning like eyes.Keyless access to the main building of the academy has been replaced by a set of high-tech access codes.Since students and absent-minded professors only memorized one code, it was the same code for every building, silly, Blake thought.In any case, he was lucky, because his mother forced him to memorize the code sequence, so that he and Da Ke could enter and leave the library by themselves.

He keyed in the number 6305XZ and heard the door click open.He breathed a sigh of relief and slipped in. As he guessed, the library was pitch black. First he heard the ticking of a clock, reminding him of a slow, rhythmic heartbeat.He relaxes. He dimmed the flashlight from the window and swept it across the hall.When the light came on, the books on the shelf looked silvery white, ghostly, and the central staircase slipped away from him, ascending into darkness.However, he chose the passage on the left hand side, passing Thomas.Stern Hou and Jeremy.Wood's portrait.He tiptoed along the aisle of books, past other portraits, eyes that flickered at him, then disappeared again, deep into the shadows.

Finally, he came to the bookshelf where he found the wordless book, more precisely, it was the shelf where the book found him.The book that Da Ke pointed out to him earlier was still spread out on the table, it was like a small landmark, indicating where he should pay attention. But where is the Wordless Heavenly Book? He thought he had placed the book on the third shelf, between two books that were leaning slightly together.A narrow shadowed gap separates the two books.He stuck his finger into the notch.It's empty. Fighting back a moment of panic, he scanned the floor, but the book wasn't there either.

He bit his lip.It can't just disappear like this! In desperation, he stretched out his finger along the spine of the book, and murmured Endymion.Spring, again and again, a bit like chanting a spell, hoping to use his thoughts to make the book appear again, but nothing happened.It's not on the shelf, it's not on the ground.There is no trace of the wordless book anywhere. The library guards its secrets. At this juncture, near the front entrance, a book clattered to the floor, and the sound echoed down the hall.Blake froze.There are people in the library. Instinctively, he turned off the flashlight, tiptoed into the aisle of the large bookshelf, and leaned against the wall.Darkness rushed toward him, squeezed into his eyes, into his ribs.He could hardly breathe.

He was nervous and listened. At any time, the sound of footsteps may reveal the other party, and the slightest breath will reveal the other party, but there is no sound.There was just a terrible, heavy silence.Time oppressed him by the minute. Finally, he couldn't bear the suspense anymore, turned on the flashlight, but immediately covered it with his hand, letting the light flow between his fingers like blood.With such a little light, look around.The darkness stretches into the distance. He turned sideways and slowly moved out of his hiding place.A book is lined along the wall in utter silence.

Taking small steps, he took unsteady steps and slowly moved towards the entrance.A gust of drafts hit him, making him shiver. Finally came to the front hall.His eyes widened in concern, staring into the shadows with difficulty.The circulation counter was there, and the clock, and the tall catalog card rack next to the clock, and a trolley next to it with returned books. He stopped.There is a book just under the bottom of the cart.Eighty percent of them slipped off the shelf. He walked over to the book, then backed away disappointed.Just a stupid, boring textbook.Not Endymion.Spring. He stooped to pick up the book, put it back on the trolley, and nearly died of terror.Behind the corner of the cart, two metallic green orbs gleamed and stared at him.He bounced back in shock.

Then, with great relief, he realized what it was. It's Mephisto! Oh, no, not you, he cried, you shouldn't be in there!How did you turn around and come in here?He muttered, finishing what was on his mind. The door is closed.No one was there. Blake clicked his tongue reassuringly and approached the cat, trying to lure it out of its hiding place, still not sure how the cunning cat had evaded him before.I saw Mephisto easily backed away from his fingers, with a swoosh sound like a tear, piercing the air and rushing upstairs. That's great.Blake exclaimed, knowing that if the cat was left in the library overnight, Paula.Richards would be very hot.

Talking to himself, he chased the cat up the wide marble stairs. Rows of free-standing bookshelves with a history of hundreds of years divide the exhibition hall into several deep and dark alcoves.It looked like a long row of hunched monks in the gloom. Blake walked along the central aisle, searching for Mephisto, creaking floorboards along the way.He scanned the shelves with the light of his flashlight, illuminating hundreds of pale, ghostly books locked to tables with thick chains.The other books stretched open like moths, resting on foam pillows, held down with necklace-like strings to keep the pages from turning.

He stuck the flashlight into the corner, looked under the bench, and found a mass of legs in the shadows. Come on, you stupid cat, Blake whispered anxiously, I don't have a whole night!He could feel time slipping by.At any moment Mother might notice that he disappeared, and then he would be in trouble. it's there! Mephisto crouched in the farthest corner of the room, behind a heavy wooden cabinet, just under a huge portrait of a bearded man, staring back.Horatio.Horatio Middleton (1503︱89), his jeweled fingers clutching the spine of a tattered leather book. Well, you come out.Blake coaxed it, reaching out to pick up the cat.His shoulder brushed the bookshelf, nearly knocking a book off. At first, Mephisto refused to budge, but then he softened when Blake's false flattery persuaded him.Blake caught it by the scruff of the neck.Cat wails. Blake was busy holding the flashlight, hugging the writhing cat, and moving towards the stairs.Stop whining, he ordered the cat, nothing good Without warning, Mephisto stretched out his sharp claws, dug into Blake's shoulder, and quickly jumped free, arching his body and leaping high into the air.Blake was in pain but didn't want to cry out, watching helplessly as the cat landed limply on all fours next to the glass case and sprinted down the remaining steps and out the open door. Blake's heart almost stopped.He could feel the night air rushing into the library, wrapping around his legs, chilling him.The door is open. Who is there?He made a sound anxiously, poking the light of the flashlight into the darkness, driving away the long stretches of darkness around him.Who is there?He called again, and caught a glimpse of a glimmer of light at the end of the passage. He walked toward the flash and almost dropped the flashlight.For at the very end of the passage, where he had stood before, there were several books scattered on the floor.The books hadn't just slid off the shelves, they had been ripped off, and met with a violent frenzy.Scraps of paper littered the carpet like a dismembered bird, its body parts strewn about: at least one book had its spine separated from its cover, dangling like an amputated limb. Blake gasped. For a moment, rooted, he stood there, not knowing what to do, feeling the entire library spinning around him.Then, yielding to a flight of terror, he dashed for the door. He hurriedly climbed down the steps, crossed the grass quickly, and almost stumbled and fell in his haste to escape.It turned out that he was not the only one in the library!Someone followed him into the library!These thoughts chased him all the way through the college at full speed, frantically, through corridors and up the path leading to the dean's dormitory.Does anyone else know Endymion?Spring? A gleam of light, like a razor blade, came through a gap in a curtained window, but by the time Blake stumbled up the stone steps, the gap was closed. A man in ovis-like glasses was taking a thick hunk of crumbly cheese from a sideboard by the door.Blake ducked low behind the man, taking cover.He was bent over, panting with exhaustion. He looks at his watch.Barely thirty minutes had passed.No big deal unless you happen to be waiting for someone. One glance is enough.He's in trouble.Big trouble. Mother was standing next to a rowdy group of academics, barely listening to their discussion.She folded her arms and hugged her chest, staring fixedly ahead, secretly furious.Her body language said it all. He gasps for air. Dako watched eagerly, rising as soon as she spotted him.Where have you been?She snapped and pushed her way through the crowd. Outside, he said.Then, because he couldn't think of a better excuse, he added that it was really cold outside.Maybe it will snow. He started rubbing his arms up and down, wondering if she believed it or not.She doesn't believe it.He doesn't pretend anymore. How angry is she?he asked, gesturing toward his mother.Very angry, Da Ke said, so angry that she stopped talking to the other professors. This is a bad sign.She said she was so angry that words could not describe it.The worst kind. Where the hell have you been?Da Ke asked in a curious tone. I told you.I go for a walk. Blake watched his mother go to get the coat.He grinned apologetically, but met her cold expression.A smile froze on his face almost instantly. No, that's not it, Da Ke said, you went to the library. What? Blake pretended not to hear, but his cheeks blushed, revealing his thoughts completely. You went to the library, she said, I know you did.You thought you could be smarter than me if you found that wordless book and solved that mystery by yourself.You're an idiot!I saw you go. He frowned, what? I saw you, she cheered proudly, you thought you were sneaking, but I was watching all the time.You are so stupid, what a joke. He suddenly attacked her.It turns out that the person in the library is you!He called, I will kill you, I really will! A few people, startled by his violent words, turned around, but he couldn't help it.The fear in my heart was getting bigger and bigger, and I found an outlet to vent. Why are you doing that?he yelled, you scared the hell out of me! There seemed to be something in Da Ke's eyes that made him shut up.Her eyes suddenly opened wide, full of fear, and she was about to cry.She had no idea what he was talking about. It was then that he realized that he had made a mistake.She didn't see him leave, she said that purely to make him feel bad.She was probably out of jealousy, because he had a way of evading her surveillance and sneaking out without letting her follow. She was about to say something when her mother came back with her coat folded and hanging on her arm.The mother took the siblings out without saying a word.I'll settle the bill with you later.She told him coldly, and the brother and sister followed her down the garden path.Her words were like a cloud of frost covering the top.