Buried Alive Read online

  Couches and chairs were scattered around the room, and there was a foosball table on the side that had no passages. There was a smaller station to one side that held a coffee maker—empty—and a mug tree that held mugs of all shapes and sizes.

  What took Athera’s breath away was the forest on one of the walls. It was a mural, but it was done so expertly that she was sure she could feel the roughness of the bark or feel the petals of the wildflowers near the bottom of the trees.

  “How many people live here?” Grave asked.

  William had started to stride to one of the tunnels when Grave voiced his question.

  “Just the librarian, but he has guests often. His home was set up for guests.”

  “I thought he was in hiding.” Josy was standing at the mural, her fingers touching the paint.

  “He is, but he has friends he trusts. Come and I’ll show you to your rooms.” William walked down a corridor and Athera followed. Some sleep and a shower would be all kinds of awesome.

  “Where is the librarian?” Athera asked. She was right behind William, and he turned and gave her an inscrutable look.

  “He is around. I’m sure he’ll make his presence known when he is ready.”

  She nodded. What else could she do? It wasn’t like she could demand a meeting and torture the information out of him with bamboo shoots, but it added an element of frustration for her. She wanted the information on killing Nexanthon. She wanted to survive this and go on with her life. She was young for an eternal, a baby in comparison to the others she worked with. All Athera wanted was to go home and feel safe.

  You feel safe with Grave. You would miss him if he wasn’t around.

  She wanted to throw a tantrum and have an argument with herself, but her thoughts hadn’t been a lie. She was in deep when it came to Grave, and the sooner this was over, the sooner he would leave her, and she’d never see the sculpted planes of his face. She would only be left with fantasies of being naked except for the length of his blond hair covering her and his firm chest pressing against the softness of her skin.

  Williams’ voice yanked her out of her fantasy.

  “Athera, you can have this room.”

  Warmth flushed her skin and she ducked her head to hide her blush. “Sure.” The door to the room was open, so she rushed in, hoping that no one had seen her red face.

  The door whooshed closed behind her and Athera found herself alone. A part of her was intensely happy, another part of her weary. She’d been pretty much glued to someone’s side since this mess had started, and it felt weird to be all alone.

  The same Bordeaux-covered carpet was in the room, and she looked up to see what her new temporary home would look like.

  It wasn’t very big. A double bed stood against the far wall. It had a cover on it that was a lighter shade than the carpet. Next to it on each side was a side table and on the table, a small lamp. It looked quite cozy. In the corner of the room near the door was a padded chair, its fabric covering the same color as the bed spread.

  An open doorway pulled her forward to investigate. It opened into a small bathroom. In it were a hand basin, a shower and a toilet in the corner behind the door.

  Athera was looking at the shower longingly and wondering who had her bag when Williams’s voice from her bedroom door made her jump. “Athera...”

  He stopped talking. He was probably waiting for her to answer him.

  “Yes.” She walked into the bedroom.

  William’s upper body was leaning forward on her door jam, so his head was just inside the room, but his feet were still outside in the passage. “If you have a minute, there is something I want to show you.”

  “Oh?” She was curious.

  William gave her a half smile. “It is something that might help you in your quest for knowledge.”

  Athera was intrigued. “Okay, sure. Lead the way.”

  He nodded, pushing his upper body back to stand straight. He turned back toward the living area they had come from and led her through back into the passage that they’d come in.

  “Is it just us?” Athera asked when no one else followed.

  Williams’s warm laugh made her feel silly for being nervous.

  “Yes. The Liberian is—picky. That might be the best word—about who he allows to see what I’m going to show you. It’s best if it’s only the two of us.”

  “Okay.”

  He led her past the entrance to the bunker and further down the passage in the opposite direction until they came to another blast door.

  The door opened to reveal another passage, this one with doors that along intervals down it.

  He kept walking until they reached the end of the passage, and Athera had to admit she was curious to see what was behind all the closed doors.

  The last door was in front of them, closed like all the others.

  “This place really is huge, isn’t it?”

  “Ah huh,” William agreed as he put his palm on a plate on the wall.

  There was a deep whoosh sound as the door slid back and William turned and bowed, waving like a courtier of old for Athera to walk past him.

  Athera frowned, but her curiosity had always been one of her failings. She stepped past William into the room and stopped, her breath taken away by the sight in front of her.

  The room was immense, sunken into the ground for several stories. Each level held a walkway that circled the room and the walls were covered in shelves. The shelves... They held books of every shape and size. Every color and dimension.

  Athera sucked in a breath. “So this is why they call him the librarian?”

  “Yes, indeed,” William said and his tone held the awe she was feeling.

  Athera was almost too scared to walk further into the room. The weight of knowledge the books would contain was daunting. “I’ll find the weapon here?”

  “You will find out what it is, yes. Finding it after that? Well, that is up to you and your companions.”

  Athera looked over at William and was almost too afraid to ask her question out loud.

  How would she find what she was looking for in the immensity of this library? Where would she start?

  To Be Continued.

  About the Author

  Evi is a die-hard romantic who firmly believes in happy endings and loves all things paranormal. She lives in South Africa with her Saint-hubby, two children, Yorkies who she calls her office assistants.

  She is the author of both the Eternals and the Echelon series and is always busy with something.