There wasn’t much time for Kate to talk to anyone after arriving at the library. She was immediately besieged by a reporter from the local newspaper.

  “Miss Crowley, do you have a moment to answer some questions for the Local Voice?”

  “The newspaper here? In theory, yes, I have the time to answer a few questions, but there are stiputions.”

  “I am all ears.” The reporter was a student from the local university who worked part time at the Local Voice, the city’s newspaper. She was here alone.

  “I assume you already know about the strict ban on all forms of recording, audio and video, on library premises. You can’t take pictures here, but we can provide one if you really need it. Your article also can’t be advertised outside city limits, that includes online. It can be put online, but there can’t be anything advertising its existence. You also can’t advertise anywhere that you did this interview. We have people to specifically enforce those requirements if you decide to disregard them and break my trust. I will, of course, give you all of this in writing and have you sign a copy as well. If you agree with our requirements, I am happy to give you that interview.”

  “I expected quite the red tape here and was prepared to be told to leave immediately. I accept.”

  “If you have anything to set up, you can head over to conference room fourteen on the second floor. I will join you there shortly with the written agreement.”

  “Sure, thank you and see you in a few minutes.”

  Kate sat down across from the journalist and slid her the stack of papers. “You can take your time reading it, it’s nothing besides what we already discussed put in proper words and covering our arses on a few edge cases.”

  “I see.” She flipped through it. “I will take a moment to properly read it, don’t want to sell my soul to anyone. I hope you understand.”

  “As I said, take your time.”

  “I’m Sarah McDougs by the way, I’m just working freence for the newspaper.”

  “A student here, yes. If you had come in from a bigger publisher, I would have denied the interview, but I am happy to help someone local.”

  “How do you know I’m a student?”

  Kate shrugged. “I was as confused as you are when I first came here, but we know everyone who enters this pce. One of the simple facts of life.”

  “I suppose you won’t tell me how you do that?”

  “One of many secrets, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh well. I’ll be happy with whatever answers you can give me once we get to the proper interview. I’ll just finish reading this.”

  “Of course.”

  After several minutes of silent reading, Sarah signed the agreement. “Alright, that’s that. I will have to take notes by hand, so please don’t move between topics too fast.”

  “I can get you a full transcript of our conversation once we’re done.”

  “Wait, really?”

  Kate simply nodded.

  “That would help immensely, thank you.”

  “I don’t want to get in your way any more than our standard requirements already do. It’s a little piece of good faith, especially since we usually don’t do that well with journalists.”

  “I have heard stories…”

  “And yet you still decided to try your luck.”

  “I believe there is always a way to get at least some answers. You just have to be gentle and let people tell things on their own.”

  “Just like you are doing right now.”

  “Pretty much. Shall we?”

  “Of course.”

  “Okay, so, you are the head librarian here, right? How long have you been here and when did you get this position?”

  “I joined about six years ago, shortly after I moved here for university. About one year ago, I took the offer of becoming head librarian.”

  “You are the youngest here, as I was told earlier, can you tell me why you were offered that position?”

  “There is a philosophy that we all here hold, one that predates my arrival here by a very long time. Without new perspectives, things stagnate, obviously. So, younger members of any group are often put in higher positions or even directly in charge of things, just to get a fresh direction and new ideas. Of course, there are safety nets and checks in pce to make sure we don’t mess things up. Despite my title, I am not a dictator here, I am not even truly in charge. I am a tie breaker when we can’t agree, I am the one to coordinate what the others pn, and I hold the keys to the doors that have never been locked before. But every decision is made as a group. We don’t need a leader, we never did, what we needed, and what I was given the position for, is someone to make sure things keep running and to carry the responsibilities this pce brings with it.”

  “I see.” Sarah was quite busy jotting things down.

  “You are getting the transcript ter, you don’t need to wear yourself out with all the notes.”

  “I know, I just prefer having something in front of me right now that I can reference in further questions.”

  “A smart idea.”

  “Thank you. You just said that you have doors that have never been locked, what are you referring to?”

  “The library is open at all hours of the day, every day. This has been a fact since our doors were first opened. We never locked them, not during the roman invasion, not during any world war, not during the pest or cholera outbreaks.”

  “May I ask why and how you manage to keep staff around for that. This is a rge library, it must take many people to run it.”

  “Not as many as you might imagine. While our core staff is small, we are six people here, we have a rge group to call upon if we need someone to assist us. As for why we decided to be open at all times… we simply never found the need to close.”

  “Not even staff shortage or renovations?”

  “No.”

  “That is quite impressive. But there are many parts of this pce the public isn’t allowed into. You have opened the vault door on the bottom floor and are showing people a few of the floors but there are rumours about a connection to a secret chamber under the ruins even further down. Can you comment on that?”

  Kate shook her head. “I can’t comment on those rumours.”

  “Can you confirm the existence of a chamber under the ruins? The library has forbidden any digging in that area after all.”

  “I cannot confirm or deny the existence of any chamber that might be there. I can only echo what Professor Corsetti said a few years ago: those ruins have not been pced randomly and that evidence points to us, the librarians, having great interest in them and the nd surrounding them.”

  “Okay. There is a door next to the staff cafeteria here. It’s unbeled and entry has been forbidden to visitors. Can you tell me what is behind that door?”

  “A room dedicated to cats.”

  “Can you eborate…?” Sarah sounded mildly confused.

  “We realized that many cats, both stray and free roaming domesticated, frequent the forest around the library and beg for entry on the rear balcony during bad weather. We decided to provide them with a space where they can be safe and rex.”

  “Truly fascinating. You have offered simir refuge to your human visitors, shielding them from bullying and abuse. You have become especially known as a safe pce for LGBT people. Did you actively decide to be that, and if you did, when did you decide that?”

  “There was no active decision there, we have always protected those in need whenever they came to us. I think it just became more obvious to people when we began showing our support during pride month a few years ago.”

  “To get back to the off-limits areas, there is one more door I want to ask about. The door in the very back of the corridor on the ground floor. Where does that one lead?”

  “That depends how you will write your article. If you paraphrase your questions and my answers and provide additional context, that door leads to a staff only area, basically a glorified break room.”

  “And I provide this question and your answer word for word?”

  “I want you to write one word then. Ask again please.”

  “Okay. Where does the door at the end of the ground floor corridor lead?”

  “Hell.”

  “That is your one-word answer?”

  “Yes. And I won’t eborate further.”

  “You know that you aren’t beating the devil allegations, right?”

  Kate grinned. “One of our best tools to combat prying questions is to redirect them with rumours we control. But don’t write about that.”

  “Yea, that seems like a detail that’s best omitted. Okay then, next question. Your involvement with the festival came on rather short notice. What prompted that decision and its timing?”

  “All the reasons were id out by Pauline in her speech. As for the timing, we didn’t think that we could actually offer anything in time. The past months were rather busy on the back end here.”

  “I suppose you can’t tell me what you were busy with?”

  “The only thing I can tell you is that the trucks dropping off boxes here a few weeks ago were part of what we were busy with. I can’t tell you anything more.”

  “That is better than nothing, thank you. Can you tell where you actually came from? The librarians in general I mean, I know you were born here in Engnd.”

  “The funny answer would be Hell, but no, I can’t tell you.”

  “That would indeed be a funny answer. Alright, let’s continue.”

  The interview went well. Sarah had prepared a lot of questions, taking nearly an hour to get through them all, even with Kate giving rather concise answers to many of them. Once she had finally packed up her notes and the transcript Kate had provided, Sarah hesitated before opening the door.

  “You know… I’m nineteen now. Six years ago, when you said you joined the library, I saw something. My mum saw it too but she always tells me that nothing happened that day. I know what I saw. I promise not to put this in article, this is just for me. I saw an angel, I saw it fighting demons and suddenly vanishing before those demons tended to someone. Someone who looked a lot like you. They all vanished soon after as well. I am certain that it was you and the other librarians.”

  Sarah stared at the doorknob in her hands.

  Kate closed her eyes. “I was told the high inquisitor made sure no witness would remember what they saw.”

  The human didn’t dare turn around. “What?”

  “Tonight, we will be here to await trick-or-treaters. The door on the ground floor, that one at the very back of the main corridor, I can open that for you. I can show you the truth of what you saw six years ago, but that has a price. You would be our agent, watching and controlling what the public knows about us. Dress up, get some treats at the front door and meet me here tonight if you want the truth. If you don’t, you will have forgotten about my offer and those nightmares that pgue you about that day once the sun has risen tomorrow morning.”

  “You have the power to do that?”

  “Yes. How do you think this pce has been kept an open secret for so long?”

  Sarah let go of the doorknob. “If I don’t show up tonight, please don’t erase my memories. If I’m not here by midnight, something will have happened to me, I will not miss this opportunity. Make me your mouthpiece, it doesn’t matter, I just want to know the truth about what has haunted me all those years.”

  “If you aren’t here by midnight, I will find you no matter where you are. Until then, I recommend you find a spooky costume. No costume, no treats. And enjoy the festival, of course.”

  “See you ter then…” She opened the door. “Okay, uhm, have fun too.”