Ring! Ring! Ring!
Nigel's phone rang while he was walking on the way to his house. He picked it up from his pocket and swiped the screen to answer the call, not before checking the caller. Seeing the caller, he had a faint idea on what the call will be about.
"Hello, Nigel?"
"Good evening, Shyla."
"Good evening to you too. Do you have a morning class tomorrow?"
"No, my morning schedule is empty. Is this about the research room?"
"Yeah. I had asked Old Man Ben earlier for a scheduled visit. He replied to me that the morning schedule tomorrow is empty, so I reserved it. Is that fine with you?"
"I have no problems with that arrangement. Where do we meet up?"
"How about in front of the library at 8:00 AM?"
"Okay. See you tomorrow, good night!"
"Good night."
Nigel put his phone back to his right pocket. Thinking about tomorrow's excursion, he can't help but feel nervous as he was unsure what might happen at that time. Seeing his house is a few meters ahead, he began to formulate an escape plan in case something awry happens.
His mother was busy in the kitchen when he entered his house. Their household, for as long as he can remember, only had him and his mother. A father was out of the picture and whenever he tried to ask her mother about him, her mother will always give him vague answers.
"Is that you, Nigel? Food is almost done. Why don't you set up the plates first?"
"Okay, I'll do that mom."
He went upstairs to place his bag inside his room and went back the first floor to set up the plates. While he was placing the plates and utensils in their dining table, her mother turned off their electric stove and went to the cupboard to get a bowl.
"What's our dinner, mom?"
"Fresh fish soup with some vegetables."
"Oh, nice."
His mother places the bowl of soup in the middle of the table. She went back to the kitchen to wash her hands, and went back to the table and sat down to the chair opposite Nigel's chair. They began to eat their dinner after doing their prayers. Nigel stood up and walked towards the fridge. He got a long green chili pepper, cut it into two pieces in the middle, and placed it inside the soup. He always likes to eat his soup spicy, and her mother also knows it.
They were watching a daily drama show on the television as both of them eat till their stomachs are full. Nigel took their used plates and put them in the kitchen sink. He began washing them as his mom took a pitch full of orange juice and place it on top of the table. She took two glasses from their cupboard and filled it with orange juice.
Nigel took one of the glasses filled with orange juice and he went upstairs while his mom was busy watching the drama show on the television. He fired up his desktop and began to prepare for tomorrow as he watches the booting up sequence of his computer.
'The signs in the floor and ceiling, and the unnaturalness of that room…' He took note of the irregular factors inside the research room that he saw while he was inside there for a small amount of time. Next, he began to prepare what gear he will be bringing tomorrow.
'I need this…no, maybe not. I need to have a light load…how about this…' he mulled on his head while packing various objects inside his sling bag. It took him half an hour but he was able to put everything that he thought he needed inside his sling bag. He set it aside or now, and did some light research regarding the circumstances between Dr. Merca and Dr. Perchard in the university.
He read all the topics, forums, group chats, and articles related to them. However, there was only a little amount of information pertaining to the connection between both of them, succinctly being summarized as 'collaborators'. 'Either Shyla is lying, which I don't think she is, or they hid their connection pretty well.' Nigel though while scrolling through forums and articles of his research.
When he realized that he had already exhausted much of his methods trying to discover any hidden information, he turned off his desktop computer and laid down his bed with his hand on top of his head. While he might be worried about the trip tomorrow, he was also anticipating it. He somehow reminiscence of the days in his younger years where the school would take them on a school trip. He felt like he was having that excitement. A few minutes elapsed before Nigel finally fell asleep.
…
"Hey, you're finally here."
"Hello, good morning Shyla. I hope that I'm not that late?"
"Let both pretend that you weren't late for an hour."
"Sorry, I fell asleep quite late last night. Usually, on Tuesdays, I don't really wake up early so…"
"I don't want to hear your excuses, let's finish this task so that you can return to your pig bed."
Nigel knew that he was in the wrong, so he became submissive towards Shyla as they went inside the library. Upon entering inside, he immediately noticed a huge change in it. First, the section where the hidden staircase is located had been sectioned from the rest of the library. Second, there were security guards and patrol stationed near its entrance. Finally, the bookshelves' previous order was completely changed.
However, while it did surprise Nigel, it wasn't to the extent of making his mouth wide open. He was expecting that there will be changes that the university will do in order to secure the research room as it contains crucial materials that many universities would love to get their hands with, such as the now infamous Dr. Perchard's early drafts.
Nigel and Shyla walked towards the entrance of the research room, making the stationed guards on their alert mode. However, a middle-aged man went in front of the guards and gestured them to be at ease.
"Nigel and Shyla. Welcome. I trust that both of you are well since our previous encounter."
"Old man Ben, long time no see?"
"Nigel, I'm not that old to be called an 'old man'. Call me Uncle Ben."
Hearing "Uncle Ben's" suggestion, Nigel almost commented "that's copyrighted" to him. However, it is quite a generic term that it shouldn't cause any problems, right?
"I feel that you just thought of something rude, but I'll let it pass. In any case, I heard that Shyla wanted to visit the room as she wasn't able to the last time. You'll be coming with her, correct? By the way, where is Rena?"
"She… had stuff to do."
"…Okay, I understand. A secret affair, huh. I guess that is also quite normal back when I was young and naïve."
Nigel and Shyla did not bother correcting Uncle Ben's misunderstanding as it was also beneficial for them. They can use that reason for anyone else who might question why Rena was not with them. Nigel also quite enjoyed being envied being labeled as a 'playboy', something that had never happened nor did he expect to happen to him. All would have been perfect I these two girls was normal. 'No, maybe crazy is the reason why I am in this blessed situation in the first place.' Nigel though while he and Shyla were descending down the staircase going to Dr. Perchard's hidden stash room.
Another change that happened is that the staircase was now completely bright. Light bulbs were placed on top of the staircase to shed some light on this steep staircase and avoid any accidents caused by the lack of light. There were electric cables running from the surface all the way down the staircase. 'They must not time to put the cables behind the wall' Nigel though while fixing his eyes on the cable.
A couple of seconds walking the down the staircase until they have seen the door that leads behind the research room. Shyla confidently walked forward and gently pushed the door wide open. In there, unlike the surface and the staircase, nothing really changed except for the spotlights now placed in the floor of the room. Hover, the spotlights did the trick and room was fully lit up.
The room, as far as Nigel could remember, did not change significantly. It was still the same as the last time that he was here, but with more detail, because the room had now been illuminated. He inspected the floor and ceiling of the room, and the Charakmanata symbols are still there. The table is still there and the bookshelves were still there.
However, this is the first time that he had observed that the room's shape. There were seven bookshelves in total that acts as a sort of wall for the room, and making the wall with the door as the eight. From a birds-eye view perspective, this must look like an octagonal room. Keeping this in mind, Nigel then noted that if the room is indeed octagonal, then the table will coincidentally be the middle of it.
If one were to trace a straight line from the angled corners of the room formed from a pair of bookshelves place next to each other, then the intersection between these lines will be the position where the table is located. In any case, Nigel let this nugget lay inside his brain as he turned around to look at Shyla who was busy looking around the library, swaying near a bookshelf before backing off over and over again.
"Just what is it that you are looking for? You have been flying around the room touching here and there. If you want me to help, at least give me something to work off."
"…Fine. I'm looking for another switch to show this room's true form."
"True form? What is that?"
"I also don't know, but that's the tern written in my great grandpa's notes. As for what the key is, I also don't know."
"Hmm... quite a pickle, huh." His back turned away from Shyla, while he checked the other bookshelves.
A few minutes had passed by both of them did not discover any hidden keys or something similar to what had happened to them last week. Nigel was looking at the room as a whole while leaning against the six-panel Victorian door. Shyla was currently sitting in the desk, checking the drawers for any possible hidden mechanism that might be the possible trigger for the room's true "transformation".
As this was happening, Nigel was organizing the peculiarities that he had noted inside the room. First, the bookshelves were not the same at all. Each of the seven bookshelves had their own quirks, so to speak. The bookshelves had three rows in it, and they are all filled with books. The odd thing about them is that there are some random dividers placed in the bookshelves that portioned a row of a bookshelf into two. There were no more than three partitions in total, just two. That divider is always in the center of the bookshelf too.
Next, the table. It wasn't a conventional table at all. First, it was attached to the ground. No one can remove the table unless they cut its feet. Second, there was nothing wrong with the table itself. It is a completely normal rectangular mahogany table with its three drawers on the left side. However, because of the abnormal-ness of the room, the normality of the mahogany table does seem out of place.
Suddenly, Nigel pounded his fisted right hand on top of his opened left hand. The sound that his action caused was incredibly loud for a silent and isolated room. It even awoke Shyla from her incessant rummaging of the room's floor and walls, or bookshelves in this case.
"I got it!"