A teal Grand Am pulled into the parking lot. It had a spots where rust crept around sleepily, but other than that it wasn't too terrible of a car. Slush leapt up in tiny waves beside the slowly rolling tires. When the car stopped a figure got out quickly, pushing the door open with its foot, as usual.
Antonia Weston quickly shut the door of her car. She was in a rush, she could almost taste the storm in the air and wanted to be home before it hit. A light sifting of snow like powdered sugar was drifting down in the dim light. It began to cling to her hair the moment she exited the vehicle. Her hair always brought her attention she was usually too busy to bother with. Something about long, bushy, curly hair will attract the eye. The face framed by the curly mass was pretty in an odd sort of way. It was almost indiscernible, a youthful beauty that hid slightly underneath her skin.
She tripped slightly on a hidden stone and frowned down at her large feet. It was the curse of being tall. From there she picked her way quickly through the slush and up to the library. She also had the oddly alluring trait of being not quite skinny, though she practised yoga almost daily. It was mainly a case of genetics, though her love of all things chocolate contributed considerably.
In the air around her hung a feeling of truth and friendliness of the sincerest quality. She was one of those people who you could trust. That aura hung thickly around her for some unknown reason that night.
The library door shut quietly behind her, as though closed by some unknown host. The turmoil in the sky continued to build, but inside the library the light felt soft and the air warm. Like the inside of a lightly heated oven where four ingredients were soon to be stirred and left to rise.
Nicole tugged unconsciously at the cuff of her jacket with her free hand. Her nonfree hand held two books sporting glamorous pictures of horses on their covers. Her eyes scanned the bookshelf numbers like intense radars as she walked along. She was nervous. In fact, she was almost ready to give up on the whole endeavour, telling herself all sorts of things about how stupid it was, but some unknown part of her drove her forward.
The library was large, the ceiling vaulted. It was fairly new, and had a very welcoming feel to it. All of the shelves were a rich wood of some sort, and brand new computers stood shinning of in one section on the second floor. Their gentle humming gave the impression that they were whispering in their computer language of numbers and logic. Another part of the second floor housed the non-fiction section, and each of the four girls were either there or making their way there at that moment. Nicole was the fist one to reach the aisle. She stood nervously on the threshold, gave a quick scan to make sure it was empty, and then plunged on in. It was the last aisle of books in the section. One side was a long shelf of books covering all sorts of religions, and on the other were three large windows overlooking the parking lot. The snow that had begun to sift down was now beginning to stick as the temperature dropped. The tops of the cars all looked like softly powdered birthday cakes.
Nicole had no eyes for the pretty little scene outside the windows, her eyes were rapidly scanning the numbers on the books, her fingers tapping random book bindings as she walked along. Her red hair fell like a light waterfall, shielding half of her face. Slightly annoyed, she turned her head to sweep it behind her shoulder, turned back, and both her fingers and her eyes landed on the book she was searching for at the exact same moment. For a moment she stood still, slightly surprised. She was given little time to marvel, however, because in the next moment the scene seemed to explode with action.
The next few events happened in relatively quick sequence. Two more people entered the same aisle Nicole was standing in at the exact same moment, each from different ends. One was clomping along in big boots, the other looked of Chinese heritage. Barely a breath later a tall girl with large, frizzy, slightly damp hair entered the aisle. For a moment all the girls just stood and looked at each other. Nicole had barely made the decision to slip quietly out of the small aisle without the book when suddenly everything fell dark. All the lights cut out, and the gentle computer chatter vanished suddenly.
A deep rumbling growl, like a stomach digesting far to large a meal, resonated through the sky and through the very foundations of the library. Then all was silent. Pale streams of light found their way in through the windows giving everything a dark blue colour. All that could be heard was the four girls breathing and a slight swish of Rhyan's snow pants. Though it seemed longer, the whole episode lasted only about three seconds.
Suddenly the lights clicked back on and in the distance the computers could began their whispering chatter again. The library regained its cheery atmosphere.
