Page 34 of Possessed Silverfox
The next morning, I can barely concentrate at work. I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I need something entertaining to keep me awake. I try transcribing a few more pages of Beatrix’s diary, but I’m so tired the text blurs. I settled on digitizing more maps.
I fall asleep at my desk during my lunch break. Cora shakes me awake.
“Are you okay?” she asks, her eyes are brimming with concern.
“Yeah.” I try to yawn, but it turns into a gag. I clamp my hand over my mouth. I make it to the staff bathroom to vomit into the trash can.
I wash my mouth with tap water and splash some water on my face to try and look energized.
Evan looks at me and wrinkles his nose. “If you’re sick, I’m sending you home.”
“I think it’s just food poisoning; I’m fine, really,” I say.
Evan shakes his head. “There’s no way in hell you’re giving all of us salmonella,” he snaps.
“Evan! But—"
“No buts, we’re a library, not a hospital! The people of Weatherby will survive if you take an afternoon off. Go home,” he demands. My stomach lurches again, and I concede to the bathroom to vomit again before I gather my stuff.
When I return to Idylewylde Hall, I knock on Joseph’s office door, but no one answers.
“He’s out to lunch with a friend from high school,” Iphigenia quips. She stops and stares at me like her rheumy blue eyes are trying to see through me. She grips my wrist before I can move away.
“You’re with child,” she hisses.
My jaw nearly hits the floor.
“What?!” I exclaim.
Iphigenia grips my wrist harder, and I get lost in her piercing and hypnotic eyes.
“Idylewylde women always know. My mother was a midwife, and her mother before her.” she whispers.
I can’t speak. I sprint upstairs before Iphigenia can say anything else. When I get to my room, I collapse on my bed and watch my stomach rise and fall, wondering if she’s right.
The next morning, I manage to keep a bowl of cereal down, which I take as a sign that today will be a great day. But when I get to the library, Evan greets me with a panicked look.
“It’s gone,” he says, sweat glistening across his brow.
“What’s gone?”
“The diary.”
My bag hovers above my chair as I shoot Evan a look, “What do you mean the diary’s gone?”
“We can’t find it anywhere. We looked all night. It’s not in the display case, it’s not in your desk, it’s just gone.” Evan looks frantic.
It feels futile, but I tell him to try and retrace his steps. We look everywhere: the dustiest corners of the library, the clear plastic display cases, the boxes where we keep materials for pre-cataloging, but Evan’s right.
Beatrix’s diary vanished overnight.
Chapter 10
Joseph
Iwassorelievedthat the attic had floors again. I didn’t even mind the sawdust that drifted like snow onto the second floor as the contractors sanded away.
The grating sound of the sanded planks was pleasant compared to the constant creaks and clangs of the old house and the radiator's newest party trick: the sound of nails scraping along metal even though no one was there.