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“You’re kidding,” Michelle said, leaning over the kettle towards her. “Not a single day?”
“Well,” Rosie replied, hiding a smile that knows just a bit too much behind her mug, “I suppose I used one or two here and there. I’ve just never been the vacationing type.”
“Unbelievable,” Cameron said, shaking her head. “So you’ve never gone anywhere?”
“Why would I? I don’t really care for world travelling, and anywhere nearby I want to visit I can go to on the weekends. It’s not like I don’t do anything, I just don’t mind my job. It’s easy, really, since Elias does much of his own work. Mostly I just answer the phone and read.”
“Sounds like a much nicer job that I have,” Michelle quipped playfully.
“There’s a reason you’ve never heard me complaining.”
“Ah, Rosie, you know most of us wouldn’t be satisfied with a life that’s just our job.”
“Who’s saying I am, Cameron? Just because I haven’t taken any vacation yet doesn’t mean I won’t.”
“But how could you even use that many vacation days? Wouldn’t it be easier to just quit and take the pay when you leave?”
“I’m not so sure. Have you tried to quit? There’s just too much paperwork here for something like that. Besides, it’s nice to have a job I know I can always come back to.”
“Oh lay off her,” Cameron laughed, playfully hitting Michelle on the shoulder. “Just because you can’t plan more than a day in advance doesn’t mean no one else can.”
Rosie joined in the laughter as her friends delved into teasing banter. It saddened her, slightly, how no one else seemed to notice how trapped they were, but mostly she didn’t mind. Whatever was going on in the Archives didn’t have much impact on the rest of the Institute, and Rosie had her own escape plan. If her friends didn’t know how much danger they were in, well, her Granny always said ignorance is bliss.
***
“Hello, Eric. Sorry to call you at your home, but are you doing alright? I haven’t heard from you in a while, and no one has seen you in for a few weeks. Is everything okay?” The other side of the line was quiet for a few seconds, and Rosie could hear him breathing.
“Yes,” Eric said after a while, sounding like he was choosing his words very carefully. “I’m, I’m fine, yeah. Just, uh. Well, I quit.”
“Oh,” Rosie said. She waited again, wondering if he was going to elaborate. When he didn’t, she continued, “You didn’t happen to blind yourself to do so, did you?”
Eric’s sharp inhale was answer enough, but he stuttered out a response anyway. “Wh-wha what? How did you know? How long have you known?”
“Well, I didn’t know for sure until now, but I’ve had a feeling for a while. Not something I would do, but to each their own, as my Granny always said. I suppose that means I can take you off the company’s Christmas mailing list, then?”
“I-”
“Don’t you worry about it, I’ll handle all the paperwork for that. And I’ll make sure to send along your last few paycheques in the post then, wouldn’t want to risk you coming back to pick them up and getting stuck with us again now would we? I trust that your address is the same?”
“Y-yes, but-”
“Wonderful. Well, that’s all I wanted to know. Give Mary and Gerard my best, won’t you? Take care, Eric.” With that, Rosie hung up. There was some paperwork she needed to do to make sure that Eric was properly out of the system on the bureaucratic side of things, and she saw no reason to put it off.
***
“Oh, Melanie, are you on your way down to the Archives?”
“Where else would I be going?”
“Nowhere you can see, I suppose,” Rosie countered lightly, ignoring her bitter tone. Melanie gave her a strange look then shook her head.
“Sorry for snapping at you like that. Just been stressed I suppose. Was there something you wanted down there?”
“Yes, actually. I heard that Jon is back from the hospital?”
“Er, yeah, I guess he is.”
“Wonderful. I’d gotten him a gift basket to help him get better, you know, just a few things to keep him entertained while he recuperate, some chocolate and the like, but then I ended up being just too busy to drop it off for him at the hospital. Would you be a dear and take it down for him now?” As she spoke, Rosie walked around to behind her desk and pulled out the basket, holding it out for Melanie, who took it hesitantly.
“Yeah, I can do that,” she said slowly. She tucked the basket under one arm and stared closely at Rosie. “What- how much do you know about Jon’s time in the hospital?”
“Not much more than office gossip, I’m afraid, and we all know how reliable that can be. Though truth be told I may have overheard some straight from the horse’s mouth, as my Granny always said, since Elias isn’t as observant as he thinks he is. Why? How much do you know?”
“He-he died, Rosie. He was dead. For months.” Melanie’s gaze was intense and piercing and she almost flinched when Rosie laughed.
“Yes, well, I suppose we all feel like that now and again, don’t we?”
“What, Rosie, no, I was being serious, he was literally d-”
“Yes, yes, I know, Melanie, I know. It’s like my Granny always said, ‘sleep when you’re dead’ and all that. And just between you and me, Jon really could use several months of sleep. He always looks so tired, poor sap. Well, I think it’s about time we both get to work, I’m sure there’s plenty for you to do down in the Archives and I’ve enough work of my own up here. Thanks for taking that down to Jon for me, and for the chat. It’s always a treat, talking to you, we must do this more often.” As she spoke, Rosie began ushering Melanie out of the room, ignoring her stunned protests. After all, she did have her own work to do, and couldn’t spend the day on idle office chatter.
***
The worms were the start of something big, Rosie knew. It was hard for her to place exactly what it was the start of, and she’d been around long enough to know there would be some time yet before it came to a head, but it meant it was time to start planning more carefully.
Nothing too major, just keeping a closer eye on things than usual. Try to figure out the best time to jump ship. She certainly had more vacation days stacked up than anyone would expect, but she didn’t want to risk running out.
Of course, she could have said that Gertrude’s death had been the true start of it all. It probably would have been, if Elias had been a little sloppier. Rosie knew she should really have reported him to the police when it happened, but she did enjoy her job. No, she didn’t want to rock the boat, as her Granny would say. But now the boat was starting to rock itself, and Rosie knew it was time to start making her way to the life rafts.
Not time to jump ship just yet. There was still a ways to go before things started getting bad enough for that, but it never hurt to be prepared.
Her preparations were subtle, unnoticeable unless one knew to look. She started slipping meaningless papers into the stacks she gave Elias to sign, testing if he would notice. She started counting her vacation days, and looking up nice beaches to visit.
And she started actively paying attention to things. She had always been a passive observer, watching things pass by idley. Oh, she still wasn’t going to do anything about anything. Rosie had no interest in getting involved in that mess. But she started watching for gaps in Elias’s sight, noticing when things go missing, the rate of escalation.
Watching. Waiting.
***
Rosie cheerfully knocked on the door to Elias’s office. Without waiting for a response, she cracked it open and poked her head in.
“What- oh, it’s just you, Rosie. I’m quite busy at the moment, can whatever this is wait?” Elias sat in his desk, looking much more frazzled than she had ever seen. He waved dismissively at her, looking back down at his papers without waiting for a response.
“Oh this’ll just take a second,” Rosie chirped. “I just wanted to say goodbye, and to wish you well with whatever it is you’re planning.”
“Wait, goodbye?” Elias looked up sharply, eyes narrowing dangerously. “What do you mean, goodbye? You’re not... quitting, are you?”
“Oh no, of course not. I know none of us can do that, at least not without stabbing our own eyes out.” She winked at his stunned expression and continued, “I’m just heading out for my vacation.”
“What vacation? And what do you mean by ‘whatever it is I’m planning’?”
“Just taking some time off, you know how it goes. I filed the paperwork for it a few weeks ago, you signed off on it yourself. You really should at least skim over the papers I give you to sign, but I have your signature so it’s no skin off my nose.” Rosie smiled again, pulling out the copy of her vacation form from her bag she had brought in case this happened and passing it to Elias. “And as far as whatever it is you’re planning, I neither know nor care if I’m being honest. Whatever it is that you and yours are doing with the Eye or the Dark or what have you, I don’t really care. Well, at least not so far as trying to do anything about it. No, I’m perfectly happy leaving all of you to your games and your rituals. Let the chips fall where they may, my Granny always said.”
By this time, Elias had managed to regain some of his composure. He read over her forms carefully, one hand pressed to his temple. “Right,” he said at last, his words weighted down with a long sigh. “You’re right, this all seems to be in order. When can I expect you back?”
“It’s right there on the sheet, but in about two and a half years.”
“What?!” Elias all but shrieked. “How?”
“Honestly, Elias, for all the powers of observation you have, you never have been able to see what’s right in front of you.” Rosie clicked her tongue and shook her head. “I’ve been working here nearly as long as you have, and I’ve been personal assistant to your eyes longer than you have. We both play the long game, you and I, but with very different goals, and I’ve been planning this for a long time indeed. I’ve been saving my vacation days almost since I joined, for just a time like this. Something big is brewing, Elias, and I mean it when I say I want no part of it. So, I’m going on vacation until either this blows over or the Institute blows up. Either way is fine for me, as long as I’m not here to be part of it.”
For several seconds, neither said anything more. Elias still looked stunned, and Rosie was debating between waiting for a response and simply leaving. Before she could decide, Elias broke the silence.
He laughed. A short, sharp bark that was nonetheless honest. Slowly, he shook his head and stood up.
“Well played, Rosie,” Elias said, holding out a hand for her to shake. “Well played indeed. Enjoy your vacation. You most certainly have earned it.”
“Thank you, I will,” she said, shaking his hand. With one more smile, she turned and walked out of his office, and out of the Institute.
***
For a while, she was a little worried she had gotten out too soon. She had a finite number of vacation days, after all, and going back in the middle of whatever was going to happen seemed far worse than being there as it grows.
Then she got word that Elias had been arrested. Actually, arrested, though the details she got were fuzzy and without specifics.
Then she heard that the Institute had gotten blown up, or at least partially destroyed.
After that she stopped worrying about running out of vacation days.
Rosie was laying on a houseboat in the middle of large lake, reading, when the world ended. She was so focused on the story that she almost didn’t notice, and it wasn’t until the sky darkened to the point where she was having trouble reading that she finally looked up.
The sky looked back.
Rosie stared for a few seconds more, then sighed. Without saying anything, she stood up, and walked inside the small cabin of her vacation home. After rummaging around for a few moments, she returned. The headlamp she now wore was heavy-duty, but for the time she only turned it on high enough to continue reading.
She picked up her book, and winked up at the sky before continuing her well earned vacation.