Chapter Text
The first few days were hectic.
"Okay, first things first," said Eve, who was good at organizing groups of people. "We'll have to find places to live, not too far from here, and vehicles. Of course we could save by carpooling..."
"I need to be near a pharmacy," Cassandra put in, and shrugged one shoulder. "I have about a week of pills left."
"And what's our budget, anyway?" said Ezekiel. "Not that money is a problem for me, of course - got a little stashed away."
"Well, I don't," Jake put in. "I left my job for all this. Are we going to get paid? And how?"
Eve called up her bank account on her phone. "I've already received a deposit, two days ago. I guess Charlene set that up before the library had to go into hiding."
"But Charlene didn't have time to set anything up for us. Did she?" Cassandra squinted around at them worriedly. "We never filled out any forms."
"No, Baird's right, one of my accounts is up too. I didn't notice right away because -" Ezekiel shrugged not-modestly and grinned at his phone "- the numbers are so big anyway. And I've never had direct deposit before. Seems kinda like cheating."
"Part of my paycheck goes into my family's account, but I never even told Charlene about that," growled Jake. "And I don't have it set up to check online anyway."
"I can help you with that. What's your account number?" Ezekiel volunteered.
Jake snorted. "Like I'd tell that to a thief."
"Unless your bank account is ancient and jewel-encrusted, you have nothing to worry about. Swear on my mother's grave."
Jake squinted suspiciously. "Do you even have a mother?"
Eve cleared her throat loudly. "All right, we have our budget, then. We'll have to start apartment-hunting." She called up an area map on her phone. "There won't be anything near the universities at this time of year - nothing affordable anyway."
"Why not just use the guest rooms?" Jenkins suggested in passing, and then he stopped and actually put a hand to his forehead. "Why did I tell them that?"
Eve cocked her head and looked around the Annex. There were the double doors which ought to be the way to the larger Library but instead led to a broom closet. There was the regular door where they came in from the park, and the door to Jenkins' work room. Beyond the workroom was a tiny kitchen and bathroom. And that was it. "Guest rooms?"
"Upstairs," Jenkins admitted with a sigh.
There was a door up there, Eve recalled, at the end of the corridor beyond the bookshelves and the art-deco railings. "You mean there's a whole suite of guest rooms through that door?"
"Not a suite. One door, many rooms." Jenkins headed for his work room, grumbling under his breath.
The LITs glanced at each other and scrambled up the stairs, Ezekiel jostling Jake for the lead. Eve followed last, watching Cassandra's steps to make sure she was steady today.
Jake managed to get a hand on the door, but Ezekiel had the handle first and turned it. Over their shoulders, Eve could see -
A roiling, amorphous fog of scintillating colors. Jake pulled back with a startled shout, Cassandra winced and stumbled against the bookshelves, and Ezekiel windmilled frantically for balance on the threshold.
Eve grabbed each of the men by a shoulder and pulled them back away from the door.
"That's not a guest room!" Ezekiel yelped as the door slammed closed.
"It's not a room at all," Jake pointed out.
Jenkins' voice floated up from below. "ONE person ONLY touching the door!" Followed by a mutter of "Wouldn't think I would have to explain these sorts of things to librarians."
Eve released the shoulders she was still gripping and turned the handle herself. It opened on a perfectly respectable modern-looking hotel room, decorated in slate and cream. There was a computer desk and chair beneath a picture window looking out upon a landscape of the Swiss Alps - she recognized one of the peaks from the time she had worked in Berne, but the city that should have filled the foreground wasn't there. Only mountains trailing veils of mist, and a pine forest below.
"Cool, there's an ensuite!" Ezekiel purred behind her.
"Oh, thank goodness!" said Cassandra in exaggerated relief, and then tried to backpedal. "I mean, not that you're not all... very... I mean..."
"I like a nice long shower too," Ezekiel returned.
Eve opened the drawer of the bedside table and blinked at the ordered rows of ammo boxes, spare clips, and a variety of knives. No guns or electronics, though - apparently she was on her own for that. Or maybe it was in another drawer.
"Is there a minibar?" Jake opened the half-sized refrigerator and grimaced at the bottled water and yogurt cups within. "Guess not."
"Everybody out," Eve said shortly. When they started to protest, she said, "Let's see what happens when someone else opens the door."
Cassandra opened the door to a room with a similar layout, but the walls were painted in sections of different colors. It looked strange to Eve, but Cassandra beamed; the colors had some significance to her. The carpet had a geometric pattern, the bed was high and soft, and the lighting was gentle from incandescent bulbs. The window showed a sunlit glade running down to a stream, with overhanging trees that swayed in a slow dance.
"Are these real places?" asked Jake.
"Yes - No," Eve realized. "I got the Swiss Alps, but it's night in Switzerland right now."
"I think it's just a picture," said Cassandra, her forehead smoothing as she looked out at the view. "An idealized version of something we've seen and appreciated. Or maybe just something we want to see."
"Then mine will probably be inside the Louvre," Ezekiel laughed. But when they stepped out again, he said, "Nah, I'll pass. Gotta keep some secrets. You go, Stone."
Jake's room was paneled in wood - sanded but not lacquered - with ancient art hanging on the walls. The window looked out on rolling prairie, red soil and yellow grasses in wave after wave, with a raincloud marching along the horizon. The desk was capable of converting into a drafting table, and the mini-fridge was packed with beer.
"Now, that's more like it!" he said, and pulled out a bottle to open at once.
"No books," Cassandra noted. When they turned to look at her, she pointed out, "If these really were our rooms, they would have books in them. At least, mine would."
"Mine too," Jake admitted, "but they might be hidden." He opened the bedside drawer. "Guess not."
"The books are out here," said Ezekiel, still standing in the doorway. "Any book we want."
Cassandra brightened. "You're right!" Then she frowned in puzzlement. "But what happens if... we saw there's a problem if two people try to go in at the same time, right? What happens if two people try to leave different rooms at the same time?"
"Or what if someone likes to have their door open, and not be cooped up all the time?" Jake put in.
So the next little while was filled with experiments on the one-door-to-many-rooms. Eve watched in amusement as the others popped in and out through the door in turn, like an old slapstick comedy. At least this took care of some of their logistical problems.