“H... hi,” the scion managed to mumble. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, thanks for asking.” The librarian flashed a brilliant smile. “That’s what I get for partying too hard over the weekend.”
The dazzling smile made it even harder for Daniel to concentrate. “I... I’m glad you’re better, David,” he stammered.
His friend regarded him with amusement. “How long have you been coming to the library? Almost a year now, isn’t it?”
The scion quailed. Perhaps he was going to be told to leave. “Uh... close to a year. That is, um, I think so.”
The librarian leaned forward over the counter and whispered confidentially, “People who see me as often as you do get to call me Chris.”
“Chris?” Daniel replied uncertainly. “Why would they do that?”
“Don’t be a silly. You know ‘Christian’ is my last name.”
“It is?” Daniel asked in puzzlement.
“I told you that the first day we met.”
Daniel blushed in embarrassment. “Oh, I thought you meant you were a Christian.”
The librarian chuckled. “Well, I am a Christian. I’m a member of a family whose name happens to be Christian.”
“But you were wearing a cross around your neck the first time I saw you,” Daniel protested in confusion.
“And today I’m wearing an ankh—the Egyptian symbol of eternal life. See.” He held out the gold pendant around his neck, so Daniel could inspect it more closely. “Cross, ankh. They’re all just accessories.”
“My mistake.” Daniel stepped back a pace. “But why don’t you like ‘David’? I think it’s a very nice name. Regal, like King David from the Bible.”
The librarian rolled his eyes. “It’s not regal; it’s hideous. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always hated it. So stuffy and formal. All my friends call me Chris because it’s short and simple.”
“Your friends?” Daniel hesitated. “You mean you consider me a friend?”
“I’d like to,” Chris replied softly.
Daniel felt flustered though secretly pleased. He even managed a shaky smile. “OK, then. I’ll call you Chris from now on.” He looked around the reading room furtively. “Is there somewhere we can go and talk privately?”
Chris gave him a sly wink. “Sure, what did you have in mind?”
The question puzzled Daniel. He didn’t quite understand. “I... uh... There’s something confidential I need to talk to you about.”
The librarian raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. “What a man of mystery you are! Just a minute.” Chris poked his head through the swinging doors behind the reference desk. “Libby?” he called out to someone in the back room, presumably the humorless woman who had scowled at Daniel during his last visit. “Libby, I’m going to take my break now. Would you be a lamb and cover the desk for me for a few minutes?”
She must have said yes because Chris returned and motioned for Daniel to follow him. The librarian hesitated when they got to the elevator. “Just how confidential is this conversation?”
“Very,” Daniel replied.
His companion nodded and pressed the Up button.
“Where are we going?” the scion asked.
“To the Rare Book Exhibit on the top floor,” Chris replied. “The room is used for fundraisers, receptions, that sort of thing. Strictly after-hours affairs. Nobody will be in there now and it just so happens that I know the key code.”
The two young men took the elevator up four flights and were deposited in a hallway facing double glass doors. Chris swiped his key through the card reader next to the doors and punched in a five-digit code. After the two were inside, the doors automatically relocked with a loud click.
Daniel had never seen anything like the contents of this room before. The walls were lined with glass cases containing row upon row of rare books. Some weren’t even books but manuscripts with illustrations painted on parchment. Many of them were medieval bibles because Daniel was able to read the Latin text. Other cases displayed objects even older—papyrus scrolls written in languages the scion couldn’t begin to guess at. “This is amazing,” he said in awe as he wandered from case to case.
“C’mon over here.” Chris patted a seat on a circular bench positioned in the center of the room directly under a stained-glass skylight.
Daniel eagerly obeyed.
The librarian turned to give him his undivided blue-eyed attention. For no particular reason, Daniel felt his pulse quicken.
“Now what’s all this cloak-and-dagger business about?” Chris asked archly.
“Cloak and dagger?” Daniel repeated uncertainly.
The librarian smiled. “Oops, my bad. I forgot how pop culture-challenged you are.”
Daniel merely stared at him in confusion.
“One day you’ll have to tell me the sad, sad story of how you got to be such a babe in the woods.” Less mockingly, Chris added, “All kidding aside, something is really bothering you. What’s the matter?”
Daniel took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. “I’m working on a project for my father that involves collecting certain ancient artifacts.”
The librarian crossed his legs and clasped his hands around one knee.
Daniel, with his newfound fashion obsession, couldn’t help giving his friend’s oxblood loafers an admiring glance.
Chris didn’t notice. “I always wondered why you needed me to help you dig up so much (you’ll forgive the expression) ‘dirt’ about ancient cultures. Mysterious ancient artifacts, eh? What a hoot. So, you’re like Indiana Jones?”
“Indiana who?”
The librarian gave his friend a pitying sigh. “Maybe we’d get farther if I stopped asking questions you don’t understand and just let you explain.”
Daniel nodded and continued. “No one is supposed to know what I’m doing so I hesitated to confide in you until I felt I could trust you.”
The blinding smile returned, displaying a row of perfect white teeth.
“Anyway, each of the artifacts I’m trying to find can only be located by solving a riddle.”
“Get out!” Chris leaned forward eagerly. “You’re not joking, are you?”
The scion shook his head.
“So, you want me to help you with these riddles?”
“Yes. I thought perhaps if we went over the lines that I couldn’t decipher
