Then, one day, her opportunity came.
Her dad asked her to run a couple of deliveries into town and pick up some supplies while she was out there. She quickly made her deliveries, without the customary visits so she would have some extra time on her hands.
She pulled the truck into a small parking lot, noting to her satisfaction that there was only one other vehicle in the lot. She turned off the ignition and sat for several minutes, looking around. Her experiences of a few weeks ago had made her paranoid.
Once she was satisfied that nobody had followed her, she got out of her truck and walked up to the single-story building. She noted the weathered and worn state of the roof tiles and shook her head sadly.
The town is dying, she realized as she walked through the double doors and into the library.
The Willemtown library could hardly be called that. It consisted of one main room clogged with shelves and a couple of partitioned-off areas in the back. It was one of those areas that Maddie intended to visit. She walked up to the librarian’s desk. An elderly lady sat behind it, bright-eyed and perky at the unexpected visitor.
“Hello, miss! What can I help you with?” she said as Maddie approached. Her reading glasses dangled from a small chain around her neck, and she held a paperback in one of her hands, the thumb between the pages to hold her spot.
Maddie smiled at the lady. “Actually, I came here to use the computer. You still have internet access here, right?”
She watched the librarian’s face fall slightly; the woman seemed disappointed that this new patron was not as excited about books as she was.
“I need to do some research for a paper I am writing,” Maddie added, giving the excuse she had been practicing all day.
It seemed to convince the librarian. “Well, OK, miss. Do you have a library card?”
“No. I let it lapse a few years ago.” Maddie frowned concernedly.
“Oh, that’s no problem. I can look you up in our system and get you a new one!” The elderly lady responded, and within minutes Maddie had a freshly laminated library card, valid for an entire year, for a mere five dollars.
“Five bucks. That’s cheap,” Maddie commented.
The librarian just looked sad at the statement. “Yes. It is cheap for all the wealth of knowledge and entertainment you see around you.” She spread her hands towards the library’s riches. “But hardly anybody takes advantage of it anymore. You’re the first visitor we’ve had this week.”
Maddie nodded knowingly. “I will try to come back again soon and get some use out of this.” She held up her new library card proudly.
It was a white lie. Maddie had no intention of returning to the library. But it made the old lady perk right up. With a smile, she led Maddie to the back of the library and started up its lone computer terminal.
Maddie wasted no time and got right into her research, entering various key words into the search bar. She got a lot of hits on the search terms. Unfortunately, many of them did not lead her to any real knowledge.
She started out by looking up “Rosae Crucis” and “Brenin.” The results seemed promising but turned out to be frustrating instead. After half an hour of searching, all she could find about the Rosae Crucis was some historical data that contained accurate facts mixed in with many newer articles, websites and blogs stating a bunch of bullshit.
She shook her head as she read an article by yet another conspiracy nut. This one tied her Order directly to the Knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail, and some demonic presence she had never heard of.
Rivven... What the heck is a Rivven? Probably something that a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons geeks dreamed up.
She closed the website and returned to the main search window, staring at the blank search bar, frustrated.
Obviously, the Order had hidden itself well. What the heck do I search for? She racked her brain for any search terms that might yield some actual results. After a minute, the search bar remained empty.
Maddie blew out her lips in frustration. She looked at the screen another moment before checking her watch.
11:30.
She had given herself until noon to do her research. Half an hour gone, and none the wiser.
Maddie had placed her fingers back on the keyboard, ready to type. She watched her fingers, willing them to type something. And then it came to her.
The watch!
She looked at her watch carefully. She’d never really considered the thing, although it was handy for keeping time. But now she studied it more closely.
There it was, on the face of the watch, sketched on the blank surface behind the hour and minute dial. It was a rose.
The rose.
Maddie quickly took off the watch to see if there were any other markings on it. Sure enough, there was a brand name: Ellipsi
Maddie had never heard of the name, but quickly entered it into the search engine. And she got results. Ellipsi led to several other companies. She followed the lead until she found an investment firm called Obnitor Investment Company.
A quick search told Maddie that Obnitor stood for “to plant and strive, to struggle and stand firm.” Obnitor’s logo had what appeared to be a vine growing against a brick wall.
Except that’s not a vine. Maddie realized as she scrutinized the image more closely. That’s a rose plant!
Maddie could feel her excitement mount as she started clicking through the investment company’s web pages. Within a minute, she found what she was looking for. The Obnitor board members’ page. There were no pictures, just names. Not that pictures would have helped. She had no idea what the senior members of the Order looked like.
Maddie scanned the
