Overdues and Occultism by Jamie Sands

Author:Jamie Sands
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-473-53739-5
Publisher: Grey Kelpie Studio

Chapter Eleven

Basil slept through his alarm the next day. He woke up bleary, overheated in the morning sunshine coming through his window.

He looked at the clock and saw he was twenty minutes late for work. He’d overslept.

Basil seldom swore, but he did then. He rolled out of bed and started pulling on clothes, stuffed his feet into socks and shoes and grabbed a piece of bread from the kitchen as he raced out of the house.

He was grateful he lived so close to the library as he dashed down the road, cramming the bread into his mouth and trying to chew.

When he arrived at the library, the lights were on, which meant Lisbet was already inside. That was good. He let himself in, swallowing the last of the bread. “I’m here!”

“Where were you? I thought maybe you were sick,” Lisbet called from in between the shelves. Basil hurried to her, feeling he had to explain himself.

“No, I overslept. I…” he trailed off, looking at the mess Lisbet was tidying. “What happened here?” The aisle was strewn with books. Basil glanced at the wall where the shelves were — the Special Collection.

It had been attacked again.

And worse.

He could see more detail as he picked his way closer to the wall. The shelves themselves were threatening to come unscrewed.

“It was like this when I came in,” she said. “I don’t see how it could have happened, I mean, none of the other books are disturbed at all, and it’s not like we get earthquakes here like we do back home in Wellington.”

Basil inhaled and gingerly put his hand on the wall. The wall itself seemed to be straining towards him. He imagined some unseen force in the wall, trying to get out, throwing books at Sebastian and then hurling more when he was gone. The ghost was inside the wall, was it? Or something anchoring the ghost was here… he needed Sebastian to explain it all.

Lisbet was watching him. He tried to think of an explanation for his actions that would make some sense and not sound utterly bizarre.

“Maybe it’s… maybe there’s water in the wall, and it’s making the wood swell…?” he ventured.

Lisbet huffed out her breath. “Fuck, I hope not, that’s all we need, the library to be closed for repairs.”

Basil bit his lower lip; he didn’t want that either. If the library closed, even temporarily, it could fall out of people’s routines. At the moment, it was a bit of a community hub, but if the library closed, people would find a new meeting place, a new place to do their homework…

“I’ll see if I can’t work out what’s going on -- I can check the security video,” Basil said. “Best not to try and put the books back on there for now though.” He retrieved an empty book trolley and started stacking the books on it. Working quickly so he could get to the video and make sure Lisbet didn’t see what he’d done.

“Did you and the pretty

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