The Writing on the Wall

"I'm lost," I say, simply, as Brad extracts the Architect's book from my hand. He holds a glowing roach close to the cover.

"Tales for Children," he reads.

"Research. For a new children's play. I thought, maybe The Great Library would give me some new...or old...material."

I bend down to pick up the two books Brad dropped.

"Secrets of Florida Flora," I read aloud. I start to pick up the other book, but Brad beats me to it. He pulls a lever and in a second, the shelves move to reveal a small reading room, with a few wooden tables, chairs, and reading lights. He leads us to a table and the shelves close behind us and recede into the darkness.

Brad thumbs through the plant book. "I've been doing some research myself. My client, he's been losing all his Bottlebrush trees to some sort of disease, thinks it's the city's fault."

Brad opens the book to a page displaying, on one side, a blooming pink Bottlebrush tree and on the other, the same tree, dead and blackened.

"Bottlebrush tree," I say softly, thinking of my favorite store. I pull out the other book he has hidden beneath the plant book.

"Oh," he says, quickly. "That's all my mom...she told me I had to start...planning."

I leaf through the book entitled "An Unenigmatic Engagement."

"Bring her a bouquet of red roses and bend on one knee because she will expect one, not two knees. Two knees might puzzle her," I read slowly.

"It's really old-fashioned, but you met my mom. She loves Eva."

"Shhhhhh!" A fellow Great Library-goer glares at us over her book.

"Sorry," I say to her. Then to Brad: "Eva's very...well-dressed."

"And she doesn't generally trip over people or read children's stories," says Brad, thoughtfully. "Which is okay, I guess." Brad takes the engagement book from my hand, pausing a second.

"Your hands are like a dead person's." He presses a glowing roach into my hand and the warmth starts to spread across my skin as my face also turns pink.

Francie, read the writing on the wall! Brad is engaged to Eva. If you're ever going to be more than a third assistant, you can't forget what you're looking for....

The writing on the wall...isn't that what the receptionist said? Read the writing on the wall. Then, follow it to the end...

I practically fly from the desk, looking for a door out of the room.

"Brad...The Great Library...does it have any walls?" I ask, excitedly.

"I know it has shelves, shelves everywhere...but no real walls...Francie?"

"Come on," I grab Brad's arm and pull the lever. The bookshelves creak open to let us through.

Sure enough, in a couple of minutes, we end up back in front of the portrait of Juan Rosado I/Luis Delgado.

"Help me here," I say, feeling my way around the edge of the portrait frame.

"What are you doing?" Brad asks. "Didn't the Librarian tell you not to touch anything?"

I lift the framed portrait off the wall and Brad runs over to catch it before it falls. Together, we set it on the marble. Behind the portrait is another frame, this one older, wooden, less ornate. Instead of framing a portrait, it forms a boundary around a blank, crumbled wall.

"Glowing roach," I say, breathlessly.

"What?" Brad looks confused. I grab the roach from him and shine it towards the wall.

Nothing happens. We're still staring at a blank wall.

"Are you gonna explain to me what's going on?" Brad is losing patience.

I look around us at the bookshelves, then up at the ceiling. The glowing letters are still swirling around in the sea of the dome. Without thinking, I lift the roach up towards the dome. The roach emits a sigh and lets out all the light it possesses. Its glow somehow reaches the ceiling and pulls the letters down towards the wall, filling the empty space, word after word.

"How...how did you..." Brad and I step back from the wall, so that we can get a clearer view.

"I'm not sure," I say, "but I need to read the writing on the wall."