Nyx Hollow's Arc

Chapter 6 of 10

Nyx sits on the library floor with Emily's file spread in front of her, pages arranged by date. She's reading the stranger's observations about her aunt when she hears footsteps echoing from below, coming up through the collapsed section. Someone's down there, moving through the workshop she just left. She scoops up the pages and slides behind the nearest shelf, pulling Darkness close. The footsteps pause at the bottom of the basement stairs, then continue up. Whoever it is doesn't know she's here. The sound changes when they reach the library floor—heavier now, deliberate. Nyx peers around the shelf edge and sees a figure cross toward the reference section, carrying a worn leather case and lockpick tools. They move like they own the space, checking the collapsed floor's edges before heading toward the front doors. Nyx tracks their path and notices they came from the opposite direction of the basement stairs. There's a second entrance she never found. She watches them test the front door lock, then stop and look back at the hole in the floor. The person pulls out a street map marked with locations across the city, compares it to something on their phone, then pockets both and leaves. Nyx waits until the door closes before moving to where they stood. She finds scratch marks on a door frame near the back wall, fresh splinters around the lock. The wooden door blends into the wall's paneling, designed to look like part of the structure. She pulls it open and sees stairs descending into darkness, leading to the same workshop but from a different angle. The stranger built two ways in—one through the library floor for people they invited, one hidden for themselves and their collectors. The person who just left didn't expect anyone to be here. They came to check something in the workshop and left when they saw the basement entrance was already open. Nyx closes the hidden door and returns to Emily's file, but she doesn't sit down this time. She now knows the stranger's collectors can enter without warning, that they check the workshop on schedules she hasn't mapped yet, and that they carry tools for bypassing locks across the city. The stranger showed her their surveillance system, but they didn't show her how their people move through it. That was a mistake. Nyx tucks the file under her arm and heads for the front doors, following the direction the collector went. She won't study the stranger's face or their files anymore. She'll follow their people instead, watch where they go next, and map the patterns they think nobody sees.