CHAPTER 1: The Day the Door Was Unlocked
Elias Moore noticed the library because it was open.
That alone made it unusual.
Carron Bay had many predictable things: the tide that rose and fell with steady patience, the narrow streets that curved toward the water, the bell that rang at the harbor each morning without fail. The library was not one of those things.
Most days, its doors were closed.
Today, they were not.
Elias slowed his steps as he passed it.
The building stood slightly apart from the rest of the town, its stone façade weathered but carefully maintained. Tall windows reflected the sea behind him, catching light in a way that made the interior impossible to read from outside.
The door stood open just enough to invite curiosity.
Not enough to demand it.
Inside, the air was warm and still.
Bookshelves lined the walls, tall and orderly, filled with volumes that looked neither new nor neglected. Lamps cast a soft glow across long tables, where notebooks lay open but untouched.
No one stood at a counter.
No signs explained anything.
Elias stepped inside.
The door closed behind him with a gentle sound that felt intentional.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
He walked slowly between the shelves.
The book spines carried no titles—only dates. Some were recent. Others reached back decades. A few seemed much older than the building itself.
Elias reached for one.
Before he touched it, a voice spoke.
“Those aren’t for reading.”
He turned.
An older woman sat at a desk near the far window, her hands folded calmly in front of her.
“Then what are they for?” Elias asked.
“For holding,” she replied.
She gestured toward a notebook on the nearest table.
“You can use that instead.”
Elias hesitated. “I don’t know what to write.”
The woman smiled faintly. “That’s usually why people come.”
Elias sat.
The notebook’s pages were blank, but not empty. They felt expectant, as though they had been waiting without urgency.
He did not write immediately.
Outside, the sea moved steadily past the windows.
The library listened.
When Elias finally stood to leave, the woman spoke again.
“We’ll be closed tomorrow.”
“I thought so,” Elias said.
She nodded. “We always are.”
He stepped outside.
The door closed behind him.
When he turned back, it was locked.
As if it had never been open at all.