Life Designed (Life Plan Series Book 1) by Eliza Taye (mini ebook reader TXT) 📕

in the dark to the library had helped his eyes adjust to the semi-darkness. Before he allowed the door to close, Garrett examined the room and realized he must have entered some sort of storage room for recent deliveries. Crates filled with books and supplies were scattered throughout the room. After the door closed, the surrounding blackness made it difficult to see, but Garrett felt apprehensive about using the light from his interwave. If there were any cameras, it’d illuminate him like the streetlamps during the daytime.

Brushing his hand against the wall, he found the door handle and opened it. A narrow hallway spread before him. Crouching down, he inched his way down the hall, scanning the ceiling for any cameras. After determining the hall was clear, he straightened and walked normal, feeling foolish for walking the way he had.

Even though nothing had gone wrong, Garrett couldn’t dispel his nervous feelings. As he traversed the back hallways searching for the main room, butterflies fluttered in his stomach. The longer he took, the greater his anxiety grew. Deep inside, he feared being apprehended like he had been yesterday. Being thrown onto the floor left him sore and he didn’t want another repeat of last night. Ducking around each bend in the halls, he half-expected to see a guard walking by who would then shove him to the ground while cuffing him.

Yet, it didn’t happen. He finally found his way to the cavernous main room with the winding staircase toward the upper floors. In the openness of the main room, he felt compelled to start skulking around like a thief again. If there were any cameras in the building, they’d definitely be in this room.

Carefully, Garrett wound up the stairs until he found himself on the fifth floor. Taking a deep breath, he approached the outer hallway of the Special Collections Room. Feeling brazen in the secluded hallway, he risked pulling out the tiny flashlight he’d brought from home and flicked it on. The sleek gray floor appeared to shine in the small beam of the flashlight. Garrett covered the end so the light rays mutely shone through his fingers. No point taking a larger risk than necessary, he thought. Hurrying across the floor, he paused before the keypad.

“Okay, Garrett, there are five numbers. The last four are 4256; you just have to guess the first one. Only ten choices,” he muttered to himself.

Shutting off the light and thinking, he reasoned the number probably wouldn’t start with a zero. It also would be weird to have two fours in a row. Based on that assumption, he only had eight other possible numbers. If the digits didn’t repeat, then he could also rule out two, five, and six. Which meant the only remaining numbers were one, three, seven, eight, and nine.

Garrett shook his head. His reasoning didn’t make any sense. It could still be any of the ten digits.

Sighing softly, Garrett breathed, “Here goes nothing.”

Garrett flashed the light over the keypad, his finger hovering over the number eight when a sound behind him made him jump and whip around.

“Garrett! What on Taeopia are you doing?”

Garrett’s eyes grew larger than the moon Maytenar when he saw Opal standing behind him. “Opal! What are you doing here?”

“I could say the same thing to you.” Opal stepped closer to Garrett, her voice just above a whisper. “Are you trying to sneak into the Secret Collections Room?”

“No, I was lost and looking for a drink of water.” Garrett rolled his eyes and then speedily replied, “Of course, I’m trying to sneak into the Secret Collections Room. But what are you doing here?”

Opal glanced from the door to Garrett. “I followed you. After I left your house this afternoon, I thought you were acting suspicious. Even with you saying you’d chosen to be a council representative; it was just too good to be true that you were working hard on your Life Plan. I figured if you were up to no good, you’d do something after midnight. So, I watched your house and followed you after you left.”

“How did you get into the building?”

“I followed right behind you. I grabbed and held onto the door just enough so you wouldn’t notice it hadn’t closed all the way.” Opal glanced behind her. “Now, Garrett, we need to get out of here before we get caught.”

“No, Opal.” Garrett returned his focus to the keypad. “I’m getting into the Secret Collections Room. They might have something on The Council.”

“Still?” whisper-yelled Opal, her voice accidentally ending in a well-audible sound. Wincing, she added, “Garrett, you’re still on The Council thing? I thought you wanted to become a council representative, not keep looking for information on The Council.”

Whirling around, annoyance blazing in his eyes, Garrett confessed, “The only reason I told you I wanted to become a council representative was to allow me to research The Council without you and my family becoming suspicious. I never wanted to become a council representative and I still don’t want to be a council representative. What I want is to find out why and how our society works. There’s too much secretiveness around it all. I’m certain the answers to it are behind this door. Why else would they not want people to see the Secret Collections Library?”

“Garrett! You’re always seeing conspiracies where there are none. Now we need to go.” Opal tried tugging on his arm, but Garrett wouldn’t budge.

He pressed the eight button on the keypad and the keypad flashed red. “Ugh!”

Wondering how many times he could input the wrong number before he was locked out, or worse security was alerted, he stopped and considered which number to press next. He pressed the one button and it flashed red again.

Opal had continued a string of admonishments that Garrett had tuned out, but spinning back around, he said, “Opal, I’m not leaving