The tips of my fingers lightly grazed along the spine of numerous books as I strolled through the library with Henry and Leo beside me. Both boys chatted amongst themselves quietly, but I tuned them out awhile ago. After breakfast, most people went back to their rooms with their friends as they waited for training to begin. The library was nearly empty, with the exception of a few kids, who were still wandering around the compound.

Leo, Henry, and I walked towards the back of the room and then halted our strides. Henry turned towards his blonde friend and then to me. "We should divide and conquer," he instructed.

I cringed at his words, while Leo just sighed. "I don't think I'll be able to take you seriously after that statement," he remarked with a snide laugh.

"Well, maybe that's because you've never taken anything seriously in your whole life," Henry retorted.

He glanced towards me for my input but I just shrugged, "You both make valid points."

Henry sent me an understanding look that read 'fair enough,' while Leo smirked. "Thanks, Blondie," he replied smugly.

I was about to reply with a sarcastic remark, but I decided against it. "Whatever," I sighed. Leo wasn't worth my diminishing energy.

I spun on my heel and walked off in the opposite direction as Henry and Leo. My legs moved slowly along the floor as my eyes wandered around aimlessly. There were numerous shelves that towered over my with many colorful books lined up neatly. I was unsure of where to begin searching because of the size of the library and abundance of books. In all honesty, I wasn't even aware of what I was looking for, but I had a feeling that there would be some type of clues as to Silas' motivations for the human experiments.

I found myself stood in the biography section of the library, staring at each of the books that were filled with people who had acquired knowledge beyond my comprehension. My eyes skimmed over the titles of each book. Every book was divided between a specific career. I continued walking down the aisle until I found the section of the shelf that was filled with scientific biographies. My hand skimmed over a few of the spines before pulling out a random book. I flipped through the pages but nothing seemed to catch my eye, so I returned the old book to its previous spot.

I continued walking towards the end of the aisle and stopped once again. This section on the shelf remained nameless, which made me curious as to who I would find hidden away within the pages of the biographies. My fingers pulled on book with a navy blue cover. I opened it and flipped through the pages. I skimmed over the names of successful people, until one of them caught my attention.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves

My eyes widened. This has to be the Hargreeves' adoptive father. "Sir Reginald 'Reggie' Hargreeves was an explorer and eccentric billionaire. He was the head of the Umbrella Company, which was a popular brand in the 60s," I read aloud quietly. My fingers flipped the page over, expecting for more to be written about the deceased man, but the next page was about someone completely different. I furrowed my brows in confusion and turned back away, but that was all that was written about Reginald Hargreeves.

That couldn't be the only piece of information about him. There had to be something else that I was missing. I glanced back down at the book and squinted my eyes in examination.

"Whatcha reading?" Leo spoke suddenly. I jumped at the random interruption. My hand raced to my chest as I felt my quick heartbeat. I spun on my heel as Leo chuckled, "Jumpy." He leaned his shoulder against the tall bookshelf.

"You always sneak up on people like that?" I remarked with an eye roll. I felt myself relax again.

Leo smirked and shrugged coolly. "Only you, Blondie." The boy swaggered over to me and took the book out of my hands, opening to the page I was previously on. "Who is.. Reginald Hargreeves?"

"Someone important," I stated simply. I yanked the book back out of his hands and help it up to my face again. My eyes found the page number of Reginald's page, 34. I flipped over to the next page, which was labeled 36. "That can't be right."

"What can't be right?" Leo asked. He peered over my shoulder to try and get a look of what I was staring at.

"This book is missing a page," I replied. My finger grazed along the stitching of the papers. I could feel that another page used to be there but was ripped out.

I looked up and glanced around the library to see if anyone was watching or wandering nearby. When I didn't see anyone lurking, I turned my attention back to the book and slowly began ripping out Reginald Hargreeves' page. "What are you doing?" Leo whispered-shouted.

I continued to pull the paper out of the stitching until it was full teared out of the book. "Clearly, someone ripped out the next page for a reason," I said in thought.

"Or, now stay with me here," Leo retorted. "Some kid was bored.. and decided to start ripping out pages from books. It's probably just your classic case of discreet vandalism."

My face dropped in disappointment. "Seriously? That's your great explanation?"

Leo just nodded. "Back in school, I used to do that all the time."

I shook my head as I disregarded his idiotic statement. "Whatever," I sighed. "Let's just find Henry." I folded up the piece of paper neatly and shoved it into one of my pant's pockets as I walked away from Leo and searched the library for Henry.

I found the brunette boy sat on the ground in the back corner of the library, surrounded by a couple old newspapers. He looked up to see Leo and I staring at his findings, and motioned for us to sit beside him. I knelt next to Henry and examined the graying papers. "Do you guys notice anything?" Henry asked.

Leo huffed dramatically, "Come on, man. Why is everything riddles with you?" I feigned my laughter at the reality of his words. "You're smart. We get it."

"You're on my last nerve, Leo," Henry said in frustration. I smirked at the realization that the two of them fight like an old married couple. "I knew we shouldn't have let you come along."

Leo was about to reply but I cut him off, "Both of you shut up. I figured out Henry's riddle." The brunette boy rolled his blue eyes? but kept his mouth shut as I continued speaking, "All of these newspapers go in order from September thirtieth, 1989, to October third of the same year, but the paper for October first isn't here."

"Correct," Henry said with a small smile.

"Alright, now that we got that out of the way, where's the paper for the first?" Leo asked his friend.

Henry shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"That's the first," I muttered. Leo met my eyes and chuckled softly. Both of us shared a small smile.

"There are newspapers that date back to the beginning of the printing press. Each one is organized on those shelves in chronological order," Henry explained. "I've triple checked and the only paper that's missing is October first, 1989."

I glanced up at Leo as I spoke, "Still think it's discreet vandalism?" The boy rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Well, what's so important about some random day in October anyway?" Leo asked aloud.

"Obviously something if the newspaper from that day is missing," I replied. The date seemed familiar but I couldn't quite remember how I knew it.

"That's not the only thing that's missing," Henry spoke up again. My blonde brows furrowed as I followed to where he was pointing. "There are pictures and articles cut out of every paper after that date."

"Well, that's just great," Leo exclaimed sarcastically. "What are we gonna do now?"

Henry frowned. "Unless either of you have an idea as to where we can find any of this missing information, then I guess we're back at square one."

We were all quiet for a moment, until I remembered something that may be helpful. "I think I know where we can find that newspaper," I spoke up suddenly. Both boys turned to me with a spark of interest in their eyes. "There's a bookshelf in Silas' office."

"No way," Henry blurted. His face dropped almost immediately. He shook his head no as he spoke, "That's too dangerous."

"It's the only other place this stuff can be though," I tried reasoning with him.

"We'll get caught," Henry stated.

He glanced towards his blonde friend, waiting for his input. Leo just shrugged. "I'm with Blondie on this one," he said. I just sent Leo a curt nod as a 'thank you.' "Besides, I've snuck in and out of tons places. Stealing is my secret talent."

"Fine," Henry sighed. "But if we're doing this, I nominate Alexa to be the one going into his office."

I quirked a brow, surprised by Henry, while Leo threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Why her?" He exclaimed.

"Alexa's already been in his office before, so she'll know where to look," Henry said simply. "Plus, it'll look less suspicious if she's caught."

"Fine," Leo huffed. He knew that Henry was right, so he didn't argue his choice any further.

Henry glanced over to check the time on the clock that hung above the library's door. An hour had already passed, which meant we only had thirty more minutes till training begins, but that wasn't enough time to sneak into Silas' office. We all decided that we'd have to find a better day where we had more time to search for the missing articles.  

After placing the old newspapers in their previous positions on the shelf, the three of us walked out of the library and began making our way towards the training rooms. I felt myself growing more and more anxious with every step I took. I wasn't sure if I nervous to endure the long hours of training again, but I felt a bit better knowing that I was already an experienced fighter.

Maybe I was scared about breaking into Silas' office, or maybe I was scared about what I would find. Something about a piece of Reginald Hargreeves' biography page being ripped out felt a bit suspicious. I wondered if he had anything to do with the Horror Order. Hopefully, he wasn't associated with Silas, but I had a feeling that they were somehow connected.