Page 143 of The Last Library of Paris

Henry and Archie clambered back down and we all stood and looked at one another.

‘Well, Henry’s right,’ said Archie. ‘The grille is cemented in place, and the gap is very small. I think Sylvie is the only one who’d get through there and even that wouldn’t be easy.’

‘What will we do?’ asked Lara.

‘We’re wondering if there might be some old tools here in the basement somewhere,’ said Archie. ‘If we can hammer out the grille, we could perhaps remove some bricks too and make the opening bigger.’

‘What if they hear us upstairs?’ I said.

‘We’ll just have to risk it. But hopefully they’ll just assume it’s work being done on a different part of the building.’

‘Fingers crossed,’ I said. ‘Shall we see if we can find anything that could work to hammer it out, then?’

‘My torch has run out, so we might need some candles,’ said Archie. ‘It’s dark enough already and the light is fading.’

‘The candles are almost gone,’ Sylvie said. ‘We will have to wait until morning.’

‘Bugger,’ said Archie.

‘I am so sorry, guys,’ said Frances, sounding quite tearful. ‘You came here to help us, and now you’re stuck here.’

‘We’ll get out,’ Archie said, jovially, though I could tell he was faking. ‘No need to worry about that.’

Overheard we heard some clanging and shouts of goodnight. The men were packing up for the day. Heading home for food and a warm bed. I put my hand on the cold wall of the basement and shivered.

‘How about we all make ourselves comfortable in the little room,’ I suggested. ‘We’ll be warm in there all together, and light what few candles are left and get through the night. Then when the sun rises, we’ll be ready to have a go at knocking out the grille.’

Everyone agreed.

‘And if that doesn’t work …’ Guy said.

‘We’ll come up with another solution,’ I said, sounding quite fierce even to my own ears. ‘We have not come all this way to curl up and die in a basement.’

‘Come on,’ said Frances. ‘I’ll read us all a story.’

We all went back into the little room, arranged blankets and pillows on the floor for us all to sit on, and Frances read us a Dorothy L. Sayers detective novel, which was really rather gripping. I sat in between Lara and Archie. My fingers were entwined with his, and Lara rested her head on my shoulder, and I thought that if this was my time to go, I could do worse than going like this. I was surrounded by people who loved me, and I was listening to a good story.

As the night wore on, Frances put down the book, and we all dozed off.

I woke with a start a little while later as the sound of clanging and bashing filled the basement. The candle had burned down to a stub, but I could see the others were as startled as I was.

‘What the bloody hell is that?’ said Archie, scrabbling to his feet.

‘Are the men back?’ I said, still half-asleep but trying to make sense of the noise. ‘What’s happening?’

‘It’s the middle of the night,’ Henry said, looking at his watch. ‘It can’t be them.’

‘Should we go and see?’ asked Lara. She sounded quite scared.

‘I’ll go,’ said Archie.

‘I’ll come with you.’ Henry sounded determined.

‘Oh for heaven’s sake, we’ll all go,’ I said. ‘We need to stick together.’

Lara, with her sense of drama, paused. ‘Listen,’ she said. ‘If this is it, then I want you all to know that it’s been a real privilege spending time with you.’

‘Lara,’ I tutted. ‘Don’t be so silly.’