Hope Seeker: Thunder Struck

Chapter 3
Seeker stood in the kitchen waiting for him coffee machine to run its cycle as he rinsed out a dusty mug at the sink. On any other day he would have roughed it to the office and grabbed coffee on his way to the office, but today he was going to need that little boost before leaving for the college library. The coffee grounds he had been saving for such a rainy day were past the recommended use date, but this early in the morning coffee was coffee.

Seeker had already attempted a shower to wake him up, but it worked about as well as chucking a butter knife on a cement block. The thought of eating something for breakfast to wake him up proved fruitless. The selection of things he passed as food was not what you want to put on your stomach so early in the morning.
The coffee machine puffed out a cloud of steam with a gurgling sound indicating that the coffee was done. Seeker barely hesitated before pouring the hot, life giving beverage from the carafe. He taste was somewhere between coffee and dirt, but he drank it all the same.

Seeker finished off the first cup just as his phone rang. He walked over to it and lifted the receiver to his ear. A short series of popping sounds came from the speaker as he answered. This was one of the devices that he had taken apart and the only one he managed to reassemble to a point it would work.

“This is Seeker.” He stated firmly over the continued crackling of the speaker next to his ear. It seemed to help the person on the other end of the call if he enunciated properly, something that he was not in a custom of doing. The sound that came as a response was garbled and inaudible, but he could at least determine who it was. “One sec.” Seeker smacked the receiver against the closest wall and put it up to his ear again. “Want to try that again, Lightning?”
“I have the autopsy report!” Her voice was threatening to burst Seekers eardrum through the other side of his head, but at least the phone was working again.

"Whoa! No need to yell. I can hear you." Seeker yelled towards the reciever he held as far from his head as his hoof could stretch. He slowly moved the phone back to his ear, the lingering threat of deafness producing a higher level of caution than was necessary.

"Did you take the phone apart again? Never mind, I don't want to know. I have the coroner report on the mare from last night." Lightning said. The sounds of her office bustling in the background threatened to encroach upon the conversation.

"Already? That was fast." Seeker said over another sip of coffee.

"You do know it's almost 10, right?" Lightning asked, forcing Seeker to look at the clock hanging in the kitchen. She was right. The time it took for him to shower and brew coffee must have been longer than he anticipated.

"Slow morning?" Seeker asked through a forced grin. "Let's start with a name." There was an audible pause where only the sounds of ruffling papers could be heard. Seeker was just happy to change the subject of conversation away from the wasted time his morning had been.

"According the the file, her name is Studied Tome." Lightning said as she read down the report. "Her overall health was better than even mine, save for the condition of her heart. It's been described as 'shredded from the inside'. Looks like you were right that magic was focused from inside her chest." Seeker felt a gnawing pain in his chest at the prospect of his own organs being torn apart from within. "There's nothing else of note from what I can see."

"Thanks for filling me in. I'm going to take off for the school as soon as I finish my coffee. Call you later?" Seeker said with another sip of the below standard coffee.

"You'd better." Lightning said as she hung up the phone. Seeker could only look at the receiver in disbelief.

"She hung up on me again?" Seeker chuckled. "What great manners she grew up with. Her parents must be proud." Seeker downed the remaining liquid from his cup while hanging up his own phone. Wearing his now dry jacket and hat, he grabbed his staff from the wall and opened the door to leave. The feeling of the warm sun on his face after the cold night was unfortunately absent. A cold blast of air almost blew the hat from his head as it blew through the open door, the rain still blocking the sight of the sun above.

The weather should have been sunny this morning if the schedule the Pegusi circulated was anything to go by. It was not uncommon however for the plans for the days weather to change on a whim. The amount of rainfall might have fallen short of the intended quota or some other questionable event that allowed the weather ponies to take a day off and let the clouds sit where they may.

The frigid walk to the college was through the unanticipated weather soaked Seeker clothing once more. He could only pray that the library would even be open through such a storm as his hooves splashed in the forming puddles at the base of the building’s steps. Much to his delight the doors swung open, allowing him sanctuary from the unwelcome weather outside.

The inside of the library was silent, as was expected. The smell of rain was drowned by the aroma of the books and parchment filling the shelves that reached from floor to ceiling. Rows and rows of knowledge stretched through hallways formed by the over laden shelves. The thick brown carpet beneath his hooves seemed to devour any sound his hoof falls could have made. Combined with the layers of shelves, the sound of the storm outside was quickly muffled.

Seeker looked on in awe as he stepped forward towards the shelves. He had never made time to see the inside any of the schools he applied to. This collection of books and research materials sparked quick daydreams of what he could accomplish with such information within hoof's reach, and this was only a community college library. He could only imagine the immense amount of knowledge held within a larger university. A quiet voice snapped him back to reality before he was able to get close enough to touch any of the books that were just beyond his grasp.

"Can I help you, sir?" The pony behind the counter asked him, looking over her reading spectacles. Seeker was so distracted by the towers of books that he overlooked the the presence of somepony reading at the front desk.

“Yes.” Seeker said as he continued to come back to reality. He offered her a hoof to cover the awkward silence. “Hope Seeker, Private investigator.” The mare shook his hoof gently with a polite smile.

“I thought you were a new face. I’m Post Script the assistant librarian.” She said, using her hoof to indicate the name tag that was pinned to her sweater.

“So is it safe to assume that you know Studied Tome?” Seeker asked as he took note of the name tag that she wore. The picture looked like her, but not in the most flattering way.

“Oh, yes. She is the head of our library. She has not come in yet, but I’m sure it’s just due to the weather. You can wait for her if you like.” She said. The expression she wore told Seeker she was unaware of the fact the Unicorn had died last night. He felt his own smile slipping as he tried to pull the words together in a way to soften the blow.

“Uh, I don’t think she’s going to make it in today.” Seeker said. His mouth was beginning to feel dry despite the humidity in the air. “I’m here on behalf of the police to investigate her… uh, murder.” He could have phrased that a little better Seeker thought to himself.

“Murder? I didn’t realize.” Post Script said, her ears folding back to emphasize the look of shock on her face. “We were told there was an accident, but they said nothing about her being murdered. Who would do such a thing?” Her eyes dropped to the desk in front of her, unable to look up at him.

“It’s only a hunch. We don’t know if it was a murder for sure or not. That’s why I’m here.” Seeker said. He tried to lower his head so he could see her face; possibly get her to look him in the eye again. His efforts were in vane however. Her eyes just stared blankly at the book she had previously been reading. “I need to ask a few questions figure out what really happened. Can you help me with that?”

Post Script turned her face back up towards him, a few tears floating in her eyes that refused to fall. She placed her reading glasses on the desk and pulled a small bell from one of the drawers. The bell was placed on the edge of the desk, the message printed on its surface stating “Ring for Service” made clearly visible to anypony approaching to check out books.
“Follow me. We shouldn’t talk about this in such a public setting.” Post Script said. Her voice was nearly flat and monotone as she spoke; her eyes still refusing to look up. Seeker took a quick glance around the open library before following in her hoof steps. The area of the room he could see seemed empty of anypony that might be perusing through books, but the possibility was still there that someone might overhear them through one of the bookcases. The news of Studied Tome's murder must not be public knowledge yet if the staff she worked with were still left in the dark.

Post Script drug her hooves along the carpet, her head hanging low with her ears still turned back. She guided Seeker down one of the darker hallways between bookshelves. The corridor ended at a dead end where a simple door was installed. Post Script opened it and went inside the small office located within. Like the passageway there, the room was rather darkly toned. The window that led to the outside let the small amount of light available outside through the storm into the room. The sounds of thunder and rain became easier to hear with the lack of books to absorb them. Lit by a single candle, the deeply toned wood of the walls, desk, and chairs gave the room the sensation of being smaller than it truly was. The yellow light of the candle brought out the highlights in the woods texture.

Seeker sat down in one of the small chairs after Post Script took her seat on the other side. Her seat was not much larger than the one Seeker sat in, but it looked much more comfortable. She sat with her eyes still clinging to the tears that wished to fall.

“I know this can’t be easy for you.” Seeker said, leaning forward to place his hoof on hers. The moment his hoof came in contact with hers, Post Script’s eyes darted up to meet his. “I’ll need your help if I am going to figure out who did this.”
Post Script used her foreleg to wipe her tears away as one began to fall, threatening to bring more with it. She gave a brief sniffle as she tried to compose herself. She closed her eyes and tried to relax herself with a few deep breaths. Her ears slowly shifted back to their original state that Seeker saw when he they were first introduced. After several breaths her eyes opened again; they were slightly red, but they no longer welled with the tears she desperately needed to shed.

“What do you want to know?” Post script asked. Her voice threatened to crack as she spoke, but the steely resolve in her eyes kept her strong. Seeker had to admire her willpower.

“How well did you know Miss Tome?” Seeker asked once he was sure she was in a condition to answer his questions. Asking questions of ponies that had just begun to grieve was a delicate task that he took no pride in. It was a part of his job however and therefore needed to be done. Seeker couldn’t help but to sympathize with those that were still obviously hurting on the inside. He was, after all, picking at a fresh wound that was not yet given a chance to heal.

“I knew her for a while before I started working here. She was the one who got me the job, in fact. It’s not easy for an Earth Pony to get employed at a unicorn college.” Post Script said. Her eyes focused on a corner of the room as she continued her efforts not to cry. “I used to be part of the janitorial staff till she caught me filing books. She told me I did a better job than the students that used to work for her.” A tear began to form, but she quickly thwarted its advance with another wipe from her foreleg.

“You knew her before you started working for her. Did she ever mention having any enemies in the school? Anyone that might have been after her job?” Seeker asked.

“No, not that I remember. She was always there for the students and even for the professors when they needed her help tracking down research notes and resources.” She allowed herself a small smile as her memories danced in her head. “I remember recently when she corrected one of the professors on his research. She even walked him through the restricted section of the library to prove herself right. Though he had to restart his research from scratch, I think his pride was hurt more than anything else.”

“What professor was it and what were they studying?” Seeker asked, but before she was able to answer him, a bell rang on her desk.

“Somepony must be ready to check out. I’ll go take care of them and be right back.” Post Script left Seeker alone in the office closing the door behind her. The rain continued to beat on the window as he picked up the bell with his magic, not wanting to touch it with his hooves. What sort of magic made this one ring when the one at the front desk was rung?
Seeker pulled the same eyepiece that he used at the crimes scene from his pocket and placed it to his eye. With a small force of will, the runes along its surface came to light. Through the lens, Seeker could see a few runes magically carved unto the surface of the bell. He wasn’t able to identify all of them, but the ones that he could understand he knew all too well.
These were the runes that he put as some of the answers for the entrance exams; specifically ones used to transfer energy from one source to another through magical means. In this case, they transferred the sound from one bell to the other rather than letting the sound ring though the library.

Somepony must have taken his work and modified it. Seeker could only imagine this was a proof of concept rather than the end result of somepony else’s research. He would have to ask where the bell came from when Post Script came back to the office.

A bright flash of lightning lit up the room around him, leaving no time between the lightning strike and the thunder. The lightning bolt must have struck extremely close to the building as the thunder rumbled outside. Seeker dropped the bell when the strike hit, but not form the blinding flash or loud thunder, but from the scream he heard from the other side of the door.
Seeker dropped the lens into his pocket as he used his magic to pull open the door behind him. As he turned to go investigate the source of the scream, he was met with a grim sight that stopped him in his tracks. The librarian was standing in the hallway on her way back to the office, a look of pain and fear was locked on her face as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Blood poured from her nose, running down her neck into her sweater, staining the fabric. The tears began to flow with blood as well, streaking her cheeks red.

Post Script’s eye rolled up into the back of her head as she fell limp, falling into a nearby shelf knocking books to the floor around her. Seeker ran to her side, but it was already too late. He knelt next to her as he feverishly searched for a pulse that never presented itself. Blood was flowing from her ears and nose and her eyes were sunken in. Seeker pulled the lens from his pocket again and pushed it to his eye.

The same streams of magic that Seeker saw from the attack on Studied Tome were present in Post Script's body. The light, however, were being emitted from within her head; not her heart. Whoever was responsible for the attack on the head librarian had taken out her assistant as well.

Seeker quickly made his way to the front desk, desperate to find a phone. He needed to call the authorities and emergency medical teams as quickly as possible. Most of all, he needed Lightning Shield.