“What is Latitude and Longitude?” Someone in the crowd said.
“Wait, I remember this. Back in the third century it was created to help map out the world. We would need an early world map.” Sofia said.
“I know where one is.” Zach said, running toward the center of the library.
When the rest of the group caught up with Zach he had a large map unfolded out on one of the large tables.
“Sofia, you're up.” Zach said.
Sofia looked over the map and frowned. “Zach, do you have a pencil and a ruler that I could use?”
Zach chuckled to himself and opened his satchel and pulled out a set of engraved cartography tools and handed them to Sofia.
“Ok, what was Latitude?” Sofia asked Bones.
“55.353210” Bones said.
“And what was Longitude?”
“-4.768530” Bones said.
Sofia used the tools to pinpoint where the coordinates lead to and with a shout of glee, Sofia said “We are looking for the Culzean Castle. In the united kingdom.”
“Where Is That” Nick wrote.
“Somewhere in Europe, I think?” Sofia said.
“That would be in the fifth section of the library.” Zach said.
The entire group ran to where Zach directed and they got there in no time.
“Ok, we need to look through this all to find a reference to that castle.” Zach said.
“Are you insane? There must be hundreds of books here, it will take forever to go through all this.” Gus said.
“I have confidence in all of you.” Zach said.
And with that they got to work.
3 Hours later:
Zach looked at the piles of books around him. They haven’t even made a dent in it. Zach was exhausted, most of the students were too, they worked through the entire night and have very little to show for it. Zach yawned, and sat down on one of the couches in the center of the library. “Mind if I sit with you?” Conner asked Zach.
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“Yea, come sit down.” Zach said.
Conner sat next to Zach and turned to him. “I want to talk with you about us.” Conner said.
“What about us?” Zach asked.
“Where is this going?” Conner asked, gesturing between both of them.
“What do you mean?” Zach asked.
“Like, is this going to be official?” Conner asked.
Zach puts an arm around Conner and pulls him in close. “Of course it will, I can’t see any future that does not have you in it.” Zach said.
Conner kisses Zach softly before standing up. “I’m going to go get the group some food and bedding, it looks like we are going to be down here for a while.” Conner said, giving Zach one last kiss before heading to the stairs of the library.
Zach smiled as he watched Conner go.
“I see you and Conner have taken a liking to one another.” Gus said, walking up to Zach.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were watching.” Zach said, startled.
“I wasn't, it was Riley who saw you two. He mentioned it to me.” Gus said.
“Huh, well there is no point in hiding it anymore, we just made it official.” Zach said.
“Let me tell you something, Conner has been a friend of mine since we were kids. If you hurt him in any way, I will find you and I will make you wish that you were dead. Do I make myself clear?” Gus said.
“Crystal.” Zach said.
“Good, now there is something I wanted to ask you about. I heard from Conner that you specialize in weapon making. I wanted to ask you if you could make me a battle axe.” Gus asked.
“Well you came to the right guy. Are there any specifications you want?” Zach asked.
“What are there to choose?” Gus asked.
“I can add different attachments for different jobs, I can make it out of various metals to improve the overall strength, I can do that type of stuff.” Zach said.
“I’m going to let you decide, I trust your opinion. Give me a list of materials and I will get them for you.” Gus said, before walking away.
“Will do.” Zach called after him.
Zach knew exactly what he was going to do with designing the Battle axe for Gus. Zach yawned again and looked at his watch. It was five in the morning and none of them had gotten much sleep. “Everyone should take a break and sleep, you can go back to the academy and sleep in your own beds or you can fold open the couches here and sleep here!” Zach called out to the group.
There were grunts of pleasure when Zach heard that and some of them got up and headed toward the stairs. As for Zach he took the cushions off of the couch he had been sitting on and unfolded the bed inside. He replaced the cushions as pillows and opened his satchel. Reaching in almost to his elbow, Zach pulled out a folded plush blanket and laid it on the sofa bed. The bed already had a blanket on it but Zach liked to use his own. Untying his cloak, one of the students walked up to him and asked, “Can you help some of us with the beds?”.
“Sure, give me a second first.” Zach said, folding his cloak and laying it on the back of the sofa.
Zach took a minute to show a few students how to open the beds up. When he was done he unbuckled his climbing harness that was intentionally made to look inconspicuous. He then took his shirt off and climbed into the bed. Moaning softly at the touch of his soft blanket. He settled in and dosed off, until he was awoken when the bed shifted and the blanket moved. It was Conner, who had climbed into bed next to Zach.
“You're cold, snuggle in to get warm.” Zach said to Conner.
Zach grabbed Conner gently and scooted him closer. Conner kissed Zach and snuggled in deeper and fell asleep instantly and Zach fell asleep almost as fast.