Page 99 of Librarian

“I can try.” He accepts the belt, scanning the labels reluctantly. “You promise?—”

A noise deeper in the house silences all of us. We pause, waiting.

It doesn’t repeat itself. No footsteps draw closer on the old hardwood floors.

“I’ll break a hole in the wards and cast a transport spell the second we’re in danger,” I vow, meaning it.

“Stay safe. I won’t be gone long,” Dakari finally mutters, with a meaningful look at North.

I didn’t even notice Jasper’s grimoire on the desk, but Dakari must recognise it because he holsters it alongside his own. With a final warning stare at me, he heaves the fallen Scot through the window and drops out of sight.

“I’ll stay on watch,” North adds, and no one argues.

Thank magic, we don’t have time for debates. I tune out the twins’ whispered conversation. This is fine magic, delicate work.

And the consequence of mishandling any of these spells is death.

I imagine if I told them that, they’d try to stop me.

But this opportunity is too golden to waste. The key to re-entering the Arcanaeum is righthere.

I have to try.

Twenty-Nine

Pierce

All we have to do is disguise ourselves as my mother’s shiny new aegis agents, grab my grandfather, and get out of here. Simple enough. Except we’ve barely prepared.

Kyrith’s right. My mother probably set the execution so soon after her speech so that we’d run in and get caught.

Now we’re doing exactly that. Like idiots.

This is going to take more improvisation than I’d like, but I can’t sit back and do nothing.

Kyrith has given Leo more spells to break through wards than I even knew existed. It probably still won’t be enough to get us out of the prison in a pinch. This must be the most heavily spelled building in the country.

As long as we avoid everyone and move quickly, we should be able to sneak Benny out of the high security wing, activate the quick transport spell, and reappear a few streets away. From there, we can head back to Rathlin Island without worrying that someone will track us.

Almost every doorway in this damned place is warded against illusion magic, hence our disguise. The aegis’s uniforms are meant to intimidate people, but they also make it pitifully easy to infiltrate their ranks.

Unfortunately, Lambert is smiling and nodding at people as he passes them, ruining all of our efforts to go unnoticed. Even the fabric covering the lower half of his face can’t hide the friendly crinkle of his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I hiss, my own mask muffling my words.

“Being friendly.” His eyes crease in another smile that actually makes an enforcement officer lift his hand in greeting, like he knows us. “It’s weird enough we’ve got these scary uniforms on. If we start acting like assholes, they’ll probably get more suspicious. Besides, they’re just people doing their jobs.”

Is he serious? The men and women in this building are trained soldiers, not office drudges.

“What you’re doing is making us memorable.”

Leo’s shoulders rise and fall in a silent sigh. “He’s right. We’re trying to be invisible, remember?”

Lambert slouches, but at least he stops waving.

The three of us fall silent as we turn a corner into a white-painted hallway.

This one is empty. That should be a relief, but my mind fills the lull with useless anxiety I don’t need. I’ve been to enforcement headquarters several times before. I know my way around. Sure, it took us longer to sneak into the building than I’d like, but there’s still an hour before dawn. We have time.