Page 105 of Librarian

Those aren’t the magister’s footsteps. They’re too heavy. Clumsy.

Just another revenant, then. Probably come to check on the one Dakari got rid of. Perhaps Mathias can sense when his minions are dispatched.

Finally, I crack the destruction spell that would’ve barbequed the whole room had it been triggered and whirl, an illusion runeform already open in my grimoire, the incantation harried.

The door swings open.

Lifeless revenant eyes stare out from a wrinkled face. The putrescent old woman’s maid outfit remains impeccable despite how long she’s been dead.

She takes in the room but doesn’t step over the runeforms on the threshold.

I don’t breathe. None of us do. I’m sending magic into the grimoire in my grasp, clinging to the memory of how the room looked before as I hold the illusion. My fingers are so numb with terror that I barely feel the page beneath them.

The revenant doesn’t blink. She might as well be a rotting statue.

He knows, my nerves scream.Mathias knows we’re here, or suspects something is wrong.

Then, finally, the corpse turns, heading back down the hallway…

When her grey hair disappears from sight, I release the spell.

“You need to cast an illusion to keep us invisible,” I tell North.

“Illusion?” he asks. “I can try.”

Dakari is already helping. Good.

“Eddy, I need your blood,” I add.

She looks at me with wide eyes. “What?”

“This spell is keyed to Ackland blood. Yours or North’s will do?—”

Eddy has already offered out her hand, and I take it, using a scrap to prick her finger. She squeezes the wound, and a bead of blood wells to the surface, then another.

They tumble onto the page of my grimoire like scarlet pearls, swiped into the lines of the runeform by my pen where they’re absorbed into the paper without leaving a mark.

“Bludra ni breik…” I chant, watching the red lines of the spell flare bright as the nullification magic works to dispel the barrier.

Knots tie and untie themselves in my stomach. I think I’m doing this right. I’m not as certain as I was a second ago.

“Shit,” North whispers.

That’s all the warning I get.

“It was well done,” Mathias acknowledges, his voice distant. “And no one caught you absorbing his power during the execution?”

“Of course not. I cast the illusion at the perfect moment. With the number of powerful liminals currently sitting in enforcement’s cells, no doubt I’ll find more sources for us both soon.”

Stars. Their voices are drawing closer.

I finish the spell, my voice barely a whisper, then glance over my shoulder. Mistake.

Isidora and Mathias are striding down the hall.

Dakari’s hand finds my elbow, guiding me towards the window, but I resist.

We’re invisible, thanks to North. Dakari has our magical signatures hidden. This is ourchance.