Page 121 of Librarian

“They want to surprise you. Go cuddle Pierce. They’re almost done.”

I search for Jasper in the hall beyond. “But I need to check on your wound and Jasper’s magical well.”

“Leo already did. We’re all fine. Some bruising, but we’re okay.” He turns me, taps me lightly on the butt, and ushers me back towards the bed. To Pierce, he orders, “Keep her there.”

I slip one leg onto the mattress, already wishing I was able to ghost again. What I wouldn’t give to be able to slip through the walls and peek, or better, be connected to the building so that I would justknowwhat they’re doing.

Pierce’s hand slides up my outer thigh, keeping me in place when I might’ve moved away. The touch elicits a burst of awareness, but I studiously ignore it.

He just lost his grandfather. The Arcanaeum is still quiet.

Neither of us is in the right place to finish what we started in Fort McKinley. I don’t want the memory of our first time buried under the need to feel something that isn’t anxiety or loss.

For his part, he must feel the same, because although his hand stays there, his thumb rubbing up and down gently, his next words aren’t heated.

“Are you going to fix the books?”

“The books?” I repeat, confused.

“When Mathias and my mother took over, they couldn’t read any of them. The words were jumbled.”

Oh. That.

“I wanted to protect them. They couldn’t censor any of them if they didn’t know what they contained.”

Pierce is right, though. I can undo it now. I perch on the edge of the bed, flipping my grimoire open on the covers between us, and accept the pen he offers me. The counterspell for the confustication runeform I used is as complex as I could make it.

I’ll admit, I stole inspiration from Ammie Talcott when I created it, blending four runeforms from different schools together in a way I was sure would protect the books for a long while.

It’s satisfying to hear that they stumped the lich.

At least something went right that night.

“Are you planning on reopening?” Pierce asks, his tone carefully neutral, as I lift my pen away from the page a while later.

I close my eyes. “You think I shouldn’t?”

His silence is damning.

“If the Arcanaeum remained closed, we’d be safe,” I admit. “Mathias would struggle to find a way in as long as you six remained shut away with me. The dagger would remain hidden. I would never have to face him again. It would be…easier.”

He nods.

“It would also be a betrayal of everything the Arcanaeum stands for.” I slide my grimoire to one side. “At its core, the Library exists to defend everyone’s right to a good education and freedom of thought. If I shut our doors, I’ll protect the collection at the cost of abandoning those principles.” I hope my face makes it clear what I think of that option. “Knowledge exists to be shared, to empower the people, and to hold those in power accountable. All of those things are sorely needed right now. So we’ll reopen. We’ll continue to serve the public good. And in doing so, I hope we cause him as many headaches as possible.”

I trail off as I realise I’ve accidentally slipped into using ‘we’ while the Library remains as silent and unresponsive as it was when we entered.

“And with a little luck,” I finish, voice quavering slightly as I tumble back onto the mattress beside him. “I’ll figure out how to restore the Arcanaeum. Otherwise, I’ll be doing an awful lot of that by myself, and I’m not sure how that will even work.”

I can’t physically be in all places at once. When the other librarians were helping me, it must’ve appeared to the patrons as if I were tidying books and answering their queries and ordering index cards simultaneously.

The dagger can still sense the Arcanaeum, and I’m still connected to the dagger.

There must be a way to bridge that gap and restore our bond.

Unfortunately, the blade still lies in glimmering fragments on the floor. Both of the rituals to bond me to the building and separate me from it required that knife to be embedded in my chest. I’m not so naïve as to believe connecting us again will be any different.

If it’s the only way to restore the Arcanaeum…I may have no choice.