Page 195 of Librarian

“Kyrith!?” he yells.

For the next hour, her name rings out across broken hallways and fog-drenched rooms. We even search every floor in the Vault.

Nothing.

Mathias is dead. We’re all free to leave, and yet…

“Kyrith is gone.” Dakari is the one to say what we’re all thinking as we trudge back up the stairs into the Rotunda.

“Like fuck she is!” I drive my hand down onto her desk, relishing the sting. “She’s not gone. She can’t be.”

Eddy’s cheeks are already tear-streaked, and fresh ones gather in her eyes as she absorbs the news.

“No way,” Lambert agrees, though he lacks any kind of conviction. “It was supposed to be us, right? We were supposed to be sucked into the Arcanaeum.”

Leo swallows, jaw clenching. “Unless the magic chose the path of least resistance. It created her body out of its own magic. She was more closely linked to it than we were. It would have been easier to take that than absorb the magical wells from six different people. Especially when none of us were touching her to make the transfer easier.”

“You’re saying she’s just lost her body?” Lambert perks up. “I mean, that’s okay. I loved her even when I couldn’t touch her. That doesn’t change anything.”

He’s missing the point. I don’t have the heart to tell him.

Thankfully, Jasper puts him out of his misery. “Nah. She’s naw just a ghost. Remember how she said the other librarians had been absorbed by the building entirely? How they were a hive mind? He means…she might be…gone.”

My nails cut into my palms as a boulder settles on my chest.

I don’t want to believe it. Don’t want to think of a world without her. Don’t really want to live in one either.

My thoughts stutter to a halt as Leo rights a chair and slumps into it. “We don’t know anything for sure.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Lambert asks. “We could search again…”

“That’s a waste of time. If Kyrith could hear us, she’d have answered.” Dakari looks around, eyes lingering on one of the shards of stained glass that’s landed a few feet from her desk. “The Arcanaeum is a mess. She could be trapped under the rubble, or maybe she can’t manifest while the building is out of power.”

“So, we fix it?”

“Not alone,” Eddy protests. “It will take too long.”

We all look at her, and she groans. “Men. Honestly, you’d think it was a crime to ask for help. Look, there are hundreds of patrons who love this place. They’d all pitch in. The McKinleys would probably be first in line.”

Jasper nods. “Aye, we’ve been restoring the Fort, but this…this is more important.”

“And Ó Rinn owes her for the curse,” Leo adds. “They’ll jump at the chance to help.”

“Talcott might need some pushing, but I’m their damned parriarch,” Dakari mutters. “They’ll do it or else.”

“What about Ackland, Carlton, and Winthrop?” Eddy asks. “Will they listen to North and the others?”

For some reason, Dakari, Jasper, and Pierce all turn to Leo.

“Well, Rector?” Pierce asks. “Who’s in charge there?”

Rector?

Shit. Well. Better him than me.

Leo runs a hand through his messy curls with a groan. “They need new vicegerents. Until then, a rector’s order combined with the support of their heirs should be enough to mobilise them.Feck, we can probably bully enforcement into it too… They owe her for outing all of those necromancers who were swanning about under their noses.” He straightens. “We need to issue a joint statement as soon as possible.”

“For now, I’ll get everyone I can.” Jasper is already pulling out his phone. “Even if the lack of magic isn’t the problem, she’s going tae freak when she sees the Library in this state.”