Page 25 of Librarian

I shiver. I can’t help it. North—and itisNorth whose arms I’m wrapped in—clutches me a little tighter against his chest.

“Hey, dickhead,” he yells back. “Good luck controlling a pile of fucking rubble.”

Then we’re moving, shoving through a door.

No. I can’t leave. It’s not possible. It’s?—

I’m outside.

I’m…I’m outside, and the wind isfreezing. The sky above is a deep, mournful grey.

“No!” I choke, but there’s no pull. Nothing.

There’s no connection to the Arcanaeum, and when North turns around to look at the graffiti-covered door, I can only watch with horror as he keeps backing away, and I?—

I feel nothing. No stretching, elastic band of pressure around my chest. No scraping, pulling pain.

Only the cold, sharp blade of fear.

Lambert dives out next, Westley hissing and clawing at his arms. Then comes Jasper, dragging the three others with him.

They collapse on the weed-strewn, cracked concrete as the door on the other side of the tomb disintegrates.

There’s a moment—less than a second—where my eyes meet Mathias’s. His pure, unbridled fury is just as terrifying as before. He raises the dagger, and something inside me tugs. I lurch forward without meaning to, almost toppling out of North’s grip.

But North’s free hand is already buried in his grimoire, which is hovering by his side. “Inflemi aerchilon.”

An arc of pure white flame soars through the space, right for Mathias. It’s brilliant, powerful magic. A hundred times more skilful than his previous attempts. It’s also too much for theArcanaeum. The ceiling of the tomb we were in collapses. Dust billows forth, only to be sucked back inside as the metal door between us slams shut.

“Wahoo!” Lambert crows into the silence. “We did it!”

Dakari staggers to his feet, searching for me.

“Are you okay?” he demands.

The world is swaying. All I can do is shake my head and stare mutely at the door.

What just happened? I was… The Arcanaeum…

“She’s probably in shock,” Jasper mutters, lifting Leo’s burnt arm to examine it.

The other man snatches it away. “It’s fine.”

“It’s a second-degree burn?—”

“It’ll keep. Pierce is worse.”

I barely register Dakari’s eyes widening before my stomach drops out from underneath me. It’s only thanks to his fast thinking that I don’t end up on the ground beside North.

“North?” Lambert is at his friend’s side in an instant, Leo right behind him, muttering incantations. A tense second passes as North’s body glows softly.

“Magical exhaustion,” Leo mumbles. “Kyrie’s drained him.” His eyes land on Dakari, who’s started to sway as well. “Put her down before you drop her.”

But the moment he releases me to the cold earth, my head swims. I slump before anyone can catch me. My fingers start to tingle so badly that it hurts.

No. Not again. I can’t pass out…

The bedI’m in is so warm and cosy that it takes me a second to realise what woke me.