Page 86 of Librarian

The green ribbon of magic is still leading up. More worryingly, the sounds coming from above us are violent, shaking the stones of the castle.

If I had to guess, Dakari is up there, doing what he does best.

“This way. There’s another way up.” North takes the lead, heading down a smaller corridor that must once have been meant for servants.

There’s a narrow stair tower in the corner of the hall, with uneven stone steps and an old piece of rope for a handrail. Benny pauses as we reach the bottom, casting an illusion behind us. It probably won’t hold up for long, but at first glance, anyone pursuing us will think they’ve come to a dead end.

Around us, the fortress shakes again, knocking my balance so badly that I have to grip the rope or risk falling.

“You have no right to be here,” Jasper snarls, half pained, half angry.

“I have every right to root out necromancy wherever it may be.” My mother’s voice slices into me like a scalpel, and Benny stops dead on the stairs. “Now, where is the Librarian?”

I drop the tracking spell. If my mother has Jasper, then our priorities just changed. Untucking a scrap from my grimoire, I use it to cast an invisibility spell over the three of us, ignoring the burn as it flakes away between my fingers.

“You’ve got the wrong people,” Eddy protests with a groan, and I reach past my grandfather to grab North’s sleeve, halting him when he would’ve charged in to save her. “We aren’t?—”

Her voice cuts off as another blast shakes the walls, followed by a boom. Eddy’s sharp gasp follows a second later.

“The Librarian,” Isidora prompts. “And don’t bother telling me you don’t know. Mathias told me all about your little bond.”

Jasper grunts. “Fuck. You.”

“Ingaesh.”

Jasper’s shout of pain makes me wince. Yeah. She never holds back with that spell.

At the reminder, I search for my bond to Kyrith, blinking in shock when I realise…. She’s not here. They’ve moved her.

Thank magic.

They should’ve sent Jasper away at the same time. He’s just as much of a target.

“Rector Carlton…” an enforcer broaches. “I think he’s passed out.”

I grab North’s shoulder when he tenses like he’s about to do something stupid and tiptoe past him to peek around the corner.

We’ll get his sister, but not by rushing in without a plan.

“Their grimoires are clean.” A slender female officer pipes up from where she’s kneeling in front of both books, barely two feet away from us. “No evidence of necromancy.”

The two tomes fly away from her, piling themselves neatly beside the unconscious duo on the floor in the middle of the landing.

Eddy and Jasper are crushed into the floor, eyes closed, as they lie trapped beneath crackling nets. Their skin is burnt where it makes contact with the magic, but they’re alive. My mother stands over the two of them, using the pointed toe of her Louboutin to lift Jasper’s head as she tuts.

There are over two dozen officers around her. Too many for us to sneak past or take on directly. Five are leaned up against the wall, receiving medical care.

If I get the net off Jasper, will we stand better odds? My grandfather might be able to heal and rouse him.

“Leave the Ackland girl,” my mother orders as her grimoire flutters in the air beside her. “She’s too weak to be of any use. I’m bringing Jasper McKinley back to my office for questioning.”

“Is that wise, ma’am? He’s an heir, and his grimoire says he’s innocent.”

Isidora pins the woman who was stupid enough to protest with a cold glare. “They won’t miss him for a little while. He’s only a liminal, and if necromancers were here, he would know.”

I step forward, but before I can do anything, Jasper and his grimoire are gone.

No! Magic damnit.