Page 110 of Harnessed in Gold

His voice is stern, “What are you doing, little psychic?”

“Um—” I cringe as Topaz draws up behind him. “Stretching my legs?”

Rime signals for me to turn around, his eyes hot on my back as hemarches me all the way to Avery and Aaron. Once I’m obediently seated, he stays close by. Leo soon joins us, frowning at Rime standing guard beside me.

“We found exactly where the windows are,” Topaz announces.

“And the good news is, there’s nobody back there,” Rime says. “At least not that we could see.”

“Where?” Avery is already on her feet, ready to go.

“How do you know it’s where the windows are?” I ask. “Did you go down a floor?”

“No,” Leo answers. “I went back outside and found them, while they—” he points to Topaz and Rime, “— stayed inside and looked for me out the first-floor windows.”

Logical, but not very magical.

“Only one window lines up,” he adds. “It looks like the other two are under offices. But it’s enough to know we’re in the right area.”

“So what next?” Aaron asks.

Rime nudges me to my feet. “I take Betts there.”

“Nuh-uh.” I step out of his reach and nod at Avery and Aaron. “All three of us need to go.”

“I agree,” Leo says firmly.

Topaz rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just go.”

“By the way—” Avery turns sideways as we squeeze three-wide between the magazine racks. “Are you guys still invisible?”

Topaz replies, “Not anymore.”

Good to know. Because all this would look weird to the few people wandering around. Three people talking to the air.

At the hallway entrance, Aaron freezes. He shushes us and holds up a finger, staring at nothing as he struggles to listen in the high-ceilinged, echo-y space. “Someone’s following us.”

Topaz goes on high alert, and Rime stiffens, eyes darting every which way. She gets his attention with a smack on the arm and tells him, “I’ll go check it out.” Like a ninja, she sneaks back around the corner and vanishes into the periodicals room.

Leo takes the opportunity to cut between me and Rime, stickingby my side as we start down the hall, our shoes squeaking on the polished tile floor. We pass two locked, numbered doors I assume are offices, then another door with a narrow vertical window through which I can see tables covered with folders and papers.

We’ve nearly reached the hallway’s end when Rime signals with apsstand points to his left. Our eyes follow his finger to a conference room, the one he emerged from to catch me skulking, and presumably the one above the wrought-iron windows.

I don my velvet protection cloak, expecting to be smacked in the face with energy, while Leo stays close, no doubt anticipating the same thing. Everyone watches me as we enter the room. I grip the back of a metal-legged chair and try to concentrate—dissociate, then harness—but I can’t with so many eyes on me.

I ask Aaron, “Do you hear anything?”

He shakes his head.

Avery answers my next question, “There’s not much in here to touch.”

Nothing old at least. A projector and a screen, four long tables, each with three chairs. Avery grazes her fingers along the sills of the three tall windows, taps on their ancient glass, and sighs. She’s not getting any messages.

“Betts?” Rime cuts harshly into the silence. “What are you picking up?”

“Something, but—” I don’t feel right or normal, but who can say why? Someone’s following us, Rime is acting like an ass, we’re in a restricted area of the library, and everyone is looking at me. Waiting.

Leo herds them all toward the door. “Give her a minute.”