Page 113 of Harnessed in Gold

Aaron: Looking for service entrance or freight elevator.

I mutter, “Damn, he’s smart.” Am I the only one who’s noticed it’s always Aaron who has the brilliant ideas?

“Hey.” A voice has both Leo and me looking up. “Find anything?” Avery and Rime hustle across the lobby toward us.

“No,” Leo replies.

“Yeah, we didn’t either.”

Rime rests his hands on his hips. “None of the other staircases go all the way down to the basement.”

Perhaps because no one uses it? It’s not like this vast three-story building doesn’t have plenty of space to offer. Why use an old, damp, musty basement if you don’t need to? Leather, parchment,and paper would rot down there in a matter of a few short years, anyway.

I’m about to ask Avery if she saw Aaron’s text when both our phones go off.

“They found something!” she exclaims.

Sure enough, Aaron’s message reads: Jackpot. Meet us at circulation.

We dash to the main entrance to find Aaron and Topaz waiting beside the book-drop box. Aaron points to an alcove just beyond the AV center and the restrooms. “The freight elevator is back there.”

“Can we get to it?” Avery asks.

“Yeah, but we’re not supposed to be in that area.” His eyes flick to the bored work-study student behind the circulation desk, scrolling on her phone.

I ask, “Do you think she would even care?”

Aaron shrugs. “Maybe not, but it would help if we had some sort of distraction.”

I look over at her just in time to catch her sneaking a glance at Leo.

Allof Leo.

How about I knock her out? Problem solved.

Topaz grabs Rime’s arm. “Go talk to her.”

“No.” Avery holds out a hand to stop him. “Leo, you go talk to her.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Trust me.” She nudges him toward the desk. “Tell her you have some books on reserve. You have a card, don’t you?”

“Of course.” He takes out his wallet. “As soon as she goes in the back, I’ll join you.”

Glutton for punishment that I am, I watch phone girl lick her lips as he approaches her. Somebody find me a big, thick book. An atlas or the Oxford English Dictionary.

Avery pushes me towards the alcove. “Focus, witchling.”

Traitor.

As the rest of us reach the restricted hallway, Leo comes around the corner, breathless and a little shame-faced.

“Nothing came up on my account,” he confesses to Aaron and me. “But she was willing to go back and look anyway.”

Of course she was. Welcome to the human world, where not all of us are beautiful, but those who are can get anything they want.

Beside a heavy door markedStaff Only,a printed sign under plexiglass reads:Service Entrance and Elevator.