The light didn’t go away, though—and Alexandria’s hold on him only tightened.
Panting, his mind foggy, Daniel watched in shock and horror as water poured across the ground in front of him. Alexandria. Her well. It coursed beneath the figures still struggling to rise, climbing the walls in the blink of an eye. Wherever the ripples touched, they seemed to blot out the world beneath, he realized, superimposing their own. The waters lapping about his ankles rippled, bulging upward.
Shapes erupted from within before he could so much as twitch, glowing as fiercely at the water. Daniel gaped. Alexandria’s hands squeezed tighter about his shoulders.
Bookshelves. They shot skyward, rising almost to the ceiling to fill the building with light. Water dripped from their shelves and off the tops, but the books they held seemed as untouched as ever.
He shuddered as reality twisted, reshaping itself. Hallways stretched. The ceiling rose high overhead. It was as though Alexandria had just grabbed hold of the house they were in, warping and remolding it to her own needs.
Cries rang out around him. The collected Bookbinders and Booklenders stumbled between the shelves, yelling incoherently to each other. Some seemed to be looking for the way out—but others turned to him, raising pistols.
No. His heart raced. He almost took a step back, but those hands on his shoulders pushed back.
Do not run. Do not give in to them now. Rise.
Daniel exhaled. Smoke was starting to fill the room, seeping out from where the spectral shelves were pressed against the walls, the ceiling. His hand came up.
The water moved with him. A silvery arm raised from the depths, swinging wildly.
Images flashed through his mind. Runes, and circles, and strange lines he couldn't quite wrap his mind around. His lips shaped words he’d never heard before.
Under it all, he heard Alexandria’s voice, whispering it along with him. Feeding it into his thoughts.
He hissed something, coming to a stop—and the water filling the room erupted again. Silvery hands surged from the depths, grabbing for anyone within reach. Daniel stared, aghast, as one latched onto the leg of the Bookbinder in front of him.
The man screamed, lurching—and fired.
The bullet never reached Daniel. The air in front of him shimmered, thickening with a thought. He stared, uncomprehending, at the tiny metallic speck hanging in midair.
The man’s screams brought the world screeching back down around him. He looked up. The waters spread across the gunman’s skin, coating him just as easily as they had the walls. With one final shriek, the tide closed over his head.
And then the ocean collapsed on itself, crashing back to the ground. The man was just...gone.
Daniel shivered. The cries around him grew louder. Alex, what-
He’s close. Forward. You must continue. Her voice tightened, ringing in his ears with ruthless intensity. They would have killed you. They still would. Their souls are free here—so do not hesitate to do as you must. Quickly.
He swallowed hard, standing a bit taller. Apparently, the rules inside didn’t matter here, even if Alexandria went on about how he ‘never left’. And… they had been holding him hostage, probing around in his mind. They’d been happy to use him.
He’d do what he had to do.
One way or another, he would get out of here.
Lurching forward, Daniel stumbled toward the nearest aisle between the bookshelves. The room was unrecognizable from how it’d been, the ceiling rising into the high vault Alex favored. He wasn’t even sure it was the same house, anymore.
His leg tingled. He glanced down, watching in fascinated horror as a tendril of light rose from the pools underfoot and wrapped around his still-wounded leg, his arm. A twinge of pain shot through him—and then the pain vanished. The light faded, revealing only smooth skin beneath.
A crash, and the roar of someone splashing through the wet. Another Bookbinder ran past, his eyes wild. He vanished from sight, but Daniel saw him lean out from behind a bookshelf, raising a hand.
The waters beneath Daniel’s feet churned, starting to form a whirlpool. The rest of the sea around them wavered, joining in the motion. A wave splashed up, crashing against the bookshelf—and Daniel heard the Bookbinder bellow in pain. A shape flitted through the shelves as he fled.
The whirlpool didn’t stop, though. It rose higher, filling the air around him with a silver-blue haze. Gunshots cracked out from corners he couldn’t quite see. It didn’t matter. The growing waves washed them away, spraying up to block every last attack.
Where was Madis? Daniel scanned the shelves, feeling as though a tidal wave was at his back, pushing him forward. He could feel Alexandria’s intensity, the single-minded focus radiating off her presence in sheets. She wanted him.
He didn’t understand why. Not yet. He’d make her tell him, in time—but right now-
There. A trio of men ran past, pale-faced. The hallway stretched on, impossibly far, but at the end stood what Daniel hazily remembered as the front door.
And halfway down the row of books, a pair of figures stumbled along. One clutched the other, who was half-crumpled, ready to topple over at any moment.
Rickard—and Madis.
There. Alexandria’s voice lashed out, triumphant. Daniel stumbled forward, the whirlpool around him building. Blue flames lapped at the bookshelves, rising from the surface of the waters.
Rickard looked up, cursing. He hurled himself forward, dragging Madis alongside him. Halfway there, Madis crumpled, dragging Rickard down.
“Move, damn you,” Daniel heard Rickard cry.
A flicker of movement at the edge of his vision drew him in. Daniel glanced over to a corner, half-hidden
