“Hey!” someone cried from behind. “Someone’s there! It’s-”
Their words cut off sharply, but Daniel heard them cursing, underneath the unnaturally-sharp sound he instantly recognized as a safety clicking off.
When he glanced back, still getting dragged, he saw them—a pair of men, one wielding a pistol he’d leveled in their direction. The other hadn’t been expecting them, clearly, but his fingers tensed, tightening around the open air.
There was no way to dodge them. Nowhere to run. Daniel’s mind ran the calculations at an impossible speed, eerily distant from his battered, aching body. He had no magic left. That much, he knew in an instant. He had no gun. Neither did Olivia, unless the Bookbinders had been stupid enough to leave one within arm’s reach of a prisoner.
And there was nowhere to hide.
Daniel twisted, pushing forward with every last ounce of strength he had to angle himself between Olivia and their pursuers. It was useless. He already knew that. But she’d taken a shot for him.
Even if it only lasted as long as it took for them to reload, it’d be nice to return the favor.
With his blood rushing in his ears and the world flying beneath him, he never heard the pounding of footsteps.
“Shit!”
With a muffled curse, a figure darted past him—right as the asshole with the gun fired. Daniel tensed, flinching at the noise.
No jolt of pain accompanied it. No stab of agony as the bullet lanced through him. Daniel tumbled to the ground, carrying Olivia down with him.
As he fell, he caught a glimpse of Leon standing there. Something gleaming brass hovered in front of his hand, smoking faintly.
Leon ducked away, yanking his hand free. The bullet sailed away into the wreckage of the house. He spun, bringing his hands back up, and-
The air between them and their attackers flickered, going blurry. The gunfire didn’t slow, but when Daniel peered across the distance, he could see the bullets hanging in the barrier. Just as quickly, they shuddered, then blasted back toward their source.
Once again, a fresh set of screams rang in the air.
More footsteps, pounding closer. A woman made an irritated noise. “Damn it, I told you to-”
Leon hurled himself at Daniel, yanking him over to lie flat. “S-Shit. Hey. Are you-”
“Leon,” Daniel squeaked. “You’re...You’re-”
“Oh, thank God,” Leon mumbled. His chin dropped to his chest. “We made it. Jesus, we-”
“Hey,” the speaker from before snapped. A woman, with black hair past her shoulders and a scowl on her face. She clutched a gun in one gloved hand, but the fingers on the other were tense, extended. “We’re not out of shit. Pull it together and stand up, right now.” Her eyes flicked to Daniel. “Can he walk?”
Leon looked to Daniel, but he was already nodding. Something told him not being able to walk was not an acceptable answer.
Olivia hauled him up, but before Leon could snatch his other side, someone else took hold. Daniel blinked, his brow furrowed. A young man. A teenager, really, with glasses and watery brown eyes. “They’re coming,” he said. “We don’t have long. Some of them were thinking about reinforcements.”
“I know that,” the woman muttered. “Get me a route.”
“Back the same way we came,” the man said. “There’s still a gap, if we move quick.”
She didn’t hesitate—just nodded, stalking back out in front of them, and twiddled a finger. The blurry barrier pulled in closer, tucking behind them as they started to move.
Within seconds, the whole situation seemed more dreamlike than real. Caught between Olivia and the newcomer, Daniel didn’t have to walk, didn’t have to think. His thoughts grew dimmer, quieter by the second. Alexandria’s presence had receded somewhere between the house and their rescue, disappearing as though she’d never been present at all. The hollow numbness in his gut had not.
Her silence was worrying, but Daniel couldn’t bring himself to worry about that. Not that, or the figures who darted out behind them, or the flashes of light as magic coiled around them.
He just drifted on, his vision pulling in tighter and tighter, as the woman out front spun back toward them with a snarl. The bullets aimed toward them flew back at their owners. The bursts of energy disappeared, exploding back toward the mages in lightning bolts and gouts of fire. Through it all, Leon watched with horrified, rapt fascination, his expression frozen somewhere between terror and delight.
She was...familiar. Daniel blinked, trying to force his eyes to focus on her. He’d seen her somewhere. He was sure of it. But...where?
With one final ball of condensed heat, she turned again, scowling, and he saw it. The woman—from the book. In Alexandria. A demi. A mercenary.
Leon had come through on his promise.
That was it—the final piece Daniel needed to classify this as ‘safe’. He relaxed into their grasp, his strength bleeding away. They were talking again. Moving. He stumbled on, every ounce of his focus going into keeping them moving. He could do that much. He was the Librarian, damn it.
Until at last he flopped, pressing into something hard. A car seat. Someone dragged him up onto it, setting him straight. Daniel lifted his head, staring through eyes that didn’t want to see.
“Leon,” he whispered as the brassy-haired man drifted into view at last.
Leon grinned. That much, he could see. “Told you I’d come,” he said. “Bet you didn’t believe me.”
Daniel exhaled, smiling. The car was moving. The two mercenaries were in the front, arguing away over...something. He couldn’t hear. He didn’t care.
“Thank you,” Daniel said.
And then
