- Chapter Forty -
Something brushed against his skin.
Daniel twitched, trying to jerk away, but his body was heavy, unmoving.
“Is he okay?” someone said. “Only-
“Just shut up and let me work,” a woman sighed.
A fingernail poked into his eyelid. Again, Daniel twitched.
Light. It poured in, filling his world with blinding agony. A flashlight. Someone was in front of him, holding his eye open, and-
“He’s good,” the woman said. The light vanished. “Like I told you.”
“Oh.”
There were hands on him. Daniel tried to move, tried to twist away, but still couldn’t do more than flinch.
“We’re out of the worst of it now, anyway,” someone else said. With the fog starting to clear from his mind, Daniel could see him—that man, with the glasses. The mercenary.
Right. The pieces settled back into place. The mercenaries. Leon had brought help, and gotten him to a car, where he’d…
He’d fallen asleep. But he couldn’t remember going to Alexandria. The realization sent a shiver down his spine. He’d never not gone to Alexandria before.
Had something changed?
Lifting a hand to his chest, he focused. Something shimmered to life beneath his fingers—a pendant, cold and metallic. The gentle, familiar curves of the open book were a palpable relief. Alexandria was still there. He was still Librarian. Probably. With a final sigh, the necklace vanished.
The hands on him moved, and he blinked, trying to clear his sight.
Someone squeezed his shoulder. “Hey,” they said. The speaker from before. Right. Leon. “You still in there?”
“I’m good,” Daniel whispered. “I’m...yeah. I’m good.”
He could see them, now, if he strained—the black-haired woman, and the man with glasses, standing alongside Leon. Behind them, James and Maya waited in front of an apartment building he didn’t recognize.
Olivia lurked alongside them. Her eyes were red, her face splotchy, but she offered him a smile.
“Sweet,” the mercenary woman said, shoving her hands into her pockets. “I’ll take my money, then, and we’ll be gone.”
“R-Right,” Leon said, half-turning toward Maya. “Uh- Did you have-”
“Or, sure, take all day with it.”
Maya wrinkled her nose, her lips curling down, and started digging through her purse. “Working on it.”
Daniel inched forward, looking around. He was sitting outside the car, leaning against its tire. He licked his lips. “How...How’d you even-”
“How’d I find them?” Leon said. Daniel nodded, and he grinned. “I, uh. Well.” He cast a look to the pair, then back to Daniel. “I’d spotted them in the book. And when I...woke up...I, uh.” He licked his lips, holding up a slip of paper. “I found a, uh. A note I must’ve left myself.”
He shaped the words slowly and carefully, his eyes locked on Daniel’s—and the scrap of paper he held up was thick, old-fashioned. The name Amber was spelled out in bold, clear letters over a phone number.
Daniel nodded, leaning back against the tire. Alexandria had helped him after all. He’d never seen her voluntarily send information beyond her walls, not apart from the notes his guests carried with them.
Apparently, his being kidnapped warranted an exception.
“Fascinating,” the woman said. Amber, Daniel was sure. “A touching reunion.” She grinned wolfishly. “You’re lucky we were close, asshole. You’re double lucky my partner was scoping things out and noticed shit going sideways.” She jerked a thumb to the glasses-wearing man, who smiled down at him. “Things went from ‘get our bearings’ to ‘oh-shit’ real fast.”
Daniel swallowed. His head spun. “L-Listening in? Um. Well, I-”
“He’s a telepath,” Leon said. The awe in his voice shone through clearly. “Isn’t that insane?”
A telepath. Just like the ones Madis had used to fish around in his head. Daniel’s skin shivered. He shrank back, pressing into the car’s tire behind him. None of the others seemed to notice.
“He’s my telepath,” Amber said. Her smile faded, turning serious. “Don’t even think of trying anything.”
“I-I wasn’t,” Leon said, holding his hands up disarmingly. “U-Uh. Hey, Maya? How’s it coming with the-”
“I’m working on it,” Maya said. She was fumbling around in her purse still, shuffling through what Daniel recognized as a stack of cash. She didn’t want the mercenaries to see it, he realized. Which was probably smart. But she couldn’t count the damn stuff like that, either. “J-Just a minute. I’ll-”
“Give the whole thing to them,” Daniel said. His head rested back against the rubber of the tire, which was one of the most uncomfortable pillows he’d ever tried to use.
Maya stopped. “You sure?”
Daniel waved a hand toward them, grinning weakly. “Why not. They kept you guys from getting nailed. That’s...worth a bonus.”
“Damn straight,” he heard the mercenary woman mutter.
Maya nodded, but didn’t look quite convinced. “...Okay.” She pulled the money free, holding it out to the woman—who stared down at it, momentarily nonplussed.
Only for a moment, though. A heartbeat later, she took the stack of bills, running a finger down the edges to show the denominations.
Her poker face was good. Her partner’s, less so. His eyes were round, his lips parted. “Christ,” Daniel heard him mumble.
She kicked him. He turned away, pressing a hand to his face. “That’s…” she began, but bit it back. That’s a lot of money to be waving around, he could almost hear her saying. She just shook her head, though, swallowing her words, and tucked the money into the pocket of her coat. “You should be careful,” she said, more quietly. “Wave money like that around, other demis might start wondering how much more you’ve got.”
“Noted,” Daniel said. “Still. Thank you.” He had
