He started forward, grabbing at the wall for stability. This was going to be a damn long walk, he realized, when the bandages wrapping his leg meant he couldn’t bend it more than a little. There was no elevator, though. Shy of sitting down on his ass and scooting, there wasn’t an easier way. And...he sighed. He’d have to climb back up, after.
Lovely.
Another screech of metal on metal rang out before he could start his descent. Daniel whirled, spinning in time to see the barred door fly back towards the latch.
“H-Hey!” Leon yelped, thrusting himself forward. The edge of the door slammed into his shoulder, pinning him against the frame, and he hissed in pain. “What the hell? It’s- I can’t-”
“Alex!” Daniel gasped, lurching back. He grabbed at the bars, trying to plant his feet and yank it back open, but it was hard enough to balance. “Stop it!”
The metal bars didn’t budge—but somewhere, deep underneath them, something started to shake.
It grew louder and louder, like an earthquake had somehow struck underneath Alexandria. Dust fell from the rafters. The chandeliers overhead wobbled, their candles starting to flicker and go out. Wind howled through the windows.
“I- I know!” Daniel cried, dropping his forehead to the bars. “Just work with me, okay?”
Leon didn’t say a word. From the wide-eyed set of his expression and the sheen of sweat starting to glisten on his temples, he’d pieced together some of what was happening. Daniel smiled grimly. He’d always been smart.
“I know it’s not what you want,” he hissed through gritted teeth, tightening his hold on the bars. They were still sunk into Leon’s chest, leaving puffed-up sections of fabric and flesh between each slat of the grating. “I know. But- It’s Leon. I need his help. We’re in trouble, Alex.”
He fell quiet then, still tugging at the door—and still, Alexandria didn’t seem to want to let up. Finally, his chin snapped up, and he glared toward the ceiling.
“You put him here,” Daniel spat, his eyes narrowing. “You’re the one who put Leon in the middle of this, Alex. It’s your doing. You don’t get to be angry now, when the shit you pull comes back to bite me. Let me do my job, damn it.”
The rumbling under his feet slowed, diminishing to a low, faint tremble, but the wind howled still.
Daniel smiled faintly, a wry note creeping through his frustrations. “You’re the one who put him here,” he whispered. “You wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t trust him. Right?”
Especially now that things between him and Leon had...changed, when he was starting to have some sneaking suspicions about Alex’s motives from the start.
Please, he willed, squeezing the bars. Please, Alex. I’m trying. Just-
The hinges gave way as quickly and smoothly as though they’d been greased. Daniel fell backward with a startled yelp, landing on his ass at the head of the stairs. Leon’s cry rang in his ears. A set of hands grabbed him in the next instant.
“You good?” Leon gasped.
Daniel squeezed an eye open, locking gazes with him—and smiled. The doorway behind them hung open, even if the lights in the bedroom beyond were flickering. “Yep,” he whispered. “I’m just fine.”
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Leon said, still wide-eyed. He stood, though, pulling Daniel to his feet along with him.
Daniel sighed. “It’ll...be easier to show you.” Wincing at the fresh rush of pain that stabbed through his leg, he reached up, taking the lantern from its hook. “We’ll be there soon.”
Leon’s expression crumpled, but he nodded. “Okay,” he mumbled. “If you’re sure.”
He wasn’t. God, he wasn’t sure about any of this. But one shambling step at a time, Daniel crept forward, leading them down the stairs.
His instincts had been correct—every step was agony, and his shattered balance left him dangerously close to tumbling down the spiral staircase. Knowing how far down it went made him far from eager about the idea. But the stairs were too narrow for Leon to help him, either, so he was left stumbling downward, clinging to whatever he could to keep from falling.
Just a little more, he told himself every time they dropped lower. Just another few steps, and we’ll be there. We’re almost there.
He didn’t even believe it himself. It felt like their descent might as well have been eternal—but eventually, they rounded the final loop.
The landing sprawled out before them. And beyond it...Daniel’s mouth went dry.
Bookshelves, stretching out to the extents of the room, each laden with chained-up books. The golden symbols on their spines gleamed, like they were taunting him.
Every one of those symbols was an object. A magical tool, with a magical owner.
Every one of those symbols was a mage.
Daniel shuffled forward until he stood before the nearest bookshelf, refusing to let himself stop there. He had to know—both of them needed to know. He reached out, resting his hand on the spine of the first book. Marked with...a spyglass, it looked like. It wasn’t right, but just for a moment, at the sight of the long, narrow object, his heart had skipped a beat.
“What is all of this?” Leon said. Even hushed, his voice echoed through the forbidden library. “What are we even looking for?” He fell quiet, but when he didn’t get a response, he inched up alongside the shelf. “Daniel?”
Daniel smiled grimly, letting his finger drag from symbol to symbol down the row. No. None of them were right. He turned to Leon, who even then stood there with confusion in his blue eyes, and reached out two fingers to tap the end of the pipe that poked from underneath Leon’s jacket.
“We’re looking for this.”
- Chapter Nineteen -
He’d been so confident when they started.
The longer they worked, the more Daniel’s confidence faded. The hidden library underneath Alexandria had always been big. With rack upon rack of emblazoned books before him, it might as well have been endless.
The pattern continued on—shelf after shelf, with a level of planning prior unseen within Alexandria. There was that,
