Leon shook his head, lifting his eyes to Owl’s and smiling faintly. “We’ll have to figure something, won’t we?” he said. His voice was hoarse. “Unless we want them starting that again. Next time-”
“Next time the building might not save him,” James said with a snort.
Leon’s eyes tightened, his lip curling back.
“It’s fine,” Owl said hurriedly. “She...She looks after me. I’m good. We’re all good.”
“Still,” James said, cracking his knuckles contemplatively. “More people, huh? We might be able to find some. Rustle ‘em up somewhere.”
“Where?” Maya said. “What, we going to stand on the side of the road with signs? That’ll look great. ‘Hey, magic library here, anyone interested?’ They’ll love it.”
“We’re in college,” James said, furrowing his brow and glaring sidelong at her. “I think we can find someone.”
Maya snorted, but was already nodding. “Maybe. I do...I know some people. If we think of it like a big study group, it might be easier. But-”
“No,” Owl said quietly. The pair stopped - and turned back to face him. He heard Leon come up alongside him as well, still all but silent. He shook his head. “I can’t have you three putting yourself in danger like that.”
Maya half-turned back to face him, her lips pursed. “But maybe-”
“It would be a little obvious besides, if all the people came from one campus,” Owl said. “And if you guys became known as the gatekeepers, if word of Alexandria got out...”
A room filled with blood and cages. The sour tang of rot in the air. Shelf after shelf of perilously thin books. Lives, each and every one of them.
Again, he shook his head. “No,” he said, more firmly. “Not happening. Stay out of it.”
James scowled at him, but Maya smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. You’re right, I guess.”
“We got in, didn’t we?” James said, letting a leer slide onto his face. “Maybe your building will let some more people in on its own, if it gets desperate.”
Owl chuckled. “Maybe.”
James and Maya turned back to the hallway ahead, already back to talking - theories, and ideas, and what-ifs. None of them sounded particularly likely. Owl sighed, returning to his trudge behind them.
A hand brushed his shoulder, falling away just as quickly. Owl jumped.
“We’ll figure it out,” Leon said from alongside him. “I’m just...I’m glad you’re okay. It sounds like that went pretty badly.”
Badly? Owl swallowed a laugh, remembering...all of it. The fire. The horrible winds. The ghostly figures, and Alexandria’s lifeblood lapping at his ankles. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “It was...close. I don’t know what would’ve happened if things got much worse.”
“Yeah,” Leon said. He inched ahead of Owl, flashing a grin his way. “But...we’re back. Alex is whole.”
“Mostly,” Owl mumbled.
Leon snorted. “Mostly. We can figure this out. Just give it a little time.”
Owl nodded, chewing on his lip. “Yeah. You’re right, of course.”
“I usually am,” Leon said, winking his way.
And he was. Owl chuckled sourly. Something in his chest twinged when Leon turned away, starting to walk, and he twitched forward. “Hey.”
Leon glanced back, blinking. “What?”
Owl froze, one hand hanging in midair halfway to Leon’s wrist. What? What had he wanted to say? What had been so urgent?
How was he supposed to respond right now?
“I, uh,” he began, inching closer so that they were more in line. “Look.”
“I’m looking,” Leon said dryly.
“Thanks,” Owl mumbled.
Leon blinked again, a confusion entering his eyes. “What?”
Owl’s ears burned, safely hidden behind his hood. “For...always coming here and helping me. For letting me vent at you.”
“Oh,” Leon said, starting to grin. “Isn’t that what we do? Shit, wasn’t it not too long ago I was feeling all guilty for dumping my baggage on you?”
“Maybe,” Owl said. “But...it helps. A lot.” He shook his head, still scrambling for the right words. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why you keep coming, just to hang out. Why you spend so many of your nights here. But I’m...I’m glad you do.”
To his relief, he saw that Leon’s cheeks were turning a faint pink, too - and his friend looked away, rubbing at his nose. “Well, I dunno,” Leon said. “I’m not really suffering, I think. Don’t worry about it too much.”
“Yeah,” Owl said. “Sorry. Don’t want to be weird. I just...” He shook his head. “You’ve always got my back. I don’t get it, but...yeah. Thanks.”
“Well,” Leon said. He took a step after the rapidly-receding forms of James and Maya, jerking his chin for Owl to follow. “Ah. Well, I guess, that’s...that’s because-”
Both jumped as bells crashed overhead. For a moment, the Library was filled with noise, with raucous tolling and the slow groan of shifting timbers.
Bells. There were bells, which only meant one thing. And he’d just unlocked the door.
When Owl looked to Leon, though, he found him smiling faintly. “Go, Daniel.” Leon said. “That’s what you were waiting for, wasn’t it?”
Not really, no. But it was a first step. He had to figure out where he stood before he could decide what to do next. And there, with his name hanging in the air and his friends filling the Library, he could do it.
He could.
And so Owl nodded, forcing a grin onto his face even though Leon would never see it, and turned back toward the front of Alexandria.
“Be right back.”
Find the rest of book two, The Librarian!
More from Casey White
——————————
Independent Series
————————
The Flameweaver Saga
Chosen
Charred
Nightsworn
Ascendant
-
Reverie
Halfway to Home
Unknown Horizons
Richard “Quickdraw” McCallister
A Eulogy
Shorts
Black Skies
Worlds that Never Were
Deposition of the Departed
The Aedanverse
————————
Remnants of Magic
Silvertongue
Wanderer
Legion
The Library
The Library
The Librarian
Spark of Divinity
Survival’s Edge
Fortune’s Fool
Terra Rising
