The Librarian: A Remnants of Magic Novel (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 2) by Casey White (read ebook pdf txt) 📕

“You’re doing good,” Leon said. “Just a little more, and-”

Maya yelped. The wall shuddered. The drop ceiling swayed ominously.

James looked to Leon next, still crouching. His tanned face was uncharacteristically pale. “Go.”

Leon shook his head. “I should stay. Daniel will need-”

“Fine,” James snapped, turning to Olivia. “You next, then. Try anything on Maya and I’ll break your neck.”

She flinched under the venom in the look, but didn’t argue. In an instant, she was up and over, squirming through the gap.

A hand brushed his shoulder. “Now you,” Leon said.

“No,” Daniel said. “I should-“

“Go,” James snapped. “There’s no time to argue. You’re the one who can’t climb.”

Daniel wilted, falling back under the force of the looks turned on him. He opened his mouth to protest—and shut it again.

It did make sense. He was moving, but slowly. Him getting trapped there would be...less than ideal.

“Fine,” he muttered, shuffling forward. It felt entirely wrong to lift his foot, placing it in James’ hands. James was a person. You didn’t step on people. Everyone knew that.

It didn’t stop James from tossing him aloft as easily as if Daniel was a toy. Daniel clutched at the dresser, crawling up after Olivia, and left the two to whispering.

“Now...where,” he whispered to himself, working himself through the gap left by the tile. A mote of dust wafted into his nostrils, and he had to fight to keep from sneezing. Those dust motes had friends. Lots of friends, in that space that had absolutely never seen a dustpan—and if he sneezed, they’d all come out to play.

Right before he lost his nerve, caught in the darkness with the wood of the dresser beneath him and blurry nothingness ahead, he saw the gap, lit by a halfhearted glow beyond. The vertical anchor of the wall was like a beacon, drawing him on. He crawled forward, eyes fixed on that light, and-

Suddenly, the beams he was clinging to ran out. There was just him, and the gap, and the floor below. Daniel wobbled, his leg straining to keep up. He just had to find a safe way down, and-

His leg gave out. He crashed down through the ceiling, landing in a tangled mess on the stained carpet. Face-first.

“Shit,” he moaned, wincing. Damn it, it smelled like- like things he very, very much didn’t want to describe. “This sucks.”

Hands clutched at his shoulders. “Are you okay?” Maya hissed. “Christ. I didn’t- I would’ve tried to help.”

“D-Didn’t need it,” Daniel mumbled, grinning at her at Olivia. “Nope. I’m good. I’m-”

“Out of the way,” Leon hissed. “They’re coming.”

Daniel froze. His senses screamed out again. Numb, he let Olivia pull him to the side, far enough for Leon to hop down.

But he could hear it, then. Someone banging on a door. The sound of yelling voices rising louder and louder.

“James,” Leon whispered, twisting back. “James, hurry, before-”

“I got it,” James muttered. A massive shadow loomed through the gap in the ceiling—and James dropped to the carpet with a whumph.

Leon hurried over to him, helping him to his feet. “Did you turn the lights off?”

James blinked—and made a face. “Crap.”

Daniel chuckled sourly, watching Leon deflate. “It’s okay. We’re good. Let’s just-”

They froze as the sound of yelling rose higher—until at last, with a muted cry of one more time, the screech of rested metal and rotting wood crashed down from the room they’d just left.

Their grace period was over. They’d escaped the frying pan, for the time being.

Now, Daniel just had to keep them out of the fire.

He strode toward the door, biting his tongue against the daggers of pain that shot through him at the motion, and glanced back once more.

“Stay quiet,” he whispered, and smiled. “And stay close.”

The others looked shaken, but nodded. The time for debating was over.

The stomp of feet rose from beyond the wall. “They were here,” he heard someone cry. “What the hell’s going on? Look for them, you assholes.”

Time to go.

Taking one last breath, Daniel grabbed the handle on the front door and turned it.

A quick shove, and the door flew open.

Daniel caught hold of it again before it could slam into the wall. Couldn’t let that happen. Couldn’t be loud.

Because the bellowing from the next room over hadn’t stopped.

“I was watching!” he heard someone cry. “I s-swear, Rickard, they never left. I-”

“Just find them.” A new speaker, their voice twisted ever so slightly behind an accent. Daniel shivered. Rickard. He wasn’t about to mistake that voice anytime soon.

Well, at least now he didn’t have to wonder if the Bookbinder was going to make a personal appearance.

He lurched through the doorway, beckoning for the others to follow. “Quick,” he hissed. “Before they start looking.”

Leon nodded, pressing closer. A pale-faced Olivia hovered at his heels—but beyond her, Daniel saw Maya freeze.

She was shaking. The realization put a fresh knot of guilt in his gut. James stepped up alongside her, putting an arm around her shoulder. His lips pressed to her ear, murmuring something too quiet for Daniel to hear. Whatever it was he said, Maya relaxed, but only just.

They hadn’t asked for this. Daniel stared at them a heartbeat longer, soul-sick. Neither of them had signed up for this. Hell, neither had Leon, but Leon had...well, he’d long-since taken on a more active role, at least.

But Maya and James were utter innocents. They didn’t belong here, being shot at and running from mages.

Daniel swallowed, shaking his head, and turned back to the outside world. All he had to do was keep everyone alive and in one piece long enough to apologize properly. To make amends. Until then…

“Here,” he mumbled, digging through his coat. “There’s, uh. I have…”

The magazine full of spare rounds hung heavy in his hand. He held it toward James. “It’s the last I’ve got,” he whispered.

He expected James to recoil—and for a second, he could see the hesitance in his friend’s eyes. It vanished as soon as James looked back to Maya, and he stalked forward,