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

“Maya, then. She can-”

“If she’s with me, you’ve got no getaway driver.” Daniel kept shaking his head, his gut churning. “This is the best I can do, Leon. It’s got the best chances of you guys getting out of this.”

“Yeah, but- but I’m not going to just leave,” Leon protested. “And for you to be up there alone? What’s going to happen if-”

“I’ll stay with him.”

The scene went quiet. Daniel looked up.

Olivia stood alongside the car’s door, her lips set into a hard, determined line. She glared at Leon, not so much as glancing down to Daniel.

As Daniel watched, Leon’s lips curled down into a scowl. “What?” Leon said. “That’s no better. How can you-”

“I’ll be fine,” Olivia said. “There’s got to be something in there for us to hit people with. We’ll manage.” The corners of her lips twitched. “At least I can help get him to the car, after things go south.”

Daniel chuckled. After, not if. At least they weren’t lying to themselves about this.

Still, Leon scowled, drawing himself up higher. “This is stupid,” he said. “I don’t like this at all.”

“I know,” Daniel said. “Really. I do. But...we’ll be fine.”

Olivia chuckled softly. “I’ll keep him out of trouble. Think I can manage that much.”

“You’re the one who got us into trouble,” James growled.

Her cheeks went pink, and she deflated just a little. “E-Even still.”

Daniel stood, bracing off the door, and shut it. “It’s going to work,” he said, packing as much conviction as he could into the words. “Trust me.” He leaned against the front of the car, eyeing the ladder up.

He’d have to climb it. With his leg all shot up. A shiver of dread ran through him, but he squashed it.

It was just a little pain. He could manage that much.

“Go,” he said, instead of the thousand other things he wanted to. “You can’t be here when they show up. Get yourselves away—far enough that they won’t see you. But close enough you can get back here.”

Maya and James nodded, starting to duck back into the SUV, but Leon stayed where he was, staring. “Call us,” he said. “The instant you see them.”

“I will,” Daniel said.

“Don’t wait. We’ll be right here. Just get to the car.”

“I know.”

“And don’t wait for us to leave. Get in the car and drive.”

“Leon, I will. I’ll-”

Daniel hardly saw Leon move. In the blink of an eye, he’d closed the gap between the two of them, wrapping his arms around Daniel’s shoulders.

Ah. Daniel smiled, rocking back and forth under the sudden weight of the embrace, but slid his arms up around Leon. The two clung together, entwined.

“Get out in one piece,” he heard Leon say, his words choked.

“I will,” Daniel whispered. Leon was taller than him. It left Leon’s cheek pressed to his temple, his lips against Daniel’s ear.

“You have to promise.”

Daniel laughed, and squeezed Leon’s ribs more tightly. “I promise.”

“No, you don’t,” Leon whispered. His forehead dropped, pressing to Daniel’s shoulder. “Just...come back, after. Please.”

Daniel swallowed—but with a final tug, Leon broke away from the embrace. “Go on,” he said, his voice rough. “Get up there. We’ll...We’ll be close by.”

Daniel opened his mouth, ready to thank him, to promise again, but somehow, the words seemed insufficient. Leon knew. He knew. They didn’t need to put it into words.

And now, all they could do was their best.

He turned away instead, hobbling toward the ladder. Olivia’s hand slipped under his arm, pulling him up taller, and he offered her a tiny nod.

He didn’t look back as the SUV’s engine kicked to life, or as the wheels groaned against the pavement. If he looked back, he’d probably lose his nerve—and that, they couldn’t afford.

With the sound of it fading to nothing in his ears, he grabbed hold of the first rungs, hauling himself up.

And he started to climb.

Inwardly, he grumbled. He had to pick a hiding place up a ladder, didn’t he? Every step up the metal rungs was like fire burning up and down the length of his gunshot leg. By the time he’d climbed up a dozen steps, the idea of climbing back down and holing up in a cabinet somewhere inside the surely-abandoned garage was sounding far more appealing than before.

The ladder shook under the weight of someone below him. “Keep going,” Olivia hissed. “I’ll- I’ll catch you if you- Well, no, I can’t do that. Just don’t fall. You'll be fine.”

“Incredibly reassuring,” Daniel muttered, grabbing hold of another bar and hoisting himself higher. “So glad you’re here to help.”

“I aim to please.”

Daniel chuckled, but couldn’t quite make the noise sound genuine. He wasn’t too worried over it. Olivia’s voice was as light and sarcasm-filled as it’d been during the days they’d shared in Alexandria, but the humor was only skin deep.

That was fine, too. Both of them understood the stakes. If she wanted to pretend things were fine, well, he wouldn’t be the one to ruin it for her.

With a final groan, he grabbed the railing at the top of the stairs and pushed himself forward. He flopped hard, catching himself against the concrete before he could faceplant.

“Hey,” Olivia said from behind him. “Move.”

Daniel rolled, twisting far enough to clear a narrow path for her, and sighed. For a moment, he lay flat on his back, staring up at the sky.

It wasn’t quite dawn yet. Given another few hours, the sky would change colors, transforming into a scene entirely alien to everything he’d known. No matter how many times he left Alexandria’s walls, he still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the sight. He would’ve killed for one last look at the stars gleaming down from on high.

But it wasn’t to be. All he got was murky, muddy darkness, faintly illuminated by the glow of the city’s lights reflecting off the clouds.

Making a face, Daniel pushed himself to his knees, far enough that he could shuffle awkwardly along. Somewhere alongside him, Olivia snorted. He paused in his crawling long enough to flip a middle