The Library (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 1) by Casey White (surface ebook reader .TXT) 📕

then having Olivia around could make his life much, much easier. And if she took her duties seriously, then showing her a bit of how the Library worked from the inside might go a long way to strengthening the relationship between guild and librarian.  Just like Indira had wanted.  And Jean.

If he was wrong, then Olivia was a snake.  But she’d be a snake inside the Library, where he could watch her every move.  Where Alexandria herself could kibosh anything she might attempt.  And, well, it was Alexandria.  What would Olivia do?  Try and kill him?  He snorted, earning a sidelong glance from Leon.  He was at his very strongest inside the Library.  It’d be a fool’s errand to attack him there.

Should Olivia be trying anything, he’d have the easiest time spotting it there.  And then he could just kick her out.  He wasn’t out anything.  He nodded, smiling to himself.

So be it.  She’d get her day inside their walls.

Leon glanced up at him as he turned in his seat, stowing the papers back into a pocket of his coat and rejoining the conversation, but didn’t say anything.  Owl nodded.  “We’re good,” he murmured, quiet enough he wouldn’t disturb the others, and Leon returned the nod.

His mind was made up.  From there, it’d be up to Olivia.

James’ and Maya’s chatter filled the quiet of the Library, smoothing over his worry just a little as the night carried on.

- Chapter Thirty-Two -

Dead grass crunched under his feet.

Daniel walked up the field, his eyes on the ground.  He wasn’t entirely alone.  Here and there, he could spot other people dotting the landscape.  A couple, here and there.  An old man, all the way down on the end.  None of them gave him a second look - and so he didn’t disturb them, either.

They were all here for the same reason.  Some privacy was the least he could offer.  Swallowing hard, he lifted his face.

And let his gaze sweep over the rows of headstones.

She’d lived near here.  He’d been sure of that for a long time.  It was the only answer that made sense, unless he was to believe she’d have driven around the country looking for a hapless little boy to whisk away into Alexandria.  He might be angry with his predecessor, but...

The memories he had of the black-masked woman were warm.  His recollections were foggy, blurred by centuries until only fragments remained, but she’d...she’d helped him.  Looked after him.  He could remember her laughter, even amid the haze.

Someone like that...he couldn’t believe she’d have planned everything out to that extent.  Which meant that he’d been a final, convenient choice.  And that meant that after she’d died...He sighed, licking his lips and coming to a stop.

She’d be here.  Somewhere.

“Wish they’d been more specific,” Daniel mumbled, looking down to the note he’d made before leaving the house.  He’d found the article easily enough.  It wasn’t hard, once he had her name and the motivation to look.  He was the Librarian, after all.  Her obituary had been...brief.  Sparse.  But among the little it had contained, he’d found the name of the cemetery she’d been buried in.  That was all he had to go on.  He ground his teeth together, reading one headstone after another.  He couldn’t very well ask anyone, after all.  He wasn’t family.  She’d died when he was a kid.  It’d look weird - and if anyone else knew she existed, the absolute last thing he needed was a story lingering about some weird twenty-something guy asking after her grave.

No.  He’d do this the hard way, even if it took him hours.  Daniel shoved his hands into his pockets, trudging farther into the cemetery.

Row after row slipped past, filled with lovely markers that were very much not what he needed.  The sun beat down from overhead, bright and hot despite the autumn chill beginning to settle over the region.  Jaw clamped shut, he kept walking, until-

Until he passed a marker, all the way in the back corner of the cemetery, with a name on it that brought him up short.

A leaden weight sank in his chest.  He’d...part of him had hoped he wouldn’t find it here.  That the whole thing had been a false lead, a bit of fiction.  It’d be easier if he could brush everything off as just a fast-fading dream and keep moving forward.

But it was here.  She was here.

Trees pushed in around the edges of the field around the plot, scraggly and unkempt this far back into the cemetery.  The lonely grave was no better.  Dead leaves lay scattered across it, pockmarked by weeds.  Daniel sighed, crouching down beside it.

She’d been married.  The obituary had said that, too.  Once upon a time, she’d had people who cared about her.

But her grave was alone, no partner alongside her.  Maybe she’d simply gone first, he reasoned.  Maybe somewhere out there, a Mr. Morris clung to life, ancient and wrinkled.

Looking at the disheveled grave, though, he knew that no one had been here in years.

He leaned forward, gritting his teeth, and started to work.  If he’d have known, he’d have brought a rake.  He’d have brought gloves, or sturdy shoes, or anything that might have helped him.  He didn’t.  But the job needed doing anyway.

Weeds crumpled under his hand as he grabbed one after another.  The leaves, he mashed up in his fist, dumping them back into the woods.  It didn’t look...it didn’t look good, but little by little, her grave returned to ‘passable’.

When he’d done all he could, Daniel flopped down onto the grass, folding his legs up.  He stared at the ground, his thoughts in turmoil.

Finally, he lifted his eyes to the marker.

Jean’s name stared back at him - just her name, and her dates.  It didn’t tell him a damn thing about who she was, or what she’d liked, or why she’d let things get to the point she had to settle for a random boy she stole from his family instead of a proper apprentice.

But