Chapter 12 #2
It was a text from Dr. Royal, and he smirked when he opened it.
Making sure you aren’t dead or buried in a government bunker being experimented upon.— Dr R
It was late, but with the slight time difference and her preference for late hours, he figured it wasn’t too late to have a text chat. Besides, she was clearly wide awake if she was poking at him via text.
Alive and well. Still working on the issue.—Ezra
A long pause, and he saw the dots in the message window as she typed out a reply. He hoped she wasn’t writing an essay, but more than likely she was trying to make it as succinct and sarcastic as possible. She hated wasting words, even digital ones.
5 days is your average, which means this artifact is not. Do you need help?—Dr R
Ezra considered it. He dropped the phone on his chest and went back to petting Lilith, thinking about the logistics of pulling his mentor out of her comfortable industrial loft and getting her and her three feline familiars over the international border and into Alberta, and wrangling MERS into extending the NDA.
He was pragmatic enough to know he may need help, but he was hoping to give it a go himself first.
He plucked his phone off his chest and thumbed a reply.
If I can’t solve it on my own I’ll send for you. MERS, Alberta, Canada. Okay being read into foreign gov spec ops? —Ezra
That may or may not be okay with her—she was reasonably distrustful of human governments, as most practitioners and supernatural people were, and for all that MERS was meant to handle magical issues, it was still a government agency run by non-magical people, despite them hiring very magical people to do the important jobs.
MERS. Horrid agency, but if they’re involved it’s dangerous enough already. I’ll pack a weekend bag and prep the trio just in case. Don’t hesitate to ask. —Dr R
Thank you and I will. —Ezra
A long moment and then a text came in.
My usual rates are triple for government agencies. Sleep well!—Dr R
He snorted out a laugh and sent a goodnight in reply before slipping his phone back on the nightstand, and he was extremely proud of himself for remembering to hook it to the charger before he slipped his arm behind his head and tried to fall asleep, Lilith purring away contentedly.
Ezra
The next morning Ezra was wide awake, showered, dressed, had his bag full of Lilith’s stuff at the ready, Lilith fed and watered, litter box cleaned, and medications taken. Ezra made sure he brought the meds with him, sticking the prescription bottles in his bag next to Lilith’s lunchbox.
He hadn’t really needed the pills the last few days, not with the laser focus he got when in dangerous situations—if he took his ADHD meds on a day when he might be running for his life from a zombie guard dog or fighting possessed children’s dolls, he tended to get too dialed in, and developed extreme tunnel vision that kept him from paying sufficient attention to his surroundings, plus he was unable to sleep, even if he needed it.
Insomnia was not something he wanted to experience on a job, so he made sure to bring his meds and use his best guess on when to take them.
Today was going to be a research day and he took his meds to keep himself from getting distracted by literally everything in case boredom eventually reared its dreaded head.
He did not do well when bored. And he really did not want to lose his focus and scare off Professor Sexy too quickly.
Thinking about the professor took his mind off thinking about anything else, and he wondered how the man’s thick locks felt outside of the messy bun. Silky smooth and warm? Cool and slick? Heavy, smelling of flowers, begging for Ezra to bury his face in it and breathe deep?
A sharp knock at the door made him jump, and Lilith merped at him in both censure and curiosity, tail flicking back and forth as she stared up at him with wide eyes.
He shook his head and leaned forward enough to answer the door, trying not to look like he’d been standing there for gods knew how long daydreaming about playing with Professor Nórsson’s hair.
Chase smiled at him, again dressed in civilian clothing, a very nice button-up gray shirt with dark jeans and a thin leather jacket, Harlan looming behind his partner in the same outfit, though in dark blues and greens instead.
Understated elegance, subtle, aiming perhaps for a low-key hint of authority that went with the shoulders back, chins up posture of career soldiers.
And the jackets hid the guns in their shoulder holsters.
He took the coffee Chase held out to him with an awkward smile, touched that the MERS soldiers thought of him for the second day in a row. “Thanks. Are you my escort to the library again?”
“We are,” Harlan answered from over Chase’s shoulder, eyeing Ezra where he stood in the doorway. “Ready to go?”
“I am,” Ezra said, and he switched the coffee to his left hand so he could pat down his pockets with his right, making sure he really was ready to go.
Essentials like Lilith’s gear were in his bag, along with some charms and spellcasting gear like chalk, a small knife, tea candles, and some herbs.
That small kit for casting was merely for satisfying some of his anxiety—he didn’t need spell components to craft and cast spells as a sorcerer, but having the basic essentials on hand helped when he needed to work around artifacts that were sensitive to disturbances in the ambient magic fields, or were booby-trapped.
Having a cursed artifact lash out at a magically lit candle was better than Ezra being attacked while trying to dismantle a deadly magical object.
Ezra had zero expectation of anything going wrong today, seeing nothing ahead but another day in the library, but his anxiety was a bit high and the meds took a while to peak, so bringing his kit helped alleviate some of his worries.
It was small, regardless, and took up no more room than Lilith’s armor or the tiny, insulated bento lunchbox holding some salmon flakes and fresh water in case she got hungry.
Lilith wanted to go, even though he made sure to make the bed as inviting as possible with fluffed pillows and some toys on the duvet, but she awaited him at the door, firmly declaring her intention to tag along.
He picked up Lilith in one arm and carried her out of the room, walking beside Chase, who made sure to pet Lilith on the walk to the car.
The day was warm, the sky bright blue with a few fluffy white clouds, the breeze cool, and Ezra tilted his face back to the sun as they left Sacred Threshold and got into the SUV, Ezra in the back while Harlan drove with Chase in the front passenger seat.
“Did you sleep okay?” Chase asked.
“I got a lot of sleep, thanks,” Ezra replied. “I’m sorry about passing out yesterday.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Harlan said as he drove the short distance across the campus to the library. “We did too much too fast. We’re gonna take it easy today. More breaks.”
Ezra tried to remember the last time someone cared enough to make sure he took a break and wasn’t working too hard and came up blank. It felt nice.
“Sounds good,” Ezra said, and he sternly told himself it was perfectly reasonable to take breaks and not spend every second of the day working.
His anxiety was extra spicy today and he did some short breathing exercises on the drive to make himself as level as possible before they got to the library.
Parking and walking into the library was simpler than the day before—Ezra was holding Lilith and she helped keep him calm, and he realized how off he had felt yesterday compared to today.
Recovering from magical burnout was never easy, and he’d pushed himself too hard the day before, which was easy to see in hindsight.
He still loved the glass canopy over the space between the two structures, and followed the sergeants into the same wing of the library they went to the day before, this time with fewer people.
The guard at the door to the Special Collections room saw them coming, and Chase handed over their new temporary IDs to the staff person at the desk, who then gave the IDs back to Chase after a quick scan as they passed through the ornate door held open by the security guard.
Chase handed over Ezra’s and he tucked it in his jeans pocket while Lilith grumbled about being jostled too much. He dropped a kiss on her sweet head and she purred, loudly enough to make Chase turn around while walking and smile at her in Ezra’s arms.
“How’s our sweet queen this morning?”
“Sassy and smug, as she should be,” Ezra replied happily. It was nice being with someone who liked cats as much as he did.
“Two cat dads—I’m surrounded,” Harlan threw over his shoulder, though his smile was obviously teasing.
“Shush, you.” Chase poked at his boyfriend’s shoulder as they headed through the stacks for Raum’s office. “You love our babies just as much as I do. You spoil them rotten.”
“What’s the point of a pet if not to spoil them? They deserve it.”
Ezra nodded, agreeing with Harlan.
“Who are we spoiling?” Raum asked, stepping out of the stacks just as they reached the open area with the tables by his office. Ezra jumped, startled, his heart racing.
Raum gave him a bright smile and Ezra’s heart sped up even more. “Hi.”
“Good morning,” Raum said to everyone, but the smile went megawatt for Ezra, and Raum made sure to come over and scratch Lilith under the chin in greeting. “Are we spoiling you today? I’m on board with this plan.”
“Me? Or Lilith?” Ezra asked, brain flatlining at Raum’s proximity. He was so close that Ezra smelled wildflowers and cedar again.
“We can spoil both of you,” Raum replied easily, eyes twinkling. He was so beautiful, and Ezra sighed happily, entranced.
A cough from a few feet away tried to get his attention, but Ezra was so happy to smile up at Raum while Lilith purred that it took a much louder “Ahem!” to get him to snap out of it.
“What?” Ezra jumped, blinking, realizing he had been staring up into Raum’s golden-brown whiskey eyes and ignoring everything else.
Chase was grinning like a madman. Harlan rolled his eyes and pointed to the table. “End of the world stuff to do.”
“Oh! Yes, that’s right. End of the world stuff,” Ezra blushed, smiling ruefully at Raum and shrugging one shoulder. “Work and…stuff.”