9. Paige #2
My legs pump, and my sneakers hit the carpet with barely a sound. In half a dozen strides, I reach the end of the aisle, and my eyes find the small, almost imperceptible gap between volumes. Lining up the cover to the opening, I push the book into its rightful place and then turn and run back.
I almost make it, too.
Above our heads, I sense movement. The distraction is enough to make me stumble the last step.
Aries throws his arms out to catch me, but the momentum throws him off balance, and he is driven backward until his shoulders bump into the wall.
One of the sconces comes loose and falls.
The carpet mutes the sound of the iron hitting the floor, but it’s still plenty loud enough to bring a keeper running.
In a place where only silence and stillness should reign, even the slightest disturbance sounds like chaos.
“Shit,” I hiss as Aries and I both straighten again.
“Maybe they won’t—”
Aries stops short at the sound of heavy footfalls somewhere in the stacks. Blossom and her boots are unmistakable.
“We need to go,” I whisper, “Now!”
I grab his hand and beeline back the way we came. When we hit the fork at the back, instead of going straight up the stairs to the alchemy section, I go right, heading directly for the stairwell.
Aries hesitates, pulling on our joined hands.
“There’s no time,” I insist. “The keeper will be here any moment.”
“There’s something up there,” he says, and I’m shocked into momentary stillness.
“You saw it too?”
“I feel it,” he replies, his tone still a million miles away from me.
Damn. Maybe some supernatural senses are better than others. Or maybe mine just sucked.
“It doesn’t matter, we have to get out of sight,” I tell him.
He hesitates, and I step closer. “Aries, I know you want to get home, but if we’re found, neither of us is going anywhere except into extinction. I need you to trust me, okay?”
“Okay.”
This time, when I tug on his calloused hand, he follows.
We’re nearly to the stairwell when something crashes. I shriek, covering my hand with my mouth to muffle it as Aries yanks me against him. A second crash sounds, and I look over in time to see a light fixture shattering against the floor in the place where I’d just stood.
I look up, noting a shadow darting off among the rafters. The same shadow I saw before. Fear grips me then as I realize whatever I’ve been seeing tonight has also seen me. And Aries. And they’ve just let us know it too.
“Are you all right?”
Aries’ deep voice rumbles through his chest and into mine. That’s when I realize I’m still clinging to him like some kind of spider monkey.
“Yeah,” I squeak, peeling myself away from him.
“You sure?” He looks at me with those serious eyes, and I melt a little.
“I’m sure. You?”
“Fine.” He looks up, studying the rafters and remaining fixtures above us. I do the same, but whoever it is has gone.
The broken fixtures leave shards of glass and broken bulbs beneath our feet, so every step crunches, and the sound of it makes me wince. Someone’s going to come to investigate any second now. In fact, a noise this loud is going to set off—
A loud alarm blares to life, followed by a booming dog bark, and I wince.
“Shit!”
The sound of my voice is lost beneath the sound of the alarms. For the first time since we crept into the library, Aries looks worried.
“Come on,” I say, knowing he probably can’t hear me over the alarm. Grabbing his arm, I lead him the few steps left to the stairwell door. Shoving through it, I step back to give him access, and when he’s through, I follow quickly and then shove the door closed behind us.
Above us, the doorway to the second-floor access opens, and panic grips me. The only other creatures who use these stairs besides me are--
The gnomes! Their voices fill the stairwell as they head this way.
Aries looks like he might just stay and fight, but I know better. Grabbing him again, I propel him backward until we reach the alcove behind the stairs. I shove him into it, all the way until his back hits the wall, then cram myself in against him.
We’re exposed as hell here. But there’s nowhere else to go.
The voices become louder as the pitter-patter of little feet traipse down the stairs. Aries meets my eyes, and I give him a shake of my head to convey that, hell no, he is not fighting anyone.
I hold my finger to my lips so he’ll keep quiet.
Then we wait.
A few seconds later, two male gnomes reach the last step, jumping to the floor.
Ted and Zed; each dressed in black-on-black tactical wear I sewed for them myself.
They race toward the door leading out to the library, Ted launching Zed into the air so that Zed is able to grab the doorknob and twist it.
The door swings open, and Ted rushes to help Zed prop it open, which they’re just barely able to do with both of their body weights combined.
On their heels, something black and furry leaps the last few stairs onto the floor and then bounds out into the library.
Ted and Zed follow with small battle cries, and then the door swings shut behind them, leaving us alone in relative silence.
Well, other than the muted sound of the alarm coming through the door.
Still, I don’t breathe or move or think too hard about all the delicious male parts I’m pressed against while Aries and I wait to see if we’ll be discovered.
Finally, the alarm shuts off, and in the ensuing silence, I can hear Ted issuing orders to whoever else has gathered on the other side of the door.
“...Kitty and Ned are already checking the rafters,” Ted says. “I’m going to meet up with them and see if they’ve found any sort of trail to follow.”
“Fine. I’m going to track down the signature left from whatever portal they used to get in.” Blossom . I wince at the lethal tone she uses. She’s pissed. This is happening on her watch, which means she’ll answer for it. And I hate that it’s my fault.
“I’m going to guard the area,” Zed offers, “Make sure whoever it is doesn’t come back.”
“Good, we’ll reconvene in twenty,” Ted says.
Then they’re silent.
I tell myself that my hesitation is to ensure we’re alone. But really, the heat of my body pressed against Aries in the dark of the stairwell is so damned delicious that it actually pains me to move away from him.
Even though I know we have to get out of here. Blossom or the gnomes could walk in and see us at any moment.
Slowly, I peel myself away from Aries and motion for him to stay close as we both creep past the door and up the stairs. My heart pounds with the force of a drum, and I don’t breathe fully until we’re back inside my apartment.
The moment the door closes behind us, I head for my bedroom. Aries puts a hand out to stop me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. My first thought is that he’s injured. He did pull me away from that light fixture. It could have hit him when it shattered, or—
“I know our worlds are vastly different,” he says, interrupting my panic. “That’s to be expected. But... was that a goblin riding on the back of a rodent of some kind?”
I scoff, completely offended. “He’s a gnome. She’s a raccoon,” I say haughtily. “Oh, and her name is Kitty.”
“Kitty,” he repeats.
“Yes. She’s a true warrior, for your information. Just like Ted, Zed, and Ned.”