Chapter 10
Elsie
Iwasn’t sure if my heart rate had ever been this high.
Not even the time I signed up for a five-kilometer race with little training beforehand and tried to get my time under thirty minutes.
But I was determined to get what I needed, and since my professor denied me, I had to take things into my own hands.
Pulling my wand out, I crept along the backside of the library to the supply entrance. I’d seen deliveries being made here and figured there must be less protection on this door, so here I was.
I whispered a quick spell to check if any protection wards would prevent me from entering and nearly squealed when I realized only a mechanical lock solely guarded this door.
Not the best idea for the school, but quite convenient for me, especially since I didn’t use magic as extensively as others.
Still, I had prepared for the worst-case scenario on this door and was giddy with victory as I whispered my next spell, which easily unlocked the door.
After I slipped inside and held the door until it swung all the way shut, I relocked it behind me.
My lungs burned after a minute of holding my breath, but I needed to be entirely silent to hear if anyone else was in here.
Catching no other signs of life, I moved through the backroom of the library stealthily, hoping I wouldn’t run into Mrs. Ellington.
I’d never seen her stay late, though. I’d been kicked out once at closing time.
Even knowing this, I waited an extra hour past closing to ensure no one would be here or even nearby.
I was lurking around a dark library at ten p.m., and the thought had me terrified and thrilled all at once.
Once inside the back of the library, I tiptoed my way up the spiral staircase, wincing at every creak of the boards. No one was in here, so I wasn’t sure why I thought the light creaking would alert everyone on campus. Nevertheless, my heart rate was in my throat.
At the top of the staircase was a balcony overlooking the library, and at the end of the balcony was the door to the staff library. I’d never been inside it, but I was hopeful it would contain what I was searching for.
I whispered another quiet spell to check for magical wards, peering over my shoulder at the library below.
The spell showed no wards on this door, which I found incredibly odd.
This was a restricted section of the library that required a key for entry.
Why wouldn’t the academy use a ward to prevent magical entry?
Looking over my shoulder one last time, I used the same spell to unlock this door and quietly stepped inside. Once the door clicked back into place, I let out a relieved sigh and took in the library before me.
There were perhaps fifteen or twenty rows of bookshelves, all filled to the brim and quite disorganized compared to the regular area of the library. A dark wooden desk sat at the front with papers strewn across the top. Five books rested on the edge of the desk, as if pushed out of the way.
Not knowing how the organization worked in this library, but hoping for a logical method, I started with the aisle in front of me. The floor creaked beneath my feet as I walked, but I was confident no one else was here.
I began reading titles and author names, seeing that everything in front of me was school records.
The records included professor history, sports history, old exams and their rubrics, and more boring things like that.
Not what I came here for, so I moved toward the back, scanning titles for anything else.
I rounded the back of the aisle and started with the next one, walking back toward the front of the room.
My fingers brushed the edges of the books, finding this section was about potions and spell usage to different degrees.
Nothing seemed to be what I was looking for, so I continued on.
Until a hand covered my mouth and yanked me, my back hitting someone else’s chest as another hand wrapped around my waist to hold me there. The hand over my mouth muffled my yelp, and I immediately started struggling.
I was caught, and in the worst way possible. I was being held against my will, a feeling that made me want to vomit, cry, and hide at home. A feeling I knew all too well.
“Shh, it’s just me,” a familiar voice whispered in my ear, causing me to calm down fractionally. But my brain was still telling me I was in danger, so I tried to push away from him. “I just didn’t want you to scream.”
Lukas released his hold on me, and I jolted away, needing more air than the room was supplying.
Panic was still ramping up in my veins even though I knew I was safe and that Lukas wasn’t here to attack me.
Bending over, I put my hands on my knees and tried to steady my breath and prevent my throat from closing.
“Hey,” he whispered, taking one step closer to me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it would scare you that much. I was just worried that if I said anything, you would scream, and I’m trying not to get caught, and obviously so are you, and I’m so sorry, Elsie.”
I’d never heard him ramble so much. Straightening and trying to pretend I was fine, I brushed my hands against my leggings.
Attempting to ground myself, I took in Lukas’s appearance.
He wore black running shorts and a simple gray shirt—the outfit on him began to rewire my brain, even through the fog of my fear.
“Sorry, just spooked me.” I tried to sound casual, but I could tell by his face he didn’t believe me.
“Are you okay?” He lifted his hand like he wanted to touch me, but dropped it as though he thought better of it. That was probably for the best. Though I wished it weren’t.
“Fine. Just didn’t think there would be anyone else in here.”
“Neither did I. When I heard you come in, I panicked.” Lukas laughed nervously, rubbing a hand over his face.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.” I let a small smile form on my face, and he seemed to relax a bit. My throat loosened, and my breathing returned to normal. I was safe. It was just Lukas.
Somehow, I felt safe with Lukas, even when I rarely felt safe alone with men.
“What are you even here for?” he asked, taking on his typical charm, though his eyes still showed concern.
I shrugged, deciding just to be honest. “My biological history professor wouldn’t sign off on my coming here for material to do a summer project on illegal creature experiments over the summer. But I still want to learn about it, so I figured I’d gather what I needed, anyway.”
“I see you’re not one for following the rules.”
I laughed. “Following the rules all the time is boring. But mostly I don’t like information being kept from me.”
“Nothing should be kept from you, Elsie,” he said, tone earnest. I raised a brow, not understanding what he could mean by that.
“Why are you here? And how did you get in?”
“What do you mean, ‘how did I get in’? The key, of course.” Lukas pulled a bronze key out of his pocket. “How did you get in?”
“A spell, of course. The door wasn’t even warded.”
Lukas’s eyebrows shot up. “I figured there would be a ward.”
I shrugged, noticing how he’d completely avoided my original question. “Me too. Now, why are you here?”
“Looking for something for the case.”
“But you can’t submit anything you find. That would be illegally obtained, right?”
“How do you…Yeah, we technically couldn’t use it without a warrant, but I can get one if I actually find something.
This is just for me.” Lukas looked like he was trying to dissect my brain, and I didn’t like it.
Was it normal for a literature Mastery to know about legal proceedings? Maybe it was common knowledge.
“Well, I suppose we can just—”
“Wait,” he interjected. His eyes were focused on the shelf behind my head, and his arm reached up to grab something.
His body was closer to mine as he took a step, opening the thin but large journal.
The smell of dark spices wafted off of him, and I did my best not to salivate at his cologne.
Surprisingly, his closeness didn’t bother me.
“What is it?” I peered at the book, wondering why his entire demeanor had changed.
“This looks identical to…” he didn’t finish, his eyes flickering to me. Lukas probably couldn’t discuss case things that weren’t public with anyone, and it was good that he didn’t elaborate with me. Though I was nosy, and desperately wanted to know. Wanted to see Aster receive due justice.
Lukas turned some pages, his eyes scanning what seemed to be handwriting as he went. A folded piece of parchment fell to the floor, and I quickly bent to pick it up. Lukas just watched as I unfolded the paper and found more handwritten notes. My eyes snagged on some words. Love potion distribution.
“Elsie,” Lukas whispered, disbelief shading his voice. I handed the paper to him, the words on the page not making sense to me. He took it almost hesitantly. “This…is exactly what I need.”
“What is it?”
“In Aster’s books, there was a second—” I slapped my hand over his mouth, both of our eyes going wide as we heard the telltale noise of the staircase creaking. Lukas folded the paper, shoved it into the book, and threw it onto the shelf. He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the back of the library.
“There’s no other exit, Elsie,” he whispered with an almost angry look on his face.
My mind raced. I couldn’t think of a single excuse for us to be in here. Not even a secret lovers' rendezvous could explain this.
Then I remembered a book at my mom’s house, one with an ancient spell nearly forgotten because it had been left untaught. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember the words on the page for the spell.
Hearing keys jingle, I grabbed Lukas and pulled him closer, my chest meeting the lower part of his as I pulled out my wand and whispered the spell, hoping I remembered correctly.
The hairs on my arms raised, but otherwise I didn’t notice anything change. Did it work?
“What spell was that?” He whispered as the sound of the key in the lock turned.
“Invisibility,” I whispered back, not even sure it worked.
I could still see him, and he could see me, but we were touching, and I cast the spell around us both.
But I knew the limitations of the spell, and I wasn’t wearing a watch, and there was no clock I could see.
So I wouldn’t know when we were close to five minutes.
I’d found the spell in a historical book that was from three hundred years ago. It wasn’t taught because the spell was only effective for five minutes, if cast right, which was deemed useless. Right now, if it worked, it was pretty damn useful.
My heart was thumping so violently I was sure Lukas could feel it, just as I felt his chest rising and falling against me. The door to the library swung open, but we couldn’t see it from where we were. Surely we’d find out soon if the spell worked.
I carefully turned my head to look at Lukas, who was already staring at me. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around my waist, and my cheeks started flaming. But I didn’t look away.
Now, I wasn’t sure that my heart was racing just from the fear of getting caught. Lukas’s entire body was touching mine, and I liked it. But he was completely off limits, regardless of how I’d stretched that boundary by going on a date with him.
I couldn’t like him more than I already did—which was a lot—but the sparkle in his eyes as they moved over my face had me wanting to reach up and touch his high cheekbones, the light smattering of freckles across his nose, the arch of his brow. His lips.
If I weren’t trying to be utterly silent, I might have panted from the desire to kiss him.
Footsteps to my right had me slowly turning my head again, leaning into Lukas more as a professor I didn’t know walked down the aisle we’d just been in.
It was a short man who didn’t seem to see us.
Desperately, I wanted us to move. But the spell didn’t conceal sound, only sight.
So if we made even a peep, it would alert him.
The professor scanned the shelves, letting out an obnoxious yawn. He wore sweatpants and a t-shirt much too big for his frame, like he’d come here from lounging at home.
“Ah, there you are.” His words made my stomach jump into my throat, but he simply pulled a book off of the bottom shelf, turned, and walked back to the front.
The sound of the door opening and clicking back into place made me feel the need to cry with relief.
I might not always follow the rules, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed getting caught.
His keys jingled again as he relocked the door, and a few seconds later his loud steps on the staircase confirmed he had well and truly left.
I didn’t move, my arms on Lukas’s biceps as his arms remained wrapped around my waist. It didn’t make me feel uncomfortable in the slightest, and I was surprised.
Since everything that happened with the love potion, I hadn’t even tried to be near a man for fear that I wouldn’t handle it well.
But this? I didn’t want Lukas to let go.
The hair on the back of my neck pricked again, and I wondered if that meant the spell had stopped working. It also shocked me back into reality, and I took a step back, Lukas releasing me willingly.
“You know, maybe I should just go to a dark market for the book I need,” I said uncomfortably, feeling awkward now that we were parted.
“Nonsense, let’s find it.” He moved to the aisles behind him, waving me with him.
So I followed, regardless of how my heart still hammered, but now it was solely for him.