4. Paige #2
The woman scoffs as she holds out her wrist.
I stare at it in disbelief. Every sense I have tells me that these two are humans, but they bear the marks of a keeper. Which makes them—
“My name is Tawny Josephine, and this is my associate, Oliver Stark. We, young lady, are two of the three governing council members for this library.”
My disbelief turns to utter and complete shock—then incredible irritation. I cross my arms. “Then you’re late.”
“We’re right on time from the looks of things in here,” Oliver says as he gestures toward the pizza again. “May I? Skipped lunch.”
“Go for it,” Blossom says, sheathing her blades though she remains wary. “I’ve never met a single one of you.” She keeps her attention on Tawny, but I know she misses no movement of Oliver’s. “So how do we know you’re legit?”
“You never needed to see us before.” Tawny’s tone makes it clear that it’s not a good thing to be needed.
“The previous head librarian saw to all matters that pertained to council members. Now, though, it seems everything has changed.” Her gaze shifts to me then back to Blossom.
“As to how you know we’re ‘legit’,” she says, popping the ‘t’, “the library didn’t expel us, nor did an alarm go off when we stepped through the portal.
Therefore, one could surmise that we belong here.
” Arrogance drips from her tone, laced with anger that makes no sense.
This woman has literally never met me before. So why does she already despise me? Is my inability to serve this library properly that obvious?
“Then how about you tell us why you think you’re needed now,” Blossom says, crossing her arms. “We’re doing just fine.”
“Hardly. The library has never been more at risk. Just now, we managed to slip through a portal and walk clear across the ground floor without so much as spotting a single keeper. Which begs the question: Why are you in here when you should be patrolling?”
“Girl’s gotta eat,” Blossom retorts.
“Then where is your comrade? Your second?”
Blossom snorts. “Can’t wait to tell Mag he was referred to as my second.”
“Where is he?” Tawny asks again, her tone agitated.
“Patrolling,” Blossom replies sweetly. “You must just not have seemed important enough for him to pay you any attention.”
Tawny shakes her head. “Complete disarray,” she says though I have no idea if she’s talking to Oliver or herself. “We’re lucky this place isn’t falling down brick by brick.”
Oliver doesn’t answer her, too busy munching a mouthful of pizza.
Anger flushes my skin. “Excuse me? We’re doing the best we can, given the circumstances.”
“And what circumstances are those?” Tawny asks. Her tone has gone from agitation to sweet mockery, venom dripping from every word.
“The circumstances that left me in charge without so much as finishing my training. Hoc didn’t have the chance to teach me anything before—”
“Before what?” she asks when I pause. “Tell me exactly what happened to your predecessor?”
“You don’t know?” I ask, mentally scrambling as I try to figure out how much to tell these strangers.
“I only know he stopped responding to my messages days ago. We came to investigate and find you with the mark of the librarian—and him nowhere to be found.” She glowers. “What became of him?”
I look to Blossom, who shrugs.
I give her the bare-bones truth. “He was kidnapped and pulled through a portal by a man who infiltrated this library.”
“Infiltration.” She shakes her head, not at all looking surprised. Did she already know? Did the library tell her? Can the library make reports to humans? “As I said, complete and utter disarray.”
“Council or not, you better watch your mouth,” Blossom snaps.
“Or what? Any threat you make against me is a threat to this library. I could have your sentence extended like that—” She snaps her fingers.
Blossom lets loose a low growl but thankfully doesn’t continue.
“Let’s talk in my office,” I say, holding out an arm toward the door. I need to get them both out of here before Blossom does something stupid and skewers the woman with her horn.
“Very well.” Tawny turns on her short heels and walks out the door like she owns the place. Oliver is slow to follow, but he winks at the both of us, a half-eaten slice in his hand, and heads out after her.
“Don’t like either of them,” Blossom says. “She’s a bitch, and there’s something off about him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has someone chained in his basement.”
With a nervous laugh, I touch her arm. “It’ll be fine. But warn Aries, please? Don’t let him be seen when he gets back.”
“Paige. He’s officially allowed to be here. It’s fine.”
“Maybe, but they don’t know how he got here in the first place.”
“Fine. But you can’t hide him forever,” she warns.
“I know. But just long enough to come up with a plan.”
She nods. “I’ll let him and Mag know when they get back. Just keep tweedle-bitch and tweedle-creepo away from me.”
With a half-laugh and a deep-breath, I make my way back to my office. You are head librarian, Paige. You are the boss. My mantra deflates as soon as I walk in and see Tawny behind my computer.
“Excuse me? That’s my desk.”
“You are farther behind than I thought.” She removes her reading glasses and stands. “Let me see if I have this right. Your head librarian vanished under mysterious circumstances, and the library chooses you—a girl who could not even perform her tasks as a keeper to replace him?”
“I performed my tasks just fine, thank you,” I snap.
Tawny is unimpressed. “We are notified of every mistake made in this library. And ever since Hoc allowed you on the floor, incidents have increased tenfold.”
“That’s not true.” I clench my hands into fists and cross over, taking my seat behind the desk so she has to stand in front if she wants to talk to me.
“Might as well be,” Tawny replies.
“Can we go a little easier on her, Tawn? She did just lose a friend.” Oliver slides down into a chair.
I lost a father. I want to scream at them that Hoc was much more than a friend, but I bite my tongue.
Given I arrived during the last big chaotic battle this library faced, I keep that part to myself.
Explaining to them that he kept, shielded, and raised me as his own would likely not be the best course of action right now.
“She is head librarian, Oliver, and there is no going easy on her when her job is literally to prevent the destruction of the world as we know it.”
“Destruction of the world?” I nearly choke.
Tawny’s dark gaze narrows. “What exactly did you think the purpose of this library is, girl?”
“To contain the magic and ensure the creatures remain safely inside their books.”
“Yes. Because if they get out, the world will never recover. There is no magic strong enough to close that box should it be opened.”
“I know all of that. I just—”
“Didn’t think your job was that important? Didn’t realize just what you were accepting when you took this position?”
“I didn’t have much of a choice,” I snap.
“There is always a choice. But don’t worry. We will be making it for you once we get a better grasp of this situation.”
“What does that mean?” I demand.
“It means the council has the power to veto the library’s selection of leadership,” Tawny says. “If you can’t prove to us that you can handle this place, we’ll find someone else who can.”
“I don’t plan to remain in charge.”
Tawny’s glare narrows on me. Even Oliver looks surprised. “Excuse me?” she asks.
“Look, I am doing everything I can to find Hoc and bring him back,” I tell her. “So he can take over again. This is his library. His office.”
Something in her gaze softens, but it’s gone so fast that I feel like I might have imagined it. “Hoc is gone. Your focus needs to be on running the library and not destroying it.”
Grief tightens in my chest. “You can’t just give up on him.”
“It seems the library already has,” she says.
“What—”
“The library moved on when it chose you,” Tawny says. “And since it deemed you a viable option, I’m giving you one chance. But if you screw this up, we’ll have to take action.”
“Action?” I choke out. “What kind of action?”
“The kind that a keeper faces when they are no longer useful. We will remove you.”
“Wait.” I throw up a hand. “You’re not going to just demote me?”
“There is no demotion where the Athenaeum is concerned,” she replies. “Only expulsion. Should you be deemed incapable, your memory will be wiped, and you will be sent from this place with no remaining knowledge of it or its employees.”
The breath is ripped from my lungs as I try to draw it in and calm myself.
Fear replaces my anger, and I reach out to steady myself against the wall.
They will erase my memories? Make me live life without the knowledge of this world?
My thoughts drift to Aries. Will they make me forget him? What will happen to him if I’m removed?
“Easy, Tawn, you’re scaring her.” Oliver stands and crosses over toward me.
He reaches out and rests a hand on my shoulder then levels both green eyes on mine.
“I will help you, Paige. I will make sure you are ready for this position so that there will not be any decision that needs to be made, except the one where we get to go back to our normal lives.”
“Really?” I ask, too hopeful at the prospect of help to turn him down. “You’d do that? I mean, is that allowed?”
Tawny makes a disapproving sound but says simply, “She certainly needs the help.”
“It’s allowed. Do you accept my help?” he asks, pulling back and holding out a hand for me to shake.
I stare down at it, nerves, anger, and fear swirling around inside of me like an emotional hurricane.
I may not know much about them, but I do know that I need help.
And they bear the mark of a keeper, which might not make me trust them completely, but it does make him qualified, at least. I take his hand and shake. “I accept your help.”
Oliver smiles. “Then let’s get to work.”