4. Ahmina
AHMINA
Ahmina’s eyes dragged over the curvature of his crossed arms as he leaned against the doorframe. His golden skin glowed and his tawny blonde hair was windblown, as if he had been out in the sun all day fighting creatures.
He probably had.
“We’re closed.” She swallowed, taking a step back. “You’ll have to come back again tomor—”
“Your door is still open…” The start of a smile crept up on his lips, testing her. For a moment she was transfixed by his eyes, a kaleidoscope of chestnut, sage, and cyan as they narrowed in on her. Jarrah was home to all sorts of eye colors, but she had never seen eyes like his.
She took in the entirety of him, before forcing herself to look away. His all-black Academy uniform was a dead giveaway. But it was the extra weapons strapped to his back and thighs that told her he was the deadliest of the specialties. A Slayer.
Her heart beat wildly, still unsteady from what transpired in the garden, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
“I need a book that you have,” he demanded, more quietly this time.
The evening air snuck in through the still open door, sending a shiver down her arms. She tucked her hands behind her back to hide the tremble.
She could feel the faint breeze swaying her pale golden dress just above her ankles, rooted in thin, tattered socks and scruffy leather boots.
“Which book?” She tried to sound confident, but her voice came out all high pitched and squeaky. She cleared her throat.
The man stepped toward her and the door closed behind him. Click. It was only a door, but it felt like a seal of fate.
Is that how long it would take to die if he attacked her? She squeezed her eyes shut to try and wash away the image of it. No, it would take longer, she reasoned. Especially if she fought back. Wouldn’t it? Her eyes lingered on his dagger.
“I’m not here on any official Academy business,” he reassured her, as if sensing her discomfort. “Just looking for a book: The Ancient, Untold History of Magic.” His voice was deep and determined. She corralled her thoughts and searched her mind, but she had never heard of it.
“Who’s the author?”
“Audora Wilde.”
“Wilde…” She rolled the unfamiliar name over on her tongue.
“Stay here, I’ll look,” she promised, desperate to escape him. She needed to collect her thoughts and catch her breath.
It was not unusual for Defenders to crawl through the streets, patrolling for traitors, but they never entered the library.
Academy recruits were put through three years of study before graduating as a Defender and making a home in the esteemed Defender Village: a place tucked behind the Academy where no commoner could go.
Students and graduate Defenders only received a few days, once or twice a year, to venture into Jarrah for personal time, usually to visit family.
If Defenders were in Jarrah, they were on patrol.
Even Academy students didn’t go popping into libraries to check out a book.
And only moments ago, she was face-to-face with a Soul Snatcher in the garden. She shook her head at the oddity of it all.
Soon she would be among them. She reminded herself to be confident, as if that would offer her some bravery to handle the current situation. It backfired, and her anxiety spiked.
Maybe he was in the area looking for the Soul Snatcher, she reasoned.
She should say something to him, let him know so he could track it down.
But the thought quickly disappeared as she passed through the shelves to the back of the library where the w’s were.
Wa, Waji, Walkeria…The list went on but there was no Wilde.
Returning to the front, she found him leaning against the door, eyeing her, as if he was both completely unbothered and ready to kill at any moment. It was unsettling and intriguing all at once. Is that what she would be like once she was a Defender?
“We don’t have it.”
He glared, as if assessing her honesty. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. I know every Author in Jarrah, every book in this Library. I double checked, just in case, but no.”
“Every book?”
“Yes.”
“Impressive.”
Time stretched as they stood, staring at each other like assailants. She fidgeted with her skirt. She thought to tell him about the Soul Snatcher, but something stopped her. “Are you a Slayer?” she asked instead.
“Why? You interested in joining?”
“I am joining. I was accepted,” she boasted.
He tilted his head, curious. “A wannabe Clever, no doubt.”
She frowned. How did he know that?
“You’re working in a library, it’s pretty obvious,” he answered, reading the concern on her face.
“Have you graduated?” She changed the subject away from her.
“I’m a student. Second year.”
She nodded, mirroring his body language with hers.
“You’re going to need more than memorization to make it as a Clever.”
She knew this, of course. “Obviously.”
He studied her for a moment. “You ever heard of the lost cities?”
The lost cities were an urban legend claiming that a continent of thriving cities had fallen to the creatures, with only Jarrah remaining. “Of course.”
“So, what’s your theory then?”
“Excuse me?” No one had ever asked her that before.
“Do you believe the legend?”
Everyone believed the legend. She had studied every book on ancient history and all of them said the creatures left a path of bloody destruction in their wake.
But that seemed too… straight forward to her.
“Some of the cities didn’t fall.” She eyed him to gauge his response, worried he would judge her perspective.
But he listened openly, and she stood up a little straighter.
“I believe that some merged with the creatures.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Merged?”
She nodded, “Yeah, you know, like co-living in harmony. It would make sense, I think. Something more complex that we can’t understand because we’ve never experienced it.”
“Huh.” He rubbed the stubble on his jaw.
“Either that or the creatures enslaved the humans and took over.” She said it in jest, using humor to break the tension of him analyzing her theory.
A slight smirk crept up his face. “You’re the only person who has ever said that… who’s had that perspective, I mean.”
“You’ve asked a lot of people about the lost cities?”
“I have.” It felt like time stopped and they were there for an eternity, his eyes locked on hers.
Eventually, he turned to leave, looking over his shoulder as he did.
“See you at initiation, Clever,” he teased, “Oh, and don’t tell anyone I was here, or I will be forced to kill you and throw your body to the Hydra as a peace offering. ”
He smiled at her with the most boyish grin and then was gone in an instant. The door clicked into place again, leaving Ahmina frozen where she stood.
Hydra: a mammal creature with a jaw that could fit an entire human body and rip it to shreds in seconds.
Magical ability: Physical. Burns body from the inside out, turning it to ash.
The illustration in her Encyclopedia came to mind: its furry, strong body, long scaled neck, multiple heads, and deathly fangs.
He was joking, right?
She swallowed down the lump in her throat as a thought rang like an alarm bell she couldn’t silence: he was looking for a book that the library didn’t have.
And they had every book.