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He shrugged. “I’m not at liberty to say.”
Did he want to get a death curse thrown at him? “Sure, but I’ve been working with him for a long time, so I’m worried about how he is.”
“And whether or not he’s conscious so he can tell his story? Yeah, I get you.”
Wow. Was that a not-so-subtle accusation? I wasn’t sure what to say to that. It was so ludicrous, so I just shook my head and went to the desk to start organizing texts that hadn’t been reshelved. There were always books to be reshelved, and this morning was no exception. I didn’t usually take days off, so things had definitely piled up without me. I had preservation I needed to work on, which was what I had planned for this morning, but I’d move it to this afternoon, after I’d dealt with whoever the board voted in for the new chairman. The process of dealing with that whole circus made me nauseous. I’d have to explain about my book, and work out a new contract of safe-keeping. I should check on my book right now, because with Horace dead, turned, and chained in the underbuilding, the bindings that held my book would be breaking down.
I worked at the main desk for two hours before Jessica showed up, her black suit and muted makeup showing the mood of the day, subtle, professional, competent, not making ripples of any kind. That’s the look I’d gone for too, but she was good at makeup, and I was not.
“Miss Morell, how good of you to show up for work.”
“I wasn’t fully recovered after the other day, so…”
“You can explain it to the board. They are ready to see you now. Follow me.” She turned and strode off, her heels the loudest shoes she’d ever worn. They were power shoes that she’d use to stake you in place, so you couldn’t run away while she announced that you’d lost your Christmas bonus.
I loved Christmas bonuses. Sushi for a week. I followed her down the hall, past the offices and to the boardroom on the end where I’d been to a few meetings where the general staff was considered necessary when they announced a new initiative.
Every chair in the rectangle of seats that left the center floor was occupied, and the faces were dour, concerned, or downright angry. Naturally, they were unhappy after their former chairman had been murdered, then returned undead to terrorize everyone. And he hadn’t even seen who had killed him. What a waste.
“Miss Morell, please take your place on the floor,” Mrs. Pineapple said, no, her name was Pinault, but her hair was always in a weirdly high bun that reminded me of a pineapple.
Wait, they wanted me on the floor? Not the best news I’d had that day.
I walked forward, opening the gate and stepping through while I felt every eye on me. There were a good forty people staring at me. “Sure. Let me know what you need me to do.”
“Why did you hide the fact that the Scholar was bent on turning our former Chair?”
I opened my mouth and closed it. How far would denial get me? “I heard that the Scholar was going to raise him to find out who had murdered him. I objected, but the process had already begun.”
“You didn’t consider then that you should notify the authorities or the library which you work for as an employee, or had you forgotten who pays your bills? Perhaps you accepted bribery from the Scholar to keep quiet. Perhaps that’s not the only thing you received from him. I’ve heard that you are seeing him romantically, or perhaps it’s something else, closer to blackmail?”
My mind was reeling. “Could you please accuse me of one thing at a time? Your suspicions are making me dizzy.”
“Maybe that’s from the attack of your former boss. You are deeply entangled in that dark world, Miss Morell. I’m afraid that our two classes must remain separated.”
“You’re questioning my loyalty to the Library of Antiquities? I’ve worked here for five years. I’ve done everything that was asked of me without any objections or raises. I love my job. If I had to choose between Song’s lab and my library, there would be no question. This is my home.”
Mrs. Pinault cleared her throat, making her pineapple hair bobble. “Not anymore, I’m afraid. Why would someone work for so little for so long unless they had other methods of raising funds? Who pays for your apartment in the Lydian? You are not formally under arrest, because the publicity would be terrible after what’s already happened, but you are quietly relieved of all duties and responsibilities as a librarian of the Library of Antiquities.”
Her voice rang at that last part, and then everyone stood up and started chanting a release spell. I stood there, unable to move while their magic wrapped around me, ripping out every tie I had to the library one tremulous strand at a time. It was the worst feeling, like having someone shove a hand into your chest and pull out each artery leading to your heart, one at a time.
I couldn’t breathe while the pressure gripped me, squeezing me tighter and tighter until, with the last word, they released me, and I dropped to my knees, gasping, but unable to get enough air. My library was gone. They’d taken my library from me because they were suspicious that I’d joined the Scholar. I should have told them about Horace from the beginning. They were right about that, but I didn’t want to make any waves, and now I wouldn’t be making anything at all.
They’d done more than fire me, they’d stripped me of all the bindings to the library that had grown stronger and stronger with every passing day working here, serving the old building, caring for the abandoned books as well as the rare and dangerous, caring for everything it represented, history, humanity, possibility and preservation. I loved this library, and they’d ripped it out of me. I’d put my heart and soul into this place, and now I was barely able to gasp a breath when Jessica grabbed my arm and helped me to stand up. Her frown may have been concerned or something else.
“Can you walk, or do we have to call the guard to carry you?”
“I can walk,” I whispered, then turned and made my way slowly past every person, broken, abandoned, betrayed, worse than any other time I’d felt those things because it had been so unexpected, so sudden and impossible.
Jessica kept walking with me. Once we left the boardroom, she said, “I should thank you. If I’d been involved with the Scholar instead of you, it would be me being stripped of my place instead of being promoted to the board. I’m a junior member, of course, but it’s all happened so much faster than I anticipated, all because you couldn’t keep your hands off forbidden temptations.”
I turned to her and gripped her arms. “You know that I’d never betray the library to a vampire. I hate vampires. You know that as well as anyone. You have to tell them. I can’t not be a librarian.”
She removed my hands and patted my shoulder. “Maybe I believe you, but what’s done is done. You can always apply to other libraries, however without a degree, and with the way that things ended here, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Who would hire someone who stood by while their boss was turned? You knew Horace. That went against everything he was. He served as a knight when he was young. There’s a big uproar about it, because he wasn’t supposed to have been able to be turned after he took so many preventative measures against it, but the Scholar has more dark and twisted magic than anyone else. Maybe you can ask him to turn you and let you work with him forever.”
I pulled away from her, repulsed by the idea. “I’d rather die. I can’t be fired like this.” I rubbed my chest where it ached so terribly. I still couldn’t breathe right.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Libby. It’s just a job. Maybe you can work at that sushi place you like so much. I’ve got to get back to the meeting, since they’re going to swear me in on the board. Wish me luck.” She flashed a smile before she turned and stalked off, leaving me there with panic building in my chest. I wasn’t breathing well, but I wouldn’t have a panic attack here and lose control, so I had to be carried out.
