“Thorough?” I said. “We’re wasting time!”
“If we skip around, we’ll lose our place, and we might have to go back through some things twice!” Arthur hissed.
I went to say something harsh in reply, but Lucien held up a hand. “Ssh,” Lucien said, and all of us froze.
We weren’t the only ones in this library. My shifter ears picked up the sound of heels clicking across the library outside the archives, and the scent of humans drifted across my nose.
There had to be two; a man and a woman. We scampered to hide behind the shelves as two figures passed on the other side of the glass wall.
“Professor, I’m sorry, but I don’t think this is appropriate.” The woman had spoken. She was walking away from the man, who was pursuing her at a quick pace.
“It’s merely a meeting between colleagues,” the man replied. “Don’t turn it into something it’s not.”
“I agreed to meet you here at this hour because Ithoughtthe archives needed organizing, and with how busy the library is during normal hours, I assumed this was the only time to do it. Now I see I’m mistaken,” the woman replied.
The man cleared his throat. “You might want to consider joining me for coffee tomorrow morning. I would be interested in giving you a better performance report.”
The woman gave a short sigh. “Sir, you are the curator of this library, nothing more or less. Your opinion on my work here has no standing on whether or not I earn my degree.”
“Then perhaps I will discuss things with Professor Brannen. She already finds your research inadequate, and I’m sorry to say, your internship here at the library hasn’t left me impressed.”
“I’ve done everything you’ve asked and more,” the woman protested. “I’m always on time, I stay later than I should, and I do more than anyone else here.”
“But unlike the other girls, you haven’t agreed to put in theextra work,” the man replied. “And we both know how important this program is to you. So, again. Coffee?”
There was a pause, and the woman said, “I’ll think about it.”
“I suggest you don’t take your time. I’m a very impatient man.”
“Goodbye, Professor.”
The woman hurried off. The man gave an annoyed sound before, horrifyingly, he entered into the archival room and turned on the lights.
The shelves couldn’t hide us. I expected the man to call for an alarm the moment he saw us crouched behind the tomes, but instead, he froze.
He was a short, stout man, balding and well into his sixties. There was a bout of recognition in his eyes as he observed us all, but I was certain that I’d never seen him before.
“Finally,” he breathed. “This is my lucky day.”
Lucien rose. Without any semblance of explanation, he said, “We are looking for something. A document, rare. We’d be willing to make a trade.”
The man licked his lips greedily. “What are you searching for?”
“A description of a very old ceremony, and seven stones with a strange name,” Lucien replied.
The man nodded. “I know of the document. Studied it well in my youth, though I never understood it. I assumed it was related to your kind. Should’ve known you’d shown up eventually to retrieve it.”
The man gestured for us to walk through the door. “What you’re looking for can’t be found here. This way.”
We left the archival room. I floated to the back of the group as the curator led us through a set of shelves and down a stone staircase. I didn’t trust him, nor did I understand what was going on.
“He knows what we are,” I whispered to Kiara.
“Yes,” Kiara replied. “Humans in Celtic regions have respect for the fae. We’re a big part of their culture, and have been for centuries.”
“Doesn’t that break supernatural laws of secrecy?”
“Not really. They don’t know about our world, only that we exist. And after all, how are they supposed to prove our existence to the rest of their kind? No one would believe them.”
