AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If he wants to risk spending time as statuary, I got no objection.
“Fine by me.”
Darwin sits back down. Gabe slides up his legs and into his lap. They curl around each other.
I’d cheer if the mood weren’t so grim. They’re so adorable together. I reach out and grip Darwin’s hand. “I’m gonna be fine. This feels right. It’s what I need to do.”
“I need you to be safe,” Darwin groans into Gabe’s neck. “Everything’s tightening around us.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “Everything is. But it ain’t a noose, Dar. It’s a circle of power.”
And I’m finally closing it, claiming the power we need to keep us safe.
* * *
Callan has never Earth-Walked before.He’s more than a little surprised when I take his hand and Lords’s and drag them into the Earth with me. When we step out in front of the Bladelaw, Callan stumbles, then shakes out his robes.
“That was—”
“Horrible,” Lords finishes for him. “I’m sorry, Teddy. I’m very fond of you, but I absolutely hate Earth-Walking. I feel like I’m being entombed.”
“Yes, it is a little ... confining,” Callan agrees.
I shrug. It’s the fastest way to get where we’re going and I’m all about efficiency today.
I look around at Bevington’s campus. It’s snowed again while we’ve been at Thistlemist and the campus is blanketed by a glittering layer of white. With the students and faculty gone for Yule, there are barely any footprints marring the frosting. It’s like seeing Bevvy at its most pure. I take a deep breath of the crisp air and soak it in.
Then I shiver. I pulled on trackies instead of my pajamas before we left Thistlemist, but not a coat or gloves, and it is right chilly.
“Hope you can open the Bladelaw,” I say to Lords. “’Cause I’m pretty sure it’s warded against students during the hols.”
Lords scoffs at me. “Of course I can.”
His entrance is as easy as turning a key. Magickal key in magickal lock, but still.
“I expected more,” I tell him as he leads us inside the silent library.
Being here out of term is weird. It’s too quiet. There’s a sense of suspension, like the library’s waiting for the return of the students and staff. Without them, it’s a little unreal.
“I’ll open the door with a roundhouse kick next time, shall I?” Lords asks.
I grin at him. I love that he takes my snark and gives it right back to me.
“I get what she sees in you,” I say as I lead Lords and Callan through the empty main library—and fuck if it isn’t weird for Miss Moss not to be sitting at the lending desk—I’d be happy to see her even if she was giving me the evils.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Lords says.
“Bet you don’t. When’s she coming?”
Lords crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the lending desk while I open the wards to the Special Collection.
“When I’m sure it’s safe,” he says, following me inside. He looks around and up, smiling as the colored light from the overhead dome plays over his face. “Nice. I can see why you spend so much time in here.”
“My favorite place on campus,” I tell him. “Never been in here before?”
He shakes his head. “No need. The library’s very old, built on the site of something even older, I’m told. It takes care of itself. Besides, after Doctor Prince claimed it as her territory, it would have been disrespectful for me to poke around in here.”
“Must be tough to have a Naga on campus,” I say.
