by Casey White
His thoughts raced, screaming questions of how and why. Before they bogged him down, he surged forward, throwing his arm out.
Fabric and flesh pressed back against Owl’s hand as he grabbed the man, turning him around.
The man screamed - just a little one, bitten off and high-pitched but a scream nonetheless. “C-Christ,” he stammered, trying to shy away. “Jesus Christ. Don’t- Please don’t hurt me. Oh, god. I was just-”
“Who the hell are you?” Owl snapped, refusing to relinquish his hold on the man’s arm. “How’d you get in here?”
The man’s face drained of all color, and he tried to pull away again, but an odd curiosity shone in his eyes. “O-Oh. Oh. Oh. You’re one of them, aren’t you?”
Owl’s fingers dug into his arm. He glared at the man, letting his eyes sweep from his brassy-gold hair to the bottom of his worn-out jeans. “One of who?” he snapped. “Answer my question. Who are-”
“I-I’m Leon, okay?” the man said, grabbing for his arm. “Please. Ow. Fuck. Just- Just let me go, would you? That’s really starting to-”
“Fine,” Owl muttered, letting his hand drop away. “Answers. Now.”
There wasn’t too much to worry about, he reasoned. If this Leon fellow tried to run, well, he was right here. He could trip him up easily enough, run him down and pin him with magic before he vanished into the bookshelves.
“Ow,” Leon muttered again, rubbing at the skin of his arm. Bright white spots shone where Owl had gripped him.
“Now.”
“O-Okay,” Leon said, stumbling a step back. His shoulderblades hit a bookshelf, and he recoiled, flinching. “Sorry. I’m- I was just trying to-” He licked his lips, his chin lifting. “This place is incredible, isn’t it?”
“Leon,” Owl snapped, putting an edge into his voice.
“Y-Yeah, that’s me,” Leon said, still bone-white but forcing a nervous smile onto his face. “Guessing you’re Owl?”
Ice coursed through him. The guy knew his name? How? Most of the guests that were allowed entrance were completely dumbfounded. But if Leon knew of him...something else was going on.
“I am,” Owl said, drawing himself upright. Leon had a few inches of long, lanky height on him, but the Library was his. He refused to let anyone cow him in his own damn domain. “D-Did Indira send you? She should have told me.”
Only a flicker of unease slipped into his words. It was all he could think of to ask the man, though. Only Indira would have the wherewithal or the knowledge to educate a visitor about him.
But if Indira had found a way to send visitors directly into the Library, bypassing the Librarian’s approval...if she’d slipped them into Alexandria without him even knowing...A shiver rolled down his spine.
Things had been amiable enough between him and the Booklenders’ shy guildmaster for a long time. Years. It had taken time for him and Indira to build a rapport, but he’d been satisfied that they’d had a professional enough relationship. The thought of her working behind his back like this turned his stomach.
“I-Indira?” Leon said, though, his face scrunching up in confusion. “Uh. I...I’m sorry, I don’t...Look, man, I don’t even know what’s going on. Could you, uh. Could you-”
“Don’t lie to me,” Owl said, spitting the words out. “You know my name. I’m not an idiot. What did she tell you to-”
“Your name?” Leon said, his blue eyes widening dramatically. “O-Oh. Is that it? Well, uh, I mean, I’m just guessing, yeah?”
It was Owl’s turn to blink, staring dumbly ahead. “Guessing?”
Leon raised a hand, scrubbing at his hair. “Y-Yeah. The journal mentioned some stuff like that. Thought it was just the poor bastard’s imagination going wild, but...well, you don’t seem like a Fox, but that- that mask.” He lifted a hand, gesturing toward the porcelain mask Owl wore. “Wasn’t exactly a stretch.” A gleam entered his eyes. “Was I right?”
“Journal?” Owl said, his head starting to spin ever so faintly. “Look, forget about my name. It’s not important. You mentioned a journal. What’s all that-”
“I didn’t think it was real, though,” Leon murmured, leaning back against the bookshelf. His eyes roamed the racks, filling with awe. “Thought the old kook was just crazy. I really did.”
“What old kook?” Even as he said it, though, Owl knew it wasn’t going to work. Leon didn’t react to him at all, didn’t even seem to have heard him speak. He sighed, biting at his lip.
“The others aren’t going to believe this,” Leon breathed, and a smile played at the corners of his lips. “This is awesome.” The man’s eyes snapped back to Owl’s. “Hey.”
Owl jumped, faltering despite himself. “W-What? Would you just-”
“How big is this place?” Leon said. “Is it true there’s all sorts of lost knowledge here? How? And how the hell did I even-”
“I’m asking the questions,” Owl snapped. “Just answer me, already. How’d you get here?”
“Oh, I’d like to know that myself,” Leon said, chuckling nervously. “Uh. And, uh. Do you know how I get out? I...don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t seem to really want me here. And...I don’t want any trouble.”
He didn’t know the way, did he? Owl scowled, drawing himself up taller and folding his arms across his leather-covered chest. There wasn’t a chance in hell he’d believe that Leon was clueless in all this. You didn’t just accidentally find your way into Alexandria, after all - much less come equipped with knowledge of the Librarians.
And...he’d mentioned a journal. Someone had fed him knowledge - or even pointed him here. Owl shifted from foot to foot, watching Leon.
For his part, the man seemed as uncomfortable as Owl. He still grinned nervously, when he wasn’t drinking in the sights of Alexandria. Every so often, though, his eyes flicked to Owl’s face, his mask, and his expression turned waxen.
“S-Seriously,” he mumbled. “I’ll leave. I don’t- I just want to...Just let me out, okay?”
“You haven’t answered my questions,” Owl said, his voice carefully level. Couldn’t scare Leon - or should he? He needed the man to be truthful. Coercion wouldn’t get him the truth, though. It’d just get him scared babble.
“I don’t know your answers,” Leon said, a hair shy of a gasp. “Seriously. So I’ll just- I’ll just go, yeah?”
“Not yet,” Owl said, rocking back on his heels, and watched Leon’s face crumple.
He’d need Alexandria’s help if he was to coerce the intruder with magic, he admitted with a sigh. He could control the empty spaces of the Library, but impacting the people within...that was harder. Not that he’d had to do anything like that himself, but he’d found a note or two within an old Librarian’s journal.
The bookshelves creaked, shifting under the force of a breeze that blew through the wing.
Owl made a face, glancing up. Look, I’m sorry. But I need answers. If he knows something about you, I have to figure out what.
The wind didn’t slow - and neither did the creaking.
“She’s impossible,” Owl muttered under his breath.
“What’s that?” Leon said, perking up.
“Nothing,” Owl said. Look. You’ve got to...there’s got to be something you can do to make him talk. A truth potion? You’re magic, right? And...if he knows about you, then we’ll have to wipe his memories before-
The Library groaned to life, tired limbs shifting and straining. Owl staggered back, his head snapping up. The chandeliers overhead rocked back and forth, sending droplets of wax plummeting to splatter against the shelves.
Leon shrieked, stumbling away and throwing his arms over his head. Owl just gaped, dumbstruck.
Why? Why was the Library reacting like this now, when-
Light flared in his eyes, bright enough to blind. Owl twisted away with a muted cry, clapping a hand over the tinted lenses of his mask.
And then the light was gone, and he cracked his fingers to peer out.
Leon.
The man had vanished.
He was alone.
* * * * *
Owl searched. For hours, he paced the shelves, his eyes narrowed and searching for the slightest sign of life. He hadn’t dismissed the man - and so Leon might still be around.
Somewhere.
With every step through the ancient halls, though, he grew closer and closer to accepting the truth. No voices echoed through the racks. No footsteps broke the quiet. No figures moved at the edge of his vision. It was just him and the Library, with the candlelight flickering down cheerfully from above.
Whoever Leon was, wherever he’d come from, he was gone now. Owl turned back toward the study with a sigh.
But the worry in his chest remained.
- Chapter Fourteen -
Darkness filled the lonely office.
Candles burned in sconces around the study, casting a dim glow over the shelves and books. The light of it flickered between the iron bars of his territory, drawing narrow lines of color against the black.
Owl stared at the monitors lining his desk, only the tempered glass of his eye-lenses keeping him from burning his vision to uselessness. Numbers paraded across the screens in line after line of code.
He chewed his lip, his hands resting against the tabletop. No matter how long he looked, it wasn’t helping. The numbers danced into his mind and darted away just as quickly, leaving him to run his eyes up and down the display.
He needed to work. He needed to be useful, to make his next stay in the outside world a better one. That was the plan. He’d promised himself that, years prior - waste nothing. Want for nothing. Make every stint a little better than the last.
Every time he blinked, though, he saw Leon, standing among the bookshelves. He’d been so damn blithe, completely unaware of how extraordinary his visit had been.
Which, of course, led Owl to the other matter weighing on his mind.
“Are you about ready?” the Librarian murmured, his voice low. The others wouldn’t disturb him. Probably. Lenny and Emma were still occupied with their work, their intensity growing with every grain of sand that fell from the massive hourglass-clock. Even if they heard him, well, it wasn’t that big a deal. They’d picked up on the Library’s strangeness already.
But the only sound to break the quiet was a low, ominous creak as a distant door drifted shut.
Owl gritted his teeth, letting a hissing breath slide out. “Come on,” he muttered. “Something more was going on there. Why? Why did you let him in? Why did you-”
Out in the study, a stack of books tipped over. The sound of leather slapping the tiled floor rose to cover his voice.
Through it all, Owl glared up at the ceiling, counting the seconds. When silence again fell, he made an irritated noise. “Fine. Don’t tell me. It’s not like I’m supposed to protect you or anything.”
The air itself seemed to tighten, going thick - and then loosened, a gentle breeze drifting through his office. A warm breeze.
That was all the apology he’d get, Owl knew. He ducked his head forward, rubbing at his skull through the thick leather of his hood, and pushed himself upright.
“Don’t get mad at me if there’s trouble,” he whispered, reaching for the door.
The study passed in a blur. His third guest sat in the farthest corner, surrounded by endless stacks of books. He looked up at Owl’s passing, raising a hand in a wave, but didn’t say anything. Owl nodded back, slowing respectfully, and continued on his way.
Every time he tried to work, it was the same. He couldn’t focus. Couldn’t think. He had one job - one job. Keep the Library and its guests safe. And now, the Library itself was toying with him? How was he supposed to do anything with that?
If he couldn’t focus in his office, then he’d walk until his head cleared. And if his head didn’t clear, well, at least he’d have kept his patrol. The sitting room passed in a blur, and his expression softened at the sight of the overstuffed chairs.
Soon enough, the others would be gone, and he could relax again. He could be himself again, whiling away the hours in front of the fire with a mug of coffee and a good book. His nose wrinkled. A book that had nothing at all to do with market prediction or shares trading, preferably.
His thoughts steadied as he slipped out of the Library’s heart, descending into the wings. The visitor’s area was stable - this part of Alexandria was not. Every hallway was new, every doorway a possible hiding place for someone that shouldn’t be here.
And it’d been a corner of the Library like this that’d hidden Leon. Owl’s fists tightened at his sides, his steps quickening.
On he went, peering down every nook and crevice.
What if Leon comes back? Owl pushed through a beaded curtain, pausing only long enough to let his eyes adjust. The stink of incense filtered through his mask, but only heaps of elegantly-scribed scrolls waited within the chamber. The beads rattled again as he slipped back out.
Another hallway. Another wing.
If Leon came back, then he’d know. He’d know that the intruders would keep coming, that they were a repeat thing and not just a one-off mystery. And he’d know that Leon had lied to him, that he knew the way in more surely than he’d said.
Unease prickled in Owl’s gut. He grabbed a torch from the wall, thrusting it through a jagged stone gap. Parchment lined the dusty floors within, coated with sand but still legible. Not there.
The torch rattled against the bracket as he dropped it back in, going on his way.
Worse yet, if Leon came back while guests were visiting, if anyone saw him...Owl sighed, drooping.
Indira would hear of it. Someone would surely tell her, if they remembered on the far side. It might not be immediate. Word would probably take time to wriggle back through the chain to her ears. But the guildmaster wasn’t stupid, and she’d always been...involved.
She would hear. And then she’d expect answers out of him.
His steps came slower and slower, like his boots were made of lead. Finally, Owl came to a stop with a groan. A window cut through the stonework walls of the Library, showing the courtyard outside. Despite his own dark mood, he smiled. Somehow, he’d wound up on the second floor, despite never climbing any stairs.
Training dummies lined the edges of the field, right where he’d left them. Some were all but new. Some had been singed nearly to black. Owl let his eyes linger on them, still smiling faintly. Practicing would clear his mind. He normally didn’t like to practice magic while there were guests in the Library. It was too hard to hide the display, too easy for someone else to witness. But maybe, this time, he’d make an exception.
“Creepy,” someone muttered.
Owl jumped, flinching, and spun - to find Lenny standing at the window’s other end. The chemist jumped too, his eyes going wide and his hands snapping up. “S-Sorry,” Lenny stammered, grinning nervously. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Owl licked his lips, nodding. “It’s...It’s fine.” Inwardly, his frustrations screamed loud and clear. He’d let someone sneak up on him? It wasn’t acceptable. Not even a little bit. “...Creepy?” was all he said, though, leaning against the sprawling window.
Lenny made a face, glancing back through the glass. “Yeah. Isn’t it? It’s like...there’s no sky. No clouds.” He chuckled. “Or maybe it’s like being in a cloud.”
Owl turned to the courtyard, confused. The same blurred fog as always pressed in around the edges of Alexandria. If he squinted, looking past the elegant glasswork of the greenhouse, he could just barely make out the point where the Edge took over. “No sky?” he said, his confusion growing.
“It’s weird,” Lenny said, more insistently. “There are no birds. How do you stand it here, anyway?”
Owl faltered, his eyes flicking between the chemist and the scene outside. “I don’t see what’s so weird about it,” he muttered. “Your sky is what’s weird. So tall. So open. Like you’re just going to up and fall into it at any second.”
Too late,
he realized that Lenny’s expression had changed - and the chemist was watching him now with an odd mix of curiosity and pity in his eyes. “You mean that, don’t you?” Lenny said. “Your sky.”
Owl flushed, wishing he could snatch the words back. “It’s...complicated,” he said, as cheerfully as he could. “It’s just different. But you get used to it.”
“I guess,” Lenny said. “Hey. Is it true you stay here even when there’s no one around?”
“W-What?” Owl stammered.
“Only, I was wondering, and Emma didn’t know either. Or does it let you out?” Lenny leaned in, his eyes starting to gleam. “How old are you? And if you’re always here, how much have you read? Wait! Wait.” He held a hand up as Owl started to draw in a breath, pursing his lips. “What’s your favorite subject?”
A laugh burst from Owl’s gut, rippling out louder and louder. Oh, they’d reached this stage of the guests’ stay had they? The point where the Library wasn’t quite so fascinating anymore - and they started looking elsewhere to sate their curiosity.
“That’s classified,” he said, the laugh still lingering on his lips, and grinned at the disappointed look that flashed across Lenny’s face.
“Well,” the chemist said, rubbing at his nose. “Okay, fair. Next question. What do you-”
Someone screamed. Someone shrieked, rather, splitting the quiet with their terror. The crash of glass shattering followed after. Owl was on his feet before the sound faded, whipping around to face the source
“Emma,” Lenny gasped, scrambling upright alongside him. “That was-”
“Come on,” Owl snapped, already running.
His heart thudded in his chest as they hurried down the grand hallway, his eyes scanning for the threat. Damn it. He should have checked on them more often. He should have taken their damn burners away, before they set the room on fire again. There were a lot of things he should have done.
But he hadn’t, and now there was trouble, and all he could do was get there.
