Only Magica were allowed within the library, as we had curated the knowledge that the wider world ceased to value. It was the most ancient library in the world, and it was rumored that there were over four hundred million books and scrolls within its walls, dwarfing even the Library of Congress. You needed credentials to get in, and they were extremely hard to come by.
I huffed a silent laugh. So much for the freedom of knowledge.
Nix’s voice echoed off the columns behind me. “Neve!”
I turned to see her hurrying toward me. “Hey!”
She gave me a warm hug. “It’s been too long.”
She wore jeans, boots, and a shirt with a print of a cartoon Egyptian cat on the front. “You look fabulous,” I said, then held her at arm’s length and inspected her outfit. “I love your shirt.”
“Thanks. The ancient Egyptians adored cats. Their word for cat was mau. I wear this shirt every time I come here.”
“I have a gift for you.” I pulled out the wheel of parmesan-like cheese that I had picked up in the Realm of Air.
“Cheese!” Nix took it and breathed deeply. “Smells amazing. I can’t wait to try it.”
“I swiped it from the djinn’s palace. It’s vengeance cheese.”
“That’s the best type. Thanks so much” With a flick of the wrist, she pulled a satchel from the ether, dropped the cheese inside, and made the pack vanish again.
I grinned. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. I owe you a lot more than that. My world has turned on end in the last couple of days.”
“Yeah, I know how that goes,” Nix said with a sly wink. “Come on, let’s roll our sleeves up and do some RESEARCH!”
We had to go through arcane security to get into the library proper. It was an unfortunate echo of the mundane world. Luckily, Nix had credentials and could get us both through.
A couple of guards went through our bags. They pulled two books out of my backpack and eyed them with interest. “These may be of use to the librarians,” one said. “We’ll borrow them.”
Damn it. Bye-bye, books.
Nix raised her eyebrows. “Uh-oh, you brought books to the library of Alexandria? I hope you get them back.”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “I forgot they were in my bag. Should have left them in Chicago.”
The methods of acquiring new books for the library had not changed in two millennia. Hopefully, the scribes just copied them and gave them back. I didn’t want to lose them, but it wasn’t like I had a choice. I had to get inside.
One of the guards pointed to a large sign beside the entryway and raised his brows. “Follow the rules, eh?”
The symbols indicated that no food, drink, cameras, weapons, or fire demons were allowed. I sighed and handed the guard my khanjar. “No drinks, I can understand, but I always bring my fire demon with me wherever I go.”
Nix laughed. The guard did not.
They admitted us into the catalog room, where we came face to face with two dozen imps. Each was a couple feet tall, but they crouched like gargoyles.
Nix gestured to the creatures sitting before us. “Meet the catalog.”
I cocked my head. “No computers?
“Nope. No card catalogue either. Only imps. The Library of Alexandria had millions of books long before the invention of the computer. The librarians had to find an alternate solution to the problem of indexing everything, so the imps just memorize where everything is.”
“That’s incredible. I would kill to have a memory like that.”
She grinned. “These imps were born from the magic of memories too strong to be forgotten. Their minds are so sharp, it’s said that they can recall things they didn’t even know yet. Each of the imps only knows part of the library, but together, they memorize everything in it. Each collection is controlled by a different tribe, and they compete fiercely to find the best sources.”
An imp with a hoary beard waddled forward on clawed feet. “How may we help our illustrious guests?”
Nix shook its extended claw. “Thank you, wise one. We’re looking for magical artifacts. They cannot be owned by an individual or institution but must be lost to memory.”
Two or three of the imps eagerly edged toward the archives’ door.
“However, they have to be crafted from pure magic, and they must be containers that can be closed.” Nix looked at me. “I think that’s all, right?”
I nodded.
There was an explosion of dust and wings as all two dozen imps attempted to pass through the doorway at once.
I jumped back. Holy smokes.
Nix laughed. “They’re really enthusiastic.” She gestured for me to follow. “Let’s find a place to wait.”
A pair of clerks dressed in long brown robes led us to a reading alcove on the second floor with a beautiful view of the harbor. I watched the colorful fishing boats coming in with their fresh catches as we waited for our books to arrive. Around us, shelves covered every available wall, filled with every sort of printed material. Curious, I read the titles.
One was in Old English, The Ways of the Stone Giants.
The one beside it was a book of recipes from medieval Estonia.
I frowned. “I don’t think I get the organization here. What do the ways of the stone giants have to do with Estonian cuisine?”
Nix shrugged. “No one understands the filing system except for the imps. It’s a tribal knowledge learned from youth and made as obscure as possible.”
After a few minutes, several imps flew into the alcove bearing scrolls and books. They were smaller than the others, just youngsters.
Nix leaned close. “They’re apprentices to the librarians and are still learning the ways of the library.”
“That was fast,” I muttered.
“The true art of scholarship in the library is not finding the books, but rather sifting through the strange tomes brought by the imps. Each is tangentially related to the subject of one’s study.” Nix held up a scroll. “I think this is in Chinese. Can you read it?”
“Nope.” I pulled out one of the books in my stack and held it up. The Mating Rituals of Werewolves. “How is this even remotely related?”
Nix laughed. “Hey, lemme look at that.”
“Not so fast, I’m not done with it yet.”
I learned that part of the art of studying in the library was telling the imps when you had enough books. You needed to be gentle enough not to offend them, but strong enough that they would actually stop bringing volumes. We spent hours poring through texts, every once in a while accepting a new book as it was dropped off.
Deep into the day, I felt a gentle nudge against my leg and looked down. “Yes?”
It was a tiny imp, maybe only seven or eight inches tall. She held a scroll twice her length and too heavy for her to fly with.
I reached down and took it from her, then patted her on the head. “Thank you.”
She awkwardly flew up to the shelves where a dozen other young imps were waiting, eager to see what we’d discover.
I would’ve set the parchment scroll aside, but she was too cute, so I examined it immediately. Dust dispersed into the air as I unrolled the fragile parchment.
I sneezed.
Nix peered at the scroll. “Oh…that looks like an old one. Can you read it?”
The text was in three languages: Greek, Coptic, and Arabic. My Greek was terrible, my Coptic iffy. I could read the Arabic, though.
“It looks like a letter written to the governor of Egypt in…886 AD.”
“Wow! What does it say?”
I skimmed the document. “This is it! I think we might have something here.”
The small imp was immediately on the table beside me, studying the scroll with eager eyes.
“It seems that the governor was trying to recover a magical artifact from a hidden refuge in Bilad al-Rum.”
“Where’s that?”
“Land of the Romans. That’s what the Islamic Caliphate called Turkey back then. The
governor sent a raiding party to recover the object, along with an informant who knew the hidden passages in the refuge.” I scanned the text. “Unfortunately, the informant was lost at sea when the ship was attacked by Byzantine pirates. The mercenaries proceeded on but couldn’t find their way through the hidden chambers and wrote it off as a hopeless task.”
Nix leaned in closer. “That sounds promising. What was the artifact?”
“A magic box capable of concealing any object inside from arcane detection.”
“Do you know where the site is located?”
“Not yet. There are a few rough maps sketched on the back of the scroll. I’m gonna have to read the text a little more closely and look at some maps of the region.” I turned to the little imp. “You’ve done a good job!”
According to Nix, it was customary to tip the imps when they found something useful. They didn’t accept money, but they loved to collect things from the outside world that they could share with their clan.
I’d brought some souvenirs from the Field Museum’s gift shop, just in case. Rummaging in my bag, I pulled a gold-plated ornament. It was a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex—Sue, the museum’s mascot. When I handed it to the imp, she held it above her head in triumph as her companions gathered around to inspect the gift.
“I won’t forget this,” I said.
The little imp beamed. Clutching the gold-plated dinosaur to her chest, she took off and flew down the hallway.
“I’ll have the imps bring us some maps of Turkey,” Nix said and ducked out of the alcove.
Once the maps arrived, Nix worked on pinpointing the location while I translated and transcribed the scroll into my notebook. I was just finishing my translation when the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I turned and looked around the alcove, but nothing was there. “Do you have a funny feeling, Nix?” I asked. “Or is it just me?”
Nix stopped what she was doing. “Now that you mention it…yeah.”
Something grabbed my shirt from behind, choking me. I screamed as I was lifted into the air and hurled against the wall. The impact drove the breath from my lungs and sent pain rippling through my back.
I was on my knees, coughing. Holy fates, what just happened?
“Neve!” Nix burst to her feet and conjured a dagger. She frantically scanned the room for my attacker, but the room was empty. “Are you okay?”
I staggered to my feet, gasping and clearing my throat. “Yeah. I’ll live. What the hell was—”
Pain exploded through my chest as an invisible wrecking ball threw me onto the table, knocking the scroll and maps across the floor.
As panic pushed down the pain, I wildly searched about for my attacker. Something grabbed my foot and pulled me off the table, dragging me out of the alcove. Fresh pain surged through my ankle as it popped.
Out of desperation, I shot a burst of wind toward my raised foot. The force released my foot, and there was a loud crash as something slammed into a nearby bookshelf.
“Shit!” I cried, “these bastards are invisible!”
Nix ran closer. “Holy fates! You can shoot wind? When did you learn that?”
I leapt up, ignoring the agony in my foot. “It’s a long st—”
The invisible force grabbed my hair and dragged me backward. Pain flared through my scalp as I thrashed to escape.
Nix leapt forward and lashed out with her dagger. A scream like the howling wind echoed through the hall. My invisible assailant let go, and I darted to the side, dropping into a defensive stance. My hand dropped to my belt, where my khanjar normally was, but I had checked it with security at the front. Shit. Too bad I couldn’t pull weapons from the ether like Damian and Nix.
At least I had the wind.
Nix backed toward me, slashing blindly with her outthrust dagger at the air in front of her. “Are you okay?”
“Probably. These bastards pack a mean punch.”
A gust of wind slammed into us, and we toppled backward into the stacks. I cracked my skull on a shelf, then silently swore. Our assailants had wind power, too.
I pushed aside some books that had fallen on top of me. “How do we fight these guys?”
“I’ve got an idea.” Nix leapt to her feet, and with a wave, she conjured a bag of all-purpose flour.
“I like where you’re going with this.”
She ripped it open. “Okay, blast wind around the room.”
I raised my hands and shot a gust in the approximate direction of our unseen assailants. Nix shook the bag, and flour exploded outward across the room. The burst coated two figures who loomed in front of us.
“Hell, yeah!” Nix jumped the one on the right, slicing it with precision. The demon wailed and flew into the air, shooting a jet of wind downward. Nix dashed to the side, avoiding the onslaught.
The creature in front of me raced forward. I braced my feet and crouched as it barreled into me, then used its momentum to heave it overhead and send it toppling into the adjacent bookshelf.
I cringed as books crashed down. Holy fates, this was a disaster.
Nix plunged her dagger into the chest of the demon she was engaged with. “Take that, airhead!”
The creature dissipated with a roar of wind that hurt my ears, like diving too deep in the water.
I grappled with the one I was fighting. It was like trying to catch the air, and I couldn’t get a grip on it. The demon slipped through my fingers like a ghost.
I summoned a raging vortex of wind around my fist and hammered the miniature cyclone into my opponent. The beast spun head over feet and crashed back into the shelves, and I pinned it down with a continuous stream.
Nix pressed her dagger against its flour-covered chest. “Who sent you?”
The demon cackled. “He’s coming for you.”
My chest tightened, realizing who “he” was. “Kill it.”
Nix nodded and thrust the dagger into the demon’s chest. There was a whoosh of air as the creature disappeared, returning to its hell.
Nix rose. “What was that?”
“Wind demons. Sent by the djinn to hunt me down.” I stared at where the demon had been. “It seems he can find me anywhere. I’m not gonna be safe until I put an end to him.”
“Okay, well, first thing, we’d better get a concealment charm for you. I don’t like invisible monsters.”
I surveyed the wreckage around us as I stretched my aching body. “Holy shit. What have we done?”
Books and scrolls lay in tatters, shelves had collapsed, and everything was covered in flour.
Nix cocked her head at me. “Neve, you need to get more sun. You’re looking too pale these days.”
We were both covered head to toe in flour. I giggled, and soon, we couldn’t stop laughing. Then the librarian showed up.
Holding my breath, I tried to tamp down the laughter and maintain some form of composure, but he looked as horrified as if I’d set fire to a bag of puppies. “What on earth have you done?” he screeched.
I was going to explain everything. Truly. But then I looked at Nix. The expression on her face showed she was trying desperately to hold back a full meltdown. I lost it, and she followed suit, and soon, we were laughing uncontrollably.
The librarian went apoplectic. His face turned bright red, and he released a stream of curses that would make a sailor blush. The look on his face, and the outdated curses, made our laughter even worse.
Two surprisingly strong clerks ushered us out of the library post-haste. While they returned my books and dagger, they hung onto Nix’s credentials for “further consideration.”
I was banned for life. That kind of killed the buzz.
A wave of guilt washed over me. This was one of the most important resources in the world. Even on Order business, I had been refused access. I had led the wind demons here, destroyed countless books, and blown it for both of us. What if we couldn’t find the box? What if we needed to do more research?
“I’m so sorry, Nix,” I began once we�
�d been shown the door. “I had no idea—”
She grinned ear to ear, totally unfazed. “Do you think this is the first time I’ve been barred from the library? They’re a bunch of prudes. Like any of this was our fault. How did the demons get past security? Invisible intruders should be at the top list of things they look out for, not cheese wheels and paperbacks. I’ll get my creds back, and I’ll get a set for you, too. It usually only takes a rare book or two as a bribe.” She winked and put a hand on my shoulder. “Now, you’re coming back with me to Magic’s Bend. We’ll have Connor make you a concealment charm. We can’t have a bunch of invisible airheads hunting you all over the planet.”
I nodded. I hadn’t been back to Magic’s Bend in a few years, but this would be a good opportunity to decompress.
Nix dialed in the coordinates, and we were whooshed through the ether.
15
The portal dumped us out in the Museum of Magical History in Magic’s Bend, Oregon. The moment we stepped through, our phones exploded with texts, emails, and calls from robo-dialers.
The library of Alexandria took blocking cell phones to the extreme. Not only did its magic wards block reception, but phones didn’t even work while inside. The librarians were real sticklers for “keep quiet” and “no photos allowed.”
My phone showed 8:17 pm Oregon time, which meant we’d spent 13 hours studying. No wonder my stomach was growling.
Nix called Connor to let him know we were on the way, and I had two texts from Damian, plus a few from work. Bruised and battered, and recently expelled from one of the most important research institutions in the world, I wasn’t prepared to face my colleagues’ questions at the moment. Instead, I dialed Damian while following Nix to the parking lot.
“Success?” Damian asked.
“Yup. I found a lead on an object in Cappadocia. Turkey. Looks perfect. I’m still working the details.”
“Excellent.”
Wicked Wish (Dragon's Gift: The Storm Book 1) Page 11
