The Librarian: A Remnants of Magic Novel (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 2)

by Casey White

  “So they’re not going to want to kill me,” Daniel said. Leon’s hand jerked around his, tightening with a convulsion. “We can use that. Maybe.”

  “How?” Leon said. “Let’s just keep going. If we keep running long enough-”

  “That mage was talking about...I don’t know, exactly,” Daniel said. “But he was looking for us. And the other asshole-”

  “Kevin,” Olivia mumbled.

  “I don’t care,” Daniel said, glaring at her. She shut up. “He was saying something about...infrared. Can he see heat, or something? Is that a thing?” He shifted from foot to foot, chewing on an idea. “And if we can…Can we use that to draw him in?”

  Leon spun away from Daniel. “James. Did they take your lighter?”

  James’ expression twisted, turning secretive—and guilty. “L-Lighter? I don’t know what you’re-”

  “I know you’ve been stealing out back to smoke,” Leon hissed. “I don’t care, man. Just-”

  “I dunno,” James muttered. He dug through his pocket, though—and his eyes lit up. When he pulled out the tiny cylinder of plastic, Leon snatched it away from him.

  “What are you doing?” Daniel whispered, crouching down beside him. “We have to go. Any minute now, they’ll-”

  “If he can see heat, then we’ll leave some behind.” Leon flicked the lighter on, lifting his head long enough to cast a wary look around before holding the flame into the dead, dried grasses around the windmill’s base.

  They caught with a puff of smoke. Daniel shivered, fighting the urge to stomp the flames out.

  “It won’t look like a person,” Leon said, an apologetic note in his voice. “Just...heat. A lot of it.”

  “It’s something,” Daniel said, patting his shoulder. “It doesn’t have to hold for long.”

  That was all they needed, he told himself. Just a distraction. “Let’s get out of here,” he murmured, stealing another look around. He could hear voices—more than before, which was not filling him with confidence. Their enemies had been talking. They’d been waiting for someone. Reinforcements, he had to assume.

  And they really, really didn’t need for the enemy to find a whole set of new allies.

  “Stay out of sight of the building,” was all he said as they darted away from the tiny fire. The tang of smoke faded almost instantly, carried away on the breeze. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it’d keep Indira’s goons from realizing what game was being played.

  Probably not. But he could hope.

  A half-wall of stone waited around the next path, holding up a landscaped section of dead leaves that had probably been flowers at one point. Olivia dropped down alongside it, with James all but falling after her. He still had the gun—and the look in his eyes was stormy enough that Daniel halfway hoped their enemies just left.

  From their position, they could still see the windmill, along with the fire at its base. It grew steadily, feeding off the dead foliage and climbing toward the abandoned decoration.

  Daniel’s senses prickled, straining for anything. A hint. A sign that they’d been made.

  Nothing—just the wind, and the crackling of the flames growing larger, and a distant murmur that might have been voices.

  “Where are they?” he said at last, his pulse racing. “Are they- Are they just going to wait?”

  “Fine with me,” Leon muttered. “They can wait right until this whole fucking shield-thing dies. And then-”

  “Quiet!” Olivia hissed, pulling James lower.

  Daniel saw it too—a whisper of movement from behind two shockingly-alive pine trees. “There,” he murmured, pointing. “They’re right there.”

  “I got ‘em,” James mumbled, a feral light appearing in his eyes. He raised his pistol.

  Leon pulled free of Daniel, grabbing hold of him and James in the same motion. “Come on!” he breathed. “We know where they are. Let’s-Let’s just get out of here.”

  Let’s get around them, Daniel could hear him saying, the words lost in the rush of adrenaline clearly pumping through his friend. Let’s surprise them. Leon’s normally-smooth, brassy hair was in disarray, his face flushed. A sheen of sweat across his skin belied his panic.

  It was a good plan. So he nodded, creeping back, and inched around the side of their landscaping shield.

  With every step he took, the others came into view. The bloodstained mage limped along behind his companion, his face pale and his arm around a third man’s shoulder. And at the back-

  Daniel smiled, relief washing through him. At the back walked a man he very much recognized. He’d etched his face into his memories, in fact. Cyril. The mage keeping this barrier going. If he was here, then they had a chance of ending this.

  With hands that shook, he reached for James. He didn’t dare speak, not with Indira’s people were this close. When James looked up, his eyes unfocused, Daniel just jabbed a finger toward Cyril. Him, he mouthed. Shoot. Him.

  James’ eyes focused, then, something like unease glimmering in their depths. Daniel’s smile twisted. Not so easy, is it?

  He might have been bruised and battered, but James crouched low, bringing the pistol up with a steadiness Daniel envied. They were still following after the fire mage, with those trees between them and the windmill. But at any minute, the mages would round the corner, and the whole truth would be laid bare. Now. They had to act now.

  Daniel nodded grimly. “James,” he whispered, as softly as he could. “Go ahead and-”

  “Behind!” someone roared—a distant voice. Daniel whirled, catching sight of the gun-toting figure now standing tall from atop the building’s roof. That rifle was in his hand—and pointed right at Daniel’s-

  Something in him screamed, something old and deep that resonated to the very core of his being. It pushed him and he moved, dropping like a rock.

  Splinters of stone shattered down across the back of his head as a bullet pulverized the rock he’d been peeking out from behind mere moments before. Daniel gasped, freezing.

  James didn’t freeze. Daniel’s ears rang with the force of his pistol’s reports, squeezing off shot after shot.

  And Daniel heard someone scream.

  James did it, his thoughts sang. He hit. He did it. Mustering his nerve, he drew himself up another fraction of an inch, peering out from behind the landscaping rock he’d found for cover.

  Cyril reeled, his face contorted. Daniel didn’t know where James had hit him—but clearly, he was all-too-suddenly distracted.

  Those hopes were confirmed when the golden barrier over their heads flickered once. Twice. And then it faded to nothing, dropping to the dusty ground in sparkles of light.

  “Now!” Daniel cried, unable to contain himself. Leon was right there beside him. Olivia and James stiffened, coming alive.

  As one, they turned and ran.

  Daniel’s mind raced, slowing time to a crawl even as his feet flew faster and faster. What next? The way out was finally clear—but how would they manage to get there? His eyes flicked out to the expanse of concrete sidewalk and dead grass ahead, picking out the fastest route. With James slowing them down, it’d be tricky, but they’d make it.

  And he could still make out Cyril, pale-faced but trying to recover. His arm was up, his hand shaking in midair. They wouldn’t have long before that barrier came back down.

  No one needed the reminder. Olivia bolted for the edge of the park like a bat out of hell, her brown hair streaming out behind her. James hobbled after her as best he could.

  Together, Leon and Daniel ran. Past the half-wall, past the pine trees, straight toward-

  Again, that sixth sense of his screamed. Daniel skidded to a stop, grabbing hold of Leon’s shirt.

  The wooden fence along the sidewalk ahead let out a puff of smoke. And then it quivered, exploding into flames. Bits of wood flew as some of the boards burst apart entirely.

  Too late, Daniel realized they’d been played—and his stopping was exactly what they wanted.


  The red-stained fire mage lunged around the edge of the pine trees, running hard. His eyes were glued to Daniel, filled with single-minded intensity. Daniel lurched back, his arms coming up, but there was no time. No room. He could fight—but a knife gleamed in the man’s hand, small and sharp and-

  His vision blurred.

  Leon shot in from the edge of his vision, his teeth gritted and his eyes wide. He hit the fire mage shoulder-first, impacting with a wordless grunt. His fist came up.

  The sound of knuckles slamming into flesh had never been so sweet. Neither had the crunch of cartilage and bone snapping. The mage fell away, his nose crooked and bleeding.

  “Move!” a hoarse voice rasped from ahead.

  Before Daniel could look up, a gunshot cracked out again. Another. He stumbled back instinctively, flinching.

  But it was the mage who staggered to a stop. The red stain across his shirt wasn’t contained, anymore. His chest was a mess, all blood and...and-

  Daniel’s stomach roiled. Acid burned at the back of his throat. But the mage fell, hitting the ground hard. Something clattered free from his belt, rolling across the sidewalk alongside him.

  It was just another detail, lost in the rush. Daniel didn’t see it, just like he couldn’t hear Olivia bellowing at them, or the mage’s companions roaring as they supported the also-wounded Cyril, hopelessly far away.

  All he could see was the body of the mage, lying on the ground, as it started to glow ominously.

  He watched, pinned in horrified fascination, as magenta light spread along the man’s skin, shining from within as though cracks had appeared. As though his entire body had started to fracture, exposing the magic lurking inside him.

  He couldn’t keep himself from yelping as the light flared, burning with fearsome intensity—and with a final rush and the terrible sound of something shattering, the mage’s body fell in on itself, crumbling away to dust.

  “Shit,” he gasped. The word didn’t do nearly enough to convey his shock, but it was all he had.

  “Hurry!” Olivia screamed from ahead. “Damn it, would you-”

  “Come on,” Leon gasped. The man sounded as stunned as Daniel felt. “We’ve got to go. Now!”

  Daniel let Leon tug him a step away, but the sight of something half-covered by the dust brought him up short. Something long and thin, and...hollow. A tube- a pipe?

  Memories flashed back into the forefront of his mind. A room, deep under the surface of the Library, filled with forbidden books. And on each of their spines-

  Objects. Just like that pipe. “G-Grab it!” he cried, stumbling forward. His hand thrust forward, toward the half-hidden object. He wasn’t quite sure why he was so set on it—only, if these objects were precious to mages, he damn well wasn’t going to let them reclaim it. “I need to-”

  Leon darted forward, scooping up the pipe in a single, smooth motion. He flashed a look Daniel’s way, filled with terror and tolerance in equal parts. Can we go, now? Daniel could almost hear him say.

  Yes. Yes, they could. They bolted from the park, accelerating after Olivia and the slower, lumbering form of James.

  Their enemies were behind, and ahead...Daniel’s heart leapt. He could see it, now. A car, parked at the cross streets with its lights off—and a familiar face behind the wheel. Their getaway driver was here. All they had to do was make it.

  Behind them, though, the mess of voices rose louder. And...his blood chilled. It was faint, so slight he wasn’t sure he wasn’t just imagining it, but the ground beneath his feet was starting to quiver.

  Time to go. He ran, trying to ignore the bellows from behind and the new figures circling around from the side. The rumbling in the ground rose ominously, and he ignored that too, his eyes glued to the car ahead.

  They’d make it. With every step they put between them and the decrepit park, the confidence in his chest grew just a little more. The last of the pine trees fell away as they bolted. All that lay between them and the car was a smooth, open field, and then-

  A warning flashed through his mind, a half-remembered note. They...hadn’t taken out all their opponents.

  And being out in the open wasn’t such a good thing.

  His eyes snapped back, darting to a shape atop the park’s central building—a man, his rifle raised. His ears roared with the rush of blood, adrenaline turning his veins to ice.

  Shit.

  Again, he felt that force within him bubble to life. This time, though, it just seemed to sigh.

  Daniel twisted, all too aware of what came next. That was good. It meant the bullet went through his calf, instead of his knee.

  His leg exploded into agony, soon to be replaced by hot, leaden numbness. His back arched, a scream catching in his throat. The ground tilted underneath him, pitching up wildly.

  Don’t fall, something in him screamed—something small and quiet, mostly drowned out beneath the flood of pain but just loud enough to be heard. Don’t fall. With that single, pointed thought came a surge of terror that soaked straight through him.

  If he fell, they’d catch up. They’d get him. They’d get Alexandria. His friends would die, and all he’d be remembered as would be the Librarian who failed.

  He’d be the one who let everything be ruined.

  He couldn’t fall.

  His leg screamed, still burning with hot fires that dripped blood down his ankle. That’s okay, he willed. Let it hurt.

  His foot slammed down. It hurt—it hurt worse than anything he’d felt before—but it held.

  He stood.

  Hands were on him a heartbeat later. Daniel flinched, starting to pull away.

  Leon. He was saying something, but Daniel couldn’t make out the words. Olivia took his other side, mute and pale.

  He got the gist, though. Move.

  Hobbling as best he could, he let them half-carry, half-drag him onward. The door to the car ahead flew open, with Maya sitting round-eyed on the other side.

  Their enemies were still behind them. Daniel’s heart pounded. He kept waiting for another gunshot, an earthquake to sink the whole lot of them into the dirt. Only, it was asphalt under them, not dirt and it was his back to the gunman. They were close. The mages wouldn’t shoot him, not to kill. He staggered on, gritting his teeth.

  And then someone pushed him through the door, and he hit the seat hard. “Careful!” he heard Leon hiss.

  “Get in!” Maya cried. “Jesus, just-”

  “Working on it,” James muttered.

  Someone squeezed in alongside him— two someones. He lifted his head, his eyes watering. His leg was a dead weight, still seething with agony. Leon. Leon and Olivia. James had taken up a place in the front seat, and even as he looked up, the car started to move.

  Leon slammed the door shut, pulling Daniel lower as she pulled them back out onto the street. “Drive!”

  “I am,” Maya hissed from the driver’s seat.

  Daniel glanced back toward the park, though, peering over the edge of the door. The groups were converging, staring after them. One of them had a gun, and-

  A shot clanged off the car’s trunk. Maya shrieked, hitting the gas. They accelerated away.

  As the park started to fade behind them, though, Daniel’s eyes lingered on that cluster of figures—and one man at its heart, crouching over the grass they’d so-recently trampled. His hand was in the blades of it. When he lifted it, a glimmer of red coated his fingers.

  And Daniel couldn’t shake the feeling that the man was watching him.

  A house flashed past, and the group was gone, the strange man wiped away along with it. Daniel sank lower, his strength ebbing.

  But the sick feeling in his gut remained.

  - Chapter Sixteen -

  The car bounced, careening down the road. The suspension groaned.

  Daniel shivered, flinching as the motion sent pangs of agony up through his leg.

  “Holy shit,” he heard Leon say beside him. “Holy shit. Are they-”

  “Kee
p driving,” Olivia said, squeezed in on his other side. “Don’t fucking stop.”

  “I’m not stopping!” Maya cried. Her grip on the wheel was tight enough her knuckles shone white through her skin. “But- Where should I-”

  “D-Don’t go home,” Daniel rasped, lifting his head from Leon’s shoulder. His calf pulsed with every heartbeat, soaking his pant leg in hot wetness. “Don’t...You don’t want to-”

  “Don’t lead them back to where you live,” Olivia said.

  Daniel grimaced. “Y-Yeah.”

  Maya let out an irritated hiss, turning them around a corner with a lurch. “Okay, that’s fucking great and all, but what the hell am I supposed to do, then?”

  A hand dropped to Daniel’s shoulder. “You okay?” Leon said.

  He licked his lips, swallowing hard. “I’m fine,” he whispered. “Peachy.” He smiled faintly. He’d never seen Leon looking so run-down and ragged—but his friend still clutched the pipe he snatched from the ground, pressing it to his chest with his free hand. “You c-can...you can set that down, y’know.”

  Leon’s lips curled down in a scowl. He didn’t even seem to hear Daniel. “You’re- You’re bleeding. A lot.” His hand squeezed Daniel’s shoulder tighter. “Christ. What should we do?”

  Maya made a tiny, plaintive noise from the front seat. Daniel glanced forward, finding her craning her head back toward him. She flinched, flipping back around to face front as their eyes met.

  “Sorry about your car,” Daniel mumbled. He didn’t have to look to know he’d left a streak of blood all across the seat when he got in, and...well, the footwell was probably going to look pretty rough by the time he got out.

  The hand gripping his shoulders clenched so tightly it was almost painful. “It’s just a damn car,” Leon hissed. “Hey. Daniel. Lay down. And...you. Would you-”

  “What?” Olivia squeaked.

  “Take his leg. We’ve got to stop the bleeding.”

  Daniel stiffened, trying to put up a fight, but the world twisted around him. A heartbeat later, he fell with a whump, the back of his head landing on something soft.