Chapter Thirteen

Iam pulled from my thoughts of flying books when I step around the corner and see the others all looking through the vast area of artifacts.

"This part feels different," I mutter with a deep frown. The amusement and warmth of the library that I was feeling moments before have gone, and in its place, I'm left feeling cold and like this is just a room with no magic. With that realization, it suddenly clicks, "The library has withdrawn its magic from this area; it's normal, like the rest of the building. Do you feel it?"

Hunter watches me closely, "It feels different to me in here, but it"s clearly not as obvious to me as it is to you."

"Do any of you feel the difference between this part of the library and the main part, or even just over that line there?" I ask the others, who have thankfully heard me so I don't sound like a crazy person, which is a bonus.

They all shake their heads as Levi replies, "I agree with Hunt; it feels different, but I couldn't put my finger on why. I didn't even notice until you pointed it out."

"I think that's a good sign that the object is definitely somewhere here if even the library doesn't want to go anywhere near it," Kai points out.

"Yeah, and that the magic on the object is fucking strong if even a centuries-old building is willing to withdraw its magic to ensure that it doesn't touch it or disturb it," Cole points out.

"Which is disturbing," Ty mutters.

"I'll fucking say," I reply as I look over the various artifacts surrounding us nervously. Any one of them could be the object that is controlling the teachers.

"Does anyone have any weird feelings?" Kai asks as he eyes everyone suspiciously to see if any of them are acting differently, or at least that's what I assume he's doing.

Everyone shakes their heads in the negative, and I start to walk around the displays, seeing if I can get a feel for what it might be, but I am not really getting anything from any of the utterly random collections of objects. There are things you'd almost expect, like rings and decorated daggers, but then there's a stick, just a normal looking stick, and I'd wonder if someone was just messing about if it wasn't for the fact that I can feel the power coming off it, and it"s immense.

Fortunately, it also feels incredibly good, so it"s not the thing that's controlling the teachers.

"Is there any way to tell if something new had been added?" Cole suddenly asks, "I mean, there's so much here that you could easily sneak something small in, and it could go unnoticed, so if we had a list or something of what is normally here, we could at least begin to narrow it down."

"Good idea, Asher?" Jett asks.

Asher's lips twitch, "Why do you assume that I'll know?"

"Because you spend more time here than you do almost anywhere else?" Levi smirks.

Asher's subtle smile turns into a full-blown grin as he shrugs and agrees, "That's true. I don't spend enough time in this area to be able to tell you if something has been added but I can tell you that the librarian should have a list of the artifacts and then we can work to check them off, getting him to give it to you will be another thing entirely."

"Well, hopefully, one of us can charm him or something," Kai says somewhat optimistically.

"It's going to be a pretty massive job to go through all of these," Yates says as he looks at the vast area surrounding us that is stuffed with various things.

"Yeah, it's not going to be easy, but then again, when is it ever?" I agree with a slightly sharp smile.

"That's true. The last thing the Order would want to do is to make it easy for us to be able to find it," Kyle points out.

"Alright, lets go and see if we can find the custodian of the library, and I say that because, let"s face it, he's only really there to make sure that the library itself doesn't seriously injure someone that pisses it off," Maverick says, and I get the feeling that he actually approves of this.

"He wasn't at the desk when we walked in, and in fact, he wasn't there the last time that we came in either," I point out as we start to move back through the bookshelves, and I feel the magic of the library surround us again, instantly putting me at ease.

"Mav's right. He's just really a custodian," Jett says as he stops, and we all stop too.

"I feel like you were going somewhere with that?" Cole teases when Jett pauses and doesn't continue, making me chuckle quietly.

Jett flips him his middle finger with a smirk of his own and continues, "Yes, what I was getting at is, surely the library wants to get rid of this foreign object that has forced it to withdraw its magic from a part of its own space, so why don't we ask it, and see if it can give us the list of artifacts that are usually there and then not only do we not have to bother finding the custodian who is definitely under the spell of the object, like the rest of the teachers but also means that they aren't aware that we're up to something."

"It"s worth a shot. I mean, as soon as we ask for the list, there's a possibility that someone is going to know exactly why we want it, and then we risk it either being moved before we can break the spell it has over everyone or, them upping their efforts and putting us all in dangerous positions," Erin agrees.

It does occur to me that we're talking rather freely around Maria, Dean, and Yates, but at the same time, my magic hasn't warned me at all, and it would if they meant us any harm. All they have been is extremely helpful and at risk to themselves as well. That makes them okay in my eyes more than okay; it makes them friends.

"Are we all agreed?" Levi asks, and when everyone nods, he turns to look at Asher, "Dude, I think it's probably best if you ask the library it seems to like you enough to let you take more books than you"re allowed. Maybe it will give you the records?"

Asher frowns slightly, "I'm not sure that it equates to the same thing or will even work, but I'm happy to try to avoid putting us even more on the Order's radar."

"Thank you," I reply.

Asher rubs his hand over the back of his neck as he asks, "Er, just one question: how exactly do I go about asking the library?"

We all look at each other bewildered and not having any suggestions whatsoever.

"Just ask?" Ty suggests somewhat hesitantly.

"Seriously?" Asher replies, heavy skepticism in his tone.

"He's got a point," Jax replies, "if it doesn't work it doesn't work."

Asher shrugs, "Alright then. Hi library, I know you're aware that we're here and what we'd like so just in case you need a formal request, would you be able to share with us the artifact list for what's in the area that you've withdrawn from, please?" he pauses and then adds, "We'd really like to fix it for you and get rid of the thing that's stopped you from being there."

In a flash of pure silver, a book appears and floats down into Asher's hands.

"Is that the list?" Cole asks.

Asher nods, "Yes. Thank you. We will do our best to fix it as quickly as possible."

I don't know if the others can feel it but I can sense the library almost take a breath. At least, that's what it feels like to me. Before now, it was worried and anxious, but now that we've said that we'll fix it, it"s okay again. I don't blame it. I can"t even begin to imagine what it would be like to have some sort of foreign magic in your space.

Realization hits me, actually, that's not true I can imagine it because that's what is happening now with the Darkness. Even as I think it though it doesn't quite sit right with me, the Darkness isn't necessarily a threat; despite the fact that I call it the Darkness, it"s unknown, and that scares and worries me.

It"s that bit that makes me extremely nervous, that and I know that it"s strong, really fucking strong, which also scares me because my other magic isn't weak, and it is only just keeping it under control and stopping it from releasing.

It's the what-ifs that surround it.

But even with all that, I just instinctively know that it"s not bad, not like the magic that's on the object that is controlling the teachers and that has forced the library to withdraw.

"That's a fucking book," Dash points out the obvious.

"No shit," Damon teases.

"Fuck off, you know what I mean," Dash fires back, "it's going to take longer than I thought to get through it."

"Well, we better get started then," Asher comments as we move back into what I'm referring to as the dead zone now.

"Wait, wouldn't it make more sense if we made copies of the pages and then handed them out so that we can all start in different places?" Harry suggests.

"Yeah, actually it would." Asher replies, "Give me a minute, and I'll go and copy some pages."

"I'll come too," Hunter says, and then adds, "I don't think it's a good idea for us to go anywhere alone, not at the moment."

Asher just nods, and I watch as they both walk back toward the front of the library where they have this machine that pretty much works exactly the same way as a photocopier back in the Earth Realm but it"s run by magic instead and is almost instantaneous. They shouldn't be very long at all, even to copy the whole book should only take a couple of seconds.

"You guys don't have to stick around for this bit," Harry says to Dean, Maria, and Yates. "It"s going to be tedious, and there's still the risk of protection spells that could hurt us."

The three of them share a look, and Dean says, "Well if it's okay with you guys, we'd actually prefer to stay and help. With the teachers acting weird and the students all scared and hiding out, we would all rather be around people that are normal."

Erin and I laugh as I say, "Sorry, I just don't think that we'd ever be referred to as normal. Of course, you can stay with us. We need all the help that we can get. You're good company too."

Maria grins, "Thanks, normal is boring anyway."

"That's what I always say," I reply with a smile.

"Got it," Asher says as he and Hunter come back around the corner with a stack of papers. "How do you want to split this up?"

"Just give everyone a page for now, and then we can start. Once a page is finished and everything is accounted for, put it face down in a pile on this small table and pick up another one. I doubt that we will get it all done today but we should at least make a dent in it," Levi suggests and everyone nods along in agreement.

"You never know. We might get lucky and find it on the first page," Kai says optimistically and everyone gives him skeptical looks. He shrugs, "Yeah, okay, so probably not but think positive!"

"I think," Cole starts, "that you are positive enough for all of us."

We all chuckle and then take a sheet of paper and spread out, looking over the objects. I start off looking through the list quite quickly, but I quickly slow down, when I realise that the stories behind some of these objects are absolutely fascinating.

For example, I'm currently looking at a simple silver chain necklace. It looks like it"s not much to be honest, and it is on the list, so it"s not the object that has been controlling the teachers here, but it"s so much more than what it looks like.

It belonged to one of the Fae Queens and is said to carry some of her magic; when needed, it changes into a deadly spiked whip, which has the capability to absorb its opponent"s gifts for a short period of time when it comes into contact with their blood.

It's a formidable weapon and one that I know a lot of people would love to get their hands on; fortunately, it"s very well protected.

For a while that's how my time is spent, going from object to object and reading up on the history behind it, there are a couple that interest me enough that I make a note of them to see if I can find more details about them but for the most part I'm satisfied reading the snippets of information on the page. I'm so absorbed in what I'm learning that it surprises me when Levi taps me on the shoulder and I look up, catching sight of the windows and the darkness beyond.

"Wow, I didn't realise I was that absorbed in the objects," I say.

"I think we all got pretty absorbed. I had no idea that it was this interesting, or I would've come down here much sooner," Levi replies.

"I assume that no one has found anything?" I ask as I realise that only Levi and I are left.

Levi shakes his head as we leave the area, "Nope, they've only just left. Everyone is starving since we all missed lunch but I think it was decided to all go back to our own rooms to eat since we've got a training session with Cain tonight, and we need to get some sleep first."

I nod and thread my fingers through his as I say, "I like that idea."

"Me too." He agrees, lifting my hand to his mouth and kissing it, and making me melt.

"Love you," I mutter quietly as the door back out into the hallway comes into view.

He squeezes my hand as he replies, "I love you too."

I thoroughly enjoy the evening spent with my men, eating food and just generally enjoying each other"s company. The only time that we talk about what is going on at the moment is when we head to bed early so we can meet up for the training session with Cain in the middle of the night.

∞∞∞

Walking into the training room, I feel Erin stretch her magic to guard the room instead of just us, and I notice that her magic has actually grown in strength since we started doing this a few weeks ago, and it makes me wonder if everyone else's has as well. It's certainly something that I will keep an eye on this evening.

"How are you all?" Cain asks, as he looks over us all concerned.

"Not too bad, Harry's friends managed to use a locator spell to narrow down the location of the object to a space in the library," Cole tells him.

"That's great news," Cain replies with a smile.

"Yeah, the library has actually retreated from that area, we're hoping to know exactly what the object is soon, but it's going to take a few times of us all looking to get through the list of artefacts to see if there's one that's not supposed to be there," I explain.

"That's if it's not concealed or if it even in the display cases, it could be anything which means it could be anywhere in the room, even a chair or something," Asher says as if it"s just occurred to him, which to be honest, it"s only just occurred to me.

"Yeah, it"s not going to be simple or fast in order to find it but at least we know where to look now," Levi says.

"And the library wants it gone as much as we do, so I'm pretty sure that it would try and find a way to warn us if it was taken and no longer there anymore," Asher adds.

"The library is helping you?" Cain asks, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, it gave us the book with all the artifacts in it," Erin replies as she stretches, getting ready for training.

"Wow. It must really want it gone, it's rare that it cooperates with anyone. I personally think that it finds it amusing to just fight everyone and be difficult." Cain replies with a surprisingly fond smile.

"Yeah, I"d agree with that," Asher says.

"How about you? How is it going with that teacher?" I ask him curiously.

Cain sighs heavily, "Well every time we have a conversation I can feel a bit of that control move back, allowing him to have more of his mind back. The problem is that it means his magic has noticed and he is fighting against this control too and I'm not sure how safe that is." He looks over at us all with a deep frown, "He was actually supposed to meet me just after dinner earlier; when he didn't turn up, I went to find him, but he wasn't in any of the usual places."

"Is that out of character for him?" Dash asks.

Cain nods. "Yeah, it is. Every other time that he's said he will meet me he has."

"Do you want to go and look for him instead?" I ask. It's evident that he's worrying about his teacher friend.

Cain contemplates it for a moment and then shakes his head, "No, I'm sure he's just gone into town or I"ve missed him in the areas I checked or something. Let's get you guys training and Sage, Erin, and Cole practicing with their magic since they don't get to at any other time of the day."

"Okay, if you're sure?" Levi asks.

Cain nods, and everyone drops the subject and moves away to start practicing the things that Cain has told them previously that they need to work on.