Chapter 13
The Academy library closed at midnight. Levi checked his pocket watch for the fifth time. Quarter past one.
"You're going to wear out the gears," Elena whispered from across their shared guest quarters.
"I'm just making sure we have the timing right."
"The patrol changes at two. It's been changing at two for the last fifty years. It will change at two tonight." She was sharpening her silver dagger. The sound made Levi's teeth itch. "Unless you've somehow altered the fabric of time in the last thirty seconds."
"I could have."
"You can barely alter the fabric of your own shirt."
Levi looked down at his borrowed Academy robes. She had a point. The hem was already coming undone. "These things are poorly made."
"They're standard issue. You're just bad at sitting still."
"I've been sitting still for hours."
"You've been fidgeting for hours. There's a difference." Elena stood and tested the edge of her blade. A thin line of blood appeared on her thumb. She nodded, satisfied. "You ready?"
"No."
"Good answer." She moved to the door. Pressed her ear against the wood. "Honesty is important in dungeon crawls."
"This isn't a dungeon."
"It's a restricted area protected by magical wards, patrolling golems, and an ancient curse that drives intruders mad. That's a dungeon." She pulled the door open a crack. Peered out. "Coast is clear."
They slipped into the hallway like shadows. Or at least Elena did. Levi was more like a shadow's clumsy cousin who kept bumping into furniture.
"Quietly," Elena hissed.
"I am being quiet."
"You sound like a drunk elephant."
"I've never heard a drunk elephant."
"Count yourself lucky."
The Academy at night was different. The magical torches burned lower. Shadows pooled in corners like spilled ink. Every sound echoed. Every breath felt too loud.
Elena navigated the corridors with practiced ease. Left at the statue of Archmage Whoever. Right past the portrait of Dean Somebody. Down the stairs where that student died in a duel two centuries ago.
"How do you know all this?" Levi asked as they descended a narrow service staircase.
"I told you. I have my ways."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer you're getting right now." Elena paused on the landing. Held up a hand. "Wait."
Footsteps. Heavy. Mechanical. Growing closer.
"Golem," Levi breathed.
Elena grabbed his arm. Pulled him into an alcove barely big enough for one person. They pressed together. Her back against the cold stone. His chest against hers. The footsteps grew louder.
"Don't breathe," she whispered.
"I have to breathe."
"Then do it quietly."
The golem passed below them. A massive construct of animated stone and bronze. Its eyes glowed red in the darkness. Scanning. Searching. Looking for exactly the kind of idiots who broke into the library at two in the morning.
It paused.
Levi's heart hammered. The Fragment of Dawn pulsed warm against his chest. Responding to his fear. Or maybe just commenting on the situation.
This is stupid, it seemed to say. This is monumentally stupid.
The golem's head turned. Scanning the stairwell. Its eyes swept over their hiding spot.
Then it continued walking.
They waited until the footsteps faded completely.
"Okay," Elena said. "We can move."
"You're still holding my arm."
"I'm aware."
"Are you going to let go?"
"Eventually."
She released him after another ten seconds. Stepped out of the alcove. Brushed invisible dust from her robes.
"We need to move faster," she said. "The patrol routes overlap every thirty minutes."
"You know the patrol routes?"
"My grandmother worked here. She left detailed journals about everything." Elena started down the stairs again. "The Academy's layout. The guard schedules. The locations of every ward and trap. Even the recipes from the cafeteria."
"Why would she need cafeteria recipes?"
"She was thorough."
They reached the library's main entrance. The massive double doors loomed before them. Thirty feet tall.
Made of black oak that had supposedly grown in Aseraph's personal garden before the betrayal.
Each panel was carved with scenes of ancient scholars discovering forbidden knowledge and promptly regretting it.
"Cheerful," Levi muttered.
"The Academy has a very specific aesthetic." Elena studied the three wards sealing the doors.
Red light. Blue light. Green light. Like a extremely deadly traffic signal.
"Physical barriers. Alarm systems. Detection magic. Standard security package."
"Can you break them?"
"Can I breathe air?" Elena pulled a small crystal from her pocket. No bigger than her thumb. It glowed with soft silver light that made Levi's Fragment pulse in response. "This is a ward-breaker. Family heirloom. My grandmother made it before she died."
"Where did your grandmother work exactly?"
"Here. I told you." Elena pressed the crystal against the first ward. The red glow flickered. Sputtered. Died like a candle in the wind. "She was better at ward-breaking than the official ward-makers. Which caused some workplace tension."
"Is that why she left?"
"She didn't leave. She disappeared." Elena moved to the second ward. "One day she was here. The next day she wasn't. They found her quarters cleaned out. Her journals hidden. No note. No explanation."
