Page 31 of Dragon Unleashed
In a place where only silence and stillness should reign, even the slightest disturbance sounds like chaos.
“Shit,” I hiss as Aries and I both straighten again.
“Maybe they won’t—”
Aries stops short at the sound of heavy footfalls somewhere in the stacks. Blossom and her boots are unmistakable.
“We need to go,” I whisper, “Now!”
I grab his hand and beeline back the way we came. When we hit the fork at the back, instead of going straight up the stairs to the alchemy section, I go right, heading directly for the stairwell.
Aries hesitates, pulling on our joined hands.
“There’s no time,” I insist. “The keeper will be here any moment.”
“There’s something up there,” he says, and I’m shocked into momentary stillness.
“You saw it too?”
“I feel it,” he replies, his tone still a million miles away from me.
Damn. Maybe some supernatural senses are better than others. Or maybe mine just sucked.
“It doesn’t matter, we have to get out of sight,” I tell him.
He hesitates, and I step closer. “Aries, I know you want to get home, but if we’re found, neither of us is going anywhere except into extinction. I need you to trust me, okay?”
“Okay.”
This time, when I tug on his calloused hand, he follows.
We’re nearly to the stairwell when something crashes. I shriek, covering my hand with my mouth to muffle it as Aries yanks me against him. A second crash sounds, and I look over in time to see a light fixture shattering against the floor in the place where I’d just stood.
I look up, noting a shadow darting off among the rafters. The same shadow I saw before. Fear grips me then as I realize whatever I’ve been seeing tonight has also seen me. And Aries. And they’ve just let us know it too.
“Are you all right?”
Aries’ deep voice rumbles through his chest and into mine. That’s when I realize I’m still clinging to him like some kind of spider monkey.
“Yeah,” I squeak, peeling myself away from him.
“You sure?” He looks at me with those serious eyes, and I melt a little.
“I’m sure. You?”
“Fine.” He looks up, studying the rafters and remaining fixtures above us. I do the same, but whoever it is has gone.
The broken fixtures leave shards of glass and broken bulbs beneath our feet, so every step crunches, and the sound of it makes me wince. Someone’s going to come to investigate any second now. In fact, a noise this loud is going to set off—
A loud alarm blares to life, followed by a booming dog bark, and I wince.
“Shit!”
The sound of my voice is lost beneath the sound of the alarms. For the first time since we crept into the library, Aries looks worried.
“Come on,” I say, knowing he probably can’t hear me over the alarm. Grabbing his arm, I lead him the few steps left to the stairwell door. Shoving through it, I step back to give him access, and when he’s through, I follow quickly and then shove the door closed behind us.
Above us, the doorway to the second-floor access opens, and panic grips me. The only other creatures who use these stairs besides me are--
