Page 28 of Dragon Compelled
“She’s fine,” I assure them, “but she told me what happened earlier with Oliver, and I wanted to take a look around for myself.”
“Be my guest. There’s no sign of whoever caused the shelf to overturn.” She gestures behind me. “It’s over there.”
I turn and see where one of the shelves is mostly empty of books. It’s standing upright, which means someone returned it to its rightful position, but the books that were thrown on the floor haven’t been returned to their proper places.
“Where are the books?” I ask.
“I want to go through them to see if there are any clues as to what caused the problem,” Blossom says. “Since the basement is already full with our other investigation, I stacked them upstairs in the Alchemy section.”
“Have you gone through them yet?” I ask.
She shoots Mag a pointed look. “Not yet. I was interrupted on my way.”
He sighs.
“Was there any sign this could have been Constantine?” I ask before Mag can bring up whatever they were fighting about. As much as I appreciate the two of them and our budding friendship, their fight is not anywhere near the top of my list of priorities.
Blossom shakes her head. “None that I saw, but it’s possible.”
“Did the library’s security system offer any more information about whether the breach came first or the shelf falling?” I ask.
“Shit,” Blossom says.
“What?” Mag asks.
“The alarm.” She shakes her head, irritated. “How the hell did I miss that?”
“Shit,” Mag echoes. They share a look.
“What’s wrong?” I demand.
“The alarm never went off when that werewolf fucker came through,” Blossom says. “I didn’t even realize it at the time, but I only knew there was a problem because Paige yelled for me. By the time I showed up, the lupin was about to take a bite out of her or Oliver, and I concentrated on making sure to get to him first.” She looks at Mag. “What the hell is going on?”
“Has the alarm ever failed before?” I ask, thousands of possibilities already running through my mind.
“Never,” Mag says, giving me a wry look. “Not even when you showed up.”
Blossom looks at me, and I can see the same worry in her expression that Mag’s tone holds. “I’ve been here decades,” she says, “and the alarm is the only thing that has never failed.”
“Yes,” I say slowly, “It did.”
“What are you talking about?” Blossom asks.
“The monsters,” Mag says grimly, and I nod.
“The cavern was full of them,” I remind them. “Constantine himself admitted to bringing them through their books and stashing them down there.”
“Shit,” Blossom hisses. “You guys think it was him again today?”
“He’s the only one who managed to break through the defenses before,” Mag says.
I look back at the shelf that fell earlier, my hands tightening into fists. The need to hunt something, to find the enemy and neutralize it, is so strong; I consider shifting right here and ripping this place apart by the rafters.
“He might not have done it alone,” I say quietly, and the other two whip their gazes back to mine. “Paige thinks her magic might have contributed to either the shelf falling or the werewolf getting loose or both,” I say because, if we’re going to stop Constantine, we have to be on the same page about his power. And hers.
“That’s...” Blossom looks like she wants to argue but then thinks better of it. “Even if her magic did play a part, the alarm shouldn’t have failed.”
“Agreed,” I say, glancing at Mag. “I think we need to keep a better eye on things here.”
