Page 9 of Dragon Compelled
Behind me, Bingo, a hellhound who serves as one of the Athenaeum's protectors, lifts his head from his giant paws and looses a low growl. His gaze is aimed toward the door, and I tense, but a moment later, the door opens to reveal Mag, the male keeper who has been my companion each day. His sandy blond hair and human-looking flesh make up only one of his forms. The other is a stone gargoyle with impenetrable skin and unending strength. Over these last couple of weeks, I have come to appreciate that strength at my side for these missions—not that I’ve told him so.
His personality is another matter. He’s as cocky as my brother, Leo, which means he doesn’t need any encouragement. And he’s insufferably grumpy about not being able to kill anything we come across on our hunts. As am I, though I don’t feel the need to constantly gripe about it.
“It’s just me, asshole,” Mag tells Bingo, who bares his teeth in response but otherwise falls silent.
“Good morning,” I offer as Mag closes the door behind him and steps up beside me.
The basement is sealed off from the rest of the library’s systems, which makes it a better location for coming and going from all of the portals we’ve opened these past weeks. Bingo is here to make sure the books don’t get any ideas about trying to open themselves.
“Is it a good morning?” Mag asks, arching a brow. “Wait. Ugh. Don't answer that. I don’t want to hear about you and Paige.”
“Good, because a gentleman would never tell.”
“Guess that makes two of us then.” He winks, but I decide I’d rather not press further for details I’ll regret hearing. “How is Paige anyway?” Mag asks. He gestures to me, adding “I mean aside from... all that.”
“She’s trying,” I say on a sigh. “But I don’t know how much longer she can hold it together.” I leave out that I had to force her to eat last night. Mainly because I was successful. I have Blossom looking out for Paige while I’m away, and with any luck, she’ll be able to get Paige to eat something warm for lunch rather than one of those disgusting granola bars.
“We need to find Hoc,” Mag says, a shadow crossing his features. “He’s the glue in this place.”
I nod, knowing Mag and Hoc have a history. While they didn’t seem overly close, I can see that Mag respects the former head librarian—and partly blames himself for losing him. Honestly, I think we all feel as though we shoulder some of the blame.
“We need to move faster,” I say, nodding at the large stack of books that remain before us. Even after two weeks, we’ve only checked fifteen books. There are at least five times that still here. Splitting up would be smartest, but my status as honorary keeper did not include a tattoo of my own, so I’m forced to rely on Mag for transport through the portals.
Mag frowns. “If we move quickly, maybe we can keep doing two or three a day.”
I nod. “I can start doing fly overs to scout the area before venturing into populated areas.”
Mag shakes his head. “I don’t know. We can’t risk the creatures of these worlds spotting you. Especially if that world doesn’t already have dragons.”
“And I told you, my concern for Paige is greater than my concern for a world discovering dragons exist. All that matters is finding Hoc and putting an end to Constantine.”
“Look, I want to kill that asshole as much as you do, but as for anyone else we come across, I can’t violate the oaths I swore as a keeper, and one of them is to do no harm to a creature while I’m in its home world.”
“Just remember, I didn’t swear any oaths to anyone but Paige.” A perk of being an honorary keeper rather than an indentured servant.
“Believe me, I haven’t forgotten. But if you want to make it back here to her, you’ll abide by this rule.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a disclosure,” he says. I’m ready to tell him to fuck off when he adds, “The library has a protocol in place should we fail to adhere to its rules about doing no harm.”
“What kind of protocol?”
“The kind that says, if you harm a creature while in its home world, your portal access is rescinded.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means you’ll be stuck in that world forever with no way to get back here—or anywhere else for that matter.”
My eyes widen. “You’re just now telling me this? I’ve been searching these books with you for weeks now.”
“Right, but you’ve never considered breaking the rules before.”
I glare at him. “Is there anything else I should know aboutprotocols?”
“No, that’s about the gist.”
I consider knocking him sideways one good time, but in the end, I decide to table the urge for later. When we have more room and less important shit to do afterward. I’d hate to blacken both his eyes so badly he couldn’t see the portal he’s conjuring in front of him. “Let’s fucking get this done.”
