Page 12 of The Devil You Know
Seth snapped a few more pictures and realized he was due to check in. Before he could text the photos to Evan, a noise drew his attention.
He looked up, on alert. Janet’s deserted desk and the empty map room made the restricted area feel too isolated and exposed.
“Janet?” Seth leaned out of the map room doorway and stage-whispered to the librarian. When no one answered, he palmed the obsidian knife from his bag, grabbed the hex bags and his phone from the pocket of his jacket, and ventured toward her desk.
“Janet?”
Suddenly the library’s quiet seemed sinister instead of restful. Seth’s instincts went on high alert. He circled Janet’s desk but didn’t see any sign of trouble. Her papers were in neat stacks, the computer had gone to its sleep screen, and nothing looked amiss.
He heard a muffled noise in the stacks behind the desk. Seth thought about calling Evan, but if Janet was in trouble, he couldn’t wait for backup. He gripped the knife and moved closer toward the sound.
The first row of stacks was empty. In the next row, a crumpled form lay on the floor.
“Janet!” Seth rushed forward, wondering if the librarian had passed out. He knelt beside her and checked for a pulse, relieved to feel a steady heartbeat.
He felt a sharp jab in his neck. Seth plucked out the dart and threw it away, but the damage was done. The drug hit him fast and hard, making his vision swim and his balance wobble. Seth gripped the obsidian knife, ready to make a hopeless last stand as two large goons closed on him.
Seth swung a punch and missed by a mile, staggering with the force of his swing. The guy on his left didn’t miss, landing a punch to the jaw; a second blow sent him sprawling as the drug rushed through his system. The other attacker strode up and patted Seth down, relieving him of his phone, knife, and hex bags.
Seth felt an odd ripple of energy race up and down his body from head to toe. It felt hard to breathe, and his heart pounded. Pain spiked in his temples, and a trickle of blood started from his nose.
Magic. Fuck.
Someone had lured Janet away from her desk, used her for bait to draw Seth away from his locked room, and like a fool, he’d gone. Now without his hex bags for protection, he was an easy target.
The rippling energy grew stronger, buzzing across his skin. He tried to push up, and he wanted to shout for help, but his body refused to obey.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Seth’s muscles gave out. His face hit the floor, but he barely felt the impact. Sight, sound, and touch shut down one by one like someone had flipped switches.
Are they going after Evan next? I promised him I’d be safe. I fucked up, and now I’m not going to be able to protect him.
Everything faded, and Seth was lost in the dark.
* * *
“Hey,lazy ass! Time to get up. Breakfast is getting cold, and I already ate all the bacon,” a familiar voice called from outside his bedroom door.
Seth groaned and struggled to wake. He blinked, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes, and momentarily panicked, not knowing where he was. He took a few seconds to look around and get his bearings.
His room at his parents’ house hadn’t changed since he left for the Army six years ago. Seth wondered if his parents had kept it untouched as a good luck charm, a way to guide him safely back.
He’d been warned that going home after his tour of duty would be difficult. Slipping into what should have been familiar now felt like trying on clothing that didn’t fit. Seth felt uncomfortable in his own skin, and he wondered how long it would last until he adjusted.
A pillow hit him in the face, and when Seth batted it clear, his brother Jesse leaned into his room, grinning.
“I’ve still got great aim,” Jesse crowed. “C’mon, Army brat. Mom madewaffles.She never makes those. Now I know I need to go to a combat zone to get a decent breakfast.”
Seth wasn’t prepared for the flood of emotions that washed over him. As much as he loved his parents, Jesse had been the person he’d missed the most while he was overseas. They’d video called as often as Seth’s circumstances permitted, trying to keep the six years spent apart from widening into a gap that couldn’t be bridged.
“Do we even own a waffle maker?” he asked, rolling out of bed.
“You’re coming down to breakfast like that?” Jesse teased with a nod to the worn, comfortable sleep pants and T-shirt Seth wore. “How quickly you lose all of your military standards.”
“Bite me,” Seth replied, but the fond tone took the heat from his response.
“You’d give me indigestion.” Jesse flipped him off. “Don’t make me drag your scrawny ass downstairs.”
Seth had put on twenty pounds of muscle while he was in the Army, and Jesse had filled out as well, no longer the gangly kid he’d been when Seth shipped out. “Scrawny” didn’t really describe either of them.
