The Librarian: A Remnants of Magic Novel (The Librarian of Alexandria Book 2) by Casey White (reading list txt) 📗

between James and Maya. It wasn’t like they lived together, whatever his stubborn friend dreamed might come true. It would have taken time for Maya to get to James, just like it’d taken him time to get to Leon.

Even still.

He bit his lip, starting the call, and pressed the phone to his ear.

The phone rang. He stared through the windshield, ignoring Leon’s squirming beside him. On and on the ringtone buzzed.

Just when he’d resigned himself to giving up, the line connected. He brightened. “Maya. Great. Look-”

“Owl,” Maya said. “Oh, thank god. I was- I wasn’t sure if I should call you, or-”

“What is it?” Daniel said. His mood darkened instantly, drowned out by the panic filing Maya’s voice. He sat up a little straighter, easing off the gas. At the edge of his vision, he saw Leon mirror him.

“I...I just- Maybe I’m being crazy, but- Hell, I don’t know. I just-”

“Maya.”

“I made it to his place.” There was something wrong with her voice, Daniel realized. It wasn’t just that she was afraid. No, she was...she was hushed, like she was afraid to speak too loudly. “I got to James’ house. After we talked.”

“Right,” he said slowly. “Did you get him?”

Already, though, his pulse quickened. It wouldn’t be that easy, he knew. If it’d been as simple as an in-and-out fetch quest, then she wouldn’t be this agitated.

“Something’s wrong,” she said a moment later, and his heart sank. “There are...There are people here, Owl. Strange cars in his driveway.”

“Maybe he had friends over,” Daniel said. It was idiotic, and he knew it, but...some part of him needed to work through every mundane answer before he went straight into oh-shit mode. “Maybe that’s why he didn’t pick up.”

Maya laughed hollowly. “Right now? Today? This early in the morning. No. Hell no.” She went quiet, then. He waited, counting out the seconds. “What should I do?” she said at last. “S-Should I keep going? I don’t think I should knock, but-”

“No,” Daniel snapped, sitting bolt upright. “No, leave the place alone. Um.” He raked a hand through his hair, sweeping away the strands of black that’d escaped the hair tie. “Just...Just get somewhere safe, Maya. Find a McDonald’s in town or something and hole up.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I can do that. That’s...That’s probably smart. Look. I don’t...I don’t know all of what’s going on right now, but be careful, okay? Something’s wrong. Really wrong.”

That was putting it lightly. Daniel only chuckled, though, squeezing the burner. “Yeah. Just...get clear, Maya. Okay? We’ll meet up once we’ve got James.” It was bad enough he was having to dive into trouble. There was no reason to drag Maya through the danger as well. And…

Flipping the phone shut, he dropped it into the cupholder, glancing sidelong at Leon.

It wasn’t fair to put Leon in danger, either. “Hey,” he said.

Leon’s eyebrows pulled together. “No.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“You didn’t have to,” Leon snapped. “I can tell. You were about to say “get out of the car” or something, weren’t you?

Damn it. “N-No,” Daniel mumbled. “I just think maybe-”

“Would you just stop hiding, already?”

Daniel twitched, blinking as the words slammed into him. “I...I’m not-”

“Jesus Christ,” Leon mumbled, rubbing at his face again. “Let a man help you now and again, will you?” He lifted his head clear—and fixed a pointed stare in Daniel’s direction. “So what’s going on? Spit it out.”

Daniel chuckled, low and soft and entirely humorless. He could still refuse to drag Leon along with him. But, if Leon was so dead-set on joining...he did feel better having him here.

He took a deep, ragged breath, then let it slide back out. His hands tightened on the steering wheel.

“We have a problem.”

- Chapter Eleven -

Every minute, every mile, felt like an eternity.  Time wasn’t endless, though—a fact that became all too apparent as they wound their way deeper and deeper into the neighborhood.

“How much farther?” Daniel said, his voice tight.

Leon shook his head.  He clutched his phone in his hands, only glancing up from the GPS now and again.  “Um.  Not...Not much farther.”

How wonderfully specific.  Daniel turned his eyes back to the road, stopping himself before he could say anything he’d regret.

Leon was shifting, though, his shoulders rising.  “Um…”

Daniel sighed.  “What’s up?”

“That was Maya, right?”

He caught himself before he could groan.  “That’s...yeah.”

“Is she okay?” Leon said.  “You didn’t sound happy.  And...uh.  What...What’s going on with-”

“Damn it,” Daniel mumbled.  He’d hoped he could get away without having to go into too much detail.  Leon didn’t need to get caught up in the middle of everything.  But...he couldn’t very well not explain, either.  “Look.  Maya was supposed to go get James.”

“...Right…”

Daniel ground his teeth together.  “Only, when she got there, she wasn’t the first one to arrive.”

“....Oh.”  Leon’s lips squeezed back together, perilously tight.  “That’s...not good.”

“Pretty much,” Daniel said, sighing.  “She’s on her way to safety.  And we’re going to-”

Leon jabbed his finger toward the next corner.  “Um...it’s…”

Daniel perked up.  “A turn?”  He worked them around the corner, eyes glued to the road.  “How far until the next-”

“Last house on the left,” Leon whispered.

Oh.

Daniel glanced to the structure Leon indicated—a nice enough house, if a bit more run-down than Leon’s.  A scraggly copse of trees clung to life in the back corner of the house’s yard, but what little was left of the woods quickly gave way to more houses and the city.  A forlorn, bleak minigolf place that looked a good decade out of business completed the dismal urban picture.  He swallowed.  All it meant to him was more eyes.  And more chance of them getting spotted by someone.

He still couldn’t shake the feeling that that would be very, very bad—more so than just him getting spotted as the Librarian, or having to explain to a cop why exactly he was busting into people’s houses at the crack of dawn.  But he didn’t see another way out of this situation, either.

Close enough.  They were more than close enough.  With James’ house in sight at the end of