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

Daniel’s cheeks flushed. “Look, I’m sorry, it’s just- it’s not that simple, and-”

“No, no.” Leon held a hand up, looking down. “It’s fine. I get it. It’s cool. Little weird, but I suppose that’s how all of this goes.”

“B-But, um,” Daniel mumbled. He leaned closer. “You can see where they’re going?”

“Yep,” Leon said, latching back onto the conversational cue with his usual vigor. “When I asked Alex about it, she brought up this.” He jabbed at a point on the map with enough force to bend his finger back. “It looks like, um.” Grabbing for his notepad, he peered at what he’d written there. “It’s a Booklender facility.” He glanced over to Daniel. “One of Indira’s places.”

“Got it,” Daniel said wryly. “I figured that much out.”

As Leon turned back to his laptop, Daniel chewed on what he’d said. “They’re hiding at a Booklender house,” he mumbled. “Not one of the Bookbinder places?” His fingers rapped against the table. “Maybe...Olivia said they were putting the Bookbinders up while they were here. Are they foreign, then?”

“They seemed like it,” Leon said. “I mean, I don’t know. Maybe Olivia would know more.”

“Who isn’t here,” Daniel said. “Damn.”

“W-Well, yeah,” Leon said. “But, I’ve heard a few accents so far. I guess a lot of people have accents, but-”

“I can look them up, if it’s relevant,” Daniel said. He glanced over to the bookshelf behind Leon—and froze.

He recognized those books—the black, leather-bound books, and the ones wrapped in plain cloth, and the massive tomes all the way at the top, each with a Madis in gold lettering.

The mage books. The ones that had been housed in the subterranean library, alongside Alexandria’s statue. She’d actually brought them up and out to where Leon could access them.

Daniel leaned against the table more heavily, letting his head bow forward. Alex. I...Thank you. I know how much that means.

“B-But, um.”

He looked up. Leon was staring at the map, but as Daniel watched, his eyes dipped to the floor. “I guess none of it really solves the problem at hand. Knowing where you are doesn’t mean a damn if I can’t get you out.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said. He pursed his lips, staring at the map, as Leon hunched over his laptop again.

It was as he’d told Leon. There were still just three of them, and Maya wasn’t even one of these ‘demi’ mages. What exactly could they hope to do with two people?

“What we need is an army,” he muttered, scowling. “Assholes wouldn’t act so tough then.”

Leon snorted. “I’ve got some friends. You got any more of these relic things? We could work on it.”

Daniel groaned, shaking his head. “No. Hell, no. What, you think we can solve this problem by cobbling together some sort of dream team out of acquaintances? That’s ridiculous. It’d never work.”

“Oh, I know,” Leon said with a chuckle. “I’m just saying.”

“They’d have no clue what they were doing,” Daniel said. “They wouldn’t know how to use their powers, just like you two assholes. And why the hell would they want to fight?”

“Hey, how attached to that pile of cash you gave Maya are you?” Leon said, flashing a grin his way. “I can think of a few friends who might fight for that kind of money.”

“Keep your grubby mitts off it,” Daniel said, arching an eyebrow in his direction. “That’s for emergencies.”

“This is an emergency.”

“Well, yeah, but-”

Daniel stopped. Leon kept typing away, muttering darkly to himself.

They couldn’t just buy off Leon’s friends. It wasn’t fair—and he wanted to risk them every bit as little as he wanted to risk Leon. Besides, finding a bunch of random, innocent strangers to join their fight would be no better than calling the police.

But what if there was another option?

“That guy,” Daniel mumbled. “The tracker. He wasn’t part of Rickard’s team.”

“What’s that?” Leon said.

His mind was racing, though, poring back over the facts. It was hard to remember, through the fear and pain, but… “He said Rickard wasn’t paying him to fight. That he’d paid him to...I don’t know. Track me, or whatever.”

“Okay,” Leon said slowly. “So what?”

“So, Rickard was paying him to be there,” Daniel said. He whirled as best he could with a stiff, gunshot leg, advancing on the bookshelf. “Alex—there are mages out there who work for hire, aren’t there? People you can pay to do things for you?”

“Oh,” Leon said.

Daniel smiled grimly. “Are there any of these demi mage people in range who would fight for us if we paid them?

For a few moments, nothing—and then, a book near the end of the shelf started to wobble. Daniel grabbed hold of it before she could change her mind, turning to slap it down onto the table.

When he pulled it open, page after page of picture-adorned bios flopped down in front of him.

“Okay,” Daniel whispered. “Okay. This...I can work with. Probably.”

“Probably?” Leon said. “Why probably?”

Daniel kept turning the pages, staring at the names. The powers. “This is a whole other level of stupid,” he mumbled. “See, like…” He rubbed at his face, grimacing. “It’s bad enough mages out there know I exist. It’s really bad that I’ve gotten you three dragged into our fight. But to seek other mages out? Get them involved, when they’re guns for hire?”

“Oh,” Leon said. His shoulders drooped. “Yeah, I...I guess this isn’t such a great idea.”

“It’s a last resort,” Daniel said, looking up from a picture of a woman with black hair and a scowl. “It’s something to keep in your back pocket. But we can keep looking, for now.”

He watched Leon nod, his expression hardening. “Okay. Yeah.”

“You’ve still got the money I gave Maya.”

“Yeah.” Leon cracked a grin, and started running his hand across the books on the shelf. “Holy shit, dude, how rich are you?”

“Rich enough,” Daniel said. “Use as much as you like. And if...if this doesn’t work, and I don’t get out-”

“Daniel-”

“I want you guys to take that money. There’s more, back at-”

A wave of vertigo slammed into Daniel. He lurched, seizing the