Emma had reached the right shelf. She knelt, puzzling over her tutor’s scrawled list, and started pulling out books. Light by light, the motion sensors blinked off. Absorbed in her task, Emma didn’t notice. Until the final light went.
Somewhere, in the darkness. A creaking.
It was coming from the opposite end of the room.
Emma froze. It was louder, closer. Now it was joined by a rhythmic, dragging rasp. Breathing. Someone was trying to breathe.
The sound came nearer and nearer, until Emma could no longer bear it. She jumped to her feet, coursing with adrenaline. The motion sensor light blinked on.
She was face-to-face with an old man.
“Hello, child,” said a wandering voice. A chill flooded her chest. “I am the Librarian.”
His hair reached away from his head like a cloud escaping a kettle. His eyes were the blue of sky reflected in water, fixed on a spot above and to the left of her head. They gave him a visionary air.
She found she was no longer afraid, once she looked at him. She was ashamed that she ever had been.
“Did you find what you sought, child?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Emma gently, “thank you.”
“Would I had your luck. You know, the Library has every book ever printed.” He wheezed. “And yet, look though I might, I cannot find the one I seek. As you see.” He fanned a hand behind him to a trolley piled high with books. Emma turned them over gingerly. More than one had the word “grimoire” on the cover. She saw another calledCompendium of the Beast.The writing inside made her flinch. It was the color of old blood.
“What book is it?” said Emma, edging away from the trolley.
“I shall know it when I see it.” His eyes were still fixed somewhere above her. “I hold it in my mind.”
“Oh,” said Emma, stepping back. “Good. I—I should be picking up my books. I left them—just here, you see. It has been lovely talking to—Thank you.”
“Books of the law.” He peered at the stack in her hands. “Not what I thought of for you. You are unlike the lawyers I once knew. They were men of tooth and claw.”
“I—oh. Well.” She wondered if he was really as vague as he seemed. “I actually meant to be a vet, at first. But my father said I should apply for law. That I could do more good for animals fighting for their rights in court, not patching them up one by one. And that’s what I wanted. To make a difference.”
An ethereal smile lit his face. “A kindred soul. I, too, love our brothers and sisters of fur and feathers. I had a dog, I remember. When I was young.” His gaze wandered to times past. “Endymion. The very finest creature.” A glint of humor crept into his eyes. “And when I wished to become an artist, my parents did notapprove either. But we find our own ways in life. I wish you luck of the law, child. May you turn it to your own ends.”
He bent over his trolley, still laboring for breath. He looked as though he might be scribbling something. But he was moving painfully slowly. When she peered over the trolley, she saw why. The hand around the pencil was a lump of meat, set sloppily around a tangle of bones. She bit back a gasp and stepped away. She did not want him to think she had been staring.
“I would not wish to alarm you.” His blue eyes glowed. “But I ask that you have a care. The darkness is not always kind to a child like you.”
He thrust something into her hand. She could not look at it without dropping her books, so she thanked him and stepped into the lift.
He was haloed under the light, white hair fuzzing around his head. As he pushed his trolley away, it creaked. The light blinked out, and he passed into shadow.
She did not examine what he had put into her hand until she was safely out of the Library. It was a scrap of manuscript with a drawing on it.
A monstrous eye, edged in teeth.
When she emerged from the Library, Nat was waiting for her at the café outside.
“Did you enjoy it? You look a little pale.”
Her mouth tasted sour.
“Want my bacon butty?” He offered her the bag.
Emma, a vegetarian from the age of six, gave an elaborate shudder.
“Oh, of course not. Well, more for me.” With a thoughtful air, he swallowed half the sandwich in one bite. She watched the lump slide down his throat.
