“I didn’t say that.” But Zara was smiling. “It’stemporary. The glamour will fade in a few hours, but it should be enough to get us in and out without anyone recognizing you.” Zara paused, a fang appearing as she bit her lip.
Ramona felt a pulse of attraction through the tether. Her eyes went wide. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“You’re not a bad blonde,” Zara teased, her hand sliding over Ramona’s shoulders. “You know, maybe if the glamour doesn’t wear off, when we get back to the car?—”
Ramona laughed, slapping at Zara’s hand. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. We’re about to do something extremelyimportant and dangerous, and I cannot be this turned on already.”
“So, you admit you are a little turned on thinking about it,” Zara quipped.
“Stop it,” Ramona scolded again, but she was laughing. She was definitely not thinking about Zara’s dark nails pulling her blonde hair.
Zara faced forward again, but a wry grin was still on her lips.
Ramona stared at her reflection. At the stranger wearing her clothes, sitting in her seat. “It’s weird,” she said.
“It’s effective.” Zara turned the key in the ignition, and it gave a hiccup of noncompliance before starting. She pulled back onto the road. “And significantly less conspicuous than the sunglasses-hat-scarf combination.”
“I liked the sunglasses.”
“I know you did.” Zara’s hand found hers again, squeezed. “But this way, you can actually see where you’re going.”
Ramona looked at herself one more time in the mirror. She smoothed her shirt. She cleared her mind of the visions of Zara tugging her into the backseat. The blonde stranger looked back — nervous, determined, completely unrecognizable. “Okay,” she said. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Thornwood Academy looked even more imposingat night — Gothic architecture turned into sharp shadows, the main building looming against the dark sky. Enchanted security lights illuminated the grounds in pools of harsh white light, creating corridors of darkness between them.
Ramona’s stomach clenched. She’d loved this place once. Had felt privileged to work here, to teach here. Now she was sneaking in through a side entrance like a criminal.
They parked in the visitor lot — far enough from the main building to avoid immediate attention, close enough for a quick escape if needed. The campus was quiet. Almost eerily so.
“Felix disabled the cameras on the east wing,” Zara said, checking her phone. “We have a ten-minute window before the security guard makes his rounds past that entrance.”
“Ten minutes to get inside, find the archives, and then wait for the lights protocol.”
Zara nodded. “Get in, get near the right section, then wait twenty minutes for the lights to shut off without movement. They won’t turn on again without the doorway triggered.”
Ramona checked her tiny pen flashlight. Trying to summon a light globe was too risky given her magic was forbidden from Thornwood, and she wouldn’t dare let Zara use magic inside the wards.
“We’ll have longer once we’re in. The guard doesn’t patrol the library stacks. Just the main corridors.” Zara pocketed her phone. “Ready?”
Ramona wasn’t. But she nodded anyway.
They moved quickly across the lawn, staying in the shadows between security lights. The key worked on the side entrance — Eleanor’s access was comprehensive. The door clicked open softly.
Inside, the hallway was dark. Emergency lighting cast everything in dim red. Their footsteps echoed on the polished floor.
“This way,” Ramona whispered.
They moved through familiar corridors. Ramona’s heart hammered with every step. Any moment, someone could round a corner. Any moment, a guard could appear. Any moment?—
“Ramona.” Zara’s hand found hers. “Breathe.”
Right. Breathing.
They made it to the main library without incident. The vast room was dark, lit only by emergency exits and the faint glow of enchanted preservation wards on the oldest texts. Shadows stretched across empty tables and abandoned study carrels.
No one was here. The library was closed for the night.
Ramona kept moving toward the back, toward the restricted section where the stairs to the archives were hidden behind reference stacks.
