That may or may not be okay with her—she was reasonably distrustful of human governments, as most practitioners and supernatural people were, and for all that MERS was meant to handle magical issues, it was still a government agency run by non-magical people, despite them hiring very magical people to do the important jobs.
MERS. Horrid agency, but if they’re involved it’s dangerous enough already. I’ll pack a weekend bag and prep the trio just in case. Don’t hesitate to ask.—Dr R
Thank you and I will. —Ezra
A long moment and then a text came in.
My usual rates are triple for government agencies. Sleep well!—Dr R
He snorted out a laugh and sent a goodnight in reply before slipping his phone back on the nightstand, and he was extremely proud of himself for remembering to hook it to the charger before he slipped his arm behind his head and tried to fall asleep, Lilith purring away contentedly.
Ezra
The next morningEzra was wide awake, showered, dressed, had his bag full of Lilith’s stuff at the ready, Lilith fed and watered, litter box cleaned, and medications taken. Ezra made sure he brought the meds with him, sticking the prescription bottles in his bag next to Lilith’s lunchbox.
He hadn’t really needed the pills the last few days, not with the laser focus he got when in dangerous situations—if he took his ADHD meds on a day when he might be running for his life from a zombie guard dog or fighting possessed children’s dolls, he tended to get too dialed in, and developed extreme tunnel vision that kept him from paying sufficient attention to his surroundings, plus he was unable to sleep, even if he needed it. Insomnia was not something he wanted to experience on a job, so he made sure to bring his meds and use his best guess on when to take them. Today was going to be a research day and he took his meds to keep himself from getting distracted by literally everything in case boredom eventually reared its dreaded head.
He did not do well when bored. And he really did not want to lose his focus and scare off Professor Sexy too quickly.
Thinking about the professor took his mind off thinking about anything else, and he wondered how the man’s thick locks felt outside of the messy bun. Silky smooth and warm? Cool and slick? Heavy, smelling of flowers, begging for Ezra to bury his face in it and breathe deep?
A sharp knock at the door made him jump, and Lilithmerpedat him in both censure and curiosity, tail flicking back and forth as she stared up at him with wide eyes. He shook his head and leaned forward enough to answer the door, trying not to look likehe’d been standing there for gods knew how long daydreaming about playing with Professor Nórsson’s hair.
Chase smiled at him, again dressed in civilian clothing, a very nice button-up gray shirt with dark jeans and a thin leather jacket, Harlan looming behind his partner in the same outfit, though in dark blues and greens instead. Understated elegance, subtle, aiming perhaps for a low-key hint of authority that went with the shoulders back, chins up posture of career soldiers. And the jackets hid the guns in their shoulder holsters.
He took the coffee Chase held out to him with an awkward smile, touched that the MERS soldiers thought of him for the second day in a row. “Thanks. Are you my escort to the library again?”
“We are,” Harlan answered from over Chase’s shoulder, eyeing Ezra where he stood in the doorway. “Ready to go?”
“I am,” Ezra said, and he switched the coffee to his left hand so he could pat down his pockets with his right, making sure he really was ready to go. Essentials like Lilith’s gear were in his bag, along with some charms and spellcasting gear like chalk, a small knife, tea candles, and some herbs. That small kit for casting was merely for satisfying some of his anxiety—he didn’t need spell components to craft and cast spells as a sorcerer, but having the basic essentials on hand helped when he needed to work around artifacts that were sensitive to disturbances in the ambient magic fields, or were booby-trapped. Having a cursed artifact lash out at a magically lit candle was better than Ezra being attacked while trying to dismantle a deadly magical object.
Ezra had zero expectation of anything going wrong today, seeing nothing ahead but another day in the library, but his anxiety was a bit high and the meds took a while to peak, so bringing his kit helped alleviate some of his worries. It was small, regardless, and took up no more room than Lilith’s armor or the tiny, insulated bento lunchbox holding some salmonflakes and fresh water in case she got hungry. Lilith wanted to go, even though he made sure to make the bed as inviting as possible with fluffed pillows and some toys on the duvet, but she awaited him at the door, firmly declaring her intention to tag along.
He picked up Lilith in one arm and carried her out of the room, walking beside Chase, who made sure to pet Lilith on the walk to the car.
The day was warm, the sky bright blue with a few fluffy white clouds, the breeze cool, and Ezra tilted his face back to the sun as they left Sacred Threshold and got into the SUV, Ezra in the back while Harlan drove with Chase in the front passenger seat.
“Did you sleep okay?” Chase asked.
“I got a lot of sleep, thanks,” Ezra replied. “I’m sorry about passing out yesterday.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Harlan said as he drove the short distance across the campus to the library. “We did too much too fast. We’re gonna take it easy today. More breaks.”
Ezra tried to remember the last time someone cared enough to make sure he took a break and wasn’t working too hard and came up blank. It felt nice.
“Sounds good,” Ezra said, and he sternly told himself it was perfectly reasonable to take breaks and not spend every second of the day working. His anxiety was extra spicy today and he did some short breathing exercises on the drive to make himself as level as possible before they got to the library.
Parking and walking into the library was simpler than the day before—Ezra was holding Lilith and she helped keep him calm, and he realized how off he had felt yesterday compared to today. Recovering from magical burnout was never easy, and he’d pushed himself too hard the day before, which was easy to see in hindsight.
He still loved the glass canopy over the space between the two structures, and followed the sergeants into the same wing of the library they went to the day before, this time with fewer people.
The guard at the door to the Special Collections room saw them coming, and Chase handed over their new temporary IDs to the staff person at the desk, who then gave the IDs back to Chase after a quick scan as they passed through the ornate door held open by the security guard.
Chase handed over Ezra’s and he tucked it in his jeans pocket while Lilith grumbled about being jostled too much. He dropped a kiss on her sweet head and she purred, loudly enough to make Chase turn around while walking and smile at her in Ezra’s arms.
“How’s our sweet queen this morning?”
“Sassy and smug, as she should be,” Ezra replied happily. It was nice being with someone who liked cats as much as he did.
