“Shit, did someone else already break in here?”
“No. It’s actually cleaner now than the last time I was here.”
“Are you serious? How does he stand this?”
“His thirst for records and history overwhelms him, I’m sure. He cares more about digesting the information than he does about actually caring and preserving it. Eventually, he’ll have an Attendant clean it up.”
“You think he just allows an Attendant in here to pick up after him?”
“Of course not. He’ll stand over them the entire time and make sure they don’t grasp any of the knowledge at their fingertips. The book we’re here for was locked in his top drawer last time and the key was in his other drawer.”
He moves carefully around the stack of books that comes up to his waist as he maneuvers around the desk. I stay silent as I let him search and do what he needs to do.
A latching mechanism echoes around us, followed by the creak of the drawer opening.
“What a shame,” he grumbles as he carefully pulls out a huge-ass fucking book and places it on the desk.
My heart thunders at the size, and a small touch of doubt creeps through me. His disappointment is most certainly aimed at the High Chancellor’s carelessness, but he doesn’t seem fazed by how much work we both are truly going to have to put in.
I’m starting to freak out. This is by far the biggest damn book I’ve ever assisted him with copying and we’re actually in a time crunch.
“Amick, why didn’t you warn me about how big the book is?”
He doesn’t answer right away. With a snap of his fingers, a book equal in size drops out of a starshoot and he catches it before it crashes into anything.
“You would’ve had too much time to process your doubt. I’ve been preparing and training my power to go faster, especially after this last release. We’re going to be pushing our limits, but we can do it. We’ll be tired, and Thayla will need to take care of us.”
I can’t even smirk at that image of her taking care of us. My palms are growing sweaty staring at that fucking book.
“How much do you need me to speed it up for you?”
“I’ve gotten myself down to a page in one point six seconds. I want you to get me to a half second per page.”
My eyes surely bug out of my head. “How many pages is that?”
“One thousand, seven hundred, and seventy-seven.”
A quick calculation runs through my mind, and I sway where I’m standing.
“That’s nearly fifteen straight minutes of power use, full fucking throttle, Amick. This is nothing compared to what we did in the restricted room. Tired is an understatement. It’ll take the rest of the afternoon, possibly a nap, and tonight to recoup.”
“I’m aware. Do you not think you can do this? Tell me now.”
There’s no annoyance or disappointment in his tone. Just genuine concern.
I release a long, slow breath as I shake myself out and prepare to go full fucking force. “No, I can. I was just having a moment and wrapping my mind around it.”
“We don’t have time for freak-outs. Come on.”
I cross the mounds of shit everywhere to stand on his left side so his right is free for him to write. “What was your plan if I said I couldn’t do this?”
“Steal the book and hope Harriseen didn’t look for it in the meantime.”
I snort as I lay my hand on his shoulder. “Okay, Riven.”
“Yes, unfortunately, it is him and his tendencies that struck the idea in my mind. The book wasn’t positioned where it was in the drawer the last time, though. It was more to the left than centered. That leads me to believe Harriseen moves it around enough that its position isn’t permanent.”
I remove my hand from him and hover it over the cover, getting a sense of the time spent with this book.
