Lucky Rabbit

A few hours later, they gathered again in front of the library door. As far as Pandy could tell, the Dragon Librarian was back to his ‘Beeswick’ appearance, and everyone else seemed to be blaming his transformation on his being ‘subsumed’ – Augustus’s word – by his Very Powerful elemental. Pandy herself had seen a few people who had taken on some physical characteristics of their elementals, and apparently it was a thing. Who knew?

What she did know was that Professor Beeswick and Elarion were one and the same, all the time, but that was one secret she fully intended to keep. So she remained silent as the Dragon gripped the frame of the deceptively normal-looking double doors with a taloned hand and said, “Normally, when you leave the library, you return to wherever you entered.”

Everyone nodded solemnly, as if this wasn’t the way every other door in the world worked. Which, come to think of it, might not be true at all. Most things here were so similar to her old world that she didn’t think much about the differences until they up and smacked her in the face with a haddock.

“Before the Exchange managed to move one of my anchors, I could shift an individual’s exit point between entrances fairly easily, though that wasn’t common knowledge. After my anchor was moved, I decided to attach them… shall we say, more firmly? I also altered the magic so every individual receives a magical tag when they enter. That tag contains a unique pattern that must match the pattern of their exit point. Otherwise, the library won’t allow them to leave at all.”

“So even if High Priest Hobart and his Shadow had managed to grab Thaniel, they couldn’t actually have taken him anywhere?” Pandy asked, leaning in to see better before noticing Beeswick’s narrowed gaze and quickly stepping back again.

“Correct,” the Dragon Librarian said with some satisfaction, as the door itself shimmered beneath his hand. “Nothing under my protection will ever again be removed from my Domain without my permission.” His eyes, usually a pale lilac, glittered with a cold sheen of silver, and Pandy would have sworn his already-sharp teeth grew even sharper.

Turning to Pandy, Augustus, and Empress Glory, he gestured to the door. “Go ahead.”

Pandy and Augustus exchanged glances, all too aware that the Dragon’s sense of humor could be iffy at best, but Glory strode forward, reaching out to place her hand flat against the door, which couldn’t quite seem to decide on a single appearance, instead cycling through many different colors and styles. “Whatever I have to do to get out of here,” she muttered as she pushed.

Quick as the snake he probably wasn’t actually related to, one of Professor Beeswick’s sharp claws stabbed out, just catching the web of skin that stretched between Glory’s thumb and forefinger, pinning her hand to the door. Blood flowed, swirling into the shifting cycle of doors, which slowed, then settled down to one that looked to be made of solid wood, the elegant grain pattern glowing a soft, buttery gold on its carefully polished surface.

It took Glory a second to react, and then she shrieked, yanking her hand back so she could clutch it to her chest as she glared at Beeswick. “What in Ismara’s name is wrong with you?”

The Dragon smirked, gesturing to Pandy. “You didn’t think it was going to be easy to change your exit point, did you? Were you listening to anything I said?”

Pandy thought, catching the Dragon’s unspoken command.

Minor Heal successful.

Healed Empress Glory for 3 HP.

Huh. That wasn’t much, given the fact that it looked like Professor Beeswick had literally pinned Glory’s hand to the door. Not for long, but that seemed like the kind of thing that should do more than three points of damage.

Glory’s full lips pinched together, but she didn’t say anything else, just swung around the backpack into which she’d stuffed all of her belongings and pulled out a handkerchief to clean the injury. If she was surprised to see that there wasn’t a wound any longer, it didn’t show in her expression.

Unfazed, Augustus stepped up and placed his own hand on the door, which seemed to have settled into its final form. Again, Beeswick stabbed the hand, and Pandy winced when she saw blood seeping out. There didn’t seem to be as much as the first time – possibly because Augustus didn’t tear his hand free, but equally possibly because Beeswick hadn’t stabbed as hard – but Pandy healed the chancellor for two health points once he was freed.

Seeing the expectant looks everyone turned toward her, Pandy swallowed hard and stepped up. She’d been hurt far worse many times recently, but she hadn’t been as alive then. There was just something different about intentionally accepting physical damage when you were pretty sure you had actual functional organs and blood vessels and things.

Still, she pressed her hand to the wood, which was surprisingly warm. For a third time, the librarian’s talon stabbed down – had he even cleaned it? that couldn’t be hygienic – and blood flowed. When Pandy took her hand back, she realized that while the whole production had made it look like real damage was being done, in actuality the claw had barely clipped the edge of her skin. It bled quite a bit for what it was, but she’d had worse paper cuts. A quick Minor Heal took care of it, and all three of them stepped back as Beeswick turned the doorknob.

A smattering of dust fell as the door swung open, and the Dragon grimaced slightly. “I suppose this is what comes of abandoning a space, but I can’t say I care for it. Dust and books are often close companions, but they are not friendly ones.”

Moving to the side, he revealed an opening so dark that Pandy could only tell it extended beyond the threshold because the library’s light trickled over, revealing a layer of dust so thick that at first she thought it was a carpet. A current of air lifted a few motes of that velvety layer as something shifted, just out of sight, making Pandy jump.

Glory let out a small snort, her voice settling back into the rough dialect she’d used when Pandy first met her, one of the few people in the hidden warehouse-prison beneath the city who still had some fight left in them.

“Whaddaya think happens when a place is left alone for a while, eh?” She settled her backpack more firmly across her shoulders and took a confident step toward the stygian darkness, throwing a final comment back over her shoulder. “As long as this is someplace inside Knightmere, I’ll get us back t’the house. I know the city like-”

She grunted slightly as she smacked into a solid but invisible barrier between the library and the room beyond the door. A few ripe curses slipped through her lips as Glory whirled to glare at Beeswick. Holding up her once-injured hand, she said, “What was all this about, if not to let us through?”

Again, the Dragon allowed himself a small, toothy smile, and Pandy got the feeling he was actually enjoying the way the Empress talked back to him. Even Augustus remained pretty respectful when joking with him, but Glory either didn’t know or didn’t care that the Head Librarian was a Very Important Person. Given that she’d gone to both Falconet and Kestrel, Pandy was leaning toward the latter.

“I never claimed that was the purpose of my actions,” Beeswick said, “or, in fact, that there was any purpose at all.” He held out his hand, and, one by one, led Glory, then Augustus, over the threshold, just as he had when they entered. Only when he came back for Pandy did he hesitate, looking past her.

Pandy turned and found Thaniel standing there, watching her with the most forlorn expression she’d ever seen. She’d already explained that she had to leave and he couldn’t go with her, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it. He’d clung to her for the whole time Professor Beeswick had been working on adjusting his spell to allow them out – about three hours, based on the amount of Corruption Points and Mana she’d regained – and then run off somewhere when it came time to actually leave.

Biting his lip, Thaniel held something up. “I’m gonna figure out how to make this magic again,” he told her, showing off the white half of the Heartsplit Charm. Driven by instincts finely honed by years of gaming, which told her never to leave anything potentially useful behind, Pandy had put it into her Inventory after Miss Cupcakes used it to summon her, and she’d given it back to Thaniel when he asked about it.

“Oh, I don’t think-” Pandy cut herself off. According to the item’s flavor text in Gacha Love, it took a tier three or four Light elemental to recharge it, and Thaniel didn’t have any elementals at all. Even she wasn’t actually ‘his’, not in the way that the people of this world meant it, and somehow she doubted he was going to find a high-tier Light elemental inside the Domain of a powerful Air elemental.

Thaniel’s fingers closed around the simple but pretty little charm, and he got a look on his face that she knew well. No matter what she said, he wasn’t going to give up, and what harm would it do for him to try?

Rather than arguing, Pandy reached up and touched the black half of the charm, which was still pinned to the front of her shirt. She’d put it there out of sheer habit the last time she leveled up Shifting Faces, and she wouldn’t be able to change it for several more days, not that she really wanted to. It had been a small but comforting presence for long enough that it would be strange to be without it.

“All right,” she said, smiling. “And I’ll try to recharge this half. I wonder which of us will figure it out first?”

A broad grin spread over Thaniel’s face, and he puffed out his chest. “Me! And then I’ll show you how to do it, too.”

Leaning forward, she gave him a fierce hug. “Then you’ll be the teacher next time.”

Thaniel’s small arms locked around her neck, squeezing so tight that she remembered she actually needed to breathe now. “I love you,” he whispered into her ear. “Come back.”

Her eyes prickled and grew hot, but this time she was certain it wasn’t because Ascyra the Demon Queen was attempting to take over her body. She sniffed a little and said, “I love you too. I’ll be back before you know it.”

He nodded, but didn’t speak, just released her with obvious reluctance and stepped away. At some point during their hug, Geraldine, Eleanor, Abbington, and Lord Winston had come up to join him, and to Pandy’s surprise, each of them hugged her as well before going back to their small group. By the end, the four children and the elemental dog all stared at Pandy, holding onto each other as lips trembled and eyes gleamed with tears. Pandy’s eyes threatened to spill over as well, but she stiffened her upper lip – who knew that actually worked to hold off tears? – and managed a smile. “I’ll be back soon,” she told them again, and they all nodded, though they didn’t look convinced.

Upon being informed that once Professor Beeswick began changing the entrance to the library, it would be several hours before it could be changed back, Healer Sinnett had departed, but Lord and Lady Reedsley were still there, and so, perforce, was Clara, though she did little other than watch the younger children and their elementals – especially Geraldine and Miss Cupcakes – with a vaguely puzzled expression.

Now, the two adults stood in the background, watching as the children said one more round of goodbyes, but Clara stepped forward. Without asking, she plucked the white half of the Heartsplit Charm from Thaniel, who squawked in startled defiance, and examined it before returning it to the boy. Looking back at Pandy, she said, “It seems an interesting problem. I will assist him.”

This instantly silenced Thaniel, who seemed to hold Geraldine’s older sister in some awe. Geraldine herself all but worshipped the other girl, and this attitude had clearly rubbed off on her friend. “You don’t have to do that,” he muttered, cheeks turning pink as he tried to figure out if Clara was being condescending or genuinely helpful.

Clara’s beautiful blue eyes, a lighter but no less clear color than Thaniel’s, flicked from left to right as if reading something. Waving a hand through empty space, she said, “No, I don’t, but I… want to.” She said this with just a hint of wonderment in her voice, as if doing things just because she wanted to was a new experience for her.

Turning to Pandy, she added, “I’ll also go with you to seek Killian.” Lady Reedsley gasped softly, and Clara turned back to her mother, actually sounding apologetic. “I heard you and Father discussing it, and I think-” She hesitated again, gaze moving as if reading something once more. This time, she didn’t wipe whatever it was away. Facing Pandy, she finished, “I need to be there.”

Caught off guard, Pandy could only nod before Clara turned away and glided back to her mother’s side, her movements so perfectly graceful that if Pandy had found out that little Light elementals were carrying her along like Dark elementals carried Lady Mossley, she wouldn’t have been surprised. The girl’s starting stats had to be off the charts. Definitely far above those of a mildly undead, occasionally demonic rabbit.

A pointedly wracking cough came from behind Pandy, and Empress Glory said, “Come on! I think there’s mold growing in my lungs already.”

Pandy turned back toward the open door, but felt her hand grasped again. With a smile, she squeezed Thaniel’s hand, then allowed Professor Beeswick to guide her into the darkness.