Chapter 14 Big Glasses & Bigger Secrets

Lexi dragged her feet over to the desk and sank into a wooden chair, aggressively rubbing the back of her neck to soothe the tension.

She looked up at Chadwick. “Hey.”

Chadwick turned to her fully, “Hey. How are you faring?”

“Just fine,” Lexi lied as Chadwick glanced past her shoulder toward the aisles where Rya was pulling down a text. “Who’s the girl you came in with?”

“My new roommate,” Lexi muttered, waving a hand dismissively. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She leaned forward with her chin on her hand.

“Clovis found a lead on the culprit who released the Krag,” Chadwick said, gesturing to the single strand of hair lying on the desk.

“I found something even worse just now,” Lexi countered, her voice cracking, now that caught Clovis’s attention as he slowly looked up from the book he had been reading.

“I think… the Grand Magister is executing magisters one by one,” Lexi breathed, the image of Magister Miller’s head rolling to her feet flashing behind her eyes.

Chadwick’s jaw dropped. “For what reason?”

“To fish out the Mage of Ruin,” Clovis chimed in, his voice entirely flat, devoid of surprise. It was exactly what he had predicted in the council chambers.

Chadwick let out a disbelief-filled laugh, shaking his head. “I mean… that confirms it. The Grand Magister is indeed a total dumbass.”

“It’s not funny, Chadwick!” Lexi groaned, burying her face in her hands. The weight of the last twenty-four hours finally broke through her defenses. “I’m tired… I’m so tired of witnessing murder.”

Before either of them could comfort her, Rya returned, on seeing Chadwick, Lexi, and Clovis perched up close together around the desk in a conversation, Rya’s curiosity piqued.

“What did I miss?” Rya asked, walking over to the trio.

She stopped right in front of Chadwick with a smile on her face as she stretched out a hand for a shake. “I’m Rya. And you must be the infamous Chadwick.”

Chadwick blinked, caught off guard before looking at her hand, then up at Lexi, then gave an awkward chuckle and nodded. “Uh, yeah. That’s me. Nice to meet you.”

Rya pulled up a stool and found a seat right beside them. She completely ignored the obvious tension in the room, turning her bright eyes toward the old man behind the desk.

“And you must be Mr Dupond,” Rya said softly. “I just wanted to say… I really love your work as a librarian. I’ve always loved the smell of books because they ground me. Back in the lower district, I read so many of them, but we never had a collection like this.”

Clovis stared at the young girl for a long, unreadable moment before letting out an unbothered grunt before an idea struck him.

To distract the girl, he then chirped up, his voice taking on a surprisingly conversational tone. “Tell me, girl, have you ever read The Codex of Silver Solitudes?”

Rya’s eyes widened as she nodded enthusiastically, her face lighting up. “Yes! Oh my gosh, yes! I managed to smuggle a damaged copy into my quarters last term. I literally cried flipping through every single page. The way the author describes the fading of ancient lunar mana… it’s beautiful.”

Lexi stared at her roommate in disbelief. She really hadn’t expected Rya to be this social, especially given how incredibly timid and shy she had looked just an hour ago, cowering behind the dorm Magister.

Clovis leaned back slightly, a faint smirk touching the corner of his mouth. “Well, I have an even better one. A text so rare that only around nine people in the history of this academy have ever laid eyes on it. And it looks like you are about to be the tenth.”

Rya looked genuinely surprised, her breath catching in her throat as Clovis slid his hand down to the drawer beneath the desk. He pulled it open and hauled out a slim, velvet-bound volume with no title.

“Take it,” Clovis said, sliding it across the table toward her. “You can keep it.”

Rya literally squeaked with delight, clutching the book to her chest as if it were made of gold. “I… I’m going to start it right now! Thank you, Master Dupond!”

Without wasting another second, she spun on her heel and ran to the furthest corner of the library.

Clovis watched her go until her footsteps completely faded. “That should buy us enough time,” he muttered, his voice instantly dropping its friendly facade.

“Is it really rare though?” Chadwick asked.

Clovis only shrugged, “I wasn’t entirely wrong.”

A few seconds passed, marked only by the tapping of Clovis’ finger right next to the fragile thread on the desk. “As I was saying before we were interrupted… I believe this strand of hair belongs to a student. A male student, specifically, based on the thick texture and the localized residual oils.”

Chadwick frowned, rubbing his chin as he thought through their classmates. “A male student? Honestly, I don’t know any of the boys in the upper division who actually read books, much less visit the library. Most of them can barely spell their own names without assistance.”

“Which means whoever did this is hiding in plain sight and playing the fool,” Clovis said sharply, leaning across the desk, fixing Chadwick with an unyielding stare.

“I am tasking you with this, boy. You need to keep a close eye on the boys in your quarters and beyond. Any slip-up, any nervous tic, or any sudden interest in ancient lore should be heavily observed and reported straight to me.”

“Understood,” Chadwick nodded.

Clovis gave a deep sigh, stretching his hands before closing the book in front of him, “Give me a moment. I need to secure the vault entrance.”

With that, he turned and walked down the central aisle, his footsteps fading into the labyrinth of shelves, leaving Lexi and Chadwick sitting there alone.

The silence between them stretched for a moment before Chadwick shifted in his seat, “So… how’s the Belle situation?”

Lexi let out a miserable groan. “Not good. Can you believe she actually went ahead and told everyone that I was forcing myself on you?”

Chadwick burst out laughing, the sound echoing in the quiet library.

“It’s not funny, Chadwick!” Lexi snapped, though a tiny flush of embarrassment hit her cheeks. “And worse… Rya literally just called you hot.”

Chadwick’s laughter stopped, replaced by a dramatic, offended gasp, feigning hurt, as he put on a pout looking down at himself. “Excuse me? Are you implying that I AM not hot?” He lifted his arms, ridiculously flexing his muscles right there, “Look at this craftsmanship, Lexi.”

A genuine laugh finally broke through Lexi’s exhaustion as she leaned forward and slapped his arm, shaking her head. “Stop it, you idiot.”

Chadwick’s playful expression softened, turning serious again, “For real, though… if you need me to go find Belle and give her a straight warning to keep her mouth shut, I won’t hesitate.”

Lexi shook her head, looking down at her lap. “No. Don’t. It’ll only worsen the situation and make it look like we actually have something to hide.”

A quiet stillness settled over the desk as Lexi stared at her hands, the guilt she had been carrying since the medical bay finally rising to the surface. “Chadwick… I’m sorry.”

He blinked. “For what?”

“For that day,” she whispered, “I threw you at the combat instructor and got you punished. I was just… I was so angry and scared, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

Chadwick offered her an easy smile, “It’s alright. I knew you’d come around eventually.”

Lexi swallowed hard, her eyes drifting toward the high stained-glass windows where the faint distortion of the sky fracture was visible even from inside.

“The academy is really going down, isn’t it?” She looked back at him, “What exactly would the Grand Magister even gain if he executed all the magisters in search of the Mage of Ruin? It’s completely insane.”

Chadwick tilted his head, thinking it over, as he tried to find a logical angle in a madman’s plan.

Before he could answer, Lexi added the one terrifying question that had been keeping her awake. “And how long will the librarian’s cover even stay for… when everything is literally going down around us?”