Snow quieted his reply, keeping it from carrying. “I admit to nothing, except that Stef is a bad influence.”
I snorted. “You can’t fool me. I know better than to assume it’s all Stef corrupting you.”
“But you know her well enough to realize that most of the trouble I’ve gotten into is her fault, right?” He flashed me a look of boyish innocence.
“Right, of course.” I kept my tone dubious, though conceded the point. Without Stef dragging Sam into trouble, he probably would stay at home, composing and practicing all day.
Now that I thought about it, Sam definitely attracted a type.
Stef pouted. “You two are going to ruin my good name.”
“Oh, it was ruined a long time ago.” Sam grinned and gave her a sideways hug.
We scanned the bright area once more before taking off at a trot, crossing the cobblestone market field. Our footfalls suddenly seemed so loud.
But no one caught us, and soon Sam dragged open the library door and ushered me inside after Stef. She had a pistol out.
The library was dim and quiet. I strained my ears but couldn’t hear anything suspicious. No floorboards creaking. No hiss of clothes that didn’t belong. Just the three of us.
We crept through the long hallway. It was unlikely anyone was working this late, but who knew about Deborl’s people.
What if Deborl had gotten to the research and books already?
Worries nipped at my heels as we traveled through the quiet hall.
“This is it.” Stef pulled a screwdriver from her pocket and used it to pry open the soul-scanner cover. “Give me just a second.” She replaced the screwdriver and removed a slender cord, which she connected to her SED and a port inside the scanner. After a moment of shifting functions, she tapped the SED screen and the scanner beeped. The door unlocked.
“Nice job.” Sam pulled the door open before it locked again.
“I know.” She shut the scanner and breezed into the room. I followed, and the lights turned on as the door swung closed behind us.
Rows of cupboards filled the rectangular room, hundreds of them. There wasn’t even room for a table, just counters along the perimeter.
“Let’s get started.” I strode to the far end and began opening cupboards. Some were empty, but most had old documents or artifacts stored in vacuum-sealed glass boxes. “What is this?” I pointed at a stick with a feather tied to one end. “An arrow?” I’d seen drawings of them, but no one used those things anymore. Laser pistols were far less messy when it came to killing from a distance.
“Some of our earliest inventions, or things we found in the area when we first settled.” Stef shrugged. “It’s all useless junk now, but the Council is determined to keep it.”
“Because Whit and Orrin are determined to keep it,” Sam said. “At first they stored those things in the library where everyone could look at them, but a few people never understood the point of sealing them to slow the decay, so the containers kept getting opened. Orrin had them moved here.”
“Ah.” I thought it was nice they’d kept these things. It would have been nicer if I’d had time to look through everything, but since I was in a hurry, I simply tried to take in as many details as I could while sifting through piles of stuff. At last, I opened a door to find a stack of familiar leather spines and a large envelope filled with notebooks and diaries. “Here’s everything.”
Well, almost everything. As I slid the items across the counter to Sam and Stef, I didn’t see the key to the temple.
“Have you seen the key anywhere else?” I asked, checking the cupboard below and beside the one where I’d found the books, but it wasn’t there.
We looked around for a while longer, until finally Stef said, “We have to go. Whit and the others are ready.”
I didn’t like leaving the key behind, not that it would do us any good outside of Range. But if we had it, that would mean Deborl didn’t.
Sam shrugged on the backpack, and we left the room.
We moved through the halls as quickly as possible. Outside, the layer of snow on the ground shone with templelight, and the air glowed misty white. We headed around the side of the Councilhouse and rounded the immense temple. Having a vehicle wait for us at the Councilhouse would have been faster, but would draw attention. Deborl would surely notice. As long as we were sneaky, we could reach the guard station without incident.
Light still blazed from the white temple, so unnaturally bright ever since the Year of Souls began. It made me itch all over.
By the time we reached the guard station, a large building tucked into the city wall, I was shivering with cold and damp.
Stef pulled open the door, letting a rectangle of light fall onto the snowy road, and a figure emerged from around the corner of the building.
A blue beam of light shot toward us.
“Watch out!” I shoved Stef inside the guard station and hurried to follow, but the stink of singed wool chased me. The laser had been aimed at my head.
Sam grabbed my wrist and dragged me inside.
The shooter stepped into the light.
Deborl.
7