‘ – but I am an adult and I can make my own decisions, and if you don’t believe that, then you shouldn’t be letting me risk my life while we work together. Please bear this in mind next time I suggest we share a bed.’
Irene felt the flush mounting on her cheeks again. ‘Your opinion is noted,’ she said as flatly as she could.
Did Kai think it was easy for her to keep on saying no to him? She was his friend. It would be so very straightforward to let it be more and simply say yes. Didn’t he realize she was saying no for his own sake? She was in a position of authority. From the bits he’d let slip about dragon culture, she suspected that a dragon’s liege-lord or liege-lady had pretty much any rights they cared to exercise over their servants. She wasn’t going to take advantage of him like that.
She turned away and pushed the Door Open button hard enough that her finger hurt.
Irene stepped out into the foyer beyond. It was a large room, covered from floor to ceiling in smooth white tiles, with a heavy steel door at the far end. A couple of armchairs in daffodil-yellow upholstery sat next to the lift entrance. There was no way of knowing how far below ground level they were. She looked around, then up towards a whirring noise near the ceiling. A camera focused on the two of them.
‘Hello,’ she said, raising a hand in greeting. ‘I’m Irene, and this is Kai, my currently assigned student. I’m here to speak with Library Security.’
Next to the steel door, one of the tiles at waist height slid to one side, revealing a flat metal pad. ‘Please place your right hand on the reader by the door,’ an anonymous voice intoned from the direction of the camera.
A little reluctantly, Irene walked across and put her palm against the metal pad. She’d had a number of bad experiences from touching things and then regretting it later, and the scars to go with them. Still, she should be safe in the Library . . .
A searing wave of electricity rippled across the pad, stinging her palm like a lash of nettles, and she yelped and jerked her hand back.
Kai looked down at his own hands and sighed. ‘My turn now?’
‘Identity confirmed,’ the voice droned. The steel door in the wall slid back. Beyond it was a small airlock-sized room, with another steel door on the far side. ‘The Librarian is to step into the waiting area. The student will wait outside.’
‘But I—’ Kai started, then stopped. ‘Security. Right. Okay.’ His glance up at the low ceiling was distinctly unhappy.
‘I’m sorry,’ Irene said. ‘If I’d known, I’d have left you upstairs.’
She realized half a second too late where that statement led to, and she could see the same thought going through Kai’s head. Fortunately he didn’t make any witty comments about not wanting to miss that lift. He simply nodded and dropped into one of the armchairs. ‘Be quick?’ he said plaintively.
‘I’ll try,’ Irene reassured him.
Still shaking her hand to dispel the pins and needles, she stepped inside the airlock. The door slid shut behind her. She looked around for cameras, but couldn’t see any. In fact there wasn’t anything visible except the flat metal of the walls. It wasn’t even clear where the dead white light was coming from.
Of course there had to be some sort of ventilation. Common sense demanded it. Or else anyone trapped inside would simply suffocate . . .
‘Please show your Library brand,’ the disembodied voice said. It was more human now, and Irene was fairly sure it was a woman speaking.
‘This is going to take a moment,’ she warned, starting to pull her coat off. She would have preferred a method of identification that didn’t involve her stripping down to show her bare back.
‘Oh, I’m in no hurry,’ the voice said. ‘Take your time.’
Irene took a deep breath, reminded herself that Library Security presumably had reasons to be paranoid, and unbuttoned her dress at the back. She slipped it down to show the Library mark across her shoulders. ‘Should I turn any particular way so you can see it?’ she asked politely.
‘That’ll do nicely.’ There was a flash, and Irene flinched. For a moment the Library brand seemed to vibrate, and her bones ached in response, like the thrumming of tracks when the train was a long distance away. ‘Thank you. You can cover yourself again now. State your name and Library position. In the Language.’
Irene pulled her dress back up, doing up the buttons. ‘I am Irene; I am a Librarian; I am a servant of the Library,’ she said. ‘And I did say earlier who I was.’
The door in front of Irene slid open at last.
She picked up her coat and quickly stepped through. Then she stopped, looking around.
The primary word that came to mind was cave. It was spacious but low-ceilinged, and the shelving only went up to four feet high on the surrounding walls. Several computers and monitors were netted together with a web of cabling on the central table, amid a sea of scribbled notes and highlighted sheets of paper. The walls were lined with books, heavy volumes in thick leather binding; they were too far away for Irene to read the titles or authors. Doors at the far end of the room suggested further recesses. The light came from various points in the ceiling, where wide pale lampshades glowed like insectoid eyes.
The woman sitting in a wheelchair next to the computers lifted her head to inspect Irene. ‘I like to confirm these things,’ she said, her gaze assessing and uncomfortable. ‘Welcome to my retreat.’ She had mouse-blonde hair, trimmed close to her head, and was dressed for comfort in a plain checked shirt and jeans. Her wheelchair looked high-tech and modern, but the tartan rug thrown over her lap was battered and threadbare.
‘Melusine.’ Irene recognized her from a previous encounter, during Alberich’s attack on the Library. Melusine had been with the senior Librarians delivering the briefing.
‘Correct. Kindly forgive the precautions.’ It was a demand rather than a request. ‘If anyone was trying to betray the Library, we’d be a primary target.’
‘That sounds reasonable,’ Irene said cautiously. Paranoid, but reasonable. ‘And I’m assuming Coppelia forwarded my email about our problem? It could be extremely serious.’
‘Indeed it could – if you have your facts straight.’ Melusine tapped on the keyboard and examined the computer screen. It was out of Irene’s line of sight, so she couldn’t see whether Melusine was viewing a message from Coppelia, checking related evidence, or looking up information on Irene.
After a moment Melusine said, ‘You have an interesting record.’
Saying I’m delighted that you think so would be satisfying but rude. Irene shrugged. ‘I’m not sure I can claim that much credit. It mostly involved just responding to events as they happened.’
‘Child of two Librarians,’ Melusine said, apparently reading from the screen. ‘Raziel and Liu Xiang.’ She paused for a moment, just long enough for Irene to relax, then added, ‘Adopted.’
Irene felt her mouth go dry. ‘What . . . Are you absolutely sure – about that last part?’