“Isaac.” We stared at one another for several awkward seconds. He stepped into the hall and pulled the door shut behind him.

“I’m sorry, Toby. I wanted to be here. I had to go to Lansing last night, and then—”

“We heard about the attacks.” He leaned his back against the door and folded his arms. “Was that all?”

“No, it’s not all,” I snapped. “I wanted to see how Lex was doing.”

“Lex is fine. We all are.”

“You know, maybe instead of being all pissed off at me, you could try being happy for your daughter.”

“Turns out I can do both.”

“Well, aren’t you the efficient little multitasker.”

“Mom and Dad called this morning before the procedure. And afterward. They’ve been watching Nick and getting him to school every day so we could be here with his little sister. They all video chatted with Lex last night. They’d have been here if New Millennium allowed it. They sent flowers. Angie’s dad mailed a new pair of roller blades. He’s called four times this week.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“I get it, Isaac. I do. I’m not even that angry.”

“Really? Because you do a great impression.”

He snorted. “Yah, okay. I’m angry. But I’ll get over it. I keep having to remind myself this is who you are. You’re off doing important libriomancer shit and trying to save the world, and that’s always going to be your priority.”

“Would you rather I didn’t try to save the world? You think I wanted to be in the middle of a magical crossfire last year in Copper River? Of all the ways I like to spend my free time, fighting dead magical megalomaniacs is really far down on the list.”

“What is it you want, Isaac?” he asked wearily.

“I want to say hi to my niece. To see how she’s doing.” Years of habitual secrecy made me hesitate before adding, “I also want to read what they did to her.”

“Read what? You mean her records?” He snorted. “I didn’t think you Porters cared about privacy laws. You were keeping medical information about my family for years. Why bother asking permission now?”

“I didn’t know the Porters had a file on you.” Though I should have. The Porters had recruited me before I finished high school. Of course they’d have investigated my family as well. “You’re right. I have access to all of the research files, including Lex’s.”

His face went stony. “You’re looking for something that’s not in her files.”

“I’m not looking for anything specific. I just want to be sure, to read her. To see the magic they used to heal her.”

“You can do that? I thought libriomancers just pulled stuff out of books.”