“Rest while you can, even a little will help.”

His eyes meet mine, his gaze deep and hard. Was he trying to challenge me? Was he going to tell me ‘No’ again? Was he trying to stare me down?

But I wasn’t one to back down or shy away from a challenge.

I hit him with my fiercest look, channeling my own stubbornness into my glare. Our gazes clash as a moment passes between us, neither of us wavering. Suddenly, a glint touches his eyes, a brief softness to them, and a slight tilt to his lips as he gives me a small nod.

I shake my shoulders out, a strange pride filling my chest at the big guy conceding to me.

I give him a small smile as I continue to treat his cuts, making my way to his other arm. His muscles bunch as I clean the wounds around his large tattooed arms, the dark ink twisting in swirls around his huge muscles.

We sit there in comfortable silence as I finish cleaning his cuts, enjoying the calm and quiet peace, when suddenly, a large flash around the Autarium pulls our attention.

The old protection artifact flares, its normally calm wisps of magic becoming frenzied. Static pours from the glass casing containing the old relic as the magic pours like tumultuous waves from its glass.

We watch on as the walls light up in blue and white wisps of magic. They pour from the Autarium and flow into the walls of the Library, the power becoming stronger as we watch.

Suddenly the overflowing magic flares again just before a single wave blasts from the old relic, sending Cole and me to the ground. He uses his body to shield me from any debris.

The blast connects with the magic cascading down the wall to form a translucent bluish barrier.

The Autariums magic was creating a shield or barrier of its own to protect the Library. I could feel it.

With the connection I had to the Library, I knew this was the Autariums way of protecting the building and the Records. It was connected in some way to the other protection relics, too, and must have felt or known that there was a bigger threat coming.

We pull ourselves from the floor, the magic still pouring from the old artifact in droves and seeping into every inch and crack in the room and all around us.

It’s formed its own barrier around the building and has placed it and everything in it into lockdown. No-one gets in or out. Its own way of protecting the Library and the Records.

I turn back to Cole, dusting myself off. “We better go to the others.”

He nods, his expression hard and grim as we head to the door.

I turn back before I head out, looking at the old relic as the magic overflows, a feeling twisting from my gut, telling me something is coming. And soon.

CHAPTER TEN

I head into the main Library, Cole following closely behind me.