Paper and Fire (The Great Library, #2) - Rachel Caine Page 0,108

may be the one they want most.”

Thomas knew that. His face was thin and pale under his new-cut hair and beard, and underneath his surface calm, he looked like he was fighting an urge to curl into a ball. He put a hand on Frauke’s mane, and she purred that metallic, singing purr, and it seemed to help. “I know,” he said. I won’t go back, Jess. I can’t do that.”

He’d rather die. Wolfe would be the same, Jess thought.

“We’re going to make it. Trust me.” Jess tried to make himself sound positive of that and cheerful, and might have even succeeded, because Thomas pulled in a deep breath and nodded.

“I do. Of course.”

As Santi started to take the lead, Morgan suddenly grabbed his arm. “No,” she said. “Let me. It will know me as an Obscurist, but that means it will also be under strict instructions not to harm me.”

“You’re sure of that?”

“Absolutely. It won’t dare.”

Jess hoped she was right as they mounted the marble steps. She looked confident and bold, all right, with her head held high. The ends of the silk scarf Jess had bought her floated like dreams on the cooling breeze. She looked beautiful and fragile and brave, and Jess couldn’t take his eyes off of her as they climbed.

The lion tilted its head down to regard their approaching group.

Morgan took in a breath and hurried up ahead of the rest of them, and the lion rose from a crouch to a standing position.

A mother with three young children ahead of them was startled by the movement and rushed her brood inside the Serapeum; Jess was grateful she did, because in the next second, the lion’s eyes flickered red. It growled.

“Move!” Santi called, and Glain grabbed Wolfe and hustled him inside fast, acting—once again—on her built-in priority to protect a Scholar. Khalila stayed with Thomas, and Jess glanced back to see that Thomas wasn’t following the plan; he was waiting, ignoring Khalila’s pulls on his arm to try to rush him to the entrance. Frauke paced restlessly near them, growling now herself.

The Library lion paced down toward Morgan now, with his growl ratcheting up to an intimidating snarl. She backed slowly away from it, and Jess ghosted sideways, trying to work his way around it while it stayed focused on her. She circled and went backward up the stairs, and it paced to follow her. She let it back her up against the wall, and it pressed forward, snarling jaws inches from her face as it boxed her in.

Then it let out a curious roaring sound that he’d never heard before. That must have been a signal to summon help, and Jess realized that they were out of time and luck. He darted in to get his fingers on the switch under the lion’s jaw, but it saw him coming and shifted its weight sideways to block him. It was like running into a stone wall, and he was knocked into a sliding fall on the marble. As soon as he slowed, he rolled to his feet and tried again, slipping in under the swiping paw. The lion yanked its head aside as he tried to get to the switch, and this time, a batting blow connected squarely.

It sent him rolling down the steps in a breathless heap of pain.

As he blinked away bloody afterimages, he saw a shadow pass over him and heard the heavy crunch of a lion’s body landing on the steps, then leaping away again. No, no—it’s going after Thomas. But it wasn’t the lion that had sent him tumbling down the stairs. It was their lion.

Frauke let out a wild, full-throated cry of rage and slammed into the Library lion with so much force, it sounded like two steam trains colliding. Jess tried to get to his feet and managed it, though everything seemed wavy and blurred. Someone was helping him—Khalila. Thomas rushed to take his other side. No, don’t, Jess tried to say but couldn’t. He couldn’t quite grasp what was happening now. Morgan was crouched in a heap near the doorway, covering her head as the two massive lions battled and tore at each other above her. He saw movement and realized more lions were coming, drawn to the fight.

Thomas and Khalila half carried him toward the door. The battling lions thrashed and roared next to them, bits of metal flying off as claws shredded bronze skin, then a sharp snap as a cable was bitten through, the