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Jordan sucked in a surprised breath. “How did he do that?”

Without waiting for an answer, he walked over to the wall, pressing against it. It didn’t budge under his weight, and when he vanished Alex guessed he was attempting to use his transcendence gift. A second later he reappeared, apparently unsuccessful.

“I can’t get through,” he said. “It must be warded like our dorms.”

“Where did he come from in the first place?” Bear asked, joining Jordan at the wall. “It was like he just appeared out of nowhere!”

Alex waited in silence while they continued exclaiming their shock over the knight’s appearance and disappearance.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere this way,” Jordan finally said. “Let’s head back upstairs and see if we can find a secret level somewhere else.”

“I agree,” said Bear. “There’s sure to be heaps of places to find, especially since the Library likes you or whatever, Alex.”

“Are you serious?” she finally snapped. “Don’t you have any questions for me? Like, ‘Are you all right?’, ‘Where have you been?’ or even, ‘What’s with the deranged knight who tried to kill you but has now declared himself your protector?’?”

They looked at her like she was crazy.

“Err…Areyou all right?” Jordan asked.

“Let’s see,” she started, her exasperation obvious. “I’ve just spent hours searching aimlessly for you both, since I had no idea where you were or if you were okay. And that’s not even mentioning the years I’ve had taken off my life from fear of decapitation by an enchanted, headless suit of armour hell-bent on killing me. Which, by the way, was a super fun experience.” Her sarcasm may have been a little overdone, but it was totally justifiable in her opinion.

“So to answer your question: no, I’mnotall right.” She ended her rant. “And quit staring at me like that.”

“Maybe you should start at the beginning,” Jordan said tentatively.

She crossed her arms. “Oh, sonowyou want to hear about it, huh?”

“Alex,” Bear said, walking over to her and placing a calming hand on her shoulder. “We didn’t mean to seem rude, but you have to understand that, as far as we’re aware, you’ve been with us ever since we walked down those stairs a few minutes ago.”

“You thought I was with you? Why would you…” Alex took in his troubled expression and frowned. “Did you say a few minutes ago?”

He nodded. She looked over at Jordan who seemed just as confused by her outburst as Bear.

“We only just walked down the stairs,” Jordan said. “When the lights went out, it was dark for about three seconds before we could see again. And your knight friend was with us then, Sir Can-Opener or whatever his name was.”

“Sir Camden,” she said absentmindedly.

“Last week when you fell down the black square, more time passed for you than for us,” Bear pointed out. “Maybe the same thing happened again here?”

“There must be some kind of distorted space–time continuum when you actually enter the inner Library areas,” Jordan mused. “That would come in handy insomany ways.”

Alex shook her head in baffled amazement. “Once again, I feel like I’ve entered a sci-fi movie. And that’s ignoring the fact that I’m from another world. This is insane. But there’s no other explanation.”

She looked at her friends and felt immediately guilty. “I’m sorry for snapping at you both. I was just worried, and then annoyed, and then confused. Not a good combination.”

Bear squeezed her shoulder and smiled his acceptance of her apology.

“No sweat, babe,” Jordan said with a wink.

She narrowed her gaze. “Don’t call me that.” He smirked despite her warning tone, so she added, “Or I’ll tell Sir Camden that you called him a can-opener and challenged him to a duel.”

His smirk dropped right off his face. “Fine,” he mumbled, ignoring Bear’s laughter. “But we want the entire story. Don’t leave anything out.”

The three of them sat at the bottom of the staircase while she told them everything that had happened.

When she was finished, Jordan asked, “Do you think you’ll ever see him again? Sir Can—er—Camden?”

“Why? Are you worried I’ll tattle on you?” she asked.