Page 133 of Liminal

That calm smile… I’ve seen it before.

“Benjamin Carlton.” The name comes to me at the same time I spot it on the poorly printed document in my hands.

“Benny, please.” He removes the faded woollen hat from his head and gives me a little bow. “I’m surprised you remembered me. It’s been some time since my school days.”

It really has. Two decades, at least. He was a magister hopeful back then, specialising in the school of restoration.

Of course, that doesn’t make him trustworthy. Healers can be just as corrupt as anyone else.

I look over my shoulder at Pierce, relaxing when I find he’s still there, perched on the window seat now, intently focused on his book. It’s an older manuscript with faded lettering, and I make a mental note to see if anything more can be done to restore it later.

“Ah, is my grandson giving you trouble?”

Benjamin is Pierce’s grandfather? That explains the eyes, but not the clothes. Pierce is always dressed like a modern-day royal, suits and shirts. In contrast, the man before me looks like a backpacker who stole clothes from laundrettes along the road.

“He is insufferable,” I answer honestly. “And I cannot believe thatthis”—I wave the badly bound text in front of him—“isn’t one of his mother’s schemes.”

Benjamin holds up both hands. “On my honour, I’m as much an enemy of Isidora Carlton as you are.”

It’s not difficult to believe, given the striking differences between them, but still, I hesitate.

“Thank you for your contribution,” I finally say.

The Arcanaeum’s magic rushes through the pages, conjuring a protective cover, and adding a little flare to the paper until it’s properly bound with the title stamped carefully on the cover. Benny’s eyes linger on the new text, a sad smile springing to his lips.

“My pleasure, Librarian.”

His grey gaze touches on something behind me, before hastily returning to my face.

Confusion and dread mingle together as I turn, searching for the window seat, searching for Pierce.

Only to reel back as I realise he’s gone.

The tingle is the second hallowing sign that something is up. It spreads down my skirts from my lower back like my legs are on fire. The sensation is closer to pain than ever before.

Pierce’s invisibility spell drops, his huge form looming over me, and he’s got the good sense to remove his transgressing hand from where it rests casually at the small of my back. His other is resting on his grimoire, which floats beside him in the air.

I can’t even look at him. My eyes catch Benny’s, expecting some kind of triumphant grin.

The sympathy I find instead is somehow worse.

“One day, Librarian, I hope you understand why we did this.” He ushers his grandson to his side with a quick tilt of his head. “Needless to say, it’s nothing personal.”

It’s pretty obvious why they did this. The fact that he’s so calm and detached about it all just makes it worse. I raise one trembling finger, summoning their library cards.

Nothing. Personal.

“No need.” Benny lifts his hands in a gesture of surrender even as his grandson grips his shoulder. “We’ll be going, and I doubt you’ll see me again until you ask us to return.”

This one, I realise, knows too much. More than I do. It changes the feeling of outrage into one of fear.

“Explain!” I demand.

But Pierce is already muttering another transport spell. I grab for the Arcanaeum, trying to stop them, but the flash of light is already over.

“Why would you let them leave!?” I demand of the walls, my hands spread wide in exasperation. “Heknewsomething. He hurt me. Why would you just…?”

No answers. There never are.