Page 38 of The Stolen Dagger

I swung open the staircase door and bolted through the main lobby of the library. My shoes slid against the shiny, polished wood floors. I passed a row of study tables and neared the circulation desk off to the right side of the foyer.

No one was there.

“That’s weird,” I muttered.

“What?” Drew asked, desperate to know what was happening.

“There’s no one at the front desk.” I slowed my pace and looked around for the librarian. “Where is everyone?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Drew huffed like he was running. “Just get out and?—”

The call dropped.

Heavy footsteps pounded behind me and stopped. I twisted around near the study tables.

Empty.

Tightening my grip around the phone, I turned for the entrance of the library again but froze mid-step at the dark figure blocking my escape.

CHAPTER TWELVE

KATHERINE

Aman dressed in black blocked the library exit.

He stood, his feet shoulder-width apart and took up the expanse of the double doors with his broad shoulders.

Because of the dimmed lighting in the hall and the black hood that shielded his face, I couldn’t tell who he was, but he didn’t look like the same man from the bar last night.

“Where is the dagger?” the man asked in a deep, gravelly voice.

“W-what?” I asked, cringing at how my voice shook.

“The dagger!” the man shouted.

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I stepped backward.

The man followed.

“Don’t lie to me,girl,” the man growled. He pulled something out from behind him, and the silver chamber of a gun glinted in the soft yellowed lights. “I know you have it!”

I flinched at his aggressive tone and took another stepback, but I was trapped. There was nowhere to go. I certainly couldn’t fight him off with self-defense. He had a gun!

If I turned and ran, he could shoot me in the back.

Where the hell is Drew?

Drew. What would Drew do?Think. Think. Think.

“If you won’t give me the dagger,” the man aimed the gun at me, “maybe I’ll take you back to my boss. I bet a little bird like you knows all of Adrian’s dirty secrets.” The man grinned. “It would be so easy to get you to sing for us. That’ll teach Adrian not to cross the Reaper.”

Wait.If this guy didn’t work for Adrian, then who the hell was the Reaper? And why would he think I had the dagger?

The man stepped closer, and my panic rose. I clenched my fist on the strap of my backpack when it hit me.

My bag!Pepper spray! There’s pepper spray in my bag!