Grub let out a slow sigh as he reached the correct bookshelf.
He crouched down and picked up the vent cover he had carefully placed on the floor beneath the shaft. Holding it in one hand, he climbed the tall shelf with practiced ease until he reached the top.
From there he jumped, grabbed the edge of the vent opening with his free hand, and hauled himself inside. His arms screamed in protest beneath the bandages but he gritted his teeth and kept moving. Once he was fully inside the vent, he slid the cover back over the opening, offsetting it just slightly so it wouldn't fall through but still looked natural from below.
Then he crawled forward through the tight passage, his elbows scraping against the metal as he made his way toward the exterior vent where he had first entered.
The vent was just as tight on the way back. The metal scraped against his coat as he inched forward through the dark until the faint glow of daylight appeared ahead.
When he finally emerged outside, he used the grooves he had carved into the wall to descend to the ground. Once his feet hit the ground he paused, looked up at the open vent, and sighed.
He reached into the bush and pulled out the vent cover he had tossed there earlier. Then he climbed back up, set the cover back in place—slightly offset again—and climbed back down.
He stretched his arms. Rolled his shoulders. Wiped the vent dust off his coat and pants as thoroughly as he could.
Then he took a deep breath and buried the cloud of disappointment sitting in his chest somewhere it wouldn't show on his face.
Casual and normal. Nothing suspicious.
He walked around to the front of the library and pushed the doors open. Nora looked up from her desk and he gave her a short nod as he passed. She smiled and nodded back.
The main section of the library opened up before him. Orobas and Luthiel were still at the table.
Luthiel's appearance had changed again since he left. Her bangs were no longer covering her face. Instead her hair hung loose and messy with red streaks running through it, and her crimson eyes stared dully at the table in front of her. Her head rested on the desk, one mitten-like hand propping up her cheek while the other lay flat on the wood. She looked completely bored.
Orobas, on the other hand, was still going. He had a book open and was pointing at something with one clawed finger while explaining it with the same energy he had been carrying all day.
Luthiel looked like she was only half-listening. Maybe less than half.
Grub didn't understand that at all. He had already heard most of this information during class but it was still interesting. How could anyone sit in a library full of knowledge and be bored?
He walked up to the table and spoke in his usual flat tone.
"So you guys not done yet, huh?"
Orobas looked up and smiled. "Ah, Grub. Back already?"
Luthiel's crimson eyes snapped up the moment she heard his voice. They brightened immediately. She scowled.
"Well, thank the fucking gods you're back."
Orobas looked at Grub and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm. Seems like you came back before we were done with the summary."
Grub shrugged and turned around. "Well, I guess I can go wait some more."
Maybe use that time to figure out how to open that hatch.
He didn't say the second part out loud.
Luthiel shot out of her chair.
"DON'T LEAVE ME HERE, BUG!" She pointed at Orobas without looking at him. "I get the gist of it! He really doesn't need to keep explaining this to me!"
Grub could tell it wasn't really about him staying. It was about her not wanting to endure Orobas alone for another minute. Though Grub genuinely couldn't fathom how that was a negative, he turned around and sat down anyway.
Orobas's expression flickered with a brief annoyance before settling back into his usual cheer. He sighed.
"Well, I suppose let us continue the lesson where I left off with Grub then."
Orobas resumed. His voice picked up its familiar rhythm as he dove back into the material. Luthiel sat back down, but she wasn't watching Orobas anymore. Her crimson eyes were fixed on Grub, studying him with an intensity that he could feel on his skin even while looking down at his notebook.
She was eyeing him up and down. Thinking. Waiting for the right moment to pester him with questions, no doubt. Grub focused on squeezing his notes into the tiniest letters he could manage while his mind drifted elsewhere.
How do I open that thing?
Do I even need to?
He already knew the entrance was hidden beneath the library. He knew how to reveal it and that it required some form of authorization. Would that information alone be enough to satisfy Colonel Gavial? Maybe he should just give the Lacerts the location and hope it was enough.
If it was, then trying to open the hatch would be unnecessary and dangerous.
But his curiosity gnawed at him.
What was Dundun Ile really? What lay beneath the library? Could I steal it? Could he use it to free himself? Or would that only drag me deeper into a conflict I want no part of?
His mind argued with itself relentlessly.
But then again, if the entrance wasn't the only security, maybe it would be worth scouting what was down there first. Knowing the full layout would make the information far more valuable.
But that would also risk his life. He had already vowed that he refused to die until he knew who he was. That vow wasn't negotiable.
But the knowledge…And he could potentially get a powerful weapon out of it too.
But the risk—But the curiosity…
He didn't know. His brain said stopping here was the right call. His heart wanted to check it out. It was an infuriating dilemma.
Grub had been writing on autopilot, his hand moving and his mind absorbing Orobas's words in the background without conscious effort. He only snapped back to the present when his charcoal scratched against something that wasn't paper.
He looked down. The page was full. He flipped forward. He turned another page. Nothing. No blank paper remained. He had filled the last page.
Grub stared at the notebook in silence. Orobas noticed the expression on his face and paused mid-sentence.
"Something wrong, my boy?"
Grub frowned. "I'm out of paper."
He held up his notebook and stared at it. The pressed-leaf pages, the animal-skin cover, the cramped handwriting filling every inch from front to back. Everything he had learned since falling into this world was in these pages. Every creature, every map, every observation, every lesson.
It was done. He would have to replace it. He looked down at the battered book with something close to sadness.
Orobas paused and noticed the look on Grub's face. He frowned sympathetically before smiling.
"Well, we have been at it for quite a while, haven't we?" He closed the book in front of him. "How about we call it here and pick up this library trip another time? In the meantime, we can get you a new notebook to take notes in. You will certainly need one for class as well."
Grub nodded slowly, still looking at the old notebook. Beside him, Luthiel squirmed in her chair. Her crimson eyes darted between Grub and the table. She muttered something under her breath that Grub barely caught.
"Why did I have to be the one in control to give it to him…"
She sighed heavily. Then she looked at Grub, who was still frowning at his old notebook like it had just died in his hands.
"Hey, Bug!"
Grub looked up.
Luthiel's face was flushed. Her crimson eyes burned, but not with anger. Something else. Something she was clearly fighting against showing.
"I— um… think this would be a good time to give you your… fucking gift. Or whatever."
Orobas's eyebrows shot up. Grub blinked. Luthiel reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out something she had been carrying against her side all day. It was a notebook.
Grub's eyes widened.
It was beautiful. The cover was a deep dark leather, smooth and well-crafted, with faint symbols etched along the spine that caught the library light. It was thicker than his old notebook but somehow lighter. The pages inside, when he caught a glimpse of their edges, were a clean, pale cream. The cover shimmered faintly with embedded Anima.
Luthiel shoved it toward him without meeting his eyes. "H-here, you shithead. It's a new notebook."
Grub took it. He held it carefully in both hands and stared at it. Luthiel crossed her arms and started talking, her voice fast and unsteady, like she wanted to get the explanation over with as quickly as possible.
"It's, um, a rare artifact actually. It's a book that adds a new page for every one you write in. So it's basically endless." She glanced at him. "Though don't get too overzealous with it. It might get heavy, you know?"
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"It also lets you flip to the page you're looking for on the first try. So once you start filling it up you won't have to, like, um, think about where everything is or something."
A beat of silence.
"You shithead." Added Luthiel.
Grub stared at the notebook. Then at Luthiel. Then back at the notebook. Orobas's jaw had dropped. He stood up from his chair and leaned forward, his blue irises wide against his black sclera.
"T-that truly is a legendary item! A rare enchanted book! How in the world did you get this?"
Luthiel looked down at the floor and grumbled.
"Master Morrigan gave it to me. When we… when I… suggested getting him a gift." She kicked at the floor lightly. "She said she got it during one of her old adventures. In fact, I think some of the info from her travels is already written in there."
Grub opened the notebook. The first few pages were indeed filled with unfamiliar handwriting. Messy, slanted, and blunt. Notes about places Grub had never heard of, creatures Morrigan had apparently fought, and observations scrawled in the same vulgar shorthand that matched the way the chief spoke.
He closed it gently then smiled. Not the small, practical smile he sometimes wore when something went according to plan or the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth that passed for amusement.
A big, open, genuine smile that neither Luthiel nor Orobas nor anyone in this village had ever seen on his face before.
"It's awesome," he said. "Thank you. So much."
Luthiel looked away so fast her messy hair whipped across her face.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, you shithead."
Grub slid his old notebook into his coat. It still mattered to him. It would always matter. But this one had been given to him by someone who genuinely cared about him. Someone he now considered his second true friend after Wrighty. And that meant more to him than he could say.
Orobas cleared his throat and smiled warmly.
"Well then. Shall we be going?"
They packed up and headed for the exit. Orobas stopped at Nora's desk and asked her to hold the books they had been using for the next time they came. She nodded and began gathering them with her many arms.
Orobas turned to Grub and Luthiel and gave them a parting nod.
"You two are quite the pair, you know that?" He chuckled to himself. "Quite cute indeed."
Then he walked off down the street, still chuckling. Grub watched him go, then looked down at the enchanted notebook in his hands. The smile was still there. Smaller now, but still there. He really liked it.
"Well," he said, turning to Luthiel, "I better get going. I've gotta copy the info from my old notebook into this one, you know?"
Luthiel nodded silently. Her crimson eyes watched him. Grub turned to leave.
Suddenly a mitten-like hand grabbed his wrist. Her grip was far stronger than it looked. Pain shot through his burned forearm and Grub couldn't fully suppress the wince. His jaw tightened and his shoulders tensed as Luthiel's grip held firm.
She had noticed. Her crimson eyes locked onto his. There was fire behind them. Not anger, not this time. Rather, it was something that had been building for days and had finally found its edge.
"Tomorrow," she said, her voice low and steady. "We have a lot to talk about."
Her grip tightened.
"And you better talk, Bug."
Grub looked at her for a long moment. Then he nodded slowly. Luthiel released him and stepped back. She stared at him for another second, then turned and walked away without another word. Grub stood there, rubbing his arm where she had grabbed him. The pain pulsed faintly beneath the bandage.
He started walking back toward the inn.
His thoughts moved slowly for once. The enchanted notebook sat in one hand. His old notebook pressed against his chest inside his coat. The hidden passage sat in his memory like a locked door he couldn't stop staring at.
He knew he wanted to live.
But betraying this village was becoming less and less appealing with every passing day. Luthiel had defended him in the trial and amongst the guardians. Morrigan had freed him and agreed to train him. Orobas had taken him under his wing and had already taught him so many useful things. And now Luthiel had given him one of the most valuable gifts he had ever received.
What was he supposed to do? Turn them over to the Lacerts? Steal from them? Use them?
The idea felt increasingly wrong. And yet the Mgbaaka Maara remained locked around his wrist.
His deadline was approaching. His options were shrinking. Everything had only gotten more confusing. And his time was running out.
Four days after tonight.