Gray was lost in a library, and while he’d once had good dreams about such a situation, right now was not the time for it.

Letting out a controlled breath, Gray kept walking.

Faster.

The topic of tracking and hunting jinxes wasn’t niche. It wasn’t obscure.

There had to be books upon books on it here.

Somewhere.

His footsteps were silent in the vast space. The towering shelves of books were starting to all look alike, and he was so sure he’d already passed by that sign pointing to the Ancient Prophecy Record, and he’d absolutely seen that statue of the djinn rising out of the jar before, and if it hadn’t been so hushed, so quiet, so serious in this part of the library, Gray would’ve sworn out loud.

He came to a stop next to the statue of the djinn. The memory of Harriette with her book on Jack's adventures with the djinn and giants and selkies rose in his mind, and he firmly shifted his thoughts away, his chest aching.

Being utterly lost like this - in a library for Clochaint’s sake - was fast carving through Gray’s remaining confidence and warmth from Master Mage Powl’s potion.

The library was a maze of endless shelves.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Gray took a stab at backtracking his steps, back towards the front desk. He was grateful to find it and not be forever wandering the maze of bookshelves, but also his thoughts were pounding with how he’d wasted time, getting lost, like an idiot. And now he had to risk talking to someone, for them to see him up close, and perhaps recognise him.

Gray joined the back of the queue, his hood up.

The librarian who eventually waved Gray up to the counter couldn’t have looked less like a librarian if he tried.

His hair was like Gray’s - short with a pattern shaved into the sides - and wore enough kohl to match Gray. His gaze was settled into the kind of slack boredom you got from doing a repetitive task for too long. He wore a leather pauldron on one shoulder over his white woven shirt, as though he was expecting an axe fight to break out inside the library at any minute.

Or perhaps, thought Gray, eyeing the librarian’s bored expression and the lean of his elbow on the counter, hoped an axe fight would break out.

Gray approached the librarian and tried to not look like a fugitive.

‘Er,’ Gray said, leaning in closer when the librarian responded by giving him a small smile. ‘I’m after books on tracking and hunting jinxes.’

‘I’m going that way,' said the librarian, perking up. 'I need to shelve these. Come.’

Gray followed him as the librarian heaved a tall stack of books onto his shoulder (perhaps the reason for the pauldron) as he led Gray further into the library.

The deeper they went into the library, the more hushed it became.

Still, the librarian led Gray forwards.

There didn’t seem to be any strict order to the library when it came to placement of the different sections and subjects.

History was crammed next to Alchemy. World Maps sprawled next to Agriculture. And the Others and Creatures section -

Gray halted.

Something had fitted together in his mind.

Like a cog slotting into place within a bigger mechanism.

Wong …

Wong’s Encyclopedia of the Others.

The librarian turned when he realised Gray had stopped dead in the middle of the library and was now - probably - a hazard to any passing student with their nose in a book.

‘You all right?’ said the librarian.

Gray told himself to stay calm and not jump to conclusions.

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Exercise caution.

There wasn’t just one Wong in the world and Alistair hadn’t even indicated if Wong was a person or a place. A scholar.

Honestly, Wong could refer to anything.

‘I’m fine,’ Gray heard himself say. ‘I - think I can take it from here.’

The librarian hesitated, adjusting his grip on his stack of books. ‘You can get turned around in here. Some say the Ancients enchanted the library.’

‘I’ll be OK,’ said Gray. ‘I promise.’

‘All right. Straight ahead and then take a left for the jinxes section. From memory, the writer Ziggor has good volumes on tracking and hunting jinxes. He’ll be at the very end of the row.’

‘Thank you,’ Gray said.

He waited until the librarian had disappeared up a narrow spiral staircase.

Then, Gray’s feet pounded against the stone floor, just slow enough to be classed as a walk but fast enough to draw stares from the early morning students and academics.

Straight into the Others and Creatures section.

Gray hunted for the Ws.

Surely - please, please - they’d have Wong.

Gray let out a long breath when he found him.

The scholar Wong had written more than the Encyclopedia of the Others. He had yards and yards of shelf space. Some of the books were thick leather bound tomes and were precious enough to be chained to the shelves.

His heart was beating a little too fast.

Gray needed to come back here after he’d fixed the jinx.

But, the librarian had also said the library might be enchanted and what if Gray couldn’t find this section ever again? His fingertips were already touching the Encyclopedia. Gray pulled it down and he was brushing dust off the embossed cover and he was flipping through the pages, just for a minute - one minute.

He ran his finger over the encyclopaedia's Index at the back, searching for rats.

The list of creatures that pulled rats, scared rats, fed off rats, controlled rats, were some kind of rat was huge. Gray let out a sharp breath and checked over his shoulder.

No one was watching him.

No cry of ‘Conor Griffin’, no soldiers, no guards.

No person marching forward with a leaflet in their hand.

Gray snatched up a piece of parchment and pencil from a stack on the bench behind him and started scribbling down a list, so fast.

He just had to be methodical.

Very fast, but methodical.

Check each creature associated with rats in any way, ensure it was consistent with how Ali and Rowan died, list it down if it did, then cross reference it with Hubert Huntsman's Guide to Creatures of the North to narrow it down to ones that could possibly live near Krydon …

-

Gray’s hand was smeared with graphite from the pencil and cramped from his frantic writing. Wong’s encyclopaedia had illustrations that sometimes were so graphic that Gray was pretty sure they’d haunt him in his dreams.

His eyes skimmed over the pages, and he wrote as fast as he could, continuing his list of possible creatures.

Malochanters … these ancient creatures will use rats as familiars and to assist them in their dark deeds … they are creatures most vile, almost as vile as pure sorcerers …

Gray hastily scribbled Malochanters onto the list.

Scullery Pipers … these legendary entities rule over beasts of vermin … but pose no threat to humans, unlike sorcerers who are an apex predator …

Gray continued onward, his eyes going faster than his hand.

Unseelies … these shadow beings act as spies for malevolent forces, using rats … akin to the vile legacy of sorcerers …

These, these, these.

The list of possible creatures was too long.

Gray needed more time.

And Wong was obsessed as heck with sorcerers. He frequently referred to sorcerers as a comparison to every dark being, which seemed needlessly long winded to Gray, and was kind of setting his teeth on edge each time he had to shift through it to get to the bare facts.

He couldn't do this in one hour let alone one minute.

Gray clenched his jaw, rubbing his eyes. He really needed to go and fix the jinx, and then he could focus on getting his hands on this book again, and he’d get textbooks from Hubert Huntsman, and Grimm and Grimm.

But, as he went to flip the cover closed, a sentence caught his eye.

These are among the selective array of immortal creatures that the Ancients used to guard certain tombs containing the biggest hoards of treasure, precious curses, and high status deceased, and will pull scavengers including rats …

Gray backtracked over the section, his heart banging.

‘Tombs,’ he muttered under his breath.

There had to be a reason Ali had a damn map of the tombs along with the map of the north with Sirentown circled.

Vampiric Sorcerer, said the Encyclopedia.

Vampiric Sorcerers were once mortal sorcerers who made a pact with a vampiric entity to extend their lives indefinitely. Classified as dangerous undead magical creatures, and with known affiliations with tomb warriors and the Eternal Watch …

It continued on over three entire pages of the encyclopaedia. Gray’s gaze flew over the pages, taking in fragments, his heart beating too fast to force himself to slow down and read it properly.

Vampiric Sorcerers are rarely encountered outside of their assigned domains, as their existence is bound to the tombs or sanctuaries they were tasked to protect …

Gray glanced up.

A soldier’s silhouette was at the far end of the section of the library.

The outline was enough to identify him, even if Gray hadn’t felt the cold shifting in the library air and the goosebumps rising on his skin.

The soldier’s cap.

The hair hanging in the eyes.

The wolf’s fur collar.

The tense shoulders, the powerful stalking stride, the glinting of the dagger in the boot.

Killian had found him.