Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1)(42)

The woman puffed out her lips and ignored me, clearly flirting with Daniel.

I glanced at Daniel, hoping he would back me up, but all I found was a smug lift to his eyebrow.

“Focus!” I banged the desk with my fist, and they both flinched. Did they not see the importance of this situation? I trembled with anxious energy, and I needed answers. “Was there anything else distinguishing about this man?”

“Well...” Her eyes roamed around, but at last she nodded primly. “Come to think of it, yes. The man was filthy.”

I leaned over the desk. “How filthy?”

She sniffed and curled her lips. “As in, I doubt very much he had bathed in the last year. He was covered in dirt, his suit was abominable, and he stank.”

Daniel and I exchanged a wide-eyed glance. What she described sounded like one of the Dead. A fresh corpse perhaps. Elijah’s? No, no. A big man, she said. Elijah was small. No extra girth like his sister.

“What was he reading?” Daniel asked.

“He took all the information we have on the Centennial Exhibition.”

Daniel’s brows drew together. “Did he ask for it?”

“No. He simply took the books we have laid out for Exhibition visitors. Then he went and sat in that chair.” Her eyes thinned and hardened. “Why are you asking so many questions?”

I didn’t answer, for I had spotted the display of Exhibition books on the desk. “He took those?”

At the woman’s nod, I swept them up and scampered back toward the armchair. The Dead had been here, and we were onto something! I could feel it. We were about to discover some critical piece in all these puzzles. My energy overflowed, and I didn’t care if I looked like a fool frolicking through the library.

Daniel trotted beside me, and when we reached the chair, I tossed the books haphazardly on the seat and inspected their titles. They were all guides to the sights, buildings, and items of the Exhibition.

“So the necromancer wants something at the Exhibition,” I murmured.

When Daniel offered no response, I glanced up to find him rubbing the goggles against his coat and gazing toward the center of the library. I whipped my head that way. The librarian was at the receiving end of his stare.

A choked yell broke from my mouth, and I launched a book at his chest. “Help me!”

“Oi!” He jerked around. “Watch it! You almost broke my goggles.”

“And you’re wasting time! We have work to do.”

His back stiffened and his face turned pink. “Why are you so ornery all of a sudden? I’ll work in my own sweet—” He broke off midsentence, and the storm vanished from his face. He eyed me knowingly. “I see how it is. Her Majesty is jealous.”

I stamped my foot, ready to declare my exact opinion of that comment, but my words froze, trapped in my throat.

A film of frost was forming on the goggles.

“Spirit,” I tried to say, but the bone-deep cold reached me then, snaking under my gown and stabbing into my flesh.

I stumbled into Daniel and clutched at his shoulders.

“Spirit,” I tried again. “Here.”

His pupils grew, consuming the green of his eyes. He said only one word: “Run.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Daniel heaved me back toward the center of the library.

“Dead!” he roared. “The Dead are here! Get out!”

First came whimpers, then shrieks as the people near us flew for the exit. Their feet stampeded on the pine planks.

I yanked free of Daniel and ran to the nearest fire alarm, which dangled on the western wall between two rows of shelves, just out of reach above my head. My eyes caught on a footstool nearby, and I scrambled to it.

“Dead!” Daniel continued bellowing, and then Joseph’s voice joined in.

I dragged the stool to the wall, but a sudden blast of cold surged behind me. I froze midstep and turned my head slowly.

There it was. The bodiless, lightless creature my mother had let loose. It was far worse than I remembered. Blacker, deeper, and radiating death.

I threw myself toward the nearest shelf as splinters exploded. The spirit had smashed into the stool. I bolted out of the aisle and ran for the entrance, where I saw Joseph run and leap into the fountain.

A plaster bust whizzed past my head, missing me by inches. It smashed to the floor and sprayed white dust everywhere.

I didn’t pause, but ran faster toward the front of the library. A sound like agonized fury followed me. It ripped through the air, so high-pitched it barely registered in my ears yet set my skin crawling.

I reached the fountain just as Jie skidded to a halt beside me. Joseph stood as he had the other day, arms extended and eyes squeezed shut. The spirit was nowhere to be seen.

“It moves between the realms,” Joseph said through clenched teeth. “It jumps back and forth. As long as it hovers in the spirit realm, we cannot see or touch it.”

“But how can it do that?” I asked.

“The spirit is strong—stronger than before. The curtain between worlds is no longer a barrier for it.”

“But I can see it,” Daniel said. “With the goggles—I can see it even though it’s in the other world. There!” He pointed back to the circular desk in the center of the library. “It’s there.”

“How do we stop it?” Jie asked.