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CHAPTER7
It was a terrible plan,but I had no other ideas to offer, so we went with it.
Jasmine and Mikaela led the way into the library while I shifted into my shadow form and streamed in their wake, Shadow at my side.
We slid from the shadow the library door cast across the floor to the ones that ran alongside the long shelves of books. We slipped from one shadow to the next until we reached the shadows closest to the archive room, then hovered there waiting as Jasmine and Mikaela charmed Mr. Brecken into allowing them inside.
“Now, what exactly are you researching again?” Mr. Brecken asked as he slowly made his way across the library floor, a ring of keys in his hand.
“It’s for our Monsters Throughout History class,” Jasmine said.
“We’re researching serial killer monsters for our semester project,” Mikaela said.
Mr. Brecken grimaced. “Now why would the two of you want to research such a depressing subject?”
“I’m interested in justice studies,” Mikaela said, “and how the different factions of supernaturals police their own.”
“And you thought to start with monsters?” he glanced at Mikaela from the corner of his eye, a skeptical look on his face.
How could he already be suspicious? Convincing him to let them inside the archive room wasn’t supposed to be the hard part.
“Well, no. I’ve already done quite a bit of research. My mom’s collection really helped me understand how justice works for witches and vampires and even some shifter societies. I’m interested in learning more, though.”
“Ah. Well, I don’t know what you’ll find inside the Archives on justice specifically.”
“Oh, I don’t usually search for the word justice. Punishment is more the thing with supernaturals.”
“Yes, well. You’ll be careful with the collections, of course.”
“Of course,” Mikaela and Jasmine chorused.
With a nod, he unlocked the door with one of his keys, then carefully extracted it from the lock before starting to open the door.
The door was about half open when Jasmine exclaimed, “Oh, dear, I completely forgot.”
Mr. Brecken slowly turned and faced Jasmine and Mikaela, who hovered just behind him, as if they’d been about to follow him into the room.
“Forgot what?” he asked.
He stood like a sentinel in the half-open doorway, his right arm stretching across the space, hand clutching the doorknob tight, preventing anyone from entering without his permission.
The room was completely dark behind him, which was unfortunate, for no shadows could form in darkness.
Some light from the rest of the library did filter in, though, just enough for Mr. Brecken’s form to cast a shadow in the small triangle of light formed by the open door.
A bit of luck had the shadow of Mr. Brecken’s arm touching both the shadow where I was sheltering and his own that stretched behind him.
I took immediate advantage, sliding from beneath the shelves in the library to the shadow of his arm and from there to where his shadow stretched across the threshold between library and archives.
“I’m supposed to bring a new recipe to Culinary Delights tomorrow,” Jasmine said.
I happened to know that Jasmine already had an entire folder full of recipes waiting to be shared with her classmates.
I smirked as I made the quick leap from behind Mr. Brecken to behind the door.
If he’d been facing me, I would never have taken that risk, for without a shadow waiting for me, there was a high probability he’d have seen me, which might not have mattered were it not for the fact that Mr. Brecken knew what I was.
Like the majority of the professors at the Academy, if he saw shadow and mist, he would immediately assume it was me using my Shadow-form.
