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After we're done eating, we just sit here for a while. Maybe he's not as indestructible as he seems, because I get the impression he needed rest and sustenance as much as I did.
Finally, I have to ask. "How is the world transforming? All you said before was that I'll see."
"I'm not entirely certain what it is becoming. Only Sefton can answer that question."
He rises, hooking the backpack over his shoulder, and grabs my hand to urge me to stand too. Then we head out again. Despite the destruction, I start to recognize some of the buildings. At last, I spot a street sign that affirms my belief we're going in the right direction. We're on Throckmorton Street, which means we need to get on the next block over to find the Central Branch of the Fort Worth Public Library. We scramble around the remnants of a parking garage and at last reach Taylor Street. Now we stand just behind the library, directly across from the Tarrant County Plaza building.
I spread my arms. "We're here."
"Is this the front entrance?" Dax asks. "If so, we can't get into the building. The facade has collapsed and blocked our way in."
"The main entrance is around the other side."
He follows me down Taylor Street until we reach West Third, then we walk side by side down that street, stopping in front of the portico that shields the main entrance. The four pillars in front have been shattered, and large chunks of them lie scattered around the area. For a moment, I gape at the damage while my brain struggles to come to terms with what I'm seeing. What I keep seeing. Everywhere I look. This can't be real, but it is.
Dax shoves me from behind. "Get moving."
We wend our way through the remains of the columns and step through the shattered glass doors, careful not to get cut. The interior is dark. That means we not only have no lights, but no ventilation either. It's beyond stuffy in here, and I start to sweat just from hopping over freestanding shelving units that have toppled over, spewing books across the floor. When we reach the check-out counter, which is miraculously intact, I stop and face Dax.
Naturally, he glowers at me.
"Well, we're here," I say, waving at our surroundings. "Don't see anything alive in this place except for you and me."
He digs the lantern out of his backpack and switches it on.
I pray there are no bodies in here. My gut twists when I think about that, and I will not go any further into the building to find out. There's no point. The dead can't be saved. I hate that circumstances have forced me to harden myself to the death and destruction around us. Later, I'll feel everything. Won't I?
"Where would Sefton find you whenever he visited the library?" Dax asks.
I shrug. "Wherever I was. Sometimes I'd be at the check-out counter, but other times I might be in the stacks or in a storage room."
"We will check everywhere, then."
"Everywhere? In case it escaped your attention, being a thickheaded lout, this is an enormous building."
He slants toward me. "Better start searching."
The only way I'm getting out of this building is if I find evidence that Sefton was here and left, or if I find a way to disable Dax for long enough that I can escape from him. Option two seems improbable. The bastard is a hulking mass of muscles. So I go for option one and lean over the waist-high check-out counter to rummage through any papers I can find.
"Nothing here," I say.
Dax grasps my ass in both hands, then pushes me up and over the counter. While I crash onto a chair and tumble off it, he watches me with a smug expression. "Look harder."
I scramble to my feet and do what he commanded. What choice do I have? Unless I find a weapon here or suddenly develop superpowers, I'm stuck with the grizzled jerk. He watches me while I root through the papers strewn across the floor, shoving a computer monitor out of the way and avoiding the staples that litter the carpet.
Then I see it. An envelope.
Crawling under the desk, I grab the ivory-colored envelope. It feels and looks like the same fancy paper on which Sefton had written his note that urged me to stay in the library until he came for me. I recognize the elegant handwriting too. "For Allison," it says. Dax will want to see this, I know, but I need to find out what Sefton said before I tell my captor. I kneel under the desk, sitting back on my heels and slouching forward. Then I peel the flap open and pull out the folded sheet of ivory paper tucked inside the envelope.
A shiver tingles over my skin, from my scalp down to my toes.
Whump.
A pair of large, booted feet land in front of me. Dax bends over to seize my arm and drag me out from under the counter. He hoists me off the floor with my feet dangling in the air and our faces aligned. The barely contained fury on his face makes me shiver again.
"You found a note from Sefton," he snarls. "Didn't you? And now you're trying to hide it from me to protect your lover."
"I am not involved with Sefton Stainthorpe. But you're never going to believe me, are you?"
