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.They were glowing with an eerie green light.“You two - get out, now,” Aloha ordered.“Go play in the common room or something.”Emily opened her mouth to protest, but Imaiqah caught her arm and tugged her out of the room before she could say a word.“She’s in charge of the room,” Imaiqah explained, as soon as they were outside the door.“She can order us out if she likes.”“Huh,” Emily said.Alassa had been bad enough.This.frustration burned through her mind, making it hard to think clearly.Humiliation warred with rage in her soul.Was everyone in the school a self-obsessed fool with magic to burn? “What gives her the right to do that?”“She’s senior to us,” Imaiqah explained simply.“Where do you want to go?”“The library,” Emily said.It was where she had meant to go before she’d become sidetracked talking to Imaiqah.“I want to see it for myself.”“You should get something to eat first, something proper,” Imaiqah warned.“Those sugar bars don’t last very long.”“And let Alassa have a chance to take another shot at us?” Emily asked.“We’d better go to the library first.”The amulet glowed as they walked out of the sleeping compartment and into the main corridors.Emily allowed the light to guide them while she stared at the students thronging about.They still seemed to be busy, even though classes had officially ended for the day.But then, there was homework for some of the classes and probably activities that were carried out after regular hours.No doubt there were clubs and other such arrangements for students who might have gotten into mischief if they were left alone for too long.A male student looked up and caught her eye, his stare boring into her skull.Uncomfortable with male attention, Emily looked away.Thankfully, he didn’t appear to want to follow them.She breathed a silent sigh of relief and forced herself to relax.This wasn’t Earth and those she feared were countless worlds away.She could feel the building reconfiguring itself as they entered a new corridor, walking down towards a simple stone door at the far end.It slid open as they approached, revealing a massive room utterly crammed with bookshelves and books.Some of the books were chained to the shelves, with a handful of students standing and flicking through them, making notes on sheets of parchment.This world probably hadn’t invented the printing press: Emily wondered if she could deduce how to make one.It would reshape this world.“Ah, the lady who came on a dragon,” a voice said.Emily turned to see a tall bald man, inhumanly thin, standing behind a desk.“We shall be expecting great things from you, young lady.”“Thank you,” Emily said, flushing.Odd waves of magic seemed to shimmer just inside the library.“I.”Her voice tailed off as she realized that she didn’t have the faintest idea what to say next.“Every book we have on dragons has been signed out,” the librarian informed her.“I haven’t seen so many books taken out since Professor Novus insisted that everyone read his autobiography before attending his classes.Those who actually wanted to attend his classes, that was.I think that most of them changed their minds after ploughing their way through the first two chapters.”His gaze sharpened.“Books that rest freely on the shelves can be taken out for a week,” he added, in tones that suggested that he gave the same lecture to every student who entered his domain.“You may take out a maximum of six books at any time, although they must be returned at once upon demand.Books chained to the shelves may be consulted, but not borrowed without a signed permission slip from the Grandmaster.Books in the restricted section may only be consulted with a signed permission slip from a senior tutor.Talking too loudly, fighting, or attempting to remove books from the library without signing them out will result in an hour’s petrification.”Emily blinked.“What?”Imaiqah pointed a finger behind her.Emily turned around and saw five statues standing there, all composed of grainy grey stone.She shivered as she realized that the statues were simply too perfect to be anything, but humans turned briefly into stone.As punishments went, it was terrifying.Were the victims aware of their own immobility inside their stony prisons? Could they still think, even as they waited helplessly for the spell to wear off?“This is a library, not a place to pick fights,” the librarian said.“I suggest that you bear it in mind at all times.”Emily nodded tightly and walked away from the desk, then headed towards the bookshelves.Imaiqah and Emily passed through a second line of magic - a ward, she guessed–and silence fell immediately.Hardly any of the other students were talking; none of the talkers were speaking in anything above a whisper, even the ones who were poring over textbooks and trying to complete their homework.Having seen the statues, Emily could understand a certain reluctance to speak too loudly.She didn’t want to know what it felt like to be stone from the inside–and she was sure that none of the other students did either.As a young child in school, she’d spent a term working as a volunteer in the library.She’d picked up enough to know that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life as a librarian, although she’d had the impression that it wouldn’t be a bad job if she’d been allowed to bar all readers from her library.The system governing Whitehall’s library, however, seemed far more complex than the Dewey Decimal System she’d had to learn as a child.If indeed there was a system.None of the books seemed to be in any kind of order.Imaiqah leaned close to her, close enough to whisper in her ear.“What are you looking for?”Emily wasn’t sure herself.Half of the books didn’t have a title on the spine; half of the ones that did have a displayed title were so badly blurred that she couldn’t tell if it was simply the age of the manuscripts, or if some other magic was refusing to allow her to read them.For all she knew, Mistress Irene’s translation spell might not be working either.And those that were readable often didn’t make sense.Blood and Guts and Magic.Charms for the Charming.Basic Mist and Misting.Madame Goatherd’s Basic Guide to Animal Magic.The Prisoner of Magic.“Self-defense spells,” Emily whispered back, finally.She didn’t dare speak any louder.“Something I–we–can use against Alassa.”Imaiqah stared at her.“But.”“But nothing,” Emily whispered.She could understand why Imaiqah might not want to go looking for a fight–Alassa’s family literally ruled her country–but a fight might find Imaiqah anyway, whatever she did to avoid it.“We need to learn how to defend ourselves [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.They were glowing with an eerie green light.“You two - get out, now,” Aloha ordered.“Go play in the common room or something.”Emily opened her mouth to protest, but Imaiqah caught her arm and tugged her out of the room before she could say a word.“She’s in charge of the room,” Imaiqah explained, as soon as they were outside the door.“She can order us out if she likes.”“Huh,” Emily said.Alassa had been bad enough.This.frustration burned through her mind, making it hard to think clearly.Humiliation warred with rage in her soul.Was everyone in the school a self-obsessed fool with magic to burn? “What gives her the right to do that?”“She’s senior to us,” Imaiqah explained simply.“Where do you want to go?”“The library,” Emily said.It was where she had meant to go before she’d become sidetracked talking to Imaiqah.“I want to see it for myself.”“You should get something to eat first, something proper,” Imaiqah warned.“Those sugar bars don’t last very long.”“And let Alassa have a chance to take another shot at us?” Emily asked.“We’d better go to the library first.”The amulet glowed as they walked out of the sleeping compartment and into the main corridors.Emily allowed the light to guide them while she stared at the students thronging about.They still seemed to be busy, even though classes had officially ended for the day.But then, there was homework for some of the classes and probably activities that were carried out after regular hours.No doubt there were clubs and other such arrangements for students who might have gotten into mischief if they were left alone for too long.A male student looked up and caught her eye, his stare boring into her skull.Uncomfortable with male attention, Emily looked away.Thankfully, he didn’t appear to want to follow them.She breathed a silent sigh of relief and forced herself to relax.This wasn’t Earth and those she feared were countless worlds away.She could feel the building reconfiguring itself as they entered a new corridor, walking down towards a simple stone door at the far end.It slid open as they approached, revealing a massive room utterly crammed with bookshelves and books.Some of the books were chained to the shelves, with a handful of students standing and flicking through them, making notes on sheets of parchment.This world probably hadn’t invented the printing press: Emily wondered if she could deduce how to make one.It would reshape this world.“Ah, the lady who came on a dragon,” a voice said.Emily turned to see a tall bald man, inhumanly thin, standing behind a desk.“We shall be expecting great things from you, young lady.”“Thank you,” Emily said, flushing.Odd waves of magic seemed to shimmer just inside the library.“I.”Her voice tailed off as she realized that she didn’t have the faintest idea what to say next.“Every book we have on dragons has been signed out,” the librarian informed her.“I haven’t seen so many books taken out since Professor Novus insisted that everyone read his autobiography before attending his classes.Those who actually wanted to attend his classes, that was.I think that most of them changed their minds after ploughing their way through the first two chapters.”His gaze sharpened.“Books that rest freely on the shelves can be taken out for a week,” he added, in tones that suggested that he gave the same lecture to every student who entered his domain.“You may take out a maximum of six books at any time, although they must be returned at once upon demand.Books chained to the shelves may be consulted, but not borrowed without a signed permission slip from the Grandmaster.Books in the restricted section may only be consulted with a signed permission slip from a senior tutor.Talking too loudly, fighting, or attempting to remove books from the library without signing them out will result in an hour’s petrification.”Emily blinked.“What?”Imaiqah pointed a finger behind her.Emily turned around and saw five statues standing there, all composed of grainy grey stone.She shivered as she realized that the statues were simply too perfect to be anything, but humans turned briefly into stone.As punishments went, it was terrifying.Were the victims aware of their own immobility inside their stony prisons? Could they still think, even as they waited helplessly for the spell to wear off?“This is a library, not a place to pick fights,” the librarian said.“I suggest that you bear it in mind at all times.”Emily nodded tightly and walked away from the desk, then headed towards the bookshelves.Imaiqah and Emily passed through a second line of magic - a ward, she guessed–and silence fell immediately.Hardly any of the other students were talking; none of the talkers were speaking in anything above a whisper, even the ones who were poring over textbooks and trying to complete their homework.Having seen the statues, Emily could understand a certain reluctance to speak too loudly.She didn’t want to know what it felt like to be stone from the inside–and she was sure that none of the other students did either.As a young child in school, she’d spent a term working as a volunteer in the library.She’d picked up enough to know that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life as a librarian, although she’d had the impression that it wouldn’t be a bad job if she’d been allowed to bar all readers from her library.The system governing Whitehall’s library, however, seemed far more complex than the Dewey Decimal System she’d had to learn as a child.If indeed there was a system.None of the books seemed to be in any kind of order.Imaiqah leaned close to her, close enough to whisper in her ear.“What are you looking for?”Emily wasn’t sure herself.Half of the books didn’t have a title on the spine; half of the ones that did have a displayed title were so badly blurred that she couldn’t tell if it was simply the age of the manuscripts, or if some other magic was refusing to allow her to read them.For all she knew, Mistress Irene’s translation spell might not be working either.And those that were readable often didn’t make sense.Blood and Guts and Magic.Charms for the Charming.Basic Mist and Misting.Madame Goatherd’s Basic Guide to Animal Magic.The Prisoner of Magic.“Self-defense spells,” Emily whispered back, finally.She didn’t dare speak any louder.“Something I–we–can use against Alassa.”Imaiqah stared at her.“But.”“But nothing,” Emily whispered.She could understand why Imaiqah might not want to go looking for a fight–Alassa’s family literally ruled her country–but a fight might find Imaiqah anyway, whatever she did to avoid it.“We need to learn how to defend ourselves [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]