Chapter 123 - Voices In The Library

I promised to come on Sunday, but it was actually just two days later when I had a free time on my hands and a desire to visit Nightingale Coven's headquarters again. Not just for restoration magic, but hoping to find something on self-defence in the coven's library.

The hacker on Christina's business didn't respond yet, but what would happen when it would? On a rational level I knew JJ would go after her on his own, but the idea of letting him fight her and waiting for the results in the relative safety of my home was just… It made me feel like a helpless girl who needs to be saved and pampered and looked after.

Don't get me wrong, I love some saving and pampering—who doesn't? But I didn't want to be someone who was reliant on that. The world was a harsh place at times, and I had to be able to stand in there if I still dreamed about grand things.

So I put on my coven medallion and went to the Nightingale's place. The reaction of people inside changed little from the last time I've been there, but this time I didn't care for interacting with lazying young witches and went straight for the library.

It was a quiet place, and not just because of the universal library rules. Something was in the air there, something that made my steps quieter—magic. I think I began to recognise its touch even without actively sniffing around for it.

The librarian, a gentle woman in her forties, featuring a pair of glasses with strings attached to the temples, greeted me with what looked like a genuine smile without a hint of that desire to get my attention that younger (and some of the older) people here shared. I decided there and then that I liked her.

"Hello, Diana. It's nice to see you again. Are you looking for a book?"

"Yes. You told me that not every book here was put into electronic format, right?"

"That's true." The librarian nodded solemnly. "All the tomes here are carefully maintained, and we've begun scanning them as soon as we got access to the technology, but some were not just written. They were made with magic, and it can't be copied this way."

I hummed in agreement and looked around the many shelves filled with wide spines and heavy covers. "Do you have books about combat magic? The kind that could be used in a fight?"

"Oh, plenty. Killing and healing, these are two of the most popular disciplines, not just in magic, but in life." The librarian left her place at the counter and ventured deeper into the library, motioning me to follow. "Here, let me show you where they are kept."

As we walked past the rows of shelves, the librarian explained, "If you want access to the red section, you have to ask Elena for the permission first, but you are cleared for everything else. Here, this should be something just for you." She pointed at a shelf labelled as 'fighting magic'. "They are sorted in alphabetical order, but I recommend starting with this," the librarian pulled a thin book out from the middle, "and this," another one, much thicker, joined it. She passed both to me.

I held them carefully, even though they looked to be in perfect condition. "What's in the red section?"

"Dangerous books. Some have traps in it, some are just plain destructive… Generations of Nightingale librarians had been working on ripping the fangs out of them, but there are still a lot of the tomes one can't simply read." The librarian sighed. "It's a sorrowful sight for me. So much knowledge, hidden away, possibly forever, because of someone's greed for it."

I nodded. "You don't say. Well, I think this is going to be enough for now. Thank you."

"Have a good time reading, though I hope you won't need that knowledge," the librarian wished me and pinched her lips in worry. "With the rumours that are running around, it might not turn out to be this way…"

"What rumours?" I frowned, glancing at the books in my hands. This was more for my own peace of mind than for any practical purposes. How much could I learn in a week? But… either way, I wasn't fond of violence, and I hoped to not get drawn into any, at least by witches.

Compared to vampires, they seemed to be much calmer. But then, vampires could maul each other for days and then just sleep it off.

"It's not anything confirmed, but," the librarian lowered her voice, "I've heard that someone is trying to do a summoning in our city."

"A summoning?" I blinked. "What's so bad about it?"

The librarian gasped. "Ah, you don't know? Let me just tell you, it's a horrible thing. First, to summon creatures from other dimensions, you have to turn a witch's well into a portal… it's always results in her death. Then, even if you succeed… Creatures summoned from other dimensions are usually powerful ones, and very few of them have any caution in applying that power. Summonings are dangerous thing and illegal on so many levels. I can't even imagine who could be foolish enough to try doing it."

I shuddered, instantly imagining Lovecraftian eldritch horrors walking around the streets, not caring for the secrecy of supernatural creatures or for anything at all. "I really hope it's just rumours, then." There was enough problem on my plate without Cthulhu coming out of the Gulf of Finland.

"So do I, but there's no smoke without fire. You are living out of the coven's headquarters, you have to be twice as vigilant," the librarian said and gave me a weak pat on the arm.

"Sure will. Thanks for the warning," I said.

The librarian nodded, gave me one last smile, and returned to her station, while I went in search of a place to sit down. The news disturbed me. No matter how much I convinced myself that it was just a rumour, a sixth sense—or a budding paranoia—told me it wasn't.