Chapter Eight: Rumors

Mostly sunny. 5mph winds blowing east. Eighty-nine degrees fahrenheit. Clear weather expected all week.

"Damnit!"

Dr. D slammed his fists on the table in the center of Team Virga's headquarters. Anger burned in his albino eyes.

"Language," Mrs. Korca warned from a chair, also looking grim. "There's more than just adults here."

"So Nur's shrine being built by the first colonists 80 years ago was a coverup," Delvin said. "How many other of these fictions has he created?"

"I should have expected something like that from him!" Dr. D seethed. "This wasn't an accident or a coincidence! Orbo's got a whole town to build a godda… a stupid parking lot!"

He paced around, unaware of Mrs. Korca's scolding glare. But only moments later she returned to pondering with the rest of Team Virga, Azer and Grif standing nearby, looking tense. Delvin was sitting in a chair by the main table, leg propped up, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"There's nothing we could have done about it," he said. "Nobody is– I mean, was able to read the shrine– there's no way we could have known it had to do with the virus. And, besides, don't we now know that it was, or is real?"

Dr. D stopped mid-pace.

"Yes, I suppose we do. And it seems like we can infer that this race of, what were they called again?"

"Hivanians," answered Azer and Grif simultaneously.

"Yes, these Hivanians—they must have been wiped out by the virus. If that's the case, then that can only mean that the Magna virus has been here before."

Azer gulped.

A moment of silence followed. Dr. D stopped pacing. Everyone was lost in thought, in one way or another.

"What are the chances," Delvin started, breaking the silence, "that there is more than one of these relics? Azer, what you read said 'this first relic,' is that correct?"

"Yes, why?"

"Then that could very well mean that there are others. Itell, have you heard of anything Mayor Lindwoter could be hiding? Anything like the relic Azer and Grif saw?"

"I have my suspicions," Dr. D answered without hesitation, following the same train of thought. "I've heard things about the public library on the edge of town, rumors of some kind of secret chamber underneath. Though, up until now, I'd only thought it was just a myth."

"I think we've learned that rumors may not be as fake as we usually make them out to be," Grif mused, shuddering at the thought of the ghoul that chased them the night before. Azer nodded in agreement.

"I can plan a field trip," Dr. D spoke again, "to the public library. It could double as a secret Team Virga mission, digging into the idea of the secret chamber. Though," Dr. D said, looking serious and turning to Azer and Grif, "don't forget that I'm still your principal. Don't let Team Virga get in the way of your learning."

He paused, white eyes fixed on something no one could see, then spoke again without taking his eyes off this point in space.

"If the Magna virus is real, and still out here… then we'll need as much information on it as possible."

"But… it can't still be here, right?" Azer said worriedly. "Wouldn't the virus—the Magna—not be able to spread after the Hivanians died? And it seems like that relic we visited was really old, right? Surely it's not still here?"

Dr. D looked seriously at him, his frustration subsided.

"We can only hope not," he said grimly.

# # #

Dr. D stood in the middle of the Team Virga laboratory, a large map of the library laid out on the main table.

"It'll be a career discovery exercise," Dr. D started. "I've been meaning to do one for a while now. That's our disguise. A perfectly normal lesson. Once we get to the library, I'll instruct all of the chaperones to have their students pick out a book related to a career they're interested in, for, we'll say, half an hour. And at this point, Azer and Grif, you really will need to follow the lesson. Don't forget, you're students, too. Once everyone's picked out their books, the students will find a reading spot and read whatever they picked out for the rest of the field trip. At that point you all will split from your other non-Team Virga group members and begin looking for any kind of secret object or entrance, any sign of the next relic. Remain in the groups I assigned you while you search, and if you find anything, contact the rest of Team Virga."

"Whose group will you be in?" Grif asked.

"I'm not coming," Dr. D replied simply.

"What? Why?" Azer asked.

"Remember, Mayor Lindwoter doesn't trust me. If he finds me snooping around where another relic might be, who knows what he might do. He could go and destroy all of the others for all we know."

"Why hasn't he already destroyed all of them?" Grif interjected.

"That, I don't know. He's a mystery, too."

# # #

"In other news, some exciting events are coming up. We hope you are enjoying the ever-warming weather, because in only three months the great Perihelion festival is starting, hosted by Mayor Lindwoter himself."

A picture of Nur's mayor, plump and joval, appeared on the television screen inside of Grano's. Azer scowled while Grif simply frowned silently.

"But before that," the newswoman said, the screen changing to an image of the cloud-filled sky, "the mysterious weather event called The Shades is coming up. The Zystinian government recommends planning and preparing for the annual evacuation that is now less than a month from today. Remember: blockade your doors and windows, board them up if you can, bring all pets and treasured belongings with you during evacuation, and never, ever, be on the ground when it happens."

The TV turned off. Mr. Grano was holding the remote, looking apprehensive.

"You boys don't need to worry about stuff like that, as long as you're following the evacuation instructions—and trust me, that won't be hard. They're going to be posted everywhere as The Shades gets closer. You'll be fine."

Without the TV on, the only sounds in the diner were mingled conversations from nearby patrons, the hum of the air conditioning, and the whir of an oscillating fan, alternating between blowing on Grif's face and Azer's missing one.

"Hot, eh?" Mr. Grano asked, trying to rectify his previously serious tone.

"Very," Grif replied weakly, staring absentmindedly out the window at the sunlight-covered ground.

"Mr. Grano," Azer started, turning away from the fan's cool breeze, "What's the Perihelion festival?"

"Ah. Yes, it's a festival held by our mayor every summer, once every Manim year, or ten galactic standard years. It's a big deal, since it's so long between each new Manim year. The Perihelion festival celebrates Manim's colonization eighty or so years ago. One of the few good things my brother does for this town," he added scornfully.

"Your brother? Who's your brother?"

"My older brother's the mayor of Nur. Senior to me by a whole thirteen years, but he doesn't act his age at all. We very rarely ever see him in town, even though he claims to be our mayor."

"Your brother's the mayor?!" Azer and Grif exclaimed in unison.

"Yes, but I hardly recognize him as the mayor; not many people here really do. That Dr. D down by the Battle Academy does loads more; he might as well be. I don't really see Orbo as a brother to me either, since he's so much older. He moved out when I was five and was elected mayor only two years later."

# # #

The school bus made a loud whine as it grinded to a halt in front of the Derecho Public Library. The Battle Academy chaperones ushered the kids out of the bus, some groaning as they were exposed to the sweltering heat. Azer and his class stepped onto the hot pavement and now had a full view of the large, well-kept entrance of the building. Two security cameras, one on each side of the covered entrance, stared down on the entering class, mechanical lenses subtly dilating.

Azer could hardly hide it; he was riddled with anxiety. It would be easy to pay attention during an educational field trip, and it would even have been manageable to follow the orders of a Team Virga mission, but to do both at once, while staying covert? The task seemed impossible.

Delvin stood by the entrance, motioning the stragglers inside, not giving a second glance to Azer or Grif, despite being part of the same mission. His intense, calm demeanor only filled Azer with pangs of worry. And as they entered through the glossy wooden doors, Grif shot him a look of wide-eyed fear that echoed Azer's thoughts perfectly. At least he wasn't alone.

The moment they entered the library, they were hit by a blast of air-conditioning, perhaps a bit too cold for the average person's liking, but just right for a group of overheating students. The inside was dead silent, broken only by the light hum of the air conditioners and muted footsteps. A papery, leathery smell filled the air.

The first thing Azer noticed was that there were more security cameras.

A lot of them.

In just about every corner, behind every bookshelf, stationed like insects along the ceiling, were the same type of security camera, each one positioned directly onto the crowd. And with every new camera he noticed, the odds of being able to complete the mission seemed to drop further and further.

Whether subconsciously or not, Azer searched for his fellow Team Virga members. This included Delvin, Mrs. Korca, and Okta, all having been scattered through the incoming crowd of students. He noticed them throwing glances at the ceiling and the security cameras that littered it. Even with faces, they looked a lot calmer than Azer did.

While the chaperones divided the crowd into their designated groups, Azer waved goodbye to Grif and joined his own. His chaperone was Delvin, and his only other group member was an older student he didn't recognize from Delvin's homeroom class. The three of them walked up to the bookshelves silently, and the other student picked up a book, reading it idly.

Azer scanned the shelves for something that caught his attention. Delvin had taken them to the nonfiction section, and he already had his nose buried in Modern Chemical Innovations Vol. 2. As he ran a pointer finger over the book spines, Azer stopped on a small, worn book titled Sights to See in Zysti galaxy. He pulled it off the shelf and flipped through it.

The first page was part of a two-page spread of a map of Zysti galaxy. Countless dots of varying size littered the page, each one with the planet's name written by it in small, uppercase text. The map was split into quarters by a thick-lined cross, each quadrant numbered.

His first instinct was to find his own planet, Manim. He scanned each quadrant, carefully reading each name until he found it in the lower corner of quadrant 3, far from the center of the galaxy but on the same horizontal plane as Zysti's capital planet, Zephyr. Underneath the planet's name was even smaller text that said:

PG. 173

He flipped to the page without hesitation. It had a large image of Manim taking up most of the top-left corner with a brief description:

Manim is part of the Relar star system and is one of many planets colonized around the time of the Great Star Push, though it was not made part of the Zystinian Planet Union until several decades after its initial discovery. Since then, Manim has become a rapidly growing hub of interstellar travel and remains an attractive destination to tourists, settlers, and business owners alike.

It features a temperate and livable climate, with lush forests, tall mountains and wide, open plains. Even today, its environment thrives with the presence of its inhabitants, and most of its gorgeous nature remains untouched. It is famous for its annual, planet-wide superstorm that inhabitants call "The Shades."

Curiosity now gripping him, Azer flipped to the section on the Relar star system, where he saw another, more zoomed-in map of the Zysti galaxy. It showed only one or two dozen stars, and each star and planet was labeled clearly. He noted how the named planets looked few and far between in relation to the massive scale of the map he was viewing—perhaps a result of the Manim deadzone? He looked at the planets that interested him, flipping to their respective pages and skimming their descriptions. He read about an icy planet inhabited only by its adapted native species, a tropical planet with innumerable islands in lieu of continents, and a volcanic wasteland whose only inhabitants were researchers developing new thermal energy technology.

A thought occurred to Azer as he read, and he quickly flipped to the front of the book. At the bottom of the front page, there was the publication date:

PUBLISHED 3270 ZST

He then flipped forward and found a specific line in the beginning of the book:

While there are just under a hundred different registered civilizations in the Zysti galaxy, tens of thousands of different planets have been discovered, some with life, and many more are being discovered every year!

If this book was published 20 years ago, Azer thought, then what planets have been discovered since then? Maybe there was new insight into the deadzone planets.

He located the nearest computer and booted it up, trying to ignore the webcam pointing directly at him. He did a search for an updated map of the Relar star system and wasn't surprised to see a few more planets than before.

Below the first link was a link to a news article from 11 years ago, published by a news station he had never heard of and with an enlarged picture of a half-buried, misshapen skull.

For an instant, something stirred inside him, but it was immediately forgotten.

The article read:

Remains of Unregistered Civilization Discovered on New Planet, Cause of Extinction Unknown

By Ingarus Hukt, 3276 ZST

A team of researchers recently discovered a planet within the Relar star system, dubbed R8-70, featuring indisputable evidence to have once been inhabited by an unregistered species. Innumerable humanoid skeletons are littered among what appears to be the remains of an intelligent species, with worn, destroyed husks of shelters, houses and towns.

Studies are still being conducted, but many experts agree that this planet is part of the mysterious Manim deadzone, an area in and around the Relar star system with a low 10 lifear (lifear: planets with life within fifty light-years), far below Zysti's average 150 lifear. As most life in Zysti is microbial or unintelligent, the remains of an intelligent species on R8-70 proves to be a rare and important finding, especially in the Manim deadzone.

While the cause of the mass extinction remains unknown, scientists have deduced it was not by war or natural disaster. Attempts have been made to identify the species, but in a surprising turn of events, it was discovered that the corpses had no form of DNA present. Numerous theories have circulated as to the reason for their abrupt demise, including a sudden gamma ray burst, an unprecedented solar flare, or, in a more unlikely scenario, an extinction-level weapon deployed by an unknown species.

Dr. Regus Maxim, a Galactic Exobiologist from the Tuxxis Academy of Planetary Sciences, comments on these possibilities:

"The tricky part is the absence of DNA found within the remains," he said in an interview. "A powerful enough solar flare could have caused the destruction we see in R8-70, not to mention bleach the DNA out of the bodies, but it's unlikely an intelligent society could be wiped out all at once by such an event. A gamma ray burst poses problems too: a burst of extinction-level proportions would have been easily foreseen by the Zystinian Department of Cosmic Threats, and any planets in its path would have been warned and therefore discovered. Not to mention, a GRB would have destroyed the planet's atmosphere, which is still intact. Though it is worth noting that the atmosphere is made mostly of methane, which could easily prove to be fatal to a species not adapted to survive it. Though, even then, the DNA problem remains, and atmospheres don't change chemical composition by the day."

When questioned about the potential of an alien attack, Maxim responded saying "such claims are baseless and are designed to start ghost stories among the masses. If we believe rumors like that, then surely it is our society that will fall next."

Azer finished reading, and before he could gather his thoughts, a voice came from across the library aisle. It was Delvin.

"It's been half an hour," he said, "enough book selection, it's time for reading."

For a moment, Azer sat in confused silence. Then, feeling stupid, he realized what Delvin was talking about, quickly standing up from his chair and walking to Delvin's side.

Delvin looked briskly from side to side, eyeing the security cameras to ensure no one was looking. He then pulled Azer close and moved behind a bookshelf.

For a moment, it looked as if nothing was happening. Then, Azer noticed a faint, airy hissing sound, barely audible. Delvin still looked as if he was checking the vicinity, but Azer could tell he was up to something.

"What's-"

"Shh," Delvin interrupted. "Stay silent."

It didn't take long for Azer to discover the hissing's source. The holes in the palms of Delvin's hands were circulating air at intense speeds, fast enough for ghostly strands of water vapor to form by the holes' openings. The hissing then began to change in pitch, and in a slow, seamless transition, the harsh hissing became a low, soft whoosh all around Azer's body.

"While small, there's a blind spot between the cameras here. I had to find somewhere to hide us," Delvin whispered, barely a step above just moving his lips soundlessly.

"Hide us?" Azer echoed, trying to match Delvin's level of quiet. "How are we hidd-"

Then, in a shocking moment of awareness, Azer realized he could no longer see his own body. As he turned to Delvin, Azer realized he couldn't see him, either.

"Don't panic," Delvin said, reading his thoughts. "This is my doing. Look closely, you should be able to see me at least a little bit. But nobody else can."

Azer could, in fact, see miniscule slivers of himself and Delvin behind strands of invisibility. The quiet whooshing continued around them.

"Are we invisible? How are you doing this?"

Delvin now straightened himself again and looked both ways down the library aisle. "I'm circulating the water vapor in the air around us to refract light," he explained. "It flows through the holes in my hands at hypersonic speeds." He then left the aisle, urging Azer to follow. "My Val is wind," he elaborated. "With the holes in my hands, I can control air with atomic precision."

"Now, follow," he whispered again. "And stay close. If you leave my range, your invisibility will fade."

Slowly, Delvin walked deeper into the gargantuan, labyrinthine library, Azer trying his hardest to follow Delvin's translucent image. They strode past a long shelf of books, pressing themselves against the wall as a student passed. Delvin turned a corner, walked down a long hallway, turned another corner, and then came to a closed door. On it was a sign that read:

EMPLOYEES ONLY

Carefully, Delvin put his hand on the doorknob and pulled the door open, so slowly it was hard to tell it was opening at all. Once open, his ghostly figure urged Azer inside.

Behind the door was another large room, rectangular in shape, with expansive lines of books along tall shelves. But instead of being organized and user-friendly like the rest of the library, the books were worn and full of labels. Wooden tables were pushed up against the walls of the room, covered with mangled books, glue, and obscure tools. An office was stationed at the back of the room, with blinds down over the windows but warm light peeking through. This room revealed the machinations behind the scenes of the library—repair, stocking, and, according to a sign on one shelf, books that were forbidden to read.

"Is this it?" Azer whispered over the silence.

"I'm doubtful," Delvin replied. "The relic wouldn't be so large, and look so modern. Nor would it be this easy to get to."

Azer scanned the vicinity for any sign of the relic while following Delvin's side. They weaved through the rows of bookshelves and checked under tables, all to no avail. Azer's hope was beginning to dwindle and his mind was drifting.

"Delvin, why did you join Team Virga?" Azer inquired.

Delvin seemed ready for the question. "I was curious about the world, just like you are. A scientist. I came here from off-planet, one of the many scientists who came to Manim to study The Shades. I noticed that Manim's mysteries didn't end at The Shades, either—there are a thousand little enigmas about this planet. And while they may not be connected—each could have its own natural explanation, of course—if those mysteries were connected by some unseen force, I'd want to discover it. I'm not religious, but I think that force would be my idea of God. Itell saw that and took me in."

Delvin carefully slid a cabinet away from a wall before inspecting it and finding nothing.

"You know what's funny?" Delvin said. "I want to dedicate my entire life to science and discovery. That's all that matters to me. But if I ended up left behind during The Shades, I don't think I'd be afraid. Just seeing the force behind all of these mysteries would be worth dying for. Don't you think so?"

Azer didn't know if he knew the answer to the question.

"Can we check the office?" Azer suggested, fleeing the topic.

Delvin obliged and made his way towards the office, Azer in tow. He put a hand on the doorknob and pulled.

"It's locked," Delvin whispered, and then put his palm over the keyhole. A quiet, high-pitched whistle sang from the hole in his hand, and with a tiny click, he turned the doorknob and pulled the door open.

"Just a pin tumbler," Delvin pointed. "I can use the air inside the lock to manipulate the pins into the right orientation."

Towers of papers and documents, all lit by a circular light overhead, met the invisible intruders as the door creaked open. There was a large, ornate wood desk pressed against the far wall, littered with every type of office equipment. The office, compared to the previous room, was much smaller, just large enough to comfortably accommodate a single person, cramped by the countless documents stacked everywhere. Despite this, two seats stood at the main desk.

Flush with the ground, Azer noticed the edge of a small groove underneath a leg of the desk, covered by a worn old carpet that sat underneath the desk's chair. He leaned down and ran a finger over the groove, picking up a layer of dust.

He lifted a portion of the carpet to see that the groove continued along the floor, forming a square nearly a meter in length and width along the hard floor. Along one of its corners was another, smaller square. Ten different numbers adorned the smaller square, each labeling a thumbnail-sized button.

"Delvin," he whispered as quietly as he could while staying audible, "is this it?"

Delvin, too, leaned down and ran his fingers along the edges of what was apparently a hatch. Moments later, Azer could hear a whoosh, and the dust covering the hatch flew in every direction.

"It won't open," Delvin stated. "It's airtight."

Wordlessly, Azer understood Delvin wanted him to try and open it manually. As tightly as he could, Azer gripped the edges of the groove and attempted to lift, S.R. flowing freely through his muscles.

For a few seconds, no results. And then, a heart-stopping, audible crack rang out deep in the floor.

"Stop!" Delvin hissed. "You're going to destroy the library before this lifts!"

Azer released his grip from the edges of the hatch. Delvin was right—the hatch was built deeply and immovably into the foundation of the library, and any strength he could muster wouldn't be enough to get it open.

"It's passcode locked," Delvin declared. "Electronic. I won't be of use here."

"Can we try random passwords?" Azer suggested, acutely aware of how stupid he sounded.

"If it's a four-digit code, then we have a one in ten thousand chance of getting it right."

"Can… does anyone else in Team Virga have a Val that could help?"

"I'm afraid not. Destroying it would be difficult, even for someone like Itell, and Okta's dual minds are for strategizing, not hacking. We have no choice but to find the passcode. For now, let's contact the rest. We-"

Then, suddenly, a creak rang out from the entrance to the maintenance room. Azer immediately straightened, tuned to the noise. Delvin, wide-eyed, motioned for Azer to follow him out.

Standing in the entrance to the maintenance room was a middle-aged woman dressed in an impeccably neat outfit, her narrow, sharp eyes magnified in intensity by her rectangular gold glasses. It was the seldom-seen head librarian of the building. She was scanning the room vigilantly, only pausing momentarily for her eyes to unfocus and soften in seemingly random intervals. Delvin and Azer stood just outside the office, trying to move away from the scene without making a sound.

Without warning, she began to stride confidently toward the aisle of books. Delvin's almost completely transparent figure quickened his pace, urging Azer along, trying to lead them around the aisle.

Then, as quickly as she had started, the librarian stopped in her tracks and stood. A pause, then she whipped around and sprinted back the way she came. Delvin, surprised at this strange movement, could only watch, Azer not far behind.

The librarian then turned down Azer and Delvin's aisle and continued sprinting directly towards them.

Adrenaline pumped through the two as they fled at equal speed.

"Can she see us?!" Azer asked.

"It's impossible!" his voice whispered in response. "I've refracted the light only to let you see me, and barely so!"

The librarian continued her pursuit, speeding down the aisles at a pace beyond her stature. Delvin dove behind a gap in the bookshelves, Azer nearly missing the cue before taking refuge by Delvin's side. The librarian suddenly slowed in pace, before stopping once more.

"I know you're here," she croaked, her voice deep and eerily soft, as though talking to a small child. Her soft tone poorly concealed a note of malice. Delvin flinched next to Azer, but continued to stay completely silent. Azer then heard a muted sound coming from all around him.

"This is Delvin. I'm muting the air around us. It takes a huge amount of my Val's power, but by no means can we be found out. The mission can't be failed. I'm talking to you by vibrating the air around you to create sound waves. Stay still and continue to remain silent."

It was a voice without tone or characteristics, like a spoken whisper. The voice sounded vaguely like Delvin's, but the words were embedded within a breeze-like whoosh. Azer heeded his command, baffled and amazed at the versatility of Delvin's wind powers.

"I'm sure you're well aware this is a restricted area, the office especially," the librarian said, striding along Azer and Delvin's aisle. "Only two people are allowed in there, just Mayor Orbo and I." She then added, with a sneer, "Could you be the nosy no-gooders he warned me about?"

She continued to walk down the aisle, approaching their location. Azer tensed up. She walked right by their position, Azer unconsciously releasing the tension in his body before she stopped again.

"Found you."

In a lightning-fast movement, she whipped back around and thrust a hand towards Delvin's chest. Her hand penetrated Delvin's swirling cloak of wind, breaking it apart as the bizarre formation of breeze and water vapor split apart around her hand, revealing in full Delvin's mortified expression. Her open palm on Delvin's chest now, she clenched his collar and yanked him out of his refuge.

"This isn't the kind of place for teachers to be snooping around," she said acidly, pulling him along the aisle towards the entrance. "I wonder how you found out about this place… Regardless, you're going to be held for questioning. Mayor Orbo would love to talk to you."

Azer was bursting with things to say and scream as Delvin was taken away, but held himself back. Miraculously, for some unknown reason, Azer was spared, and he wasn't going to waste that chance. As long as he was unknown, his knowledge of the hidden door in the office was safe. The air still swirling around Azer's body told him Delvin hadn't given up on him yet, the air's quality full of Delvin's resolve. As soon as the door closed, he dove out of cover with the little, fading invisibility he had left.

# # #

Azer joined Grif's side at the entrance inside a disorganized group of students buzzing with words and rumors. He tried his hardest to hide his exhaustion and stress, having narrowly avoided being caught several times. Grif looked at him with worry and apprehension.

"What's happening?" Azer tried.

But Grif didn't need to answer. He pointed over the sea of students' heads at a group of adults. It was the head librarian accompanied by several police officers, Delvin's expressionless face visible behind one of them, in cuffs and looking dire. Azer felt a pang of worry and guilt. The librarian stepped up towards the students and cleared her throat.

"We have apprehended a suspicious figure inside the library. He will be going to the police station for questioning. The police suspect this man was not alone in his suspicious activity. Did any one of you happen to see this man with anyone else today in the library?"

The room was ghastly silent, the cool, musty air ripe with tension and fear. Sensing this, the librarian spoke again.

"You will not be arrested, just questioned. Now, again, does anyone here have any information about this man's activities today?"

Azer's heart was pounding against his shirt. How could it have gone so wrong? It felt like the mission had succeeded, but it hadn't. They had lost an important member of Team Virga. Azer didn't dare give away any sign he was affiliated. He could feel Delvin's will inside him, and it said to not let the mission fail.

Silently, frustratedly, the librarian returned to her spot next to the police, talking to them inaudibly before they walked out of the door, Delvin in tow.

# # #

The bus ride home was ripe with commotion among the students, and the news of a Battle Academy teacher being arrested for suspicious activity had spread like wildfire. Everyone talked about their theories and ideas as to what had happened. And all of them were so far from the truth.

Sitting quietly with Grif, he didn't know whether to be upset and who to be upset at, and if he should or shouldn't feel guilty, or regretful, or hopeful. His mind burned with questions about what had happened inside the library—what was really behind the trapdoor? How had the head librarian seen through Delvin's invisibility? And, incredibly, how had Azer made it out of there scot-free?

"It's worth noting," Grif started, "that we found the relic. Did you hear what she was talking about? You and Delvin found something that wasn't supposed to be seen. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"But-"

"Survivor's guilt. That's what you're feeling. We found what we needed to find, save for that password. And don't worry about Delvin. We'll figure something out. In the meantime, we should be more worried about The Shades."