After months of hard work, Cecil was close. In fact, he might be able to free the stone tonight. It was like a loose tooth that only had one piece of stubborn flesh that kept it from falling out.

  In any case, he had made it to the library a little early tonight because of his excitement. If the old man was gone, he’d be able to start right away. If not... He tried the door and it pushed open easily. Inside the old librarian was sleeping at his desk, his faux light lamp on. Cecil sighed a little but walked up to the desk. He did need to get a book for another project he was working on, but it could have waited til the next day. He cleared his throat, “Pro Ostrion?”

  The man stopped mid snore, then continued on in a fashion that would have made an angry wasp swarm jealous. Cecil rolled his eyes. Some protector of knowledge he was.

  But no matter.

  He went around the desk and dug into the basket of lumios. It held the final projects of many students in their second year of engraving. It held stones, a few statues, one rolled up paper, and even a doll.

  Now that the embargo was fully in place, they sourced their lights from the students at Wint Academy, which was just in the city. Each lumos had a clay handle molded around the part that had the engraving, which hid it from prying eyes. The quality had gone down significantly, but that made sense. It wasn’t like Effrain prioritized engraving like Istania did.

  Cecil grabbed a clogged fountain pen and walked to the section that had books on animals. As he held the pen, the nib grew slowly lighter until it was bright enough to see by.

  Huh, that's nice.

  For most of them, the whole thing glowed except the handle. What made this one different from the others? He would have tried prying off the clay to see, but last time he'd done that, the engraving had come off with it. Which had destroyed the construct completely.

  Cecil slowed and scanned the spines. There are the C’s, D’s… And there it was.. He pulled out the little volume, “The mysterious appearance of dreadful lizards; A compendium of theories, facts, and basic biology”, by Han Donovan. He smiled and walked back to the desk.

  He had already read the book once when he had found a dead garden drake when he was younger. Tavv had been with him at the time and had somehow gotten all of the meat off of it and made the bones nice and white. The thing was now framed above his brother’s bed. It was the most interesting hanging Cecil had seen. But it wasn’t something he would want to do. Instead, he had turned to the library and combed through the section on dragons, which only contained a dozen books. Which had been enough to sate curiosity.

  The old man’s snores echoed in the large room, the dim light casting his face in sharp relief. Cecil slammed his book and light pen on the desk, “Can I borrow a book?”

  Ostrion choked down another snore and his glasses hit the table. His face almost had the same fate, but the old man’s dubious reflexes saved him. “Borrow?” He put back on his half moon glasses, “Oh. Cecil. Of course, young man. But you cannot read it here, I need to close up for the night.”

  He took the book, waved his hand over it, touched it to the placard on the wall behind him that said “Cecil Althan” and handed the book back.

  “There you go. It looks like your book on “basic energies related to the use of talents” is due back tomorrow. I expect to see you then.”

  Cecil grabbed the book and thanked the old man. He shoved the book into his book bag and walked back to the double doors, with Ostrion following behind. After Cecil closed the door behind him, he heard a faint click.

  With his back to the door, he thought carefully. He only needed to chip out a little more, then he would be finished. But, there was no guarantee that the old man would be done puttering around yet. And since he lived in the room behind the desk, Cecil needed to make sure that he was asleep before trying anything. Besides that, his nanny would be missing him by now. He shrugged and started towards his room.

  After several months of planning and execution, he wouldn’t rush things in the final hour.

  Cecil decided to kill some time wandering the castle so that he wasn’t loitering by the closed library conspicuously. He stopped and glanced around the corner casually. So far, he hadn’t run into anyone who might wonder why he was out so late, or would care that he was out so late. And this last lap ought to be enough time for Pro Ostion to settle into sleep. He was almost to the next corridor when he heard someone behind him.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Cecil?”

  He turned and saw Eriss.

  “Where have you been? We missed you at the end of dinner and had a study session without you.”

  “Oh, I decided to work on a project.”

  Her eyes caught on the book under his arm, “Oh! That paper about dragons. How unique. Well, I hope you have fun. Join us next time.”

  “I will.”

  She ruffled his curly hair and turned to leave, then paused. “And don’t stay up too late tonight. Growing boys need sleep.” she looked at him seriously, “you’re short enough as it is.”

  Then she left before he could respond.

  Well. That went better than expected.

  Turned out that she was very aware that he was up and about at night, but didn’t care as long as he wasn’t out too late. Cecil sighed in relief and went into his. He couldn’t keep a secret from Eriss if she asked directly, and he didn’t think many people could. With her empathy, she knew when people were lying. He had always been careful to make sure that his plans always had a legitimate side so he could answer honestly if she asked.

  Relief flooded him even as he pondered alternate routes. The stress of subterfuge had to be bad for his health… getting found out would be worse for his health. Once he broke the seal to the second floor, it would be a long time till anyone noticed. He had watched the staircase for months. The last time anyone was up there was when the graduation ceremony had taken place.

  After he was up there he would need to gain access to wood to practice engraving on. But problems were made to be solved, and could be solved with enough time and effort. After his project tonight, he would have to turn his full attention to solving that. But first…

  He smiled at the wooden double doors of the library and took out the key he had stolen. The man was terribly old and lost his things all the time. He hadn’t even noticed it missing. It seemed that Pro Ostrion even kept duplicates.

  It made Cecil concerned about the security of the place, but the knowledge that his theft hadn’t concerned the old man made him feel better.

  The door opened with a click, and he locked it behind him before he started to creep to the second floor.

  The first floor was open access, and each floor above it had increasing security and restrictions. In fact, the whole tower was engraved with all sorts of protections. Including his favorite, which channeled any extreme heat, cold, water, or fire into a blocked off cave nearby. Arron had shown him the engravings behind the heavy framed painting that decorated the stone walls. They had been intricate as tatted lace on his mother’s favorite handkerchief, which was fine enough to pull through a ring.

  He had gone back later to try and see them again, but figured out after putting his whole weight into it, that the frame was linked to the wall with another engraving. Cecil huffed up the stairs just thinking about it. Every piece of engraving was hidden from sight and protected. He knew it was because of professional secrets and the wear and tear of the item, but also because a person talented enough could change the way the energy was expressed. Nonetheless, he wanted to see the world of hidden words and symbols behind every paving stone and picture frame. Which was why he was here in the library. After Pro Ostrion left the library, no one had any reason to come in. Which meant he was able to pry back the paving stone one step down from the second floor where a long years of footsteps had worn down the little engraving that prevented its movement, and left it vulnerable.

  The staircase was made of stone, with a railing that had geometric shapes carved out of it, and a mirrored pattern in the ledge below it. He had noticed the flaw during a class trip to the third floor. From then on, he had carefully planned, then chiseled away at the edges. And now he was almost there. Cecil pursed his lips as he chipped away at the last sliver of mortar that allowed the stone to stay put. Very carefully… He wiggled the stone like a loose tooth, then lifted up out of its socket. His heart beat wildly as he shone his light into the hole and set down the stone beside it. And inside it was all he had hoped for. Beautiful curling loops that described a language unknown to him. Forbidden to know. He pulled out his notebook and pencil from his pocket and started sketching it quickly. The cold stone leeched the warmth from his body as he perched on the edge of the stair even though he had brought an extra layer of clothes for the cool room. His thick pencil nip frustrated his attempts to duplicate the fine lines. If he was having this much trouble on paper, how had they done it in stone? He put his pencil and notebook back into a pocket and carefully set the stone back into place. Tomorrow he would lay hands on better equipment, then chip out pieces of the engraving. Though he had read little of the books on engraving when they had been in the library, they had all said something about the necessity of keeping the construct intact. But that could wait until tomorrow. Tonight, he was satisfied just to see it and make a sketch.

  Cecil started down the stairs with a bounce in his step.

  Tomorrow night was so long away. But the wait was a necessary evil. He didn’t want to spend too much time here and get-

  A slight squeak arrested his movement.

  Maybe another step had come loose? He turned and bent to investigate before he heard slight whispers muffled through the shelves. Panic seized his ribcage and shook him like a terrier on a rat. A peek over his shoulder showed a slowly bobbing light as it came closer.