Twilit Mage

Chapter 51: Mercury Times Five

The upper floor was completely silent. Everything was empty, the rows of bookshelves untouched, the desks deserted, without a single personal item to indicate that a student had once sat there. No lost bookmarks. No pencils. No scarves left behind, forgotten after a long day of studying. Not even a chair that didn't stand perfectly straight. The entire room was untouched, as if no one had ever come here since it had been made.

And yet...something was off. Even in this silence, between the undisturbed desks and shelves, Mercury could sense that something was there. She listened, but there were no footsteps. Not even a breath.

It was too silent. Much too silent. Riley should be around here somewhere, but there was no noise from them at all. Were they sitting still somewhere, holding their breath? Or...

"I can still sense them," Georgiana mouthed, calming her nerves a little. "The gorgon seems out of sight, but it seems to have headed this way. We have to be careful."

"Which way is Riley?"

"That way. Quiet. We can't have it noticing us."

Mercury glanced down at herself, sensing for a trace of the magic that had hidden them up till now. It was gone. She must have subconsciously released the illusion the moment Raoul had left.

"Let's split up," she whispered. "Gorgon reflections don't kill us, right?"

Georgiana hesitated, then she nodded. "Reflections can neither be changed with magic nor cast any," she said. "We should watch the windows as we go."

That was all the affirmation Mercury needed. "You go this way," she mouthed, pointing to one side of the library. "I go that way."

"Keep to the windows."

Mercury nodded and headed off, her eyes constantly alert for a gorgon reflection that didn't appear.

Absolutely nothing happened. She listened in Georgiana's direction, but there was nothing from her end either. Wherever the gorgon was, it didn't seem to be here. Where had it gone? And why on earth hadn't the teachers taken care of it already?

Had something slowed them down? Or...someone? Could someone be holding them back on purpose to make sure they wouldn't arrive here in time?

And if not, what were they doing?

She shook her head. No point in thinking about this now, she thought. It didn't matter. The most important thing right now was getting to Riley and rescuing them from the gorgon.

Not a sound. Not an image. Nothing.

It was almost too easy. She could walk along the shelves without anything stopping her, so casually that if she didn't know better, she would have thought nothing was up here at all. But as it was, she was simply lucky. Maybe the gorgon had left into the opposite direction and wasn't anywhere near Riley at all. She hoped that was the case. If this had been a false alarm, and they could get out of here safely, without a fight...

That would be a little too good to be true.

Her eyes stayed glued on the windows. In the bright daylight outside it was almost impossible to see any more than vague shapes reflected in the glass, but still nothing seemed off. She couldn't see the monster. She couldn't see Riley either. Wherever they were, they had hidden themselves well.

Should she try to call their name?

But that would only alert the gorgon, wouldn't it?

Did it even have any interest in humans?