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“Number six!”

Tam jerked his head up from where he’d been studying the layout of Valley streets, trying to make sense of the store labels and the scribbled captions and sidebar notes that had been added around them. He felt like he’d done a pretty good job of getting at least a rough idea of the main downtown core—and he’d have the map available on his phone if he needed it.

Matthias was waiting at the coffee bar’s handoff counter, a mug of coffee and a plated sandwich sitting there. Tam hurried over as his stomach let out a plaintive growl. “Thanks,” he said, reaching for the tray.

“Don’t mention it,” Matthais said cheerfully. He tossed his hair back over his shoulder—wasn’t that a health hazard? Then again, maybe demons didn’t shed any hair the way humans did—and gestured around behind the counter. “It’s pretty quiet right now, so let me know if you need anything else.”

If he was going to push himself to keep going, he decided, he probably needed something to drink that wasn’t just anxiety in a mug. “Could I also have a glass of water?”

“You got it, sweetheart. Thirsty, huh?”

“Yeah, I—” That was a come-on. It was definitely a come-on. “Yeah,” Tam finished weakly.

Mathias poured him a cup of ice water, and deposited that on the tray Tam was holding. As he did so, one of his nipples peeked out from behind his apron. Tam found himself making direct eye contact with it, and forced himself to look up at Matthias’s face instead.

Not much better. He mumbled another thanks and quickly retreated. He had Matthias’s word that talking to a demon was safe in context with the demon doing his job, but that didn’t mean it’d be a good idea to get too chatty anyway.

He sat back down and fell on his meal with gusto, more ravenously hungry than he’d realized. The sandwich was, as Matthias had promised, absolutely delicious, and he didn’t think it was just his hunger. He’d been here before, but only got the drinks—he’d clearly been missing out.

Tam’s hands were too busy with the sandwich for him to spend more time on the computer, so he took the opportunity to memorize the Beanheadings layout. There was a door behind the coffee bar, presumably into the kitchen or food storage; around the corner, there was a corridor leading to the bathrooms and another door marked with an emergency exit sign. The main area was pretty much in view of the baristas and other customers at all times, so how safe it was would be dependent on how busy things were at ten pm. If it was really crowded, people might not notice something going on, and if it was too empty, something could happen without being seen if a barista had to go into the back for a moment.

Why was the meeting going to be so late? It wasn’t the first time he’d wondered it. Was the mysterious texter Antoine also a vampire, or otherwise something else who could only come out at night? But he’d been super busy texting in the morning. Maybe he just had a job working the afternoon shift.

With his sandwich finished, he picked up his coffee, turning back to his computer and checking listlessly to see if Jared had responded to his new email yet. No luck, but given that he’d only just sent it, he didn’t expect much. He found himself automatically opening Facebook again, then made a face at himself. It wasn’t going to change or get any better.

He went to close it, then paused, considering. He’d been wondering if Ash was friends with anyone from the theatre, but wasn’t there a quick way to find out?

Trying not to feel too emotional about the birthday wishes all over Ash’s page, Tam loaded up Ash’s friendslist. As he’d recalled, it wasn’t terribly big, and he was able to discount old highschool friends right away, along with library coworkers. For the names he didn’t recognize, he quickly opened them, skimming them for information and closing if it seemed unremarkable.

Tam lucked out on his second-last person: Joanne Cooper, stagehand at the Theatre of Dreams. She looked fae, probably a brownie of some sort, judging by her round features, ruddy cheeks, and pointed ears. So Ash did know someone from the theatre, at least well enough to follow her online…

It was maybe worth checking out, and pretty close to the library. On the one hand, since the show opened tomorrow, everyone would likely be there for rehearsal, making it easy to track her down. On the other hand, since it was the last night before opening, everyone there would be pretty busy and probably not in the mood to be interrupted. He wondered which would matter more. He should decide soon either way, so he wouldn’t interrupt dress rehearsal itself.

Sahil’s first email came in then, and Tam loaded it up to a short description of the city’s local weredogs. Sahil had clarified in it that they didn’t consider themselves to be packs—-or at least, Sahil’s group and those he’d interacted with didn’t—but a group of friends, with a leader who arranged meetups and helped raise funds for events. The leader, Lena Williams, also helped handle legal matters for the group when necessary and deal with territorial disputes.

Otherwise, it was the same as Tam was given to understand happened with werewolves—an involuntary change with the full moon and voluntary other times, the curse spread via a bite when in their transformed form. Sahil cautioned that there was no default type of weredog, but they appeared in all types of dog, from the smallest chihuahua to the biggest great dane. He didn’t specify what type he was, but did say that their main meeting area was the West Street Dog Park.

Tam let out a little involuntary sound and covered his mouth. It was just as well Sahil had avoided talking about this in person; the details were just too cute.

He wrote back, trying not to let his reaction show. Thanks so much for the info! Just wanted to confirm receipt & that I’m ready for more information whenever you guys have it together. Btw, just plain coffees?

And then, after a moment’s consideration, he added, Just while checking, would church stuff be any good? Both for dealing with the witch & for any possible allies. Just trying to figure out what my options are to stay safe.

He got a reply back almost immediately; Sahil probably hadn’t gotten back up to get back to work yet: Black pls, we can add cream & sugar here if anyone needs it. Church is good against more religious vampires & more generally against demons, probably not otherwise. With magic u want protective circles, sometimes salt, depends on the type of magic being used. Vampires & us, silver. Vampires, the running water thing is tru too but less relevant in a city.

He supposed every little bit helped. He sent back a quick Thanks! and put his laptop away, heading back up to the coffee bar with his empty cups and plate.

“Anything else I can get you?” Matthias asked with a wink.

“Ah, yeah,” Tam said awkwardly. “Four large house blend black coffees, please. Um, if you’ve got one of those foam drink trays, that’d be good.”

Matthias laughed, ringing it through. “You should come back more often instead of buying in bulk,” he said. “I’d love to see you around more.”

“They’re for friends,” Tam said awkwardly. “I’ll, uh, be back later tonight, though, I’m meeting someone.”

“Oh yeah?” Matthias grinned. “Not me? It could be me.”

“No, um…” Tam hesitated, unsure of if he should ask more or not. On the one hand, if Antoine really was a regular, Matthias could be a good source of information, but on the other, interacting too much with a demon might be dangerous…

[Please suggest an action in the Comments.]

[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

[Please read the instructions before jumping in!]

Tam stared at Sahil. “Uh, that’s kind of,” he began, before closing his mouth on blurting out his immediate thoughts.

So Sahil was part of a secret organization and wouldn’t be available for the next few nights. Tam was pretty sure he had some idea what that could mean, though he didn’t exactly want to jump to conclusions. He turned over his phone and tried to check subtly; the news and weather app always listed the phase of the moon.

Huh. Yup.

“Your organization,” he said after a moment. “If they’d make okay allies, that means they’re well-known around here and have some kind of power, right…? I, uh, look, I don’t want to pry, just, if I’m going to make allies, you’re the one who suggested I know who I’m making alliances with, and you’re also the one doing research for me, and I trust you, I don’t really want to run around behind your back trying to guess, so, are they, maybe…”

Sahil put his face in his hands. “Oh my god,” he muttered.

“Sorry,” Tam yelped, immediately embarrassed. “It’s cool, seriously. I mean, I’ve always thought werewolves were neat, and—”

“Dogs.”

“What?”

Sahil looked at Tam plaintively between his fingers. “Dogs,” he muttered again. “Weredogs. You don’t find a lot of wolves in the big city, but dogs are fucking everywhere, you know? And cats. And sometimes coyotes. We’ve had a problem with werecoyotes lately.”

“Oh,” Tam said. “Okay. So weredogs.” He sought around for something to add, something that wasn’t I’ve always liked dogs. “Thanks. Seriously. See? That’s how little I know, so glad to have someone on my side who knows what’s up.”

“Sure,” Sahil said. He sank back in his chair, dropping his hands with a sigh, then gave Tam a smile, halfway between embarrassment and relief. “I can talk to our leader if you want, but like I said…”

“Right, yeah. I’ll follow up with Jared and see what seems better. If you can send me more info about, uh, your leader, that’d be cool to help,” Tam said. After a moment, he put a hand on Sahil’s again and squeezed. “Don’t worry about doing it while I’m here and making it weird, though.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sahil said.

“I’m going to go to Beanheadings,” Tam said. “Do you want me to bring you guys back anything? Coffee or food?”

“Coffee would be great,” Sahil said. “I’m not sure how many of us are going to be doing research? Probably around four of us so the others can keep handling library issues.” Tam opened his mouth. “Yes, I drink coffee, no, it’s not poisonous.”

Tam closed his mouth.

Sahil laughed, then rose, picking up his notepad. “I’ll start emailing you information as we get it pulled together,” he said. “I’ll start with that webpage. Take care of yourself, Tam. Ash wouldn’t want you to get hurt for him.”

“Ash doesn’t get a say right now,” Tam said, but he smiled back.

As Sahil went to catch the others up on the bad news and get started researching, Tam checked his phone, beginning to head down to Beanheadings.

The texter had responded: Ask at the counter if Antoine is there. I’m a regular in the late evening & I usually sit at a table at the back if it’s free. I’ll keep your brother’s ringtone on, also, so you can text to find me.

Ash’s ringtone was a stunning rendition of My Humps and one of the most annoying sounds in the world. Tam realized, abruptly, that the mystery texter was probably hearing it every time Tam messaged him, and couldn’t keep from laughing a little, albeit painfully.

So that was one meeting arranged, though whether this mystery texter would be an ally or not, he still didn’t know. For the others… he took a mental tally.

Tam had to wait until he heard more from Sahil to know about his leader. In the meantime, he’d email Jared back as soon as he got settled at Beanheadings. He’d explain things as honestly as he could—he couldn’t imagine Jared would be anything but sympathetic about the idea of a missing sibling. He’d ask more about Dupré specifically, as well as what it might cost him to even talk to the man. If Jared had talked to him personally, he had some idea of what was up.

Then there was Lithway. Had Ash just lucked out in getting the first tickets sold, or did he know someone in the theatre? Tam was pretty sure that Ash couldn’t have known Lithway themself, not without telling Tam about it—unless he’d been specifically keeping that detail secret in order to surprise Tam with the tickets. Tam had to admit that if he’d known Ash and Lithway were friends, he’d definitely have harassed Ash for an introduction. And the Theatre of Dreams was just down the street from the library. It’d be more surprising than not if theatre workers didn’t stop in regularly to make copies of plays, do research, and just spend their breaks reading.

What other options could he look into? Maybe he could find another powerful witch and get to know them, or even a demon. Though he’d been warned about demons nonstop growing up—school had PSA meetings about it, even—he knew that they were particularly easy to trade with. Maybe a last resort, though.

Tam realized abruptly he’d arrived at Beanheadings and almost walked past it. He shook himself, grabbing the door handle and heading inside.

The shop got its name due to the owner being a dullahan—a headless horseman, and one of the wild fae who lived in the area. As far as Tam knew, Kearney Dillon didn’t actually work in the coffee shop himself, just owned it. Still, the model head mounted over the menu board with a cup of coffee to his mouth was supposed to be an exact likeness of the man, freckled and with wild braids. Urban legend had it that Mr. Dillon had passed away long ago and had his head preserved as part of his legacy.  

Tam, who had seen the owner arguing with a neighbor before on one of his and Ash’s rare visits here, doubted that. His head had been present, being waved around with fury.

Heading up to the counter, Tam abruptly stopped short. The barista working today was an unfairly attractive incubus who had apparently taken advantage of a lax uniform policy to not wear a shirt under his apron. His nametag said he was Matthias, which probably wasn’t his real name. “Hey, what can I get you?” He smiled, jet-black hair tumbling over his shoulders as he leaned forward, the light glinting off his horns.

It was like fate had realized his thoughts about demons to put one in his path. For a moment, Tam stopped breathing entirely.

“It’s cool,” the barista said, as if reading his thoughts. “I work here, so ordering is just ordering, you’re not getting yourself into anything, sweetheart.”

“Right,” Tam said, then cleared his throat when his voice broke. “I’ll have a caffè mocha, please.”

“Anything else?” Matthias asked. He tapped the bakery case. “Our sandwiches are pretty good.”

Abruptly, Tam realized he was starving. He hadn’t eaten breakfast, and it was well after lunchtime now. “Yes,” he said fervently. “That ham, fig, and brie one? Is it any good?”

“It is fantastic,” Matthias promised him, eyes twinkling. Tam realized that the demon probably had been able to tell he was frantically hungry, even when Tam couldn’t. He rang Tam up, then held a card out to him. “You’re number 6! I’ll give you a call when your order’s up.”

A little embarrassed, Tam took the number card and headed to a table. He sat down, pulling out his laptop and sending Jared the email before he could forget again.

Then, a little masochistically, he loaded up facebook. Among the birthday wishes from friends were matching wishes for his brother, all unanswered. He loaded his brother’s page and saw messages from his parents among them: Love you, Ash. Be safe out there. And, Drop us a line when you can, baby.

He didn’t know how he felt. He was angry, and he was sad, and he was hurt. He felt like they should be apologizing to Ash, or expressing something other than just concern when it was all their fault. He wondered how messed up they were over this, and if it was something he could have known about in advance. He felt like he should have known somehow, like he’d missed some sort of sign.

Swallowing, he closed the tab and pulled up the website address that Sahil had sent him, waiting for The Urban Explorer’s Guide to Branwin Valley to load. If he had time to feel, he had time to memorize streets.

[Please suggest an action in the Comments.]

[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

[Please read the instructions before jumping in!]

Grateful, Tam put a hand over Sahil’s on the contract, squeezing it briefly. As usual, Sahil seemed like he was running a fever, body too hot, and Tam didn’t hold it for long.

“Thank you,” Tam said softly. “There are a few things I can use your help getting information on.”

Sahil gave him another of those quick, nervous smiles. “Okay, shoot,” he said.

“First up,” Tam said, “the contract. You said it was a legal one. Are you sure? She specified the night before his twenty-first birthday. Does that mean that it had to be before he was an adult and his own, well, property? She cut it pretty close, and the labor was pretty long since we were twins…”

Waving a hand, Sahil said, “It’s possible that we could find a good lawyer who could help us out in general, but in terms of that argument? Anyone can promise another person if that person is their dependent at the time the promise was made. Since your mother was pregnant, I’d assume that super counts. That said, there still might be legal matters that could be followed up on. If nothing else we could try to delay things by tying her up in paperwork. I’ll try to track somebody down.” He made a note on a pad of paper that had been sitting on the table.

It wasn’t the best news, but somehow it cheered Tam anyway.

“Okay, great,” Tam said. He ticked that point off on his finger. “Anything about the witch, like you said. If you can dig her name up even in old newspapers or microfiche or whatever, that’s more than we had.”

“No problem. I’ll make sure one of the librarians is digging through the archives.”

It was, he decided, such a relief to not be handling everything himself. Even with so much left to do, he could feel tension leaving his shoulders. “Magic and its capabilities,” he said. “You explained the basics to me, and I know that teaching me more might… require some time, but if you can find any easy review audiotape or whatever for me to listen on the go?”

Sahil pulled a bit of a face at that, but nodded again. “I think the problem is that it’s a pretty specialized field,” he said. “It’s like ‘Physics and its laws’, like, sure, but someone can study that for years and years. I can definitely dig you up some 101 stuff, though without knowing more about the witch, it may not be more useful than what I’ve already told you.”

“Anything helps,” Tam said. “General area stuff. A guidebook or brochure or a map? I always relied on Ash for knowing about the Valley since I didn’t come down here too much myself and I’ve mostly stuck to the main streets when I did. This guy I’ve been chatting with said to meet at Beanheadings, and I’ve been there, but what if it was a place I hadn’t heard of? Or what if I have to go somewhere else next when I hear news about Ash? I’d better be ready.”

“Anything I’ve got in the library isn’t likely to be in date,” Sahil warned, “because things change fast around here, both due to changing politics and magical alterations, but I can give you a website address? There are some urban explorers who chart out the changes, and it’s not perfect, but it’s fairly reliable.”

“You are my hero,” Tam said fervently, earning a blush from Sahil. “Now, allies. Anybody you guys know?”

Sahil seemed to pause at that, leaning back from the paper momentarily. “I would largely suggest that you want some of the more powerful people here on your side,” he said after a pause. “People with some sort of fame or reputation. Librarians are not usually among those. Essentially, it’ll help if you have any support from someone who can help put the weight on this Miss Istem, and make it harder for her to act in this Valley if they get in her way. There is a lot of politicking down here. A lot of allegiances.Who you know can matter an awful lot in what you can do and who you can influence.”

“So…” Tam looked pleadingly at Sahil.

“Famous monsters, powerful ones, dangerous ones, or ones who are more convenient to keep neutral than otherwise,” Sahil said. “I can dig up some names, certainly, but the problem is, what are you willing to offer them? And which ones are best?”

“My friend Jared said that he might be able to get me in contact with the vampire Rainier Dupré,” Tam said. “I also… have tickets to meet with Lithway, but that’s just… after their show, just as a fan. So I at least have an in there.”

“They’re both options,” Sahil agreed. “I don’t think those two have any beef with each other, either. I could maybe buy you a chance to meet the leader of an, er, organization I’m in? But she and Dupré don’t get along, so if you want to meet both you’d probably have to keep whatever you wanted from them separate so their paths didn’t cross.”

“Give me a minute to think over who I should follow up on first,” Tam said. “…in the meantime, I was thinking of going to scope out Beanheadings, if you’re okay with doing the research yourself, so I can get the lay of the land before I meet this guy tonight. Actually—do you want to come with me? Tonight, I mean,” he clarified before Sahil could protest. He knew that right after this talk, Sahil would be busy breaking the news to the other librarians and getting them started on the research he’d requested.

Sahil shook his head, staring down at his notepad. His cheeks had gone a little ruddy again. “I can’t go out tonight at all,” he said. “Sorry, it’s not something I can get out of. I should be free in the evenings again in… about three days and I’d happily help you then.”

[Please suggest an action in the Comments.
(Since there are a number of angles that Tam can follow up on, it might be
best to focus on what he should be doing first/shortly, rather than overall plans)]

[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

[Please read the instructions before jumping in!]

It did seem like a good idea to meet up with this Mystery Texter, but not without some backup. Before he went, he decided, he’d tell someone where he was going and arrange to have them call him shortly after the meetup time to check in. After all, he still didn’t know who this was—it still might be the witch herself, or even her rumored son.

It shouldn’t be a problem, though. Finding a friend who’d give you a safety call was way easier than finding a friend who knew the Valley inside out.

He texted back: Sure. Beanheadings at 10 or 10:15 then? Who should I look for?

Tam could only hope it’d be safe to hang out in Beanheadings that late at night. It was still a good half hour away from the gate, but that far in was mostly occupied by monsters, and he’d never been in that part of town after dark.

Almost as soon as he hit send, a hand tapped his shoulder. “Tam?”

Even expecting Sahil’s usual quiet approach, he still nearly jumped out of his skin. It had been a rough day, he reminded himself over the panicked racing of his heart. “Sahil! Hi.”

Sahil Kumar was as gorgeous as always. He looked refined and untouchable, a perfect statue of a youth, still soft around the edges. Black curls fell to fine cheekbones, angled to draw attention to his ice gray eyes in a warm, light brown face. His full lips carried the hint of a nervous smile at pretty much all times. The tension and anxiety that always seemed to hang about him only helped the impression somehow, like the mystery in the Mona Lisa’s smile.

Ash had laughed for an hour when Tam had tried to explain that, once. But Sahil and Ash had dated for a few months not long after that, so presumably Ash had seen the point once Tam had explained it.

Of course, Sahil also dressed like a tweedy uncle, or somebody’s absent-minded professor, in woolen sweaters with patches on the elbows, and loose slacks. He hugged his arms now, head tilted as if he was trying to figure something out. “Is everything okay? Sceana said you smelled miserable.”

That was, at least, a quick way to lead into things. “Last night… Ash got taken by a witch.”

The small smile fell off Sahil’s face at once, eyes widening. “What? No, that’s not possible. He was out with us last night—”

“I know, after he got back.” Tam swallowed. “It was my parents. They gave him to her…”

Sahil led him into one of the private study rooms and dragged him to sit down at the table there. He looked pretty miserable himself now, lips drawn off a little from his teeth in a grimace. “Tell me.”

So Tam did, stammering out his explanation until the words poured from him like a waterfall. Sahil got up about halfway through, pacing around the small room and hugging his arms, agitated, but Tam kept going until he’d explained everything he knew so far, everything he’d thought. He even passed the contract across the table so Sahil could read it.

“I was wondering if there was any way to get him back,” Tam finished finally. “I don’t know much about witches, or anything else down here either. I know they can cast spells, and if they write up a contract they’ll stick to it, but otherwise… I don’t know how different it is from old fantasy novels.”

“Not that much different,” Sahil said. He read over the contract for the fifth time, then pushed it back. “They don’t have unlimited power, but they can draw their own life energy, or that of those bound to them like familiars or apprentice or slaves, and convert it to power through the use of verbal and physical components. Gestures, materials, and words, basically. A spell has to be carefully designed to not use too much energy up or they’ll drain themselves before they’ll finish it, which is why they can’t just, I don’t know. Make a spell to become King of the World.”

“Sort of a relief,” Tam said. “So it’s like, if she pulls something out, or starts saying magic words, I know she’s going to try something?”

“Some spell incantations are short or subtle, but yes,” Sahil said. He sank back into the chair, scrubbing at his cheek with one over-sized sleeve. “If you want him back, you’ll need to get her to give him back. Or kill her,” he added, but looked unhappy about the idea. “Basically, you’ll have to remove her claim on him, which means either getting her to nullify the legal contract, or removing her from the equation.”

Tam didn’t much like the idea of killing either. “Convincing her by myself seems like it’d be pretty tough.”

“Getting allies would be good,” Sahil admitted. “A show of force of some kind would definitely make most weaker witches think twice.”

“Is she weak? Have you heard of her?”

“No, but if she hasn’t been active in town for some years, that’s no surprise,” Sahil said. “But…” He gestured around himself. “I’m in a pretty perfect place to do some research. Do you want me to try to dig something up on this Miss Istem?”

“I was going to do it myself,” Tam said, “but I mean, we could do it together. Or I could leave it to you and look into other options… I hadn’t thought about it. I wasn’t sure what you’d be willing or able to do—”

“He’s our coworker,” Sahil said. “No, you know? He’s our friend.” He smiled again, tense and unhappy. “Everyone here’s going to be willing to help you learn anything you need to know. So what will it be?”

[Please suggest an action in the Comments.]

[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]

[Please read the instructions before jumping in!]

A rush of relief hit Tam hard enough that he had to step off the sidewalk, leaning on the pole of a street light. The texter had said are, not were. Ash was alive—or had been since the texter had last seen him, at any rate.

Tam couldn’t see any point in dissembling further about this, not when he finally had something even vaguely like a lead. He typed furiously: He’s my twin brother. We’re super close, and I’m worried. His throat was aching again and he swallowed roughly a couple of times, quick. It wouldn’t do to get teary out in public, let alone in the Valley, where weakness could mark you as prey.

The feelings leaked into his writing instead. He added, Please. If you know about anything to do with him, I need to know. He’s been taken, and my parents let it happen, and I don’t know what to do.

He stared at the text for a long moment; it might be too much, too raw and too open, but at this point, holding things back might do more harm than good. The texter had been cagey, but not outright shutting him down. If the texter knew anything about Ash, Tam needed to know. Maybe, if the texter realized what he was going through, they’d be more on his side.

Maybe.

He hit send before he could question himself further, and drew a few quick, thick breaths of the strange air. Again, there was nothing he could do with that until he heard more. All he could really do was hope.

Putting his phone on silent, he headed into the library.

Ash had got the job in the library as a student four years earlier. They had put out an ad for library pages, and since Ash already knew he wanted to head into the field of Library and Information Science when he was older, he applied for it. It was apparently a pretty common position for high schoolers to hold, and Ash had done a good job talking about his interest in old tomes and grimoires particularly.

That had always been the slightly weird part to Tam. Ash liked books, and Ash liked libraries, and Ash particularly liked being around magical books. They fascinated him; he was constantly amazed that so much power could be held on ink and paper alone. That even if he himself couldn’t cast spells, other people could simply read them and cause something incredible to happen.

He’d been hired right after his interview, and had worked there part time ever since, sorting, shelving, photocopying, and doing everything else that was needed to free the librarians up to do their jobs more easily. Tam tried not to bother him too much when he was working, but sometimes picked him up after to walk together, and sometimes had gone to the library while Ash was working, to just sit there reading and keeping him company.

There were plenty of normal books outside of the magical sections, after all.

Walking into the building was such a familiar sensation that it felt like he’d see Ash already there, sorting through the cart of returns, looking up with that immediate grin. He wasn’t, of course, and Tam felt embarrassed by his own disappointment.

“Afternoon, Tam,” Sceana said. She tilted her head at him, light catching her amber eyes and the scattering of green scales over her cheeks. “Ash isn’t working today…”

As if he didn’t know it. He forced a smile. Sceana was nice enough, but she made him uncomfortable regardless. “I know. I’m here to see Sahil. Is he in today?”

“He is,” she breathed. “Let me get him for you.”

She slithered out from behind circulations, serpentine body crawling in waves across the floor as she vanished towards the rare tomes collection door.

Tam let out a breath, leaning on the circulations desk. He didn’t want them to think that Ash was just blowing work off when he didn’t show up next week—his years of dedication deserved that discussion, however hard it would be to have. He’d tell Sahil, and Sahil could tell the others that Ash wouldn’t be back. He had to explain something of it to get any useful information and, anyway, Sahil was cute and easy to talk to.

As he waited, he pulled out his phone to check it. It was starting to become an anxious tic, but one that kept being rewarded with new answers.

We should meet, the mystery texter had replied. I can’t get away until 10 pm tonight. Beanheadings is open until midnight. Do you know it?

He did; it was a coffee shop about a fifteen minute walk deeper into the Valley. He hesitated, mind running a mile a minute on what to reply, what to tell and ask Sahil, what research he could do here.

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[Completed Parts: Instructions | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25 | Day 26 | Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 | Epilogue | Author’s Notes]